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.

2 February 2024. The cartoon this week is reminiscent of some earlier memes with Mr Potato Head. I have been sitting on this one quite a while, and thought it a good fit with this week’s pitch.

Every business owner will exit their business at some point. It may be by your plan, or it may be in a box, but it will happen. Ideally the exit will be well planned to ensure you get what your business is worth, and your company – which may also be your legacy – can thrive.

Irrespective of your plan for exit, you need to start somewhere. My preferred starting point for Exit Planning engagements is to help my clients develop their reason for for exit. I use the metaphor of a magnet. This reason for exit needs to draw you to it, to attract you. This attractor needs to be stronger than your desire to stay to be effective.

Developing this reason for exit is part of building a Clear Vision (the slide did have a link to the topic!). This Vision also explores what the owner plans to do after leaving their business. Something like 75% of business owners regret selling within a year of their exit, and one of the biggest reasons for this regret is that they are bored. They either didn’t think about life after work, or their ideas were quite superficial.

The classic ‘what I’m going to do after I exit’ trope is play golf. Even if you don’t like golf, I am sure you can appreciate the concept. No matter how much you enjoy playing golf, do you really think you’ll play a round every day? One of the reasons business owners enjoy playing golf is that it is a break from the pressures and stress of owning a business. They enjoy the camaraderie, and they enjoy the business networking. When they no longer have a business to run, what are they escaping from? What are the benefits of networking? And if their regular team mates are still working, they can’t come out and play every day.

I accept there will be the occasional exiting owner who will play every day, but they are rare. The same applies with travel, fishing, tennis, and even ‘spending more time with family.’

One of the roles of the Exit Planning Advisor is to help their clients understand the realities of life after selling their business. The Vision needs to be grounded in reality and draw the business owner to it. It needs to be able to motivate the owner to continue through the exit planning process. And that is why I consider it job number 1 in an exit planning engagement.