How Can I Leave My Business?

“It’s Hard to Leave My Business.”

Your business is your “baby.”  You birthed it, nurtured it, overcame some parenting mistakes along the way; saw it through adolescence, and finally to adulthood.  While mature, it’s still living with you and your paternal tendencies still rule.  You know with certainty that this co-dependency can not last forever.  There will be a parting, and yes, it may be physically, financially, and emotionally challenging.  When planned well however, the results will leave you feeling accomplished for securing the future of your life’s work.  For you, and your company, it will be like the lyrics from “Feeling Good,” by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (as sung by Nina Simone):

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel.
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me yeah
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me
Ooh, and I'm feeling good.

And you absolutely can feel good, great even, about leaving your business because, when it’s planned well, it will be on your terms: Transition timing, selling price, successor of your choosing, and the details important for your well-being and that of your company. Conceiving your business and growing it to become independent of you is like raising your children from the place of total dependency, to a natural transition when you see them move on as responsible, self-sufficient, successful adults. What you want as a parent is also what you want as a business owner. You want the business to be successful without you when you choose your “new dawn, new day, and new life” after work.

Parenting requires 18 years or more of education, preparation, and benchmarks of progress for you to feel good about releasing children into the wide, wild world. Business continuity is similar. It should begin when the business is conceived, using time to your advantage. If your plan is not already in place, now is the time to begin.

When I hear business owners lament that it’s really hard to think about leaving a 20, 30, or 40+ year career, it’s mostly because there isn’t a plan, the luxury of time has evaporated, and the realities of life are forcing options resembling “leaving” versus “transitioning.”

We work persistently to facilitate perpetual businesses and want you to be counted among the success stories.  Leave on your terms, feeling joy and pride that your legacy lives on. Start today with a Succession Continuity Plan (https://perpetualbusiness.co/product/succession-continuity-plan) and build from there.
Then, when you are ready to sell, you’ll be singing…,“It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me.  Ooh, and I'm feeling good”.