If you want to develop an easy fix for exiting your business, you need a business exit plan strategy. Simple right? Well, there is a lot of work to it, but if you approach it with a good business plan, you can make it a lot easier on yourself, those who work with you, those who care about you, and those who buy from you. Did I leave anyone out? Yes, and those who advise you on your success-based strategy.
Remember, exiting your business successfully requires a sound strategy for you to plan your personal, business, and financial goals. And managing your emotions will be a large part of this success-based strategy.
Depending on how long you’ve been the owner of your company there’s a good chance that you’ve developed some strong emotional ties to your company. It’s yours – you created it, developed it, hired the employees, marketed and sold the goods and services. When you start to think about letting go – exiting – it’s not unlike seeing your children moving out and starting a new life for themselves.
And that is part of the easy fix – looking at your exit as a great opportunity to build on your success by developing a personal plan for that new life for yourself. But before we go there we need to think about your business exit.
Is Your Business Ready To Sell?
Oftentimes this is not an easy question to answer, so here are several suggestions. If you have an idea how much your business is worth, have you considered engaging a qualified business evaluation specialist who can provide you objective information? And if you have, did you receive recommendations on changes you need to make before you put your company up for sale – for instance, increasing sales, decreasing expenses, establishing systems and processes that are not dependent on you – the current owner. These are just a few areas to think about. Expert advisors can take a detailed look at your business from a buyers’ perspective and provide you great insight into value drivers.
Manage The Emotions
Let’s first understand how much you’ve accomplished and how that has impacted your self-belief. Understand as well how much effort you expended in developing relationships with employees, customers, vendors, and other businesses so you could build your company in a way that it would be successful – and it has been. The effort expended, your self-belief, your self-direction, and the role you played all impact your level of self-awareness.
When you start to think about selling your company, what thoughts and emotions arise? Reluctance, uncertainty, fearful – or hope, optimism, eager, and relieved? How are these emotions going to impact your exit decision process?
The Decisions
Yes, decisions. There are two distinct decisions you need to consider and work on. One is who you are going to sell your business to. The other is what you are going to do with your new life after you’ve sold the business. Think about all you will do – the Monday morning after. Work on a plan to develop your new life first and the “who to sell to process” will work much easier.
Who Should You Sell To?
Great question right? And if the answer was really easy you would not be trying to figure it out. Let me ask, what are some positive benefits to you personally that you can think of when you are thinking about selling your business to a new owner? Next, what are some positive benefits to your company? Now that you’ve thought about some of the upsides, think about some of the downsides to you and your company when you are thinking about selling your business to a new owner. Are you starting to get a good picture of the need for a complete strategy?\
The Ideal New Owner
Close your eyes for a minute and think about the best situation for you to exit your company and sell to a new owner so that you can start living your new life. What do you see, think, and feel? As you are thinking about this scenario are any concerns and worries popping up that you feel you need to address? Moreover, are you starting to get a little bit afraid of this whole process about exiting your business and selling to a new owner?
Future Visioning
As you start to move through the process of creating an effective exit and transition strategy it will be helpful to develop a future picture of what your business will look like under new ownership. First off, is the business still prospering? If it is prospering, how do you feel about it?
When You See A Fork In The Road…
As I transition planning consultant I truly enjoy working with business owners to start the process to exit their business. As a business owner I hope you will find the emotional, personal, financial, and business satisfaction you need to continue on your journey, whichever fork it is you choose, and make sure you take the fork in the road that works best for the future that you have defined. Yogi Berra will be pleased that you did.
