I Married My Business and I Want a Divorce
Starting and maintaining a business is a major life commitment. Some of us are capable of managing our time well or intentionally dedicating specific hours to our career. Most of us in an ownership or key person position fret and agonize over too many details thinking our business is a haphazard card house ready to topple. If that is your mindset, then likely you are correct. The business we toil over doesn’t need to be an obsession. It can also be bad for our well-being. If we are consumed with anxiety about getting tasks completed, it becomes a physical drain as well. In my adventures as a risk manager, I have met several business owner or key persons who just want out.
Often, I ask, “why do you want to be out?” The answer most common is the pressure of the job or something similar. Then perhaps wanting out of the career is a reaction to the stress caused by the pressure we heap onto ourselves day in and day out. If the answer is still, I want out and move on, then consider, what is your business worth? There is software, consultants and brokers who are capable of assessing a value to your business however; it doesn’t usually come with a ready buyer.
A retail or manufacturing business is capable of assigning a specific value on inventory and negotiate based on sales history and sales projections, exclusivity of product, etc. For those working a service-based field, you are the value. Your skill and credentials are the heart of the company. Without you, there may not be much to sell. If you cultivated a strong client base, it may help in negotiating with a buyer. Often in a service business the new business owner will require your participation in a structured manner. As an example, the first 90 days you are still working with the new owner shadowing, then over (for example) the next 90 days phases you out. Although this strategy doesn’t solve the desire to get out from the pressures of the career quickly, it does allow the clients to feel like they matter and allows the new owner to potentially retain the client base.
Now you are divorced from your business, now what? Did you earn enough to retire on your terms? If retirement is too far off, one may take their talents and be an employee. Maybe you decided the occupation is not to your liking, do you go back to school, or start from the ground up in a new field? Or, taking on a business partner to manage the aspects of the business that cause you to lose sleep. Thinking through these questions will go long way in allowing our old habits that stick with us like a ball and chain to ease off. Even though we parted ways with what we thought caused us such misery, the real source of unhappiness might be ourselves. The way we associate with our career and how it can dominate our lives. Before going through the difficult decision to separate from a business, weigh the positives and negatives, maybe changing some of the behaviors we adopted can make the business we started worthy of giving a second chance.
Originally published at clarastellabc.com.
