Bonus Episode, with Jason Bush

Email – jbush@ltpcommercial.com
Company – www.ltpxpand.com
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-bush-value-advisor/

Jason Cutter [00:00:00]:
Hey, Jason back. And I’ve got my friend Jason Bush. He is back for the after show. Jason. And Jason here, Part two, round two. How was that part for you, Jason?

Jason Bush [00:00:12]:
Oh, that was great. You know, I. I really enjoy doing podcasts, like, in this conversational format. And so your style is great, right? I’m sure that your. Your audience appreciate. Appreciates that it’s not a sales pitch. It’s not like it’s. It’s a conversational delivery of value add content to your.

Jason Bush [00:00:32]:
Your universe of business brokers that you work with. So I love this format. Like, there’s. And I love the fact that it’s recorded too, such that, you know, the. The goofy stuff that you and I end up talking about as a sidebar. Like, we can selectively edit that out, which is always fun.

Jason Cutter [00:00:50]:
No way. There’s no editing on the show. Okay, well.

Jason Bush [00:00:53]:
Oh, no. Did I. Did I break down the fourth wa.

Jason Cutter [00:00:59]:
No, it’s great. Like, I love the. The conversational style. I. I think, you know, there’s some. You got to have a good roadmap, some ideas of what to talk about, and then just kind of flow with it and see what happens. And, you know, my. My goal for all my guests, like, for any.

Jason Cutter [00:01:14]:
Anyone listening into the. To the podcast, the thing I tell each guest when we have a conversation, I said, as long as you and I are having fun and as long as it’s valuable to someone out there, then wherever we go is great on this road trip together. Right? Like, I don’t try to stranglehold this into, like, a specific thing. I just want to see where it goes. As long as it’s valuable and fun, which, you know, is always easy to do.

Jason Bush [00:01:38]:
Well, it’s really. The kudos. It’s thanks to you and your process. Right. You prepped me extremely well for our conversation today. I mean, there was a lot of back and forth prior to this event. Right. Just to make sure that we’re delivering the value that you want.

Jason Bush [00:01:52]:
Um, and, you know, it shows. Right. You’ve done. You forced me to do some homework as well as you’ve done your homework, and you’ve got a great system and process design. So credit to you for. For building a good environment.

Jason Cutter [00:02:05]:
I appreciate it. It’s helped that I’ve done about a thousand podcast episodes that. That definitely helps along my journey to get here. And. And it’s fun too, because for me, in my journey through business and life, getting to this moment, moment has not been focused on business, brokerage, exit planning, commercial real estate. Any of the world that you’re in and, you know, the guests on the podcast. So for some of it is research and learning, and then it’s just being curious and always being able to ask more and more questions because I just want to know. And.

Jason Cutter [00:02:37]:
And what I’ve realized over the years of having these kind of conversations is, is that if I don’t know something and I’m curious and I want to learn it, then there’s a good chance that. That, you know, somebody who finds this podcast is also curious and doesn’t know. And so my questions don’t come from a, like, I know everything question standpoint. It’s usually the opposite that I’m trying to learn, which I love you being on here and helping me learn. And I take lots of notes. If anyone sees me, like writing, I’m taking lots of notes because I’m just learning, just like anyone.

Jason Bush [00:03:05]:
That’s right. You know, it really. It boils down to two things, right? It’s that curiosity mindset. Right. Of wanting to learn, asking good questions. But it also comes from having the mentality of coming from a place of abundance versus scarcity. Right. Like sharing the tech.

Jason Bush [00:03:22]:
Like gonna share those I talk to because I want them to perform, I want them to do better. Like it’s. It’s not incredibly valuable. Like it’s valuable. Right. But it’s not. I’m not gonna restrict the out the distribution of it or the outlet or the use of these 10 questions. Nor am I.

Jason Bush [00:03:42]:
Do I have enough hubris to think that these are the perfect 10 questions. Right. They’re going to evolve over time. Like we’re going to learn. But I want to share the wealth so that we all do better by these business owners, these clients, as well as our own personal growth and journey. Right. It’s that curiosity and abundance mindset. If you’ve got both, you’re going to be fine.

Jason Cutter [00:04:01]:
I think it is. And I do that as well. Since we’re here in the after show and we’re talking about it, Anybody I talk to, like business brokers or anyone, like, I just want to give them as much as I can to help them. And if there’s something additional we can do, great. Otherwise, I can just, you know, part of my own personal and professional mission statement is to leave people better than I found them, I can just do that. Then, you know, I call. I call it done. I did my part.

Jason Cutter [00:04:26]:
So there you go.

Jason Bush [00:04:27]:
Yep.

Jason Cutter [00:04:28]:
That’s why we vibe very well, because I know that you’re similar in that way. Yeah.

Jason Bush [00:04:32]:
Exactly. Yep. It makes it easy.

Jason Cutter [00:04:34]:
All right, let’s jump into the planned parts of this after show which you never know what’s going to happen in the after show. But we. I got some questions. They’re generally focused more on business brokers and you can apply to the business broker. The exit planning. Where we see that the, the first one is is what do you see brokers needing to survive in 2030? We’re recording this late 2025. So let’s call it in five years from now. What are they going to need to survive?

Jason Bush [00:05:06]:
I think there’s two challenges. It’s keeping yourself from being a commodity, right? And that’s true in a ton of industries, right? Be it business brokerage, be it commercial real estate brokerage, residential brokerage, or even financial advisory, there’s the pace at which tools and AI and models and direct to consumer support. As those tools and models continue to grow, it has the. For the weaker business broker, financial advisor, right. You become commoditized and then easy to replace, right. So if you’re trying to have a career that extends into 2030, you have to fight to differentiate yourself and keep yourself from falling into the commodity and replaceable bucket. I was at an event in a child activity center event that was hosted in Orlando earlier this week and part of the presentation was a specialist that works in the AI world and they were detailing the implementation of AI tools into like gymnastics and swim school facility owners world. And they support having like the Q and A like that.

Jason Bush [00:06:33]:
What, what we typically see is like a chatbot function, right? When mom and dad have a question and they go to the website and they want to know like what’s the hours of the swim school, how much does the cost, all that kind of stuff right there. There’s an AI format that we’re all very comfortable with which takes the form of a chatbot. But with the development of AI right now we’re seeing that not only is there a chatbot, but there is a live audio function in the AI space that works as a customer response tool and it’s eliminating customer service roles in various industries. In the Southeast, most of the Bojangles right now have AI drive thru attendance there. You don’t speak, you don’t speak to a human anymore, right? And so it will replace all of or some of our work functions if we allow it to. So to differentiate yourself and maintain your relevancy going forward, the key isn’t necessarily don’t ever look at yourself as the provider of information. It’s the analysis of the information and the recommendations that you can provide associated with that, the data that you have coming into your world, that’s what’s going to make you different. That’s going to allow you to survive and differentiate yourself.

Jason Bush [00:07:46]:
Because, you know, AI can do most of the analytical components of our world now.

Jason Cutter [00:07:52]:
Yeah, yeah. I love that. That’s. That’s such a great spotlight on it, you know, And I’ve done training for years around this for different teams and companies and even individuals where it’s just true. I think because of the information age, because of the access for everything that’s available is now unlimited options. Right. Some of us remember a time where it was limited options. So if you needed something from the store or you wanted to buy a tv, it was about how far you wanted to drive to a store that sold TVs, and then it was about what TVs they had available for you to buy in that moment.

Jason Cutter [00:08:30]:
That’s basically it. Right. And now it’s unlimited.

Jason Bush [00:08:34]:
What could you fit in your. What could you fit in your car? Right?

Jason Cutter [00:08:37]:
What could you fit in your car? What car did you have? What was available on the shelf? Did they have any in stock? What was your budget like in those realms? And now it’s just anything just. You don’t even have to have a sizable car. You just order. It just gets shipped. You could get, you know, whatever you need. Which means fundamentally now for pretty much everybody that I can imagine, assume that everything is a commodity, everything is replaceable. There’s no brand loyalty except for a few brands out there. And so everybody is seen as a commodity on that side, like you said.

Jason Cutter [00:09:09]:
And then it’s really about differentiating yourself. And what people don’t need is information. They need knowledge, or they don’t need information and knowledge. They need wisdom, they need guidance, and they want a professional to help them. Unless they’re trying to do it on their own to save some money. Right. Like, unless they’re the kind of person that just wants to fix their own car, you know, pull their own teeth or make their own clothes, otherwise they’re looking for some. Some guidance.

Jason Cutter [00:09:33]:
Right.

Jason Bush [00:09:34]:
You caught me off guard with pull your own teeth analogy, but it’s apt, right? I mean. Yeah, there’s. Yeah. All the time we run into that same. That analogy holds true.

Jason Cutter [00:09:46]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I love that about the commodity. So make sure you’re not a commodity. Obviously, stand out and not stand out for. For having information and experience is good. But, you know, touting experience only somewhat helps, but not enough because I learned that. But you know how to apply that experience.

Jason Bush [00:10:04]:
Well, it’s the, it’s. Yeah. Having experience, those are table stakes, right? Yeah. No one should. You should work with an experienced advisor. Right. So touting your experience, that’s essentially a commoditization of your, of your image. Yeah, yeah, don’t do that.

Jason Cutter [00:10:25]:
And, and, and, and at times is, you know, you say for a business broker or professional or you know, financial plan it for 30, 40 years, it’s like, okay, but are you evolving or are you just doing the same thing? And not everything stays the same. So I think that’s great about the commodity side. Now let’s talk about question number two, which you alluded to somewhat in, in the, the gymnastic, like kid realm. But you know, what’s the biggest tech shift you see coming to M and A?

Jason Bush [00:10:58]:
Yeah. You know, I think we can survive some of this, right? To some degree. Right. Because it all boils down to the relationship and having, and fostering that and having as strong as a possible relationship that you can with the business owner, the real estate owner. Having that intense client relationship is the place to, to really focus on. Right. Because what used to be a value add in the M and A space was evaluation exercise. Right.

Jason Bush [00:11:34]:
Tell me what my thing is worth. That will be that effort. That exercise will be replaced via AI and tools. So like establishing the value, the data point that will ultimately be replaced and our need to be able to do that will be replaced. What will not be placed though, is our ability to analyze the results of that analysis and to tell them what that means and where do we go next and how do we utilize that information to its fullest. That’s the difference.

Jason Cutter [00:12:10]:
Yeah.

Jason Bush [00:12:10]:
So I don’t know if that answers the question. I kind of forgot what the question was, honestly.

Jason Cutter [00:12:14]:
Well, it’s about the tech shift, right. But the fundamental that you know, is kind of there is the AI tech shift, the infrastructure information that’s available.

Jason Bush [00:12:23]:
The other thing I think you’ll see. So I’ve been introduced to this concept of metaverses or meta spheres, where nearly every AI model that most access right now is a developing shared universe. Right. If you and I dump in some data or some questions into Gemini or Perplexity or whichever of our favorite AI tools the tool benefits from. Our participation that gets incorporated into the knowledge set that it gets smarter the more we interact with it. Right. And it’s use of universally shareable. Right.

Jason Bush [00:13:03]:
It’s almost kind of like a social media function. Right. Everything that you. That gets thrown into The AI tool lives there forever and just gets incorporated in future responses. What this metaverse and Metasphere is, what I’m seeing is that there’s, they’re creating closed box AI tools where they’re going to be very industry specific and that allows some of that intellectual capital to remain within a confined space. You still receive the full benefits of AI functionality, but it somewhat slows the commoditization of the skill sets by taking full advantage of the AI world but keeping it in a closed and access only environment. I think that’s one of the next shifts. It’s kind of like the pendulum of all things all OpenAI is going to swing back into the middle somewhere.

Jason Cutter [00:13:57]:
Yeah, and that makes sense. I really see that. I know there’s some tech service providers out there who have that available at really high level, like an enterprise level. Then some point that’s going to trickle down to more of the individual level. I think that’s important. And to what you were saying too about that AI tech shift and where that is the, you know, the fundamental thing that’s going to be left with this technology is just the human to human part.

Jason Bush [00:14:24]:
Right.

Jason Cutter [00:14:25]:
So more of the tech and AI, whatever form that is, doing more of the things that can just be done with it. All that’s left is the human, the relational, the, the, the wisdom piece to then apply that information in the right way, which, you know, the tech is not going to be able to do.

Jason Bush [00:14:45]:
From.

Jason Cutter [00:14:45]:
From your side. Next question. So what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from the year so far?

Jason Bush [00:14:55]:
I think pause.

Jason Cutter [00:14:57]:
Didn’t lose you. Are you there? Let me know when you’re.

Jason Bush [00:15:24]:
All right there. Yep.

Jason Cutter [00:15:28]:
Okay, let me do that one again. All right, so next question is, what’s the biggest lesson you learned in 2025?

Jason Bush [00:15:43]:
Ooh, that’s an interesting question. I don’t know if I thought, I don’t know if you prepped me with this one. Maybe you did not. That’s the first. And if you did, I might have had to have given you kind of a loosey goosey answer because I haven’t really thought about that one. You know, it’s not that I learned this, but I really applied it more fully in 2025, which is it was intentionality, like being very intentional in terms of how you grow both your individual world, like your personal relationships, like designing for your own personal future, but then also intentionality in terms of how you build your career and your business future and the actions and activities that you want to pursue that for me 2025, there was a lot of learning that happened regarding those two goals and which required me to expand myself in some directions and restrict myself in other directions. Right. In order to make sure that I’m staying true to my path and remaining intentional in terms of who I want to do business with, how I want to grow myself, both personally and professionally.

Jason Bush [00:16:58]:
So it was. I don’t know if I learned it this year, but, man, did I apply it fully this year.

Jason Cutter [00:17:03]:
Applied it, yeah, it sounds like it. And so on that note, then, what are you most excited about doing in 2026?

Jason Bush [00:17:12]:
Yeah, it’s been really exciting in 2025 to see this kind of unique unicorn type of role that I or niche that I’ve either created or stumbled into accidentally within the business brokerage exit planning, financial advisory world. So I’m really excited in 26 to, you know, ride the tailwinds that are behind me now in terms of truly knowing that there is a value in this space and that I fully intend to maximize it, you know, primarily through all taking, you know, utilizing and fostering those existing client relationships between business brokers, financial advisors, like anybody that’s already got that, that strong personal relationship in place.

Jason Cutter [00:18:00]:
Yeah, no, I, I think that’s great. I’m. I’m excited because I know that there’s a lot of power in that focus, intentionality, the focus, and then building it and then just really just getting it out there at scale. I think that’s great. So, last question in the after show is if you could wave a magic wand and have one marketing activity done for you automatically, what would you pick?

Jason Bush [00:18:28]:
Creating the. This is a personal flaw. And so it’s the simplest thing, but I love having conversations and I love like figuring out. And I think it’s a flaw just because of my engineering brain. Right. Ultimately, we’re analysts, we’re quants at heart. Right. And you want to produce something.

Jason Bush [00:18:50]:
Right. And so my, one of my marketing failures or like business development failures is that when I conclude a conversation with somebody, I often fail to schedule the next conversation. Right. And it’s the simplest thing to do. Right. But often you get running down the path of like, oh, there’s something to do. Like, there’s a, there’s a. I can move into production mode.

Jason Bush [00:19:15]:
Right. Which is great. Right. But all of this stems from relationships and conversations. And that, that failure that I often have of, of just pull up your calendar. Let’s schedule the next event. Like, it’s a, it’s. It’s kind of sits in that interchange between it’s a marketing event as well as it’s a kind of an operational flaw in my process.

Jason Cutter [00:19:39]:
Yeah.

Jason Bush [00:19:40]:
But if I could know that every single time at once I have an amazing conversation that that next scheduled event will happen, like. Yeah, yeah, that would be a gigantic win for me.

Jason Cutter [00:19:52]:
That would be it. Yeah. Okay, I’ll think about that. There’s some ways to do it. The question is, you know, how do you decide who you want to have that next?

Jason Bush [00:20:00]:
I’m very lucky from a marketing standpoint. So my wife is a former marketing director at heavy consumer products industry and she’s amazing at it. She’s my spirit guide when it comes to all my marketing activities and she keeps me very well grounded from a tactical and an execution standpoint. So I’ve got an amazing resource that I don’t pay enough.

Jason Cutter [00:20:28]:
Just, just keep doing what you’re doing and making it successful and then that’ll work out. That’ll pay for it.

Jason Bush [00:20:34]:
That’s right. That’s right.

Jason Cutter [00:20:35]:
For sure.

Jason Bush [00:20:36]:
Well, it pays off in all sorts of ways.

Jason Cutter [00:20:39]:
Yeah. I appreciate you being here, especially extra time here in the after show for people who are tuning in for some reason. If you didn’t catch the first show, make sure to check out the first main part of our conversation so that most of this makes sense and you understand it. But if you want to get in touch with Jason Bush, the best way, which he referenced on the first episode, is to go on LinkedIn to find him.

Jason Bush [00:21:00]:
Jason.

Jason Cutter [00:21:01]:
Jason Bush and in there, connect with him. Also his calendly link is in there. Schedule time to chat with him. He’s got a lot of resources, a lot of things to help other sipa, you know, exit professionals, exit planning professionals. If you’re a business broker and you want some help, definitely reach out to him. Jason, thank you again for your time and the main conversation. Staying on, doing the after show, all the things you shared that, you know, the, especially from the, the abundance and the wisdom side. I, I appreciate you being out here.

Jason Bush [00:21:31]:
Same. I appreciate it. Well, we will do this again. I’m confident about it.

Jason Cutter [00:21:34]:
We will, we will. We’ll do more of this. This is a fun topic and, and definitely on the fringes of what, you know, people are looking at or thinking from the business broker side. So I think it’s a, it’s a great topic to, to, to make awareness, which is obviously what’s helping you and your business do well and grow because of, you know, that missing piece for a lot of deals when it comes to the commercial, real estate side. So if anyone’s out there doing anything with commercial real estate in their transactions, make sure to connect with Jason Bush. And until next time, thank you for joining. Stop hoping for deals, and as always, start growing your pipeline. Thanks, and we’ll see you next time.