Setting goals is a catalyst for success, especially if you’re planning for the future of your ownership and the success of your business. The strongest goals tend to have five aspects that help you guide the process for achieving them. In other words, when you set goals, you want to set SMART goals: Specific Measurable Accurate Realistic Time-limited Let’s look …
There’s More to Business Than Money: Values-Based Goals
Successful business owners often want more than just the maximum amount of money they can get. These owners have deeply ingrained values-based goals that guide why and how they do business. But many of those same owners don’t apply an appropriate amount of weight to values-based goals until it’s too late to achieve them. Some owners neglect their values-based goals …
The Magic Behind Writing Your Plans Down
For nearly 5,500 years, human beings have written things down. From Hammurabi’s Code and the U.S. Constitution to your personal business plans, writing things down helps people follow rules and best practices, and pursue goals and action items. However, many successful business owners don’t have any written plans they can follow to help them achieve the future for their ownership …
Walk Before You Run: Phased Planning
Planning for a successful future without your business is a smart strategy. One of the traps that business owners commonly fall into as they begin planning for their successful future without the business is seeing what they need to do and trying to do everything all at once. However, much like your business didn’t spring into success overnight all those …
Poor Planning, Big Problems: The Tale of Tom Poor
“All those years of work are thrown away. To ease your mind is that all you can say? But what about that grandson on your knee? Them railroad songs, Tom would sing to me.” –Robert Plant Many business owners dedicate decades to making their businesses successful. Far fewer owners plan for how they and their businesses will maintain success once …
Change Is OK: How Planning Makes You Focused and Flexible
As a business owner, you manage all sorts of complexity in your work. Goals, expectations, and the people who help you meet them may change. But even though things constantly change, you can still adapt, thanks to smart and focused business planning. After all, if your company couldn’t adapt to change, it likely wouldn’t be as successful as it is …
Is a Family Transfer Right for Your Business?
When planning for the future, you have a wealth of options related to who should continue to run your business. Many business owners’ plans fall short because they are unaware of the many options they have available to them and the pros and cons of each path. One common exit path is a family business transfer. This allows you to …
What Have We Learned?
It is safe to say that this year was full of surprises. Some businesses thrived, while in other areas jobs were lost, companies were forced to go under, and we even lost loved ones along the way. Many businesses were affected by the pandemic in some way or another. According to a survey conducted by the PNAS (Proceedings of the …
Keep Your Family Intact with Proper Estate Planning
It can be difficult to consider what will happen to your business and your family if you die unexpectedly. Without proper planning, you could be leaving your family and/or key stakeholders in a huge mess. Proper planning allows you to keep your business on the right path even after an unexpected tragedy leaves you unable to continue running your business. …
Don’t Let Your Key Employees Jump Ship
Next-level management teams are the drivers behind building business value. But how can you and your advisors attract and keep next-level management teams? The answer lies within incentive plans. When incentive plans are properly designed and implemented, your business has the potential to grow well after you sell. Well-executed incentive plans can motivate each member of your management team to …