Chris Buttenham

Chris is one of the founders of Reins and loves talking to small business owners across America. For over 15 years, he has owned various small businesses himself, and provides great insight into helping fellow owners with their retention and succession plans via phantom stock plans.

If you share profits, do you cut back on equity? Apparently not.

Chris Buttenham

Simplifying Tax Time with Phantom Stock and the Modern Agreement for Rewards and Equity (MARE)

Learn how offering phantom stock instead of traditional stock helps workers avoid the immediate tax burden.

Chris Buttenham

Jumpstart a Team-Based Culture with Retention Rewards and Performance Bonuses

February 18, 2024

Building a team-based culture creates a space where everyone feels appreciated and works together to achieve goals.

Chris Buttenham

Investing Wisely in Bonuses and Benefits Leads to Overall Savings

February 4, 2025

Employers who invest in bonuses and benefits for their teams can see overall savings, reduced turnover and improve productivity.

Chris Buttenham

How businesses plan to divide [phantom] equity and how that changes with size

January 22, 2025

It turns out the less the pool is being divided, the less equity is being allocated to it. And that doesn’t appear to change with company size.

Chris Buttenham

Are employee [phantom] stock programs a lot more generous at S Corp and C Corp organizations?

January 15, 2025

The data says in some cases yes, but mostly no. In a survey on our website, we don’t see a decisive split on how much of their equity organizations set aside for these programs by business type, though there are some differences.

Chris Buttenham

Does size matter when it comes to sharing [phantom] equity?

January 9, 2025

According to the data, yes. When setting aside a pool for equity, the more people employed by a company correspond negatively to the amount of equity set aside.

Chris Buttenham

Cut Through the Jargon: Understanding the keys to employee retention incentives and owner equity plans

January 22, 2025

We want to help you cut through the industry jargon. Here are some terms you'll need to know when planning retention incentives.

Chris Buttenham

It’s Never Too Late to Plan an Exit Strategy

January 8, 2025

You may think you have everything in place so your business can succeed, but if you haven't authored an exit strategy, you're not done yet. Here is how to plan an exit

Chris Buttenham

How to Implement a Milestone and Goal-Driven Profit-Sharing Plan for Your Home Services Business

December 18, 2024

Profit sharing is a popular tool available for companies in the home service industry. However, simply passing along profit to employees without some objectives in place doesn’t make sense for everyone. Learn what kind of milestones you should set.

Chris Buttenham

Adapting Stock and Profit-Sharing Programs from Successful Corporations to Your Home Service Business

December 4, 2024

Often, organizations with smaller staff and budgets struggle to provide the perks that larger organizations can provide. But with new profit-sharing and stock phantom stock options, smaller businesses can compete with their larger counterparts.

Chris Buttenham

Say Thanks to Key Employees and Boost Your Company’s Performance

November 20, 2024

One of the best ways to show your employees how much you value them is to provide them with a piece of the business. Now small businesses can compete with the larger ones with a variety of employee equity packages.

Chris Buttenham