When we talk about business exit planning at Iron Plan Solutions, we often mean buy out planning as part of a retirement strategy for business owners. An exit strategy is an important retirement consideration for business owners, but it’s often overlooked, or put off, limiting an entrepreneur’s future options. But there are other reasons to have an exit or business succession plan in place. Business exit planning also helps prepare for unexpected circumstances; it helps ensure your business can run smoothly in your absence or sudden incapacity, taking into account all business stakeholders, finances, and operations.
Many times, business owners are tightly interwoven into their business financially, and it can be difficult to untangle the two. But it’s necessary to do this, and best to do it years in advance. A fully formed exit strategy takes into account and details all the actions necessary to sell, and recognizes the true value of a business without its owner. It’s best to have a business exit plan in place years or decades before you plan to sell or retire to help guarantee a smooth transition. Depending on your goals, you can sell your business to an external buyer—such as a larger company, a competitor, or an investor—or an internal buyer, like a family member or a key employee.
