Sometimes You Just Get A Headache
"Sometimes you just get a headache" is a phrase that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
These words were spoken from a very knowledgeable business leader in the Calgary market.
When I sat down with my mentor about life in general, a question was raised about knowing when the time was right to exit out of a business.
The answer was, "sometimes you just get a headache.
" Employees have an easier time leaving one place to go to another.
It is a relatively simple process for them; however business owners do not share in this luxury.
Business owners need to carefully plan their departure when the time is right, however, how do you know when the time is right? Some leaders in the business world today recommend a five year plan and use this guideline to effectively plan your business, personal and all other aspects of your life.
Many times I have seen business affect personal, personal affect business and many other issues overlapping each other.
Having a plan that allows you to understand what you want to be or where you see yourself is important to your overall success in knowing when to leave.
You have to plan for your succession.
Have intervals when you expect certain parts to be handed off to whomever or whatever is in your plan.
Business owners need to have the fire in the belly when it comes to what they do.
Without it, you are just going through the motions.
Passion is what drives small business entrepreneurs to come in early, work late and spend the time on the extra mile.
The extra mile is the road less travelled and it is littered with corpses of those who lost their passion and fizzled out.
Travelling the extra mile is critical to success, however, so is knowing what exit to take.
So what do you do when you are ready?When the passion runs out and you are ready to take that exit off the extra mile or even to another stretch of highway, you need to plan what you are going to do.
Are you going to sell out to partners?Sell out to someone else?Or just fold it up and walk away? If you are going to sell off to your partners or a third party you need to start months or even years ahead of time building up the value of the business.
You need to ensure that this little gift is wrapped perfectly for you to give away.
Do you have agreements in place to show value to a third party that is looking at determining the value?Do you have your books in order?Do you have relationship agreements in place with vendors or distributors?Are you willing to stay on for a period of time to aid in the transition from one owner to another?These are important questions to you need to ask yourself well before you advertise to the world that you are moving onto something new or to nothing at all.
If you are thinking about leaving the business and you have partners you want to sell off to, when should you start hiring the right people that will allow you to start moving towards your plan date of departure?This needs to happen as soon as you decide that you want to walk away.
Planning ahead will give you time to ensure the right people come on board to allow your departure to happen as you planned.
Also having a new team assembled will free you up to concentrate on creating the value so that you maximize your investment return.
It may also re-introduce a new found passion inside the business that was hidden because of the mess of other items that were leading to your frustration.
You may be on a new extra mile without physically exiting.
When you start to have a headache forming, take the necessary steps to prevent it from becoming a migraine.
Headaches are easy to cure while migraines can do some real damage.
Know where you are going and the path to get you there.
Then, when the passion fizzles, wrap it up in a nice bow and hand it off to someone.
Move onto something that will truly energize you.
These words were spoken from a very knowledgeable business leader in the Calgary market.
When I sat down with my mentor about life in general, a question was raised about knowing when the time was right to exit out of a business.
The answer was, "sometimes you just get a headache.
" Employees have an easier time leaving one place to go to another.
It is a relatively simple process for them; however business owners do not share in this luxury.
Business owners need to carefully plan their departure when the time is right, however, how do you know when the time is right? Some leaders in the business world today recommend a five year plan and use this guideline to effectively plan your business, personal and all other aspects of your life.
Many times I have seen business affect personal, personal affect business and many other issues overlapping each other.
Having a plan that allows you to understand what you want to be or where you see yourself is important to your overall success in knowing when to leave.
You have to plan for your succession.
Have intervals when you expect certain parts to be handed off to whomever or whatever is in your plan.
Business owners need to have the fire in the belly when it comes to what they do.
Without it, you are just going through the motions.
Passion is what drives small business entrepreneurs to come in early, work late and spend the time on the extra mile.
The extra mile is the road less travelled and it is littered with corpses of those who lost their passion and fizzled out.
Travelling the extra mile is critical to success, however, so is knowing what exit to take.
So what do you do when you are ready?When the passion runs out and you are ready to take that exit off the extra mile or even to another stretch of highway, you need to plan what you are going to do.
Are you going to sell out to partners?Sell out to someone else?Or just fold it up and walk away? If you are going to sell off to your partners or a third party you need to start months or even years ahead of time building up the value of the business.
You need to ensure that this little gift is wrapped perfectly for you to give away.
Do you have agreements in place to show value to a third party that is looking at determining the value?Do you have your books in order?Do you have relationship agreements in place with vendors or distributors?Are you willing to stay on for a period of time to aid in the transition from one owner to another?These are important questions to you need to ask yourself well before you advertise to the world that you are moving onto something new or to nothing at all.
If you are thinking about leaving the business and you have partners you want to sell off to, when should you start hiring the right people that will allow you to start moving towards your plan date of departure?This needs to happen as soon as you decide that you want to walk away.
Planning ahead will give you time to ensure the right people come on board to allow your departure to happen as you planned.
Also having a new team assembled will free you up to concentrate on creating the value so that you maximize your investment return.
It may also re-introduce a new found passion inside the business that was hidden because of the mess of other items that were leading to your frustration.
You may be on a new extra mile without physically exiting.
When you start to have a headache forming, take the necessary steps to prevent it from becoming a migraine.
Headaches are easy to cure while migraines can do some real damage.
Know where you are going and the path to get you there.
Then, when the passion fizzles, wrap it up in a nice bow and hand it off to someone.
Move onto something that will truly energize you.
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