Why Should I Be Exit Ready?
You say “but why should I think about this now?”
The answer: most business owners have to exit suddenly because life (or shit) happens, these are known as the 5 D’s: Distress, Disagreement, Disease/Disability, Divorce, Death.
If that happens, where does that leave your dependents: family, friends, and your team? How will they feel if you suddenly disappear and let them all down?
So, isn’t your best plan to make sure the business can run without you being there? So when you do want to, or have to leave, everyone is still happy, and you won’t have the worry of letting them down.
Many businesses never sell, but the only certainty is every business owner will exit at some point, so, how do you want to leave? On your terms or be a victim of circumstances?
Do you want to maximise the return for all the hard work & time you have ploughed into the business, or will you simply shut the doors and throw away the chance to boost your retirement coffers?
Maybe you can see the folly in investing & working in a business for many years, just to see it disappear when you stop working and get no return on all that investment of your time & money.
When it’s time to stop working & put your feet up, don’t you want to make sure you have done your best to make sure you can afford to do what you want with your time?
Exit planning is not just about selling your business, although selling is one way of exiting a business. It is about making sure you are not at the center of everything & don’t have enough hours in the day. But instead having a business delivers a quality service to your customers, consistently, to maintain & improve your reputation.
It is about exiting your business successfully – and by ‘successfully’, I mean ensuring all your business, personal & financial goals are met, providing you with choices: the opportunity to live the lifestyle that you really want. Holidays, cruises, cash in the bank to enjoy yourself and treat your loved ones.
The key is ‘choices’ because, all too often, I meet with business owners looking to exit who have no choices. Instead, they are forced down a particular route – normally one that they didn’t plan for and don’t want to go down.
You should know Exit Planning is only best practice in business; successful entrepreneurs start with the end in mind, building in a preset number of years to float on the Stock Exchange. Although you might not to do that yourself, the concept is the same.
We can implement an exit strategy for you and your business. I can explain the steps involved in helping you achieve a successful exit, & you can choose when to stop.
