Manatee County Business for Sale | Sarasota Consultant
A ‘question’ every business owner needs to ask themselves is “When do I know it’s time to sell?”. The second question they should be asking is “What is my exit strategy when I decide it’s time?” Every successful business owner would like that success to go on forever, but reality doesn’t work that way. Family issues, a changing economy, even the demographics of the area where you have your business can affect you in ways you can’t anticipate today.
You set timetables every day for routine and important tasks. When an important meeting begins and ends. How long a trip to a customer will take. So, shouldn’t you be setting a timetable to exit your business? Let’s look at why this is important.
Setting an exit strategy may or may not involve selling your business, but if you intend to keep it you will need to find your replacement so the business continues to succeed. You can’t decide to retire, then try to find people to carry on the business. This is why you should be thinking about your exit strategy. Now is the time to mentor, nurture, and train your successor. If you don’t have one, then your other option may be to sell the business to someone with the energy and desire to carry it forward. Either way, you have set some parameters around the eventuality that you will leave the business to someone or sell it.
You don’t have to be in business for many years to consider how you will leave it. You should frame an answer when you start the business. Your milestones are up to you and subject to review, but you should always have decided how to end your business. If you don’t consider it early in the game, it will make the decision process much more difficult later. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can run your business forever — it’s not realistic and it can cause problems for you if you ignore it.
If your exit strategy is to sell, Hallmark Business Brokers can help you. We have years of experience helping connect sellers and buyers of commercial businesses. We have knowledge of the market, selected prospects to connect to your business sale, and will keep your business sale confidential as you go through the process. Put Hallmark Business Brokers into your exit strategy, and you can have a successful transition to retirement or another opportunity.