“You’ve run your business for years. To what end? Most entrepreneurs agree the goal when they started their business was to create wealth and security for their family.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://ceoworld.biz/author/chris-vanderzyden/
How and when you choose to exit will ultimately determine the level of financial security you will create upon your liquidity event. The key to identifying your business exit goal is to have a clear understanding of what your vision for the business is without you in it,” writes Chris Vanderzyden in her new book, titled Master Your Exit Plan: Sell Your Business, Preserve Your Legacy. “…Identifying what’s meaningful to you and having a clear vision of the company’s future will drive your decision as to which exit strategy will align with your business objectives…What are your aspirations when you are no longer a business owner?
This isn’t a question to be taken lightly. Selling a business is emotional for most owners. Many have stumbled post-sale as they realize how tightly their identity was bound to their company. With no office to go to, no meetings, and no direct reports, some former business owners find themselves sailing choppy waters in a rudderless boat with a bruised ego. But, upon exit, the world is your oyster. You have the time and freedom to excel in other areas of your life. So how will you create new meaning in your life post-exit? It’s important to be running toward something and not away from your business.”
With such bell-clear, concise, and eloquent prose, Vanderzyden doesn’t make the read feel like business or leadership coaching. It feels like a seasoned professional at the peak of her intellectual powers, providing expert guidance on navigating what many describe as the hardest chapter in their professional career. Vanderzyden never resorts to blind optimism, nor pushes the pendulum too far in the other direction.
She balances a mixture of hard pragmatism, never cold but hard, with a degree of calculated, intelligently-dispensed compassion. “If you’re depending on extracting the wealth you created in your business to fund the next stage of your life, it’s imperative that you understand not only what your next chapter looks like, but also what it will cost,” Vanderzyden writes, “Whether your goal is to fund your retirement, start another business, contribute to your community, or something else, you have to put a price tag on it…
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Your-Exit-Plan-Business/dp/1945847573
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is credited with having said, ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish.’ However, whenever I quote Saint- Exupéry, I always add, ‘and hope is never a strategy.’ By identifying your exit goals and creating a Master Exit Plan as early as possible, you’ll dramatically increase your chances for a successful transition that provides wealth and a fulfilling post-ownership phase in your life. Let’s begin by exploring which exit strategy is right for you.”
It’s passages like the aforementioned above cementing said characteristics about Vanderzyden’s proverbial delivery. I can’t say enough how many authors and experts can get lost in the communication process. Luckily, Vanderzyden is not one of these – and it makes the points she advocates for that much stronger…
Garth Thomas