Thread: Work on your business not in your business

This topic has been mentioned numerous times on this forum and others but recent events in my life have made it an even greater priority for me. There are a couple of reasons to build systems that allow the business to run without your direct interaction:

1. When you reach the point where you would like to sell the business, if you are the business, meaning that you handle all aspects of the business, you have little to sell. A buyer would be in a position of purchasing the equipment and name but losing all of the relationships and management. Typically businesses run this way are hard to sell and if they sell, they sell at a significant discount.

2. You never know what might happen therefore your business may land in someone's lap. In November my Dad died of a heart attack. He was 69 and in good health. None of us saw it coming. He left Mom with a large amount of rental property. Fortunately, I am around to help her and was able to learn a tremendous amount from Dad. If I were not in place Mom has said that she would have to sell the property. Although she has done the office work for years, she simply does not have the knowledge of the property itself. I realize that most of us on this forum are Gen X and to be honest, that contingency was not even on my radar until Dad died. What would happen to your business if you were out of the picture tomorrow?

Slim Jim-

Thanks. Sorry to hear about your father too.

It also makes me think about my own investments and how I could be killed in a car accident or who knows what. Several years ago I knew a guy who owned and managed a rapidly growing flight school. One day he was out showing off his skills in aerobatics to a new flight instructor and couldn't out climb a ridge and was killed. He had no managers and his wife knew nothing about the business. She tried to run it but was forced to sell within 6 months. I don't know how well she did on the sale but the business only lasted a year or so after the sale.