Divorcing Your Business Partner, with Bill Piercy, Berman Fink Van Horn (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 130)
In this episode of The Price and Value Journey, host John Ray welcomes Bill Piercy, a widely respected business litigator with Berman Fink Van Horn and author of Life’s Too Short for a Bad Business Partner. Specializing in corporate divorce, Bill shares his insights into managing and resolving conflicts in business partnerships. With over two decades of experience focused in this practice specialty, Bill discusses the emotional and financial impacts of bad business relationships, underlining the importance of having an exit strategy. He also addresses red flags in partnerships, the roles of emotions in business disputes, and the steps business owners can take to protect their interests. Bill emphasizes the significance of effective communication, understanding fiduciary duties, and recognizing the cost of inaction. Additionally, he touches on the complexities that service-based business owners face in partnerships and provides a practical guide for navigating these challenges.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.
Bill Piercy, Berman Fink Van Horn, and Author of Life’s Too Short for a Bad Business Partner
Bill Piercy is a shareholder at Berman Fink Van Horn P.C. in Atlanta, Georgia, where he specializes in business litigation with a particular focus on resolving disputes among business partners, owners, and management within closely held companies. With more than two decades of experience in what is often referred to as the “corporate divorce” arena, Bill understands the complexities and challenges that arise from internal conflicts in business relationships. He works closely with business owners to bring about efficient and successful resolutions that allow clients to move past unproductive partnerships and focus on healthier, more productive business relationships.
Bill is the author of Life’s Too Short for a Bad Business Partner, a practical guide that helps business partners navigate the difficult process of ending unproductive business relationships and moving forward successfully. His approach combines hard work, candid advice, and strong advocacy, which has earned him a reputation for helping clients protect their interests while minimizing the disruption that disputes can cause to business operations and revenues.
Since 2012, Bill has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Trend Magazine for his expertise in business litigation. He has also received the prestigious AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which reflects the highest standards of legal ability and ethical conduct. Additionally, he has been named one of Georgia’s Legal Elite by Georgia Trend Magazine and has been included in The Best Lawyers in America since 2015.
Bill’s practice primarily involves business litigation, including partnership disputes, non-compete agreements, and trade secret cases, and he has successfully represented clients in thousands of disputes, achieving favorable outcomes through jury verdicts, summary judgments, and settlements. He is actively involved in professional organizations such as the Atlanta Bar Association and the American Bar Association’s Business Litigation Section. Beyond his legal work, Bill participates in community and leadership programs, including Leadership DeKalb, and is a member of the National Eagle Scout Association.
Known for his tenacity, creativity, and ethical approach, Bill Piercy is widely respected within Georgia’s legal community as a leading advocate for business owners navigating complex disputes.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:00 Introduction to The Price and Value Journey
01:27 Bill Piercy’s Journey into Business Law
02:20 The Reality of Business Partnerships
03:32 Importance of Exit Strategies
06:25 Challenges for Service Providers
10:29 Recognizing Red Flags in Partnerships
19:40 Fiduciary Duties and Minority Rights
23:43 Emotions in Business Breakups
26:34 Defining and Protecting Business Value
29:59 Unlocking Value Through Breakups
32:13 The Cost of Inaction
33:10 Endure, End, or Fix: Choices in Business Relationships
33:55 Sunk Cost Fallacy in Business
37:05 When to Involve Legal Counsel
48:06 Role of Service Providers in Business Disputes
55:48 Concluding Thoughts and Contact Information
About The Price and Value Journey Podcast
The Price and Value Journey is a show for expert-service professionals who want more than formulas and quick fixes. If you’re a solo or small-firm provider—consultant, coach, attorney, CPA, or fractional executive—you know the real work of building a practice goes far beyond pricing. It’s about finding clarity, showing up with confidence, and learning how to express the full value of what you do in ways that clients understand and appreciate.
Hosted by John Ray, business advisor and author of The Generosity Mindset, this podcast explores the deeper journey behind running a services business: how you think about your work, how you relate to clients, and how you sustain a business that’s not only profitable but deeply fulfilling. Yes, we talk pricing, but we also talk mindset, business development, trust, empathy, positioning, and all the intangible ingredients that make a practice thrive.
With solo episodes and conversations featuring thoughtful guests, The Price and Value Journey is a companion for professionals who are building something meaningful. Produced in partnership with North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, the podcast is accessible on all major podcast platforms. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a podcast show host, strategist, and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.
John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 850 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.
John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices
John is the #1 national best-selling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.
If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to them. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset™, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.
Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver great value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.
Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.
If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.
The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.
