Do you take a vacation by randomly driving to the airport with no luggage, walking in and buying a random ticket to a random place? No, you plan a trip by doing just that – planning.

This random vacation example might seem absurd, but when it comes to business ownership lack of planning can be a big problem.

How? Although small business owners have some 70-90% of their net worth wrapped up in their businesses, they often don’t have an exit strategy (according to the Q3 Market Pulse Executive Summary). There’s no plan in place for what to do when the time comes to leave the helm. This is obviously a risky mistake as you could be forced to leave an enormous amount of money on the table if forced to sell unprepared.

I’m not planning on leaving my business for a long time, why do I need an exit strategy?

Every single business owner needs an exit strategy from day one because life has a funny way of getting in the way.

You might want to own your business until your retirement years, but what if a family member in a different state suddenly needs you to relocate to help them through a medical emergency? What if your children and grandchildren live across the country and you decide you’d rather be closer? What if you have your own medical issues that keep you from your daily duties in your business for an extended period of time? What if there’s a major market issue, like a pandemic, that essentially halts your ability to keep your business in the black? What if you get too burned out from the daily grind and want out decades before you initially thought you would?

There are a lot of ways that life can get in the way of your long-term goals for business ownership, and the best way to protect your massive investment of time, energy and money is to have an exit strategy from day one.

Put together your game plan if you had to sell your business tomorrow. Keep your books in order. Talk to a business broker today about what your business would need if you had to implement your exit strategy suddenly, then follow through on that advice. Plan ahead so you’re ready if life gets in the way.

Do you currently own a business and would like to know more about how to put an exit strategy in place? Would you like to know more about how we help clients prepare their businesses for sale? Ask us! Leave any questions or comments and we would be happy to help.

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com