Quick Detour: Big News! Exit Signs the book is almost here!
As I publish this blog post, I’m just one week away from an enormous milestone: My book, Exit Signs, will be published Sept. 29. After a three-year process, I couldn’t be happier to know it is about to reach my readers. It’s available for pre-order now at your local bookstore, as well as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.
Thanks for your support. Now let’s return to our regular route.
Don’t Just Muddle Through the Middle of Your Exit Journey
I dislike long road trips. Put me on a plane and in a crazy airport anytime over a car trip. I have to find some hidden gems along the way or all I can see is the work – pack and unpack the car, eight hours or more of driving during which, inevitably, we have arguments over whether we are lost (again) and who is at fault for missing the exit.
Planning your business Exit Strategy can seem like a meandering road trip, with visions of long, complicated or conflict-ridden days and few intermediate rewards. Not surprisingly, the farther away the exit horizon, the less attention owners give to exit planning, which is the reverse of good practice. According to one report, of those who do successfully sell their companies, 75 percent wished they had begun preparing for that process much earlier.
As my former company planned its exit strategy for the two senior partners, we had to do what all owners do:
- Formulate our exit strategy,
- Develop continuity and sustainability plans, and
- Begin to understand our personal path forward including our roles post-departure.
Oh, and we had a growing business to run.
We were managing dozens of client engagements across the US and Europe, which added to our frequent flier miles but left little time to use them! We had an aggressive five-year growth strategy along with capacity challenges, and we knew we needed a transition plan for client retention and intellectual property protection. It seemed like a long, complex journey as we started the plan four years before the first exit.
Sound familiar? It’s the experience of being in the middle and in a muddle. You have so much to do; and the more you do, the more there is to do. You are so busy doing, you can’t see whether you are even moving forward.
Rest Stops and Scenic Overlooks
What any long journey needs are Rest Stops and Scenic Overlooks, places where you just pause from the driving and appreciate where you are on the map and what you have accomplished and seen along the way. It’s not a nice-to-have activity. It’s a survival activity.
Rest Stops on a highway give you a moment to literally refocus physically and mentally. Our eyes get a chance to soften their focus and relax muscles. We stretch our legs that have been in a sustained position for too long, allowing better circulation to the body and brain. We stop to appreciate how far we’ve come. Sometimes we take a picture to remember the view. Maybe we reward ourselves with a soft drink or ice cream! We refresh so we can attend to the next leg of the trip.
In my former company it meant taking a pause, 2-3 times a year, to reflect on where we were. Here’s a guide to a great Rest Stop. Plan a half-day to do three things with your co-owners and/or staff.
- Review what you have accomplished, learned, left unfinished in your a) business plan and b) exit plan.
- Ask yourselves what plans are still valid and which need changing? Where do you need resources to support the priority and the people working on it?
- Conduct a recognition or celebration (One time we all went to an amusement park; another time we hired a country-and-western dance instructor for an evening lesson in the empty office next door — did I mention our mates participated too?)
How did we make the time for this, you might be asking? First and foremost, it was part of our company values to work on the business, not just in the business. Second, it kept us healthier as people. Research tells us that it isn’t how hard you work, but why and how you work hard that determines the effect work has on your health and your social environment. We worked to make a difference for our clients, but also to build a healthy place to work for ourselves.
What Are Your Exit Journey’s Secret Destinations?
Martin Buber wrote, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” When you feel like you are simply muddling through the middle, it’s time for a rest stop and scenic overlook.
What you will learn if you implement this practice is an appreciation for the secret and surprise destinations you have experienced. These are the fuels that sustain you on the road: the people, the ideas, the road hazards navigated, and the places and sights along the way you never thought you would see.
When is the last time you took a rest stop on your road to exiting your business? Please share how it might help you on your journey.