Your best employee just quit. Now what?
Most trade business owners are one resignation away from a serious probkem — and they won’t realize it until the phone stops getting answered and the trucks stop running on time.
By William Yex, CFP®, CEPA®, Wealth Management Advisor
Picture this. You’re on the water early, the bite is on, and you’ve got a lure tied on that is absolutely crushing it. Every cast, something hits. You’re thinking this is the best morning you’ve had all season.
And then the line snaps.
Gone. That exact bait — the one you had maybe one or two of — is sitting on the bottom of the ocean. You dig through the tackle box. Nothing comes close. The bite slows down, the morning falls apart, and you’re left wondering why you didn’t have a better backup plan.
Now replace that lure with your lead tech, your best crew foreman, your service manager. The one who runs the most complex jobs without supervision. The one your commercial customers ask for by name. The one who trains the new guys, shows up early, and somehow always figures it out. He is not just an employee — he is infrastructure.
And one day, he puts in his two weeks. Takes a job with a competitor across town. Or starts his own thing. Or just moves.
And just like that, your best lure is gone.
This Happens More Than You Think
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Skilled tradespeople are in short supply, and the good ones know it. They have leverage. If you are not thinking proactively about who your key people are and what keeps them around, someone else is thinking about it for you.
Here’s the hard truth: most owners don’t take action until after the damage is done. They lose the key employee, scramble to fill the gap, watch callbacks go up, customer satisfaction drop, and revenue take a hit — all while trying to hire and train a replacement who won’t be fully productive for months.
That’s the reactive approach. There is a better way.
Key Person Planning: What It Actually Looks Like
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| 1. Identify Your Key People
Not everyone on your crew falls into this category. Ask yourself: if this person left tomorrow, how badly would it hurt? If the answer is “a lot,” they are a key person. For most trade businesses, that is your lead tech or foreman, your service manager, and sometimes your dispatcher or office manager. |
| 2. Build Retention Around Them
Compensation is part of it, but rarely the whole story. The employees who stay long-term usually do so because they feel valued, they see a future, and they have something financially at stake in the business. That last piece is where a wealth advisor can help — through deferred compensation arrangements, bonus structures, and benefit packages designed to encourage long-term retention and align employee and business interests. |
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3. Protect the Business If They Leave Anyway Even with the best retention plan, people leave. Key person insurance is a tool that puts capital back in the business when a critical employee departs unexpectedly — giving you runway to recruit, hire, and train without a cash crisis running in the background. |
The Tackle Box Shouldn’t Be Empty
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The best anglers don’t rely on one bait. They know what’s working, they protect it, and they have a plan when it’s gone. The same mindset applies to running a trade business.
Your key people are your best lures. You’ve spent years figuring out what works. The question is whether you’re doing anything to protect it — or whether you’re waiting until the line snaps to start thinking about it.
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Apollon Wealth Management · For educational purposes only. Not personalized tax or financial advice.
