Your Company; Your Baby

We have heard it many times before:

Business owners referring to their company as “their baby”.

It makes sense.

When you start your own company, it is a unique expression of you. An expression that you bring into this world, and foster as it grows…an expression that takes a vast amount of emotional, physical, and financial resources.

Great parents ultimately raise their kids to stand on their own two feet one day…

Great leaders should raise their businesses to do the same.

As rewarding as parenting can be, two things can commonly be observed in parents:

• That undeniable glimmer in their eye when a child-free vacation is being planned
• That unmistakable pep in their step when their adult child is moving out of the house

Business owner’s, like parents, need vacations during the raising process, and a light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to:

The day when their “unique expressions” can function in the world without them and deliver a return on their investment!

Your business may be “your baby”…but it can’t remain a baby forever.

Take a look at your business parenting technique. Are you an overprotective business parent?

• Do you have a strong enough team in place to enable you to take vacations, or are you trapped in the office?
• Will your company need to cling to your leg when time to retire?

The Perfect Hiding Place

When we were kids, we hid from chores, we hid from friends during a game of hide-and-seek, and on occasion ( if we’d really stepped out of line), we hid from our parents.

It wasn’t until we became adults that we learned to hide from ourselves.

People hide for different reasons, but we all do it…

and our work can be the perfect hiding place.

The trouble is, we are rarely called out.

Why?

Being busy is admired… even revered…

It’s easy to wear our busyness like a badge of honor instead of seeing it as a telltale sign that we are hiding.

Maybe we are hiding from something, or someone or maybe we are hiding from ourselves.

We all need balance between the intensity and demands of work and the intensity and demands of life. It’s the space in between that we crave. That space that grounds us in who we are and what makes us special. That space between that enables us to discover what ignites our spirit and what drags us down.

If you don’t have it, you need to build it in.

Come out, come out wherever you are…

Are you living the life you want or hiding from the one you don’t? It’s time to discover or rediscover what ignites your spirit.

4 Critical Considerations for Preparing to Sell Your Business

“It’s a heck of a lot easier to start a business than it is to sell one.”

— Mark Stroud, Founder of Lamination Services

Mark had not even considered selling his business until his accountant made the recommendation. Frankly, the recommendation shocked him.  As I facilitated the latest discussion in The Succession Planning Roundtable series, Mark Stroud spoke candidly about what selling a business is really like for an owner.  I felt compelled to climb on the roof with a bullhorn and shout out his insight for all business owners to hear:

• “The fact that I didn’t have to sell made all the difference. This wasn’t a fire sale.”
• “Have a succession plan in place first, then choose when to implement it.”
• “Be clear on what your specialty is. Usually it’s running your business, not selling it. I had to start getting my feet wet with the sales process and make a bunch of mistakes before I realized I better get some help.”

The advice I heard from Mark:

1. Get counsel from trusted advisors who can help you start the process.
2. Ensure support from your spouse and your family.
3. Keep great records. Run a clean business. It gives a lot of legitimacy and a great core to build from.
4. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you are forced into a fire sale.

If you are thinking of selling your business and don’t know where to start, simply start at the top:

Have a confidential conversation with a trusted advisor whose advice you can depend on. It would be an honor to hear from you… 

abby@leadershiplegacygroup.com