No doubt, when starting out in business, you will have heard how you should ‘start with the end in mind.’ But what does that mean exactly? It can be really hard to do if you don’t know what the ‘end’ can look like.
Here are a couple of easy steps to consider that will get you in the right frame of mind.
Starting a business is a BIG deal. Building it to become more than your hobby is even bigger again. In fact, building your business into an asset may result in it being possibly the largest asset you’ll ever own, or second maybe to your home.
But the time does come when you’re over it. Hard to believe, but it happens to the best of us! The “baby” you’ve nurtured into the thing of beauty it is today eventually has to leave the nest, or you have to leave it, one or the other.
When you’ve arrived at that point and you’re feeling like you want it all to end, this can quite often be the worst time to be thinking about how to get out, exiting or selling. Hasty decisions made quickly may not be in your best interest. It’s at this time when it’s really easy to just throw in the towel, walk away and “shut up shop.”
Of course, you can justify taking this course of action in a variety of ways, but the end result is usually the same; all that blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested will have been for nothing!
And, you wouldn’t want your family to see you all stressed, with unhappiness levels escalating because you’re stuck doing something you no longer want to do. BUT you know you’ve spent too much of your precious resource – TIME – on this little baby to not get some sort of payback. What to do?
There is a better way…
The secret is, if you’re at the stage in your business that it’s OK for now, but you’ve come to realise it is not what you want to be doing for the rest of your life, that’s the time to plan your EXIT. Do it while you still “like” each other (you and the business that is!) before it deteriorates to ugly divorce levels, where you just cut your losses and run!
If SELLing is the answer, then it’s time to get strategic about how to do that, the necessary adjustments to be made, and who that special someone will be that will love it as much as you once did. Think about it this way, would you put your home on the market without a little thinking and TLC-driven renovation first?
Here’s what to start thinking about and begin collating, to go down the EXIT path…
Why?
- Why did you set up your business?
- What purpose does it serve?
- Why do you now want to move on?
- Why should a buyer be interested in taking this off your hands?
What?
- What is the “story” of your Business?
- What stuff does it sell?
- What “pain” does it address?
- What “real” financial records does it have? (e.g., Tax Returns and BAS)
Who?
If your name features in all the boxes, if your business solely focuses around you and you want to be able to sell it, time to put new names in the org chart!
When?
- When does your business sell its stuff?
- When else could it do so?
- Is there a “right” time to SELL your Business?
Where?
- Where does your business sell its stuff?
- Online? Offline? What statistics does your business have about both?
- What strategies does your business have for both?
- Where else could it do so?
How?
- How well does your Business sell its stuff?
- How easy is it for someone else to take it over?
- Have you been able to make a go of your Business?
- Is your Business making a profit?
And overall, are you willing to devote the time to get your business ready, to pursue a sale, to ideally receive payback?
If the answer is yes, then by starting with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, you might just find you have something to sell after all…
