After 25-plus years as a self-employed advisor — working with names like Mick Jagger, Olivia Newton-John, Andrea Bocelli, and multiple European parliaments — Steven E. Kuhn was caught in the same trap that snares most consultants and advisors: the endless race for the next client.

A contract ends… another begins...

Revenue is real, but wealth is elusive.

Then a potential client said 3 words that changed everything: "We can't afford you."

Instead of walking away or cutting his rate, Kuhn proposed something different... He would reduce his fee — and take equity in the company instead.

That one conversation became the foundation of a strategy that allowed him to gain equity stakes in multiple companies over the years and getting paid every single time — all without any money down, prior M&A experience, or industry-specific expertise.

From one of the most-watched video trainings on our Business Acquisition Summit YouTube channel, here's the secrets Steven shared:

Most people walk into a conversation with an outcome already in mind. They want the deal, the equity, the signed agreement…

But Kuhn says that's exactly the wrong approach — and it kills more deals than any pricing objection ever could.

"You don't ask for equity — ever," he explains. "You go in with one intention only: to solve their problems."

When he joined a call to help a British associate break through with a UK marine supplies company — a business on the market for £4.5 million — the seller had been refusing to open up about her financials, her motivations, or her concerns.

Within minutes of Kuhn joining the conversation, she was sharing her background, her immigration story, her personal goals. She started volunteering information nobody had even asked for.

Why? Because Kuhn showed up genuinely interested in her as a person — not as a transaction.

That's Step 1: Create real space for the person in front of you.

No preconceived solutions... No cookie-cutter pitches... Just honest curiosity about who they are, what they've tried, and where they want to go.

Once genuine rapport is established, Kuhn uses a 5-question framework to surface everything he needs (woven naturally into conversation, not rattled off like a checklist):

These 5 questions get the other person to fully articulate their problems, their failed attempts, and their aspirations — out loud, in a shared space. By the time they finish answering, they've essentially written Kuhn’s proposal.

"They feel like you really understand what they need," he says. "Because you took the time to actually listen."

Here's where most advisors leave serious money on the table.

After those 5 questions reveal the core problems, Kuhn doesn't make an offer. He doesn't pitch. He says: "Give me a few days. I'll come back with a solution."

Then he gets to work — making calls, sourcing contacts, building the actual framework for what's possible. When he returns to the conversation, he comes back with numbers — not vague promises.

In one example from an Austrian weapons accessories company seeking a path into the American market, Kuhn spent 2.5 hours on the phone over the course of a week. He lined up a manufacturer, a distribution partner, and a government contracting specialist. When he sat down with the business owner — who hadn't signed anything or paid a cent yet — Kuhn laid out between 3-5 million dollars in projected revenue over 3 to 5 years.

The owner's response: "You did all that without a contract. Why would you do that?"

Kuhn's answer: "Because you don't know who these people are. I can walk away right now and you'd be exactly where you were when we met."

The owner asked to see the agreement on the spot. Kuhn walked across the street to his house, wrote it up in 5 minutes using his one-page template, and came back. The deal was signed the same day — with a cash upfront payment handed over in person.

That's what quantifiable results do. They collapse resistance. They eliminate the "let me think about it." They make saying no feel like the irrational choice.

Kuhn is emphatic on this: keep it to 1 page.

A long agreement kills momentum. It invites lawyers, delays, and second-guessing. A 1-page agreement — clear, simple, immediately signable — keeps energy moving in the right direction. And importantly, once a client agrees to the terms, their lawyer drafts the formal equity share agreement based on the one-pager. The advisor doesn't pay for legal.

The 4 elements Kuhn includes in every agreement:

1. Upfront fee — paid for the introductions and connections being made. In the Austrian example, this was €20,000. The logic is simple: if the introductions are worth millions in projected revenue, a five-figure introduction fee is an obvious yes.

2. Monthly retainer — typically 3 to 5 months, to ensure the new relationships are properly integrated and moving forward. In the Austrian deal, this was €5,000 per month for 3 months.

3. Equity stake — Kuhn typically starts at 5% and ranges up to about 25%, depending on the value being created. He advises against jumping straight to high equity percentages. When a gym owner in Australia offered him 30% unprompted, Kuhn talked her down to 15%. "I didn't grab it all," he explains. "That one moment changed everything about our relationship going forward."

4. Sales commission — a percentage (typically 3–5%) of revenue generated through the introduced distribution and sales relationships, paid over three years.

And always the agreement includes a 3-year exit clause. That's the point at which Kuhn takes his equity stake as a capital event: the company is valued, shares are liquidated, and he walks away with a lump sum.

Then he moves on to the next.

To put it in concrete terms, Kuhn offers an example with a smaller deal:

A €5,000 upfront fee, a €3,000/month retainer for 3 months, 5% equity with a 3-year exit, and a 3% sales commission.

That's €14,000 in near-term fees, and at exit, if the equity is worth a modest €30,000 and the commissions generate €20,000 — total receipts over 3 years come to €64,000 from a single client relationship.

And that equity stake? He recently received an offer to buy out a 5% position early for €80,000 — a stake he'd received in exchange for advisory services rather than capital. He took it without hesitation.

"That was free money," he says. "You want to take €80,000 in free money? I absolutely want to take it."

Do this across several clients simultaneously — with staggered 3-year timelines — and the result delivers both recurring income and a portfolio of capital events, compounding year after year.

One of the most important things Kuhn stresses: expertise in a client's specific industry is not required.

When he encountered the marine supplies company, he knew nothing about marine supplies. What he knew was that a marina owner in Vietnam — an American, just like the UK seller — might be the perfect connector. Within a day, he had facilitated the conversation. A satellite office partnership was being discussed before the acquisition was even finalized.

The skill you offer isn't specific domain knowledge, but the ability to identify problems clearly and deploy a network of people who can solve them. Anyone with a useful service, strong relationships, or a genuine ability to connect people is already in the game.

"You can be 100% certain you have the solution," Kuhn explains, "regardless of whether you personally know the answer. Because now you know someone who does."

What Kuhn discovered is a fundamentally different way to get paid for expertise.

Instead of chasing clients indefinitely, advisors can structure relationships that pay a retainer now and equity later.

Instead of one-off engagements, they build stakes in companies growing with their help. Instead of working harder for more revenue, they work once — and exit with capital.

In M&A, there's a saying: You don't make real money running a company; you make money when you sell one.

Kuhn's insight is that advisors can apply that same principle — without ever owning the whole company. Just a piece of it, but enough of a piece to matter.

And they get paid while they wait for it to mature.

Steven E. Kuhn is an American business advisor, speaker, and author of “Unleash Your Humble Alpha.” He has advised companies across the Americas, Europe, and beyond. A friend of the A&E newsletter and the Business Acquisition Summit, he initially made the intro’s that led to their creation. His newer ventures are in the area of politics and civic engagement — with the citizen-led movement Take America Back and his new book, Citizen Servant Leader.

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