15 Power Plays for Business Owners Who Refuse to Coast
(Protect your wealth. Grow your business. Future-proof your success.)
Mid-year isn’t halftime for entrepreneurs. It’s the perfect time to step back, zoom out, and ask the big questions. Is your business strategy as sharp as it could be? Are your personal and financial plans keeping up with your success? Have you put the right protections in place to handle surprises?
At Ulin & Co. Wealth Management, we understand these challenges firsthand. As a growing small business ourselves, we are continually thinking about these topics and how to execute them not only for our own firm but also for the entrepreneurs, founders, and families we serve.
The following are 15 high-impact strategies successful business founders and family offices are using now to protect, grow, and future-proof their wealth. These principals apply across industries.
🥇 1. Asset Protection: Protect Your Castle
As your net worth grows, so does your exposure. One lawsuit, accident, or unexpected business challenge could threaten everything you’ve worked to build.
This is about more than having insurance. It’s about making sure your entire financial ecosystem can weather any storm. For many entrepreneurs, that starts with reviewing whether your LLC or S-Corp structure is still the best fit, adding umbrella liability coverage to shield personal assets, and exploring advanced strategies like trusts or family office structures for next-level protection.
You can also add layers of security through retirement plans, annuities, or permanent insurance accounts, and by properly titling non-retirement assets. You wouldn’t leave your home unlocked in a hurricane, so don’t leave your business and personal wealth unguarded in an increasingly litigious world.
🥈 2. Guard Against Cybercrime and Phishing Attacks
Cybercriminals are not just targeting big companies. Small businesses, especially cash-heavy retailers, are increasingly in their sights. A single phishing email, ransomware attack, or fraudulent vendor request can shut you down or drain accounts overnight.
Start with strategy, not just software. Lock down your systems with multi-factor authentication, train your staff to spot scams before they click, and consider cyber liability insurance as a final layer of protection. Think of cybersecurity as the vault around your digital cash register.
🥉 3. Tune Up Your Business Succession Plan
What happens to your company if you’re sidelined tomorrow? Too many owners delay these conversations until life forces the issue.
Succession planning isn’t about stepping away. It’s about ensuring your business isn’t vulnerable if you’re not in the driver’s seat. Review buy-sell agreements, ownership structures, and mentor potential successors now. Your attorney and CPA can help create a transition plan that protects both your family and your company.
- Exit Planning: Clean Up Your Corporate House
If you’re considering a sale in the next few years, buyers will scrutinize every detail of your operation. Messy books, incomplete records, or outdated agreements can kill deals or drag down valuations.
Take time now to organize financials, audit key contracts and intellectual property, and work with your CPA and attorney on a “mock due diligence.” A clean back office doesn’t just look good, it drives value.
- Hunt for Hidden Tax Credits and Incentives
Most business owners assume tax credits are reserved for giant corporations. In reality, there are dozens of federal and state incentives smaller businesses often overlook.
R&D credits, energy-efficiency deductions, and hiring incentives can add up quickly. A sharp CPA can uncover five- or six-figure savings during a mid-year review.
- Turbocharge Your Retirement Planning
You’ve built wealth in your business, but is it diversified beyond that? Too many entrepreneurs delay personal savings while reinvesting in operations. Do you need a small business retirement plan?
Now is the perfect time to explore SEP IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, or even Defined Benefit Plans to maximize tax-advantaged growth. The best time to start was years ago. The second-best time is today.
- Audit Your Insurance Coverage
As your company grows, your risk profile changes. Is your coverage keeping up?
Review liability, key person, property, and cyber insurance with your advisor. Many owners don’t discover gaps until it’s too late. Adding an umbrella policy can provide inexpensive peace of mind for risks that fall through the cracks.
- Reassess Debt in a Higher Rate World
Rates aren’t what they were in 2021. If you haven’t reviewed your loans or credit lines recently, you could be overpaying.
Refinancing or restructuring debt isn’t just about trimming costs. It can free up cash flow and working capital for new growth opportunities. Start those conversations while you still have leverage.
- Market Smarter With Sweat Equity and AI
Here’s a hard truth: too many businesses are dropping $5,000 to $10,000 per month on Google and Facebook ads with little to show for it. Agencies promise the moon but rarely deliver even a 1x return for small businesses marketing plan.
Your website is your office now. In a post-COVID world, prospects judge you first online—not at your brick-and-mortar location. AI tools like ChatGPT, Canva, and Jasper make it easier than ever to create sharp, SEO-rich content and tell your story consistently. This is sweat equity marketing. You don’t need to outspend competitors, you need to out-think them.
- Enhance Employee Retention With Financial Wellness Programs
Your team’s financial stress impacts their productivity more than you realize. Studies show financially confident employees are more engaged and less likely to leave.
Offering financial wellness benefits like workshops, access to advisors, or even budgeting tools can improve morale and loyalty. A stronger team builds a stronger business.
- Cut Healthcare Costs Before They Cut Into You
Healthcare premiums keep climbing, but too many business owners renew the same plan every year without a second thought. (US GAO)
Schedule a mid-year review with your broker to explore better coverage options or cost-saving tweaks. Tax-advantaged tools like HSAs and FSAs are also worth another look.
- Evaluate Business Structure and Tax Strategy
Does your LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp still align with your goals? An outdated entity structure can cost you in taxes and limit your growth flexibility.
A summer check-in with your CPA could unlock smarter options for the year ahead.
- Hire (or Rehire) Family Members Strategically
Bringing family members onto the payroll can create tax advantages for your business and help them build wealth early.
If your business is a sole proprietorship or LLC taxed as a sole prop, there’s no minimum age to hire your kids. Even those under 14 can legally work as long as the tasks are age-appropriate. Corporations and partnerships must generally follow federal child labor laws, which typically require a minimum age of 14.
If your child earns more than $13,850 in 2025, they’ll need to file a tax return. Below that, they usually don’t owe federal income tax but might file if any taxes were withheld. A Roth IRA is often the best place to save their earnings because it grows tax-free and gives them an incredible head start on retirement.
Done right, this strategy shifts income into a lower tax bracket, reduces your taxable business income, and sets your children up for long-term success.
- Explore AI Tools for Operations and Customer Service
AI isn’t replacing humans, it’s helping small businesses do more with less.
Tools like chatbots can automate customer questions, while AI-driven scheduling, invoicing, and CRM systems streamline operations. The goal isn’t to replace your team but to make them more effective.
- Update Estate Plans and Beneficiaries
Your wealth is growing—and so is the complexity of protecting and passing it on. For ultra-successful families, estate planning is not just about having a will. It is about creating a legacy blueprint that integrates your values, wealth transfer strategies, and tax efficiencies.
A generic plan often falls short. Sophisticated strategies might include revocable living trusts to avoid probate, irrevocable trusts for tax efficiency and asset protection, dynasty trusts to preserve wealth across generations, and life insurance trusts to provide liquidity for estate taxes. These tools can also reduce exposure to changing tax laws as lifetime exemptions are set to decrease after 2025.
The best family offices take it further by establishing clear governance. They define family mission statements, hold regular meetings to align heirs with the vision, and invest in next-generation financial education. They treat the estate plan as a living document that evolves with the family, not a one-and-done task stuffed in a drawer.
Estate planning done well doesn’t just protect wealth. It preserves harmony and ensures your life’s work creates opportunities for the people and causes you care about most.
🧠 Final Thought
Running a business is demanding. Protecting it and the wealth it creates- requires a different level of thinking which is why we created 15 Power Plays for Business Owners. Mid-year is your chance to sharpen your strategy and make sure your empire is built to last.
Get Started
For national business founders, entrepreneurs, athletes, and institutional clients, Ulin & Co. Wealth Management’s Private Client Group provides exclusive multi-family office services and bespoke asset management. Through our Barron’s and Forbes-recognized NewEdge Advisors partnership affiliate team, and with Fidelity and Schwab custodians, we deliver sophisticated planning backed by a fiduciary standard.
Call (561) 210-7887 to schedule a no-obligation consultation with Jon Ulin, CFP®, founder and Managing Principal of Ulin & Co. Wealth Management. With over 20 years of experience serving clients in South Florida and across the U.S., we can help you feel more confident about your wealth.
Author: Jon Ulin, CFP® is the founder and Managing Principal of Ulin & Co. Wealth Management, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor based in South Florida for over 20 years. As a fiduciary wealth advisor, Jon helps successful individuals, families, and business owners nationwide with multi-generational planning, investment management, and retirement strategies. Learn more about Jon at ulinwealth.com/about.
Note: Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss. You cannot invest directly in an index.Information provided on tax and estate planning is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax or legal advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific situation with a qualified tax or legal advisor.
You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss. All examples and charts shown are hypothetical used for illustrative purposes only and do not represent any actual investment. The information given herein is taken from sources that are believed to be reliable, but it is not guaranteed by us as to accuracy or completeness. This is for informational purposes only and in no event should be construed as an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or products. Please consult your tax and/or legal advisor before implementing any tax and/or legal related strategies mentioned in this publication as NewEdge Advisors, LLC does not provide tax and/or legal advice. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and do not take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of individual investors.
