How Will I Leave My Business?

You prepare to close up another day of successfully dealing with your business challenges.  You have a revelation.  Your inner voice says, “I don’t want to work forever,” but then you wonder, “How will I leave my business?”

Interestingly, that question is really two in one:  How will “I” leave my business; how will I leave my “business?”  One is about you, the other, your company.

How will “you” leave?  Here are some points to ponder: What do you like doing besides working?  What other people, travel, hobbies, secondary careers, and pastimes are on your wish list? What wonderful and enjoyable adventures await me?  Think about those now so that you have something to look forward to.  They will be the source of rewarding new goals.

Next … how you will leave your “business?”  How will it survive your departure? Who might buy it?  Where will the purchase money come from?  What will happen to the employees if someone else becomes the boss?  Besides the company itself, if you own your real estate, who will make the lease payments or purchase it?

Do you have a definitive, written exit plan?

The reasons for answering the question, “How will you leave your business” are readily apparent when you take time to ask the question in the first place. Many owners, however, are often so immersed in operating the business that time is not reserved to consider the “other side” of life.  Moreover, time is required to first create and then execute your plan.  Don’t let it slip away.  Time is a diminishing asset.

From owners throughout the U.S., I hear comments such as these, “I wish I had thought about how I would sell my business when I started it; I wish I had begun my exit plan sooner; I had a key employee for several years who wanted to become the next owner, but then he/she left; I am just plain burnt out, but I don’t know how I’m going to leave.”

Spark exit planning now so you won’t have similar laments:
Create an employee development plan for all employees so that everyone has a path to advance their education, skills, and engagement in your company.

Create a progressive pay plan that rewards employee’s added value.

Consider a profit-sharing plan that begins sharing once your company exceeds a target.

Use profit sharing vesting restrictions that can allow the funds to grow over time into larger benefits paid at a later date, which encourages employee longevity.

If you don’t know how you will exit your company and what you will do after your career, this is your call to action.  You want to have a vision, then define how you can get it done.  You don’t even have to do it all at once.  Even if it is a single small step, there’s always a place to start. For your personal health and that of your company, start preparing now.

“Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”  George Washington Carver (botanist and inventor).

When you make it your habit to get things done you’ll be successful and your legacy will live on. We can help: https://perpetualbusiness.co/