May 18, 2023 | Insights, Selling a Business

The Best First Step to Selling Your Business (You’re Going to Love This)

Want to sell your business? Take a vacation.

No…not a week. People can postpone decisions when they know you’re coming back next Monday. We’re talking more like a month.

Not even joking. A one-month vacation, right now. Do it. Here’s why:

Recharge

Let’s start with the run-of-the-mill reason you need a vacation. As a business owner, you probably don’t take many days off—much less an extended period of time on a beach in the Caribbean while your customers, business and livelihood are left in the hands of others. It’s scary, we know. But you need that time to be with the people you love, reflect on where you are in life, and, dare we say, relax. You know you’ll come back fresher and more motivated than ever.

Let Go of Control

Now, here’s the real reason to take a long vacation as a prelude to selling your business: It will have to survive with the people and processes you’ve put in place. Again, a week is no test at all. But a month? You’re going to have to leave the power to your team and hold faith that they’ll perform. It’s like the maestro telling the orchestra, “Play without me.” Can everyone play? If you don’t put down the conductor baton and stop waving your arms, you’ll never find out.

See Who Steps Up

This isn’t just about the day-to-day operations of your business. The time cards, invoices, phone calls and many other tasks may or may not be completed to your liking. Things will likely fall through the cracks. It’s okay. The bigger test is whether or not you have people who are confident in being decision makers. You might find that you have VPs who aren’t comfortable being Ps, or that your org chart is more like a wagon wheel with you at the center and everyone else revolving around your decisions. Let’s find out who can rise to the occasion of running your business.

Build It Better

On your first day back in the office after your vacation, debrief with your team and identify what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve moving forward. Remember, your business needs to be transferable, meaning it can be transferred from you to a new owner and continue to thrive. When you think of it that way, your vacation almost becomes a dry run of what your business might look like under new leadership. If it struggles, we can fill in the gaps. If it runs smoothly, you’ll know it’s all the more salable.

Safe travels, enjoy, and let us know how it goes. We’ll be here, ready to give your business an exit assessment when you get back.