When you start your business, or indeed the planning of it, I’d like to suggest something a little different:
Make sure the first thing you do is plan out how you are going to get out of your business.
After all, if you plan to sell within 5 years you’ll run your business a whole lot differently than if you plan to hand the business over to your kids in 60 years.
If you plan your exit you’ve given yourself a goal – and that’s a terrific thing to have in business (most people don’t have one).
Now start planning to meet that goal. You’ve just given yourself a huge headstart over every one else.
Cheers
Brendon
Cheers,
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
ic advice, Brendon. Wish I had done that in my last ‘real world’ business effort. I knew I was going to move and leave the business in 5 or 6 years, but I made most of my decisions as if the business was going to go on forever, and never focused on an ongoing income stream that would have given me a value proposition to sell when moving time came. Closing the doors with money in th ebank is not a bad thing, but selling as a going concern would have been a lot better.
Howdy again Dave
Yep, that exit strategy should be the very first thing you plan.
The local Mexican restaurant (best Mexican ever) just closed after the owner/cook was too exhausted to keep it going.
Because she had all her knowledge in her head she really had nothing to sell.
So she walked away. Crazy.