Who will want my business when I’m ready to retire?

Are you a business owner ready for retirement and wondering who will continue your legacy?

No family members keen to take over? No potential successors? Is your business completely dependent on you?

You need to consider the future and what you ideally want for the future of your business.

If you don’t – your legacy will be lost and all your clients will have to go elsewhere. What a waste of all that effort you have put in to growing your business and building loyal customers.

Business owners often score low on the Valuebuilder “Hub and spoke” attribute because they remain involved in serving customers directly. It feels good to solve people´s problems. Happy customers shower you with praise, you get the satisfaction of feeling needed, and you know your customers are getting the best care in your hands. After all, you know your business better than anybody, and training others to do the equivalent job without your accumulated knowledge takes a lot of time and can cost a lot of money.

However, the more your customers need you and ask for you personally, the harder it is to grow your business, and – in the long run – the less valuable your company will be.

Without a succession plan your business could wither away.

Try to at least find a day or two where you can block out your diary and start writing down your processes and methods using a simple step by step list and or diagram which other people can follow.

If you have employees ask them to take on a new task and delegate some of what you normally do to them – sending quotes and invoices, following up on these, attend networking events with you to watch you in action, monitoring social media and checking what competitors are doing.

Mentor employees by allowing them to ask questions and spending a few minutes with them each day encouraging them to learn and grow.

If you don’t have employees, can you build a network of associates by offering them customised training in your methods and let them use your brand for an upfront or monthly fee?