Ask any business owner what their plan is to exit their business and chances are that they will look at you blankly. Ask the same business owners why they started their own business and they will tell you that they wanted to work for themselves, they want to be their own boss, have a flexible lifestyle doing something they love. The sad fact for the majority of business owner operators, however, is that they end up with the exact opposite of what they dreamed of. They work longer hours for less pay, take on more stress, have more sleepless nights and take fewer holidays. I always joke when I’m working with business owners that if they should take a personal grievance out against themselves for such terrible working conditions!
Not that there is anything wrong with working hard. In fact when you start a business, you should expect to work like a demon for the first few years at least. But at some stage your business should start to pay you back for all your hard work. With an exit strategy in place, you know your blood, sweat and tears (yes, you know what I mean – women in business, there’s got to be tears!) will all be worth it when you begin to reap the rewards.
A planned exit strategy is the single most important business requirement. It’s also the most overlooked. That’s why I felt the need to create liber8yourbusiness – a mentoring programme that will help small business owner operators become wealthy entrepreneurs instead