If you’re a business owner, you should be proud of it. You’re serving the needs of your customers. You’re providing jobs to your employees and may even consider them “part of your family.” You may also be “giving back” to your community in a number of ways. Your company contributes in so many ways to the success of this community.
With this in mind, stop and think for a moment about what it would mean to your customers, employees, and the community if your company was no longer in operation. It’s a scary thought and could have a huge impact. For the sake of your customers, employees, and the community, please don’t let that happen.
Instead, start making a plan to transition your business if you’re at a stage in life where you have five to ten years left before you retire. There are many steps to this process, but the most important thing in my experience is just starting it and staying committed to working on the plan. Getting this process started often entails visualizing what you want to be doing after you transition your business. This could also involve talking with a financial planner to determine what financial resources you need to accomplish these goals.
As a business and estate planning attorney, I lead the development and implementation of the legal side of the transition. I also find it’s very important for a business owner to put in place a plan or review their estate plan to determine what will happen if he or she were to unexpectedly pass away or become disabled.
Take some time to start this process. Don’t take the risk that the transition doesn’t go well and your customers, employees and most importantly your family will be significantly impacted.
