Keeping great people gets harder as your business grows, especially when wages stop being enough to hold everything together.

Chris Buttonham is the co-founder and CEO of Reins. He grew up inside a small contracting business, watched firsthand how retention and succession issues limit freedom and value, and later built a platform that helps owners give key employees real skin in the game without giving up ownership or control.

In this episode, we talk about why most retention problems aren’t really about pay, how alternative equity and profit sharing actually work in practice, and why owners who wait too long to think about incentives and succession usually end up with fewer options, not more.

This conversation is for home service owners who are growing, feeling the weight of people dependency, and starting to realize that alignment, not effort, is what unlocks the next stage.

What You Will Learn in This Episode

• Why higher wages alone rarely solve retention problems
• How misaligned incentives quietly increase owner stress
• What “alternative equity” really means in a small business
• The difference between phantom equity and real ownership
• How profit sharing can improve margins instead of hurting them
• Why simplicity matters more than complex bonus formulas
• Who your true “key employees” usually are and why timing matters
• How incentives can improve profitability and exit readiness
• Why even owners who never plan to sell should think about succession
• How aligned teams create leverage instead of dependency

More From Profit & Grit

Book your complimentary Financial Insight Session with Tyler Martin, fractional CFO for home services and the trades, here:

http://cfointrocall.com

Learn more at http://cfomadeeasy.com

Follow the show for weekly interviews with HVAC, plumbing, and home service owners and experts who share what it really takes to grow, scale, and profit in the trades.

If you listen to any of the following shows, we’re sure you’ll love ours too! To The Point Home Services Podcast, Toolbox for the Trades, Masters of Home Service, Home Service Business Coach With David Moerman, BlueCollar.CEO, The Home Service Expert Podcast, Next Level Pros, Blue Collar Business Podcast, Home Service Millionaire with Mike Andes, The Contractor Fight with Tom Reber, and Blue Collar Success Group.

🎙️ Profit & Grit by Tyler Martin
Real stories. Real strategy. Real results for service-based business owners.

🔗 Website: ProfitAndGrit.com
📍 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thinktyler
📸 Instagram & TikTok: @profitandgrit

Tyler Martin, a fractional CFO for home services and the trades

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