Bringing a business to success is an emotional journey from start to finish. Years are spent making sacrifices and taking tough decisions. So, as you get closer to retirement age, choosing to sell your business can be a bittersweet step to take. You raised your business like a child, and you have grown attached to it. How do you begin to make the decision to sell it?

First and foremost, you need to know your reasons for selling. Perhaps, you started your own business, so you could take control of your life and call the shots. Maybe, it was to provide a better life for you or your family. If you are reaching retirement age, then you have probably made a full circle and came back to those initial reasons. Those same motivators can be the drivers behind your ultimate decision to develop a strategy so that you can exit your company.

You love your business, but you love your family too. Perhaps you feel it’s come time to refocus your time and energy on your personal life. That’s okay, and you have several options at your disposal. Balancing work life and home life can be a challenge. Don’t let your obligations to your business keep you from fulfilling your goals at home.

If the decision to sell is on the table, there are a few paths you can take. A partial sale of your business is one option. This option is intriguing if you aren’t sure if you are ready to leave your business entirely. Bringing in a strategic buyer for your business that can begin working alongside you and help your business grow to its full potential will give you more time for your personal goals, while still allowing you to stay involved in your business. You can take on a less rigorous role without having to step down completely.

Strategic buyers are looking for a synergistic partnership that will allow them to either expand their footprint within a particular market, or one that will give them the chance to break into a new industry. Your business will add value to a strategic buyer’s plans , so they will want to see success in your company. This means your incentives will be aligned and if your company isn’t successful, neither is theirs.

Another option is a sale with an eventual complete exit. A complete sale does not have to happen immediately. You can slowly transition out of your business over time. This is a good option if you want to retire and leave your business completely, but care about your employees and the legacy you’ve left behind after you are gone.   

A buyer who buys your business out right is called a financial buyer. Your business is an investment, and this buyer will need to have a management team in place, most likely your management team. If you want to make sure your business is going to be okay without you, it’s a good idea to transition with the business, so your employees can get acclimated to the changes as well.

Also, if your employees see your commitment and support to transitioning through the changes with them, it will help alleviate doubts they might be having about the sale themselves. When you decide to leave the business you love, you want to make sure you are leaving it in the right hands, and you want to make sure the employees who helped you build it are in good hands as well.

One thing you definitely should not do is tackle a sale on your own. If you are vested in focusing on selling your business and neglect your daily responsibilities within the business itself, you can potentially harm your business because your focus has shifted. Successfully completing a sale takes a great deal of time and understanding of the mergers and acquisitions transaction process. Patience is a virtue, and selling your business will take a little time, but with the right team in place, you can get maximum value for your company.

When the mention of selling your business comes up, you might feel a little uneasy about starting the discussion. Your business is your baby, and the thought of letting go can be overwhelming. The truth is; however, failing to plan is a plan to fail when it comes to your business exit strategy. You need to have an exit strategy in place for your business. Everyone thinks of their future, but they don’t always take active steps in the present to prepare for what they want tomorrow. There are many reasons why you should discuss when and how to exit your business. Here are eleven reasons to have the exit conversation now:

1) Anything can happen at any time – This is so true. We cannot anticipate what will happen unexpectedly. For this reason, you need to have an emergency exit plan in place. What will you do if you have something happen that requires you to step down from your business quickly?

2) Family obligations are taking more time from the business – Business owners run businesses and have families all the time, but depending on the size of your business and the size of your family, you may need to spend more time away from the business. If you don’t have a team in place that can run the business without you for a few days, exiting might be your best bet.

If obligations, such as an ill family member, or a lot of educational or extracurricular commitments for your children are taking from your time, you could experience a negative shift in the dynamic of your business. A strategic partner can help you free up some time for your family while still allowing you to take an active part in your business’s growth. This type of partnership doesn’t require an immediate exit from your business and allows you to discuss an end-goal for this exit strategy with the partner you join.

3) Personal health issues are pulling you away from the business – When your personal health is in decline, it can be difficult to continue running the business. A business owner doesn’t need the undue stress caused by juggling an illness and the company.

Furthermore, if you find your health declining, or the health of a close loved-one, your priorities might change. Your view on where your time needs to be spent might be more focused on your personal relationships versus constantly working on growing your business.

Again, spending your time away from the business will have a direct negative effect on your revenue and daily operations. This makes the goal of achieving maximum value more challenging. Therefore, having an exit plan is essential.

4) You don’t have anyone in place to take over the business – You’re a great leader, and you run your business like a well-oiled machine. However, what happens when you’re gone? You need to have a plan in place. If you find your children aren’t interested in taking over, or if you don’t have any children, or if you don’t have a manager in place to take over, you need to know what you will do when it’s time to leave your business behind.

The thought of selling your business has been on your mind for quite some time, and now you have made the decision to sell. The business is ready to go and you have been working with your advisor to bring in a suitable buyer. The offer comes in and you have signed a letter of intent. The process is in motion, and this is what you have been waiting for, but what about your employees? Your exit plan has been on your mind, but your employees probably haven’t given much thought to what will happen if and when you exit the business. You have a couple options when it comes to sharing the news of your business sale to your employees.

Share Nothing:

Some business owners opt to not share the decision to sell with their employees at all. This option can be viewed as inconsiderate, but it does alleviate the risk of a mass exodus from the company. There are pros and cons to any decision, but not telling your employees right away and keeping information for yourself allows you to keep them from undue stress.

It’s important to protect the integrity of the deal and the company. This means you need to keep details under wraps. If you spill the beans to your employees, there is no guarantee that the information will stay within your company, and it could be concerning for your client base if they catch a whiff of the pending sale.

This doesn’t mean you can’t put things in place to protect your employees through a transition, of course. You just need to pay attention to their needs and ask your advisor what your options are in a sale. If you choose this route, you need to be prepared to extinguish any rumors and answer employee questions the best you can if they notice any changes taking place.

Keep Them in the Loop:

Some owners think the best policy is to be transparent with employees from the outset. The decision to sell has been made, and you are exploring options. So, you want to inform your employees what’s going on. You can be up front with employees and let them know of your plans to sell and your desire to find the right buyer for the company who will instill the same values you hold as a business leader.

This will need to be handled delicately, so your employees will remain comfortable throughout the process. You will need to drive home the initiative that you are doing what is best for the company as a whole and selling the business doesn’t mean the end of the business but rather the growth of the business. It is important to keep the conversation positive, so your employees will get on board with your plans.

So, you are entertaining the thought of possibly selling your business. How do you know what it’s worth? There are a lot of factors that go into deciding an asking price for your company. The market, the industry, and the level of risk can all affect the final value. The following guide will walk you through a quick rundown of the valuation process for middle-market businesses and help you gain a basic understanding of what your company might be worth.

Step One: Have Your Finances in Check

Know Why You Want to Sell

What do you plan to do after you sell your business? It’s important to know your purpose for selling, so you can appropriately plan what you want to do after the sale. Are you planning on a total exit, or do you want to stick with the business for a while? There are a few options at your disposal when deciding your reasons for exiting your company. If you are wanting to take a step back, but still want to have some involvement, you can keep a small percentage of the company and transition into a new role with lighter responsibilities after the sale.

Your business is your baby, and the people who work for you are your family. A concern of many business owners thinking to sell is how they will care for their employees throughout the sales process.

Download our guide “If I Sell My Business, How Can I Protect my Employees?,” today!

In this guide, you will learn how to best communicate with your employees effectively, how to negotiate on their behalf, how to put their concerns at the forefront of your decisions, and how working alongside them can help alleviate their concerns. 

So, you are a business owner who is thinking of moving toward retirement. How do you do that? What are your options? How much money do you need to sell your business for, so you can retire? These are all questions you need to fully explore when you’re ready to make this transition.

What Are My Options?

You have a couple options if you are looking to retire. First, you need to decide what your ultimate goal is. Do you want to completely exit the business? Or do you just want to take a step back and pin the majority of the responsibility on someone else? It’s up to you how you want your money to work for you and how much free time you want to have.

There are many things to consider when you are thinking of a potential exit, whether it be your own personal/business circumstances, the overall M&A market or potential tax implications.