Aaron Schroeder's company wasn't for sale, yet the offers kept coming. For years, the Vancouver-based climate engineer received a few unsolicited bids every month, sometimes a couple every week. The offers were often from larger companies and hedge funds, especially those based in the United States. When Schroeder was ready to sell Brightspot Climate, an engineering consultancy with offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, he decided to go in a different direction and create a special trust to make all 40 of his staff owners.
My first marriage left me a wealthy widow where we had several vacation homes but sadly no children. My second husband has two adult sons and a thriving business that is basically his third child. Despite us both being retired, he is still very involved in the business. Neither of his sons ever showed interest in taking over, so my husband has been approaching his lifelong employee, "Mike," to take over.