Here we are! We have arrived at our final destination – the goal was to never work Fridays again, or in fact to give you freedom of choice over how to spend your time, so how are you getting on with the journey?
If you’ve followed the Nine Step Masterplan to work on your business, you could well be generating a very healthy income, with a successful and loyal team about you, and feeling good about your achievement. So, what’s next?
You’ve put months, nay years into getting to this point and it’s taken a lot of headspace, time and dedication to get here. You’re in a very strong position now, so let’s look at your choices…
Remain in your business and continue working a flexible lifestyle, building it even bigger until it’s time to retire…
Exit your business and discover new experiences; life, family, hobbies, maybe even another business…
Looking back at ‘the three freedom factors’: time, money and location, we’re aiming now to remove any constraints on those things. Here are three key considerations to assist:
- Decide on your future plan – for example build, invest, sell, retire
- Create your future plan
- Identify if it is the end of your journey or the start of a new one.
If you have already thought about your plan to exit your business, and created trigger points, ‘when this happens, this is done’, emotive and difficult decisions should become easier, but I do acknowledge that this stage can be very hard to contemplate, so give yourself plenty of time and speak to the people who matter in your life.
You might be surprised to hear that only 2 out of every 10 business that come to market actually sell, and 75% of business owners ‘profoundly’ regret selling their business within one year* so this step requires you to get into the minutiae or your decision and get really clear on why you are exiting (if that’s your decision).
Are you considering selling or exiting your business?
Three questions to ask yourself which might help you decide:
- What is your business worth?
- How badly do you want to leave your business?
- How much energy do you have left?
Be honest with yourself, and consider how you’ll spend your time afterwards, how you’ll be perceived by others, and where you’ll find your purpose and joy.
A note about the risk of selling your business
There is a correlation between the business size and the perceived risk of purchasing it. The larger the business the lower the risk. This is because a larger business should be more stable and less reliant on one person.
That’s why you’ve worked hard to get where you are – why you’ve worked hard to grow and develop your business and why you’ve worked hard to achieve the release from the constraints on your freedom.
If you’d like advice on exiting your business, selling it, or creating more freedom for yourself, I’m here to help.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey through the Nine Step Masterplan with me, and I’d love to discuss any ideas it’s brought up for you…
Mike
* Source Exit Planning Institute