How To Plan Your Exit NOW

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Ever been in a relationship that hit an unpleasant plateau, or been in a business partnership on the fritz?
You’re naturally envisioning a worst case scenario where planning an exit strategy could very well be the way out, way before it actually happens, if it happens.

However, creating and owning a business is one of those areas where not only is planning your exit strategy preferable, it’s essential if you want to get rich. Not necessarily because business ownership is horrible, but because the whole point of getting rich is to work because you want to, not because you have to, yes?

Running a business, like getting rich, is no walk in the park. It can be just as frustrating, nerve-wracking, time-consuming and energy draining as any other job. It doesn’t have to be that way, but a hopeful business owner needs to be prepared to deal with the challenges of leadership.

Why does this distinction make such a big difference? Not only because it focuses your intention to become rich instead of a hard-working business “owner,” but it also helps focus the very decisions you’ll make as you start and grow the business.

Some of these points will seem so obvious it’s excruciating, but remember the very contradiction of the term “common sense.” One clear example of how your true intentions of selling and eventually exiting the business will affect your strategy is determining the name of the company you’re going to use. If you’re going to sell your business, never name it after yourself. Duh, right? ‘Harv’s Pizza’ isn’t quite as attractive a name to sell as ‘Dominoes’, or something else that’s basic and captures essence, like ‘Peak Potentials,’ yes?

A generic name will usually work better than something that is personalized or central to area or region. Like all of your decisions, it all depends on how far you want to go. But you’re limiting yourself by naming your business within limited parameters to the world outside of those who know you or where you live.

Choose a name that describes your product or service simply, effectively or memorably. If possible something that makes your company appear to be large. Why do you want your company to appear to be large? Because big companies are worth more! Again … duh!

So if you’re to put all that time into anything, you might as well put it into your wealth building because more than likely, you’re spending that time working hard at something somewhere anyway. It becomes more evident that the point of creating a business is to sell it for a lot of money, but how exactly do we get there?

For the next few weeks we’ll take a look at the importance of team building and systems. After all, somebody’s going to have to run things while you’re doing what you want to do more often, right?

Until then, tell me this: Have you sold your business, or are you in the process of selling it? Any suggestions on the process, or flags along the way others can look out for? Your feedback is welcomed and critical for our continued growth and learning as a community!