Say "exit" and most people hear failing. Closing in distress is what happens when nobody planned. Plan early, and an exit can be a sale, a handover, a merger or a well-timed wind-down, on your own terms.
Say "exit" to a business owner and you can watch the mood drop. The word comes loaded with bad news: a business in trouble, a closure, someone who ran out of road.
I saw it up close when I sold my own business. It took me a year to get it to a sellable state. When I told friends that helping owners exit would be my next career, the first reaction was: "Are you crazy? Who would pay you to wind down their business?"
Fair question. If a business is winding down in distress, you need a banker, an accountant and a lawyer. But closing in distress is one of the worst ways out. There are better ones: sell it, hand it to your kids, let your team buy you out, merge with someone bigger. None of them are about failing.
How many of those roads are open to you depends on how ready your business is. The longer you have to plan, the more options you have. The shorter the time, the fewer. Talking about exit doesn't mean closing shop tomorrow. It means giving yourself time to plan and structure the business, so the choice stays yours.
Every exit myth comes undone the same way: knowing where your business stands, early enough to choose your road. That's why we built Ten Days In. Ten days inside your business, and at the end, a read of what you've built and the options open to you.
Read more:
Business exit myth #4
Upcoming: Business exit myth #5