Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions… And Create a Very Successful 2015

As we prepare to close out 2014 and begin 2015, most of us are starting to think about new year’s resolutions. 2014 is nearly gone and we get a fresh clean slate in 2015. It is a good time to step back from your business and re-assess: How did you do this year? Did you hit your profit and revenue goals? Did you execute against your strategic plan? Did you have a strategic plan? It’s so easy to get so caught up in the day to day activities of running a business only to find yourself at the end of yet another year. Those goals you laid out…still untouched. Those aspirations you had for what life would look like…still aspirations. You can vow that next year will be different, but studies show that if you don’t DO something different, build new habits into your schedule and routine, that within a few short weeks – it will be back to ‘business as usual’.

So let’s agree to make 2015 different.

Building a Sustainable Habit

To build a sustainable habit, there are several factors that need to be addressed. You must:

1. Identify your new habit. Duh… but without this critical step, you won’t build one. Let’s agree to spend just 15 minutes each day week working ON your business. That’s less than 5% of your day. Surely you can carve that out in order to build profit, revenue and value into your organization.
2. Have an emotionally compelling reason to build the habit. Building a new habit is hard. If there is no emotionally compelling reason, you won’t stick with it. My emotionally compelling reason to do a daily business review is that it will ensure I invest in and on my business. Fifteen minutes each day, 5 days each week gives me over 60 hours/year to focus on my business. That’s a week and a half each year. I think that’s a terrific investment, but if I don’t build the habit, at best I do it in spurts.
3. Find a natural time in your daily routine to add your habit that triggers you to do the habit. I add daily business focus to my daily routine right after I brush my teeth every morning. Brushing my teeth becomes a cue to do the new behavior.
4. Determine how you are going to do the new habit. What exactly will it look like, feel like? I start with a review of my overall goals for the year, then my goals for the week that feed that. Then I put some time into moving one focus area forward. It could be building an action plan, organizing a meeting, mapping out a new strategy, etc…
5. Identify a place to do the new habit. If you are starting a daily business review, where will you sit? Setting a location ensures a place for your habit, and when you are in the destination, you are more likely to trigger the habit. I carved out a space in my home office to do my daily business review. When I look at the space, I am reminded of the value of that activity.
6. Set up the tools you will need to do your new habit and set them up in the place you will do the habit. What will you need at your fingertips? For my business review, I need my business goals and priorities, and my weekly work plan. I also need my laptop, journal, pens, and stickies. As I am focused ON the business, I recognize additional activities that need to be done IN the business so I keep stickies handy to jot them down. That helps me stay focused.
7. Imagine yourself doing it right. Walk yourself through mentally how you look, feel when you are doing it well. I imagine myself sitting at my home office desk doing good quality thinking and planning and starting my day with a focus and intentionality I can be proud of.
8. Find a habit-forming partner who will do this process with you. Their new habit may be different than yours, but the accountability and support of having a buddy who is as committed to implementing their new habit as you are to implementing yours can further enhance your likelihood of making it stick.

What one new habit can revolutionize your business?

Take 15 minutes today to figure out what new habit you can build into your routine that will make 2015 a breakthrough year for you and your company, then go through these steps and design your new habit forming system.

May you have a joyful and prosperous 2015.

Seven Secrets to Successful Succession

Believe me, I get it. Thinking about how and when you will exit your business – and whose hands you’re leaving it in – is daunting. Even if I’ve talked you into starting to plan for the inevitable, it’s still hard to know how to launch this big, lengthy process. No worries! I’ve got you covered.

Download “The Seven Secrets to Successful Succession,” a quick guide that will help you get started. Time spent up front on these seven items will maximize your likelihood of a successful transition on your terms and your timeline. Ready to get started? Contact me today.

When The Apple Falls Far From The Tree

What if your kids don’t want to take over your business? That’s a bummer. Succession planning is often much easier if the transition is to adult children who are already in the business and want to run it, own it and serve in some leadership role for some period of time.

If they don’t want to run or own it, you have a tough decision to make.

The next easiest option would be to sell to one or more key employees who want to own the company. You could do this through an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), which makes every employee an owner, but there is a lot to consider with an ESOP, and it still requires a strong leader who can run the business profitably and sustainably. More often I see sales to competent leadership-level employees who are interested in buying the business.

The problem with selling to family members or key employees is the financing. The vice president of a $15 million company isn’t sitting on a wad of cash ready to invest in your business. And getting a bank loan of that magnitude is tough.

In most cases, you will have to finance the sale. Doing this will build an opportunity for your successor — the new owner(s) — to run the business while you are still engaged. And you’ll likely want to be engaged, since you’ll still own a good piece of it for years.

The plus side of this arrangement is that the installment payments fund your retirement and give you the flexibility and freedom you want in your life. The negative side is that you are an owner for a long time, and your liquidity event is really a series of payments over time. If the business succeeds profitably, you get paid. If the business suffers, your payments may go toward the survival of the business, and you may find yourself coming back in to re-right the ship or find a new buyer.

This makes it very important that you pick the right people to buy it in the first place. If they can’t run the company successfully and sustainably, there isn’t going to be a payout for you.

If you have no family member or key employee willing and able to buy and run the business, it may be time to seek out a third-party buyer. The wrinkle in this scenario is that it can be really hard to secure an outside buyer who’s willing to pay what you think the business is worth.

Selling to a strategic buyer is a cleaner transition. There is a liquidity event , then you move on with your life and they move on with your business. Oftentimes, this also can be more lucrative for you, too. But it’s hard and can be time consuming to find the right buyer.

While these options may seem daunting – and they likely are — the worst solution is for an uninterested adult child to feel obligated to take over the family business. It’s not good for your company, your wallet, your family or your legacy.

Start now — Find the right fit buyer for your business, and ensure the long term success of your company, your retirement funds, your family and your legacy.