This post is about one of my 45-second pitches at my BNI Chapter, BNI City Business. You can read the introduction to this collection here.

June 9, 2023. Something of a dad joke, I found the wordplay and graphics quite amusing. I knew it would be useful to talk about death and the need, as a business owner, to prepare for it. Similar to a previous pitch last year, and I intended a similar message. But then Extra Crispy came along, which made for a better slide, only a couple of weeks ago.

Nothing like a pivot… So instead I focussed instead on another of the ‘5 D’s’ – Disability. Prompted by news that a former colleague at ABC Business Sales in Auckland had suffered a minor stroke, and was currently unable to drive. Being able to drive is pretty important to a business broker, and being unable to drive is a major inconvenience that can significantly impair a broker’s earnings.

Brokers are self-employed, as are most BNI members and – more broadly – most of my clients. What are we doing to protect our business (and our income) if we are unable to work for a few months? What if that becomes a year of no work?

There are things we can do to mitigate the impacts – such as Income Repalcement Insurance – and there may be welfare assistance in some cases. But for most small businesses, if the owner isn’t working, there is no meaningful income. The value of the business is impacted almost immediately. If the business isn’t already set up to sell, it may become unsaleable within a very short period.

Like planning for the death of a business owner, it is also necessary to plan for their inability to work in order to keep the business going.