Business Exits: How To Decide With Your Head Not Your Heart

Business exits are racked with emotion and indecision. Learn how to approach your sale without the emotional burden, so you can get what you need.

As a business owner, you spend most of your working years on steady, profitable expansion. When you’re calling the shots, there’s no limit to your growth, and there’s always more to achieve.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the time comes to consider hanging up your hat as the leader and strongest work horse. It’s time to slow down, step back and start planning for a new goal: your business exit.

“You’ve spent your whole life putting in the hours — building something strong from the ground up. Business growth is what you know. It’s your skill, your identity,” said David Adams, President of David Adams Wealth Group. “But what happens when it’s time to change that?”

When assessing a business exit, David Adams Wealth Group completes a comprehensive Personal and Financial Assessment to determine the guidelines for a profitable business sale. “When determining how much you’ll need in your pocket after your business is gone, it’s actually most effective to start with your personal goals,” David said.

First, David will help you figure out how you’d like to spend your time once the business is sold. Together, you’ll determine whether you’d like to leave a legacy for your family, how much you want to travel, what hobbies you’ll spend money on and more. Essentially, you’re planning to do  all the things you’ve wanted but put off because of work.

“It often opens up a new dialogue between husband and wife and, sometimes, within the larger extended family,” David said, “but together, we’ll evaluate how much you’ll need to live the life you’ve imagined.”

Next, it’s time to evaluate the financial side of the sale. David will walk you through possible future expenses, including any future moves or estate changes, health costs and more.

“We evaluate your needs and wants, so we have a gameplan for exactly how much you’ll need to feel safe and happy after working so hard for so long,” David explained. “We believe this is a more efficient process than trying to evaluate the exact worth of your  business at the time for the sale.”

By determining how much you’ll need, as well as how much you want, you can make the decision to sell based off a secure plan and a single target number — not an emotional, reactive or gut decision during a crucial moment. Then anything above your target is, essentially, gravy. “This process gives people a range to make decisions within,” David said. “It lessens the emotional burden of the decision to sell, and for how much. Otherwise, the lack of clarity breeds anxiety, instead of allowing you to prioritize what’s important: the security to continue achieving more.”

To learn more about planning your business exit — or retirement planning for business owners — please visit davidadamswealthgroup.com