Nibletz Staff
When you’re just starting out with your own business, you might think that this is what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life because there’s no way you could do anything else. But life doesn’t always pan out that way. Someday, you might seriously have to consider stepping aside. Now, stepping away from the day to day running of the company doesn’t have to be a bad thing; after all, you might have started this business in the first place because you wanted to fly to a different country whenever you wanted. You can’t do that if you still have to oversee everything years after you’ve launched. Or maybe your business is failing and you want to get a maximum exit value. Whatever your reasons for standing down, here are a few ways to do it quietly.
Train your replacement
One of the biggest reasons letting go is so hard is because you’ve put a lot of yourself into your company, so you want it to go to the best possible hands. In your mind, however, there are no hands more qualified than you, and this thought process can lead you to keep delaying your retirement. This reasoning could just be an excuse on your part, but it might also be true that you don’t know anyone who will run your business with the same values you possess. If this is the case, then you should try to train your own replacement. It could be a family member who has been involved with the company for years, or it could be an existing employee who shows a lot of potential. It can take a lot of time to prepare someone to take over, so don’t leave this until the last minute. Additionally, it might be good to have some backup plans in place; life happens to everyone, so even though your candidate might be eager to fill your shoes, events might compel them to make other choices.
Sell your business
If it doesn’t look like your business will be viable over the next five years, it might be more sensible to sell it to a third party. There are several ways to go about this depending on the kind of business you have. If you’re mostly a web-based company then you should look on Income Diary and get in touch with a website broker to find a buyer. If there are owners within the business, consider a buy-sell agreement where your share of the company can be sold to your partners or other parties.
Much like you would spruce up your home before selling it, you might want to increase the appeal of your business by taking steps to improve cash flow, shutting unprofitable divisions and paring back extra inventory. You may also want to consider strategies to ensure the employees will stay with the company. There’s no need to shake up their lives just because you’re ready for the next phase of yours.
