Many business owners believe that they want to sell their businesses to a third party when they first start considering their business exits. Owners who want to start planning for a third-party sale sometimes fear that tight-fisted buyers will be the primary enemy in the way of a successful business exit. However, experience shows that it is business owners who …

Building a successful business and minimizing risk may seem like opposite strategies, but typically, they go hand in hand. Once a business matures past the early, sometimes chaotic stages of development, business owners often turn toward actions that can protect them from the unexpected. Common examples of risk mitigation include purchasing life insurance on owners’ lives and insuring any assets …

One of the most important goals of Exit Planning is to position business owners for post-exit financial security. To do that, business owners and their advisors must have several pieces of information: how much the business is currently worth, how much money the owner will need to live the post-exit lifestyle they choose, and which non-business assets the owner has. …

Imagine building your business over several decades, beginning to plan your business exit, then dying unexpectedly before you can implement your plans. Business owners rarely think about how an unexpected death or permanent incapacitation can derail even the most carefully created plans. And it makes sense: If you were always worried about what could go wrong, chances are you’d have never started …

As a business owner, you likely have plenty on your plate. You have a business to run, perhaps a family to care for, and many other responsibilities that require your time. So, why should you consider pursuing Exit Planning? Can it help address issues relevant to you without eating into what little time you have? Whether you’re thinking about exiting …

Many business owners take pride in the businesses they’ve built. Some of those owners are so proud and dedicated to their businesses that they’d be happy dying at their desks, doing what they love. They believe that they can wait until they’re ready to begin thinking about what happens when they exit the business, either by choice or otherwise. A …

Exit Planning can be complex. Between setting your exit goals and transferring your business, you’ll attempt to build business value, find an appropriate successor or buyer, navigate perplexing tax implications, and keep your key employees onboard. And that’s just a few of the things you’ll do! With so many considerations surrounding your business exit, you may want to consider creating …

As you consider your business exit, you may find that approaching it alone is prohibitively challenging. You may also find that some of the advisors with whom you’ve worked don’t have all of the skills, tools, and strategies necessary to help you exit on your terms. While planning for your future is the key, you know that results are how you’ll judge your business …

Planning a business exit can seem like a lot of work at first. From building business value to developing capable successors to figuring out exactly what you want to do with your life after you leave, Exit Planning might look like too much work for one person to do. In our experience, Exit Planning isn’t something that business owners can …

When business owners start their businesses, they often create a written business plan to guide them toward success. However, many successful owners don’t mimic that process when they begin to approach the end of their business ownership. There are three areas in which forgoing planning for the future can create unintended consequences for business owners: money, time, and successors. Consider …