If you’re like many business owners, your business plays a large role in supporting your family’s lifestyle. As you plan for your business’ future, you may run into questions about how to treat family members fairly in your plans. This is especially crucial if you have children who work in the business and children who do not work in the …
2 Self-Made Problems That Can Harm Your Planning
Planning for your business’ future success is a long-term effort in problem solving. Usually, the problems you’ll try to solve result from the natural evolution of the business. For example, as your business has grown, you may have hired more employees or managers to keep pace. Problems like these are good problems to have. But as many owners create road …
Turning a Lifestyle Business Into a Business Enterprise
Many business owners start their companies as lifestyle businesses to support a certain kind of lifestyle that they want. Some found businesses because they have an urge to create and build. Others want to be their own bosses. Still others want to control their own destinies. Whatever the reason, many businesses start as and evolve into lifestyle businesses. This is …
A Planning Process for Future Success
Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power. –Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Building a successful business likely took you years of deliberate planning. From your initial business plan to now, you’ve built something worth protecting and worthy of pride. …
Protecting What You Care About: Business, Family, & Employees
As a business owner, you’re likely the most important person in your business. You’re probably the breadwinner for your family. Your employees rely on your leadership and success for their livelihood. A lot of people depend on you. What would happen if, without warning, you were to die or become incapable of running the business? Many business owners might answer …
Maintaining Control, Minimizing Risk, and Rewarding Your Best Employees
For many small-to-mid-market business owners, there are few things more important than maintaining control of the company, minimizing risks for the company, and rewarding the employees that make the company successful. Ownership transfers to the company’s most valuable employees can do all of these things with proper planning, but there is a caveat. While it’s admirable for owners to try …
Whether You Sell Your Business or Not, the Planning Is the Same
There are many things for you to consider as you think about the future of your business ownership: When is the right time to move on? How much money will I need? How do I even sell this business? These questions dovetail into an important decision you’ll try to make early in the process of planning your future: Whom you’ll …
3 Things That Can Build Future Business Value
Building business value is a core reason you wake up and run your business every day. As your business grows in value, it can position you to find new clients; keep current clients happy; support your employees financially and intellectually; and provide a nest egg for yourself, your family, and any charitable organizations you work with. Many business owners find …
Why Make Your Business More Valuable Without You?
Businesses that rely on their owners as the primary source of success are common. They’re also the most dangerous kind of business to own when you want to plan for the future of your ownership interest. Unless your goal for the future of your ownership is to liquidate the business and shut it down, you’ll likely need to build your …
Is Your Business Worth as Much as You Think?
As a successful business owner, you know that your business has value. It likely supports the lifestyle you and your family live. It provides a paycheck and perhaps benefits to the people you employ. The products or services you provide are meaningful to your clients. But if someone asked you, “How much is your business worth?” could you confidently provide …