YOU: AFormula for Selling a Small Business

YOU:A formula for selling a small business

How many people in any walk of life have you met who relish talking about their own demise?

Think about that statement for a moment.  Is there anything in that statement that places the business entity ahead of the person who is the owner?  No.  And this gets to the crux of one of the biggest impediments that hinder professionals from really helping their business owner clients devise a formula for selling a small business or completing a business succession.  They engage their clients as if the business is the critical player that exit and succession are dealing with.

This comes about when the adviser says things such as “who is going to take care of the business if you are not here?”  In so doing, the adviser is placing the institution of the business higher in importance than the person who is the owner.  When we ask questions such as “how will you feel and what will you do with your time if you are not running your business anymore?” we are placing the person first in our hierarchy.

Trust me when I say this, all the ultimate thought and decision-making related to exit and succession is of the more personal and intimate nature.  If you are an owner and want to do what is right for yourself and your business, if you are an adviser and want to do what is best for your client, remember always this is a personal and not an institutional process.