You need an exit strategy
Almost all doctors have taken care of terminally ill patients. For some, the patient's death is elegant, respectful, planned, and peaceful with respect for dignity. For others, there are uncomfortable family confrontations, arguments about DNR requests in the ICU, prolonged agony and money wasted on futile care. The ICU family experience can be even worse. When appropriate, we all advise patients and their families to sign living wills, assign durable power of attorney, certify DNR requests and plan for the end. Doctor, when it comes to your business, follow your own advice.
Stephen Covey, in his best-seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, reminds us that highly effective people plan with the end in mind. The same holds true for business owners. Unfortunately, after spending a lifetime building and operating a business, some owners spend more time thinking about how they will get rid of their golf clubs, or their spouses, than their business. Exits are a key part of business planning and can take the form of IPO's (Initial Public Offerings), ESOPS (Employee Stock Option Plans), MBO's (Management Buy Outs) , LBO's (Leveraged Buy Outs), M & A's (Mergers and Acquisitions) and EOTUTS(Every Other Thing Under the Sun).
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Arlen’s Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.