Ep. 008: Selling the Family Business and Losing your Wife in the Same Year w/ Trent Murphy
- Ryan Snaadt
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Scaling, Selling, and Survival: Lessons from Trent Murphy on the Rhymes With Odd Podcast
For many entrepreneurs in the Des Moines metro, the dream is simple: build something of value, provide for your family, and eventually exit on your own terms. But as any seasoned business owner in Ankeny or West Des Moines will tell you, the path from a basement startup to a multi-million dollar sale is rarely a straight line.
In a recent episode of the Rhymes With Odd podcast, host Ryan Snaadt sat down with Trent Murphy, the former President of CJM Financial. Their conversation is a masterclass in "accidental" entrepreneurship, the grueling reality of family business dynamics, and the emotional weight of leadership.
Here is an in-depth look at Trent’s journey and the strategies he used to scale a local Iowa business into a national player.
From the Classroom to the Boardroom: An Unlikely Transition
Before he was navigating the high-stakes world of transportation finance, Trent Murphy was a high school science teacher. With a background in biology and chemistry, his career trajectory was aimed at education and coaching. However, the pull of the family business and a desire to provide a different life for his daughter brought him back from Arizona to Iowa.
Ryan Snaadt highlights a common theme in this episode: the "Silver Spoon" myth. While Trent was stepping into a business started by his father, it was far from a handout.
"I took over that company and didn’t have enough money to make my car payment... I delivered pizzas for a year and a half at Domino’s while being the President of a company." — Trent Murphy
This period of Trent’s life serves as a reminder to Des Moines business owners that titles don’t pay the bills—cash flow does. Trent’s willingness to humble himself by delivering pizzas at night while cold-calling clients by day set the foundation for his future success.
What is Factoring? Solving the Cash Flow Gap in Trucking
One of the most technical yet vital parts of the conversation between Trent and Ryan Snaadt revolves around factoring. For the uninitiated, factoring is a financial transaction where a business sells its accounts receivable (invoices) to a third party at a discount.
In the Iowa trucking industry, this is a lifeline. A driver might deliver a load from Des Moines to Chicago but not receive payment from the corporation for 60 days. Meanwhile, they have immediate costs:
Diesel fuel
Truck insurance
Maintenance
Payroll
Trent positioned CJM Financial as the "umbrella in the rain." By paying the drivers immediately, CJM took on the risk and the waiting period, allowing small trucking fleets to stay liquid and grow.
Scaling a Family Business in Ankeny, Iowa
When Trent took the reins, CJM Financial was a "mom-and-pop" shop operating with Excel spreadsheets and photocopiers. To scale, Trent knew he had to modernize.
1. Modernizing the Tech Stack
Transitioning from manual tracking to an integrated accounting system allowed the business to handle more volume without a linear increase in headcount. Before selling the company, Trent and his wife, Renee, even developed a proprietary app to streamline the submission of invoices, proving that even "old school" industries like trucking must embrace digital transformation to survive.
2. Aggressive Sales vs. Passive Growth
Trent’s father had relied on word-of-mouth. Trent, driven by the need to stop delivering pizzas, shifted to active sales. He spent his days on the road, talking to Iowa farmers who owned trucks on the side, explaining how factoring could protect them from bad debt.
3. Creating "Kickers" and Incentives
Negotiating with parents can be harder than negotiating with a bank. Trent established a "four-year plan" with performance-based raises. By hitting his goals in just two years, he proved the concept and earned his seat at the table.
The Weight of the "Entrepreneurial Crown"
A poignant moment in the interview occurs when Ryan Snaadt asks about the pressure of managing growth. Trent reflects on the shift from being a solo operator to managing 23 employees.
For many Des Moines marketers and owners, "scaling" sounds like a purely financial goal. But Trent reminds us of the human cost. Every hiring decision meant another family was "codependent" on his choices. Navigating the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic wasn't just about saving a balance sheet; it was about ensuring 23 families in the Ankeny community could pay their mortgages.
The "Exit" Strategy: Knowing When to Walk Away
Why sell a successful, growing company? Trent’s perspective is refreshing: You grow it to sell it.
He reached a crossroads familiar to many successful founders:
Option A: Invest massive capital into the next decade of technology and acquisitions.
Option B: Exit while the culture is strong and the value is at its peak.
Trent chose Option B, selling to a bank. He argues that being "emotionally attached" to a business can actually be a disservice to your employees and customers if it prevents the company from reaching its next level of evolution under new ownership.
Mentorship and the Orbis Program
Today, Trent isn't just sitting on a beach. He is heavily involved in the Ankeny Orbis program, a project-based learning initiative for high school students. He treats his new ventures—like the Toasted Mary’s food trailer—as "incubators" for the next generation.
By allowing students to handle city inspections, GFI outlet installations, and marketing, he is providing the "hands-on" education he felt was missing from traditional management textbooks.
Final Thoughts for Des Moines Business Owners
The conversation between Trent Murphy and Ryan Snaadt on the Rhymes With Odd podcast is a powerful narrative of resilience. It highlights that success in the Iowa business landscape requires a mix of "hard sciences" and "soft skills"—the ability to read a P&L statement while also having the empathy to lead a team through a crisis.
Key Takeaways for your Business:
Don't be too proud to hustle: If you have to deliver pizzas to keep your dream alive, do it.
Identify the "Pain Point": CJM Financial succeeded because they solved a specific cash flow problem for truckers.
Plan your exit from day one: Build processes that don't require you to be in the room.
To hear the full story of how Trent managed the highs of a multi-million dollar exit and the lows of personal loss in the same year, be sure to catch Ep. 008 of the Rhymes With Odd podcast.
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