In the midst of running your business, it’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day hustle that you forget to look to the future.
At some point, however, you’ll want to exit your business.
Whether you want to retire early to travel or relax or you want to work until you just can’t work anymore, you need a plan in place to pave the way to a successful transition.
Succession planning is a tool for making a smooth transition from one business owner to the next, and it really pays to have a detailed plan in place for when the time comes. You may have plenty of time ahead of you, but you never know. Just as you prepare for unforeseen events in your personal life with life insurance and a will, you can plan for the future and for the unexpected with succession planning.
You should be succession planning if any of the following are concerns for you.
You Want to Choose the Right Successor
If you want to have a say in who your successor will be, you should consider succession planning. You may want a family member, a trusted colleague, or an employee to be your successor, or you may want to sell the business to an interested party. Keep in mind that only about one-third of family businesses make a successful transition to the next generation. If you want to keep the business in the family, begin now to train up your successor so the transition can go more smoothly.
You’d Like to Establish a Succession Timeline
If you’re anxious to make plans for your own future but feel prohibited by the demands of your business, succession planning can help you to establish an exit date. When you create a succession timeline for your transition plan, you know what needs to be done by certain dates in order to gracefully leave the company without major pitfalls.
This can reduce your stress enormously and help your employees, clients, and vendors to feel that everything will be able to continue after you’ve left the daily operations.
You’d Like to Calculate Your Retirement Income
It can be difficult for business owners to know how much money they’ll still earn from their company after they retire. Succession planning can help you to nail down that income and know whether you’ll need to continue working longer or find another source of income.
We can help you to create a succession plan that will take care of all of these concerns. You’ll be able to choose your successor, create a succession timeline, and calculate your retirement income. You’ll be able to walk away from your business knowing you’ve done all you can do to ensure a smooth transition. The business can continue to thrive while you enjoy your carefree retirement years.