Exit Strategy - do you have one?

I have thought about this recently, my thinking of this is, is to keep the business ticking over and to let a couple of keen youngsters take over the day to day running. And for me to just take a monthly payment, but anything can happen between now and retirement, could win the lottery or could go bankrupt you never know until it happens...

If you're doing something you love (which obviously isn't always the case), then why exit?

I'm guessing most people will after 30 / 40 years of doing the same work, day in day out they tend to get bored with it. Personally I can't wait to retire or just reduce the amount of hours I currently work from around 100 to 40hr working week would be nice to start with...

You need to love doing it to run your own business, otherwise you wouldn't put up with the stress!

But as Barney says, after 30/40 years, there will come a time when you want to maybe take a step back, go on that cruise, drink yourself into oblivion, or maybe explore the Amazon.

But unless you can hand over to someone but maybe keep a dividend, then you may need to sell your business to fund your retirement.

Or anther way of looking at it, is to set up and create a profitable company, then look to sell it as a going concern a couple of years later, reaping the rewards, and investing in a new venture

You could start to think about possible trade sales to other businesses looking to expand/ remove local competition in the area that might be interested in buying your business - perhaps start to build up a list of companies that are in a similar space and when the right time comes approach them for a sale. Timing is key - you want to sell your business at the height of its value.

Business Clinic: Do entrepreneurs need an exit plan? - Telegraph

A relevant article for those who are interested

Very good, final paragraph was food for thought!

"I have found that many entrepreneurs are of the misguided view that their exit is similar to simply selling shares on the stock exchange. It is not as simple as that. There will be an extensive legal document and you should be prepared to accept only a proportion of the final cash payment. Further payments subject to certain conditions, such as tying you and the senior team to the business for a period of time or meeting revenue or profit targets, will be a part of the negotiation to deliver a final price."

I remember a friend of mine who wound up his haulage business. Even though it was successful, his kids had no interest, and he wanted to retire but couldn't find a buyer. In the end, he sold off the assets, ie trucks and trailers, then sold his contracts and contact book to a competitor.

Seemed a sad end to longstanding company that was built up from scratch.

This is an interesting point and my first thought on reading the title was death.

However, although it wasn't really something I'd given a lot of conscious thought to, I now realise that I've always had the idea that I'll employ a manager to take over my job and semi-retire to somewhere warm.

In fact the whole system I've put in place will make that a relatively simple option.

I doubt I could retire completely as the boredom would drive me insane and I'd also hate to completely relinquish control of my creations, but working when I want rather than when I have to would be nice.

There's plenty of examples where people don't love what they're doing yet continue to do so and make lots of money. But in general, I agree, it's better to love it.


Why not hand your business on to the next generation? For anyone that doesn't know Germany's business environment, Google 'Mittelstand' and you'll see what I mean. I guess it's one of the reasons why Germany is the best European economy - they adopt a long term perspective in life.