Why Do I Need a Successor Now?

When You Leave Your Company, Who Will Remain?

A generation ago, 30% of small businesses transitioned successfully to a second owner.  Today, less than 15% will continue beyond the current owner.  Said another way, more than 85 of every 100 small businesses will simply liquidate their assets and vanish upon the death, disability, or retirement of its owner.  How sad that a lifetime of effort will fade into obscurity, depriving the owner of retirement income, a successor an opportunity, employees their careers, customers their service provider, and a city a vibrant contributor to the community.  Don’t allow your business to become one of the vanishing 85%.  You can ensure an enduring legacy by taking action.  Regardless of your age or time in business, start your plan now by identifying your potential successor - your "owner shadow"!

Your successor "shadow" can be anyone who:

a. Desires to be an owner
b. Demonstrates a passion to excel
c. Persistently advances their skills and knowledge
d. Relentlessly pursues new opportunities
e. Perseveres toward their goals, regardless of the obstacles

Once identified, (and if you don’t have anyone in your organization now, you must hire one), it is your responsibility to provide a fertile environment for their growth. Groom your successor to first become a shadow of you, your knowledge, maturity, and business success, and then, encourage your successor candidate to become even better than you.   You want to replace any dependency on you with independence from you. Paraphrasing a quote by Harvey Firestone, “It is only as you develop your successor that you will permanently succeed.”

Nurturing your shadow gives you an exit strategy with the highest probabilities for success.  Why, because outside buyers are so very, very rare!  The age group with cash and assets is most likely over the age of 55, planning for their own retirement, not risking their life’s savings.  Those younger, likely do not have investable cash or even the assets to pledge as collateral for a bank loan, and those that do, must then have a desire to be in business for themselves, and then those must want to be in your business, and then those must have the capabilities to actually run a company.  So, you can hope that you’ll become a lucky lottery winner and get an outside buyer when you want one or... you can develop one (or more) starting right now.

If you have children, this concept is really easy to understand.  As a parent, your greatest accomplishment as you raised (or raise) your children was to educate them to the best of your ability, develop their confidence, self-worth, and self-reliance, encourage their independence, and then, hope that their lives might be even better than yours.  It is the same with your company (your other family) and your staff (your other dependents).  Your people are your business!  When you fulfill their lives personally and professionally, your legacy will likewise be fulfilled.

This is concept is a basic need for every small business that wants to successfully add value to the lives of owner, employees, customers and their families and communities now and into the future. Please share it with every business owner you know.  Let’s improve our country’s small business succession statistics. There’s so much to be gained!

We have tools and resources to help https://perpetualbusiness.co/