Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth: A Strategic Guide for Owners and Their Advisors

Quoting from the Introduction

Congratulations!
You made it.
Now let's do our best to protect it.

Your business has been built on your hard work and passion for what you do. The long hours, the battles with the finances, the incremental gains that you fought tooth and nail for are now more behind you than in front of you. For many readers of this book, many exciting challenges still await your careers. For others, a quick exit is what is most desired. In either case, you made it, and a warm congratulations is due to you for your accomplishment.

Now it is time to enter the equally challenging phase of keeping it. "It," of course, is the wealth that has accumulated in your illiquid business. That wealth is locked inside your business, much the same way that wealth is locked inside your home. Now, home may very well be where the heart is, but your business produces profits. If your business is where your heart is, then this book is a very good resource to assist you in viewing the business more as an investment and less as a job you love. The reason you want to think this way is because the majority of your wealth is likely tied up in your business, and without a plan to monetize or transfer that wealth, a great deal of your hard work may be lost.

Page 3 continues to make this point . . .

. . . Building your business was not easy. It required a plan and a tenacious approach to competing in your marketplace. Exiting your business is equally challenging, and in many ways much more difficult.

An analogy will help put this in perspective.

On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest, the highest spot on earth.

But is Edmund Hillary famous because he was the first person to make it to the top of Mount Everest? Not necessarily. In fact, it is widely believed that others before him had made it to the pinnacle. However, Hillary became famous because he was the first westerner to navigate the descent back down the mountain without perishing. The others who went before him are still frozen up there.

Is climbing down a mountain harder than climbing up? Think about it. When you are ascending a mountain - or building a business - your weight is behind you, pushing you onward and upward. By contrast, when descending from the mountain, your weight can work against you. You need to avoid missteps that send you tumbling down.

So, is exiting a business harder than building one? Very likely, yes. The next question is: are you frozen in your business? . . .

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Did you like this passage from the Introduction? If you did, you'll love the book. It spans 236 pages of step-by-step instruction that will help you make money by incorporating exit strategy planning into your practice. Click here to learn more and order.

Specializing in Business Exit Strategies, John M. Leonetti, Esq., M.S. Finance, CM&AA founded Pinnacle Equity Solutions to provide exit strategy planning services to business owners as well as education and training programs for professional advisors. To learn more about John's Exit Strategy Services and his recently published book, "Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth", visit ExitingYourBusiness.com