Are you contemplating retiring from your family or small business after many years of hard work? Are you excited about the prospect of finally not having to go to work every day? Or are you dreading that day? Or, are you just not looking forward to all the choices and decisions you’ll have to make to extract yourself from your business?
Retiring from the business in which you have worked so long and hard to successfully serve your customers can be a time to celebrate or it could be viewed with much stress and anxiety. My purpose in working with you, as a family or small business owner contemplating retirement, is to help you discover all the reasons to take the first path: celebration of your retirement.
I coach family and small business owners through the entire retirement process, enabling you to know your business is in good hands with your successor, and receiving the value you deserve for what you’ve created. And I also help you discover the greatness in what you have created and nurtured for so many years, and to celebrate this greatness.
So many of the business owners I talk to aren’t excited about retiring from their business. Rather, they’re just tired and they want to spend less or no time on their business. They’re focused on just wanting to leave.
To me, this is sad! You have worked so hard for so many years to create something rewarding and lasting. It can be a time to celebrate how you’ve expressed your greatness in what you’ve built, what it’s meant to your family, to your community, to your employees, to your suppliers, and to your many very satisfied customers who have loyally bought from you and whom you have so gratefully served for so many years.
As a family and small business exit coach, my purpose is:
- To help you retire successfully, knowing the business you’ve just left is sustainable and is in good hands with your successor;
- In the case where your business is a family business, to help you pass on the value and values you’ve created to your children or other family members;
- And perhaps most importantly, to help you connect with the excitement and celebration of retiring from your business!
In other blog posts, I’ve talked about what is required to successfully pass your business to your successor, be that a family member or an outside purchaser. See Business Retirement Planning: It’s a Team Effort! and What is a Business Legacy and How Can You be Sure It Endures? for what you need to consider to successfully transition your business when you retire.
So, now let’s talk about some of the ways you can find the excitement in retiring from your business! Here are just a few of the many reasons that may excite you:
- The financial return from your business enabled you to choose the lifestyle you desired for yourself and your family.
- You successfully created or nurtured the success of your business for many years, serving many satisfied customers.
- You left a lasting impression on your community for all that you gave in service, contributions to charities, and support of children’s sports teams—to mention just a few of the many ways family businesses support their communities.
- You are leaving a thriving, successful business in which your children, another family member, or an outside successor can take the reins.
- You gained the respect of many members of your community for what you’ve done.
Of course, your reasons for celebrating your retirement may be entirely different, but whatever the reasons, you deserve to celebrate your success in creating and nurturing a lasting, successful business!
Have you begun to think about retiring from your business?
How ready are you to take the next step toward retirement? If you’re not sure, then take our Business Retirement Readiness™ survey. It will take you less than 5 minutes, and you’ll receive a written assessment of how ready you are. Interested? Just click this link to take the survey. And there’s no further obligation!
If you’re not ready to retire, but just want to spend less time in your business, answer as though you’re planning your retirement—the actions you’ll need to take are the same! Click this link to take the survey.
