Business Master Minds

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The Graceful Exit

Lisa Friedel

Know where to go will help you grow

So… it’s the dog days of summer.  Hot, humid and stagnant air that just sort of weighs you down and makes you want to be lazy. Now add a crazy virus with no predictability and it’s the perfect environment for isolating yourself inside in the cool air.  And if we’re all cozy inside most days - how are you leveraging this time to improve your business, or get it back up and running? In order to do that, have you clearly established what the end game is for your business? When we started our business we were told many times by different people to determine your exit strategy at the very beginning and that will help you determine how to grow your business! Brilliant right? Exit strategies can be any of the following and there are many others:

  1. Sell my business for $XXX because it is my retirement investment

  2. Sell my business for $XX because that money will supplement our retirement savings

  3. Sell my business for $X because I don’t have time to build a big business, I just want something that will bring in the income I need now until retirement

  4. Hand over the business to our children and collect a percent monthly

  5. Sell the business to the employees and walk away

  6. Close the business with or without any money with it

Many of us know we want to build a business and feel passionate about what we’re doing but have you determined where you want to go with it and when? I think it’s really important to do the work and iron out these details. This will help you understand how much pressure to put on the gas pedal. This break in the action has presented an opportunity to reexamine your end game. Maybe it’s time to your business now? Maybe it’s time to let people go and hire when the market is back?

While I hate this time of year, I also have this hint of excitement that autumn is around the corner. And I LOVE Fall weather, the colors, the air, the sound of the leaves. For me there is always a glimmer a hope and that keeps me positive and driving toward something instead of just driving.