Exit Planning Archives - Page 4 of 17

Decisions Made from Fear

August 25, 2025 by John F. Dini

“I’m taking the logos off my trucks. It just makes them a target for personal injury lawyers.”

“I don’t want to put our newest product innovations on our website. The competitors just copy them.”

“We’re creating a human resources LLC so that employees are separated from the rest of our business. That way we’re safer from spurious claims.”

“We pay all of our employees to bring their vehicles back to the yard every night. We don’t want to be responsible for what they do on their own time.”

“We were thinking of opening a new location, but the news says the economy might dip.”

“I thought about hiring another salesperson, but I can’t be sure they’ll pay for themselves.”

“Our margins are shrinking, but a price hike may cost us customers.”  

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When Fear Dictates Decisions

I can’t. We won’t. I shouldn’t.

Sound familiar? These thoughts creep in as your business grows. You’ve overcome a lot already—taking that first leap, pushing through uncertainty, making tough calls when the stakes were high. But now, you have something to lose. The fear of getting it wrong can paralyze progress.

There’s a well-known quote from Elon Musk. When asked, “What words of encouragement would you give to an entrepreneur?” he answered, “If you need words of encouragement, don’t become an entrepreneur.”

Starting a business meant stepping into the unknown. You did it once—and maybe you’ve forgotten how much courage that took.

There’s a saying worth remembering:

“We know about half of what we need to know. Another 25% is stuff we know we don’t know. The last 25% is stuff we don’t know that we don’t know.”

It’s that last 25% that causes the most anxiety. The unknowns we haven’t even considered yet. They can stop us in our tracks.

So we do what feels safest: nothing. Better to protect what we have than risk the comfort of the present for the uncertainty of the future.

But here’s the truth: staying still isn’t safe. It’s just quietly risky.

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Exit Planning: A Different Kind of Fear

Thinking about life after your business? You’re not alone if that brings up more questions than answers:

• What will I do with myself?
• Who am I without this business?
• Will I still feel needed or fulfilled?

That’s why most business owners don’t have an exit plan. It’s not urgent, it’s not easy—and frankly, it’s intimidating.

But the transition will come. The sooner you face it, the more options you’ll have—and the better prepared you’ll be.

This is where an experienced advisor is invaluable. A good advisor doesn’t just help you plan for exit—they help you clarify your goals, address the unknowns, and convert fear into forward motion.

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Turn Unknowns Into Strategy

Entrepreneurs are natural goal-setters. You’re wired to chase progress. With the right guidance, the fears that hold you back become challenges you can tackle.

Working with an advisor brings structure to uncertainty. It moves you from:

• “I don’t know where to start” to “Here’s the next step.”
• “What if I make the wrong decision?” to “I’m making informed choices.”

You’ve already taken one of the boldest risks in starting your business. Don’t let fear dictate what comes next.

Partner with someone who knows the road ahead—and can help you navigate it.

John F. Dini develops transition and succession strategies that allow business owners to exit their companies on their own schedule, with the proceeds they seek and complete control over the process. He takes a coaching approach to client engagements, focusing on helping owners of companies with $1M to $250M in revenue achieve both their desired lifestyles and legacies.

The Role of Business Valuation In Your Exit Strategy

July 25, 2025 by Kerry Boulton

Accurate business valuation is a cornerstone of a successful exit strategy, as it provides the foundation for setting expectations and achieving a fair sale price. Determining the true worth of your business requires a comprehensive assessment that goes beyond financial analysis to include market conditions and intangible assets. This thorough evaluation helps in setting a realistic asking price and attracting serious buyers.

Understanding the factors that influence business value, such as financial performance, industry trends, and competitive positioning, is crucial. This knowledge enables you to make informed decisions and enhance your business’s value before the sale.

Engaging valuation experts can provide an objective and accurate assessment of your business. Their expertise ensures that the valuation reflects the true worth of your business and assists in addressing complex valuation issues, providing a solid foundation for negotiations.

Utilising the results of this valuation is essential in guiding your exit strategy. It helps in setting goals, identifying potential buyers, and structuring the sale. A well-informed exit plan, based on accurate valuation, contributes to achieving a successful sale and maximising business value.

Finally, it’s important to regularly revisit your business valuation to account for changes in market conditions and business performance. Keeping the valuation up-to-date ensures that your exit strategy remains aligned with current value and market trends, helping you stay on track for a successful sale.

Kerry Boulton, CEPA is Australia’s most respected exit strategy advisor. With over 20 years in business as an entrepreneur, transformative coach, consultant, sought after speaker and talented facilitator, Kerry has been helping business owners like you to overcome challenges while providing the steps needed to ensure that you find the financial freedom you deserve.

Missed Opportunities

July 7, 2025 by John F. Dini

Your business is doing pretty well. You’re adding to your personal savings every month and are more focused on tax strategies than making payroll. But how do you know if you’re leaving opportunities on the table?

Some indicators are obvious. Others, less so.

One of the easiest to spot is stagnation. Businesses are like living organisms—they either grow or they shrink. Flat or declining sales are a warning sign. Stagnation limits opportunities for your top employees and makes it easier for competitors to lure away your customers with newer, more innovative solutions.

How does your growth rate compare to your industry or market? If others are growing and you’re not, standing still is really falling behind.

Customer Feedback

What are your customers saying? Your salespeople are often the first to hear feedback from the field. If you’re hearing things like, “Everyone complains about our new auto attendant,” the right response isn’t “Everyone is doing it—they’ll get used to it.” Instead, track call volumes and see if it’s driving customers away.

When was the last time you ran a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey? The NPS question is simple but telling: “Would you recommend our product or service to another business?” On a ten-point scale, anything below a seven indicates a lack of enthusiasm. Sevens and eights are neutral at best. Only nines and tens are true fans—and every business should aim for a strong percentage of those.

Are you paying attention to buying trends from your top 20% of customers? The Pareto principle holds true in most businesses—that 20% often accounts for the majority of your revenue. Is their total spend declining? Have some of your best customers stopped buying altogether? Has anyone asked why?

Technology: Internal and External

A while back, we wrote about the cost of new technology relative to the value of the people using it. Are you taking advantage of the latest tools? How are you using AI? ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, and Perplexity (along with a growing list of others) can do more than draft emails. They’re a gateway to broader AI solutions. Try asking them about emerging innovations in your industry. How are companies streamlining office work? What AI tools exist for logistics, material handling, workflows, or scheduling?

Are you making the most of trade shows and conferences? Are you there to look for new ideas, or just to catch up with old friends? Are you attending your customers’ industry events—not to sell, but to see what new products and systems they’re adopting? Understanding their innovations helps you stay relevant as a supplier or partner.

What does your innovation pipeline look like? Are you consistently working on improving your products, customer experience, and internal operations?

Human Resources

How challenging is it to hire new talent? Are people leaving for better opportunities? Are you seeing fewer responses to job postings? Are new hire salary demands creating tension with your existing pay structure? Finding good people is hard—but it’s even harder if you aren’t competitive in the talent marketplace.

You may not have immediate answers to all these questions—but asking them is the first step. They’ll help you identify gaps, spark new ideas, and strengthen your business for the future.

Remember, you don’t have to solve all of this alone. The right advisor helps you ask the right questions, find the right answers, and act on them. Fresh perspective and outside expertise often reveal opportunities you didn’t know you were missing.

Goals and Resolutions

June 17, 2025 by John F. Dini

There is a difference between goals and resolutions.

Businesses set goals. These can be budgetary, operational, recruiting, sales or profit oriented. Individuals make resolutions.

Business Goals

Goals are focused on a particular outcome, and so should be specific. It’s worth the time to get into the details. If you intend to increase the company’s cash flow, how will that be done? If it’s by boosting sales, what has to change to make that happen? You could add a new product line or enter additional territory. It may require hiring and training new salespeople.

You can also increase the cash flow by reducing your Cost of Goods. Is there a purchasing analysis software that would identify ideal order quantities? Should there be new competitive bidding between vendors? Perhaps the company has grown to the point where it needs to recruit full-time purchasing personnel.

Cash flow can also be improved by production efficiency to reduce expenses, early payment incentives for customers, or by financing receivables.

Once the specifics are determined, the rest of the SMART equation comes into play. How will you Measure success? Who is Accountable for making it happen (and does their compensation reflect success?) What Resources should be allocated? Any effort requires personnel or investment, and frequently both.

Finally, what is the Time Frame? Is it the whole budget cycle? What interim measurements are needed to track progress? Are there contingency plans if the goal falls behind schedule?

Personal Resolutions

Individuals make resolutions. They are promises (even if only to yourself) to commit to a new behavior. By definition, they are often tied to a broader aspiration.

If that aspiration is an exit strategy, your resolution may begin with the time frame. “I will leave Acme Widgets on December 31, 2029.” It’s still worthwhile to think through the SMART process, but the focus would be on your individual behavior.

Specific. By 12/31/29 I will be prepared for an active second act dividing my time between clearly identified community service, our grandchildren, and traveling both domestically and overseas.

Measurable. To support my lifestyle, I will transfer my company to new owners for a price of not less than $6,000,000, which will be added to the $2,000,000 in savings I accumulate in the next five years.

Accountable. The only person responsible for this is me. I will review these resolutions every month, on the last day of the month, to consider whether I have moved forward on my goal.

Resourced. Maximizing the value of my business and leaving without regret requires that I have no day-to-day operational duties. I will create a delegation plan defining who will assume each aspect of my job(s).

Time Frame. Well, that’s where we started. Now you can sketch out the interim measurements.

Goals and Resolutions

In any business managed by the owner, both goals and resolutions are necessary to move forward. No business is likely to succeed in its goals if the owner’s objectives are in conflict with them. No owner can expect to succeed in his resolutions if the business goals don’t match.

Remember, sooner or later every owner exits his or her business. It typically goes much better if there is a plan. An exit plan is merely a strategy with an end date. Having that date defined helps a lot of other things fall into place.

How To Set Goals for Yourself That You’re Passionate About Accomplishing

May 29, 2025 by Steven Zeller

Whether we set New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year or any other point during the year, we often desire to challenge ourselves and set goals for personal growth and achievement. Too frequently, goals are established and later abandoned as we shift our focus to other priorities and distractions.

How do we set goals for ourselves that we are genuinely excited about pursuing and accomplishing and that motivate us to stay focused on reaching them? Over the years, I have provided planning guidance to individuals, and I have concluded that there is likely a particular approach to setting goals that is pursued more naturally by the individuals I work with. That approach involves applying a process that establishes personal goals aligned with the individual’s values.

We have found that it is essential to consider this approach because if the goals you established aren’t in alignment with your current life values, you will not be enthusiastic about pursuing and accomplishing them.

The challenge is to determine what those values are, prioritize them, and then establish goals under each of those values.

Exploring your values is a great starting point for assessing your life purpose, mission, and vision and setting your goals. The guideline for setting goals is S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). This exercise focuses on the RELEVANT measurement of goal setting, which means they align with your stated values. Once you complete this exercise, you can begin to set goals that align with your values.

Step 1: Begin by studying the list of values and virtues below. Use a highlighter to mark the ones that appeal to or resonate with you in terms of maintaining or achieving them in your life. Some values may be combined if they are closely related to you. Examples would be “family” and “friends.” Some choices can be classified as a virtue, but they may still be important to you. “Wisdom” can be categorized as a virtue, but perhaps it can also be pursued within the values of learning, mastery, or knowledge. *Note: If there is a value of yours that isn’t listed, certainly include it.

Step 2: Write down the highlighted values that resonated with you.

Competency Family Financial Stability Meaningful Work

Curiosity Faith Community Financial Freedom

Step 3: Pick the Five Most Important Values

Step 4: Rank them in order of importance

Step 5: Answer the question: What goals can I pursue or accomplish that will enrich the areas within these values?

Step 6: Set your goals under these five pillars (values)—ensure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.

An additional step would be to list your key virtues within these ﬁve stated values. These are general statements on how to practice these values.

Step 7: Develop Your Life Purpose Statement.

The purpose of my financial resources and my life’s efforts is:

My financial resources and life purpose are to satisfy my curiosity and appetite for learning and discovery while also ensuring my financial stability. I will pursue meaningful work that makes a positive impact on my family, friends, and the community. I will also dedicate my lifestyle and schedule to maximizing my health.

Example of Values-related Goals (Note: these should have target dates of completion)

Ways that I will bring this purpose to life are:

Enroll is a bible study course in the ﬁrst quarter of this year

Help our children grow, realize self-sufficiency, and pursue happiness. Fill a board position at my favorite charity this year

Read three books within my areas of interest per quarter

I will make the following changes to my lifestyle to further improve my health in the ﬁrst quarter of this year—speciﬁcally, _______.

Reinforcing Your Focus on Goal Achievement

An additional exercise to reinforce these goals and increase the likelihood of achieving them is to review them three times a day.

Develop Your Own Personal Vision and Mission Statements

A vision statement is your ideal future—it describes who you want to be, what you want to accomplish, and the impact you want to have on the world. Here are some steps to writing a personal Vision statement.

Step 1: Reflect on Your Core Values

Ask yourself:

Step 2: Imagine Your Ideal Future

Picture yourself 5, 10, or even 20 years from now:

Step 3: Define Your Purpose & Aspirations

Your vision should be bold and inspiring. Consider statements like:

Step 4: Write Your Statement in the Present Tense

as if it is already confirmed

“I am a leader who uplifts and inspires those around me. I create growth opportunities, build strong relationships, and leave a lasting positive impact on the world.

Step 5: Keep It Short & Meaningful

one to three sentences

Writing a Personal Mission Statement

mission statement

bring your vision to life

Steps to Write Your Mission Statement:

Step 1: Identify Your Strengths & Passions

Ask yourself:

Step 2: Define Who You Want to Serve

Step 3: Describe How You Will Fulfill Your Purpose

Consider the actions and behaviors that align with your vision. Examples:

Step 4: Make It Action-Oriented & Clear

“I strive to build innovative businesses that solve real-world problems while creating a positive impact on my community.”

Step 5: Keep It Concise & Memorable

A strong mission statement is brief (1-2 sentences), actionable, and inspiring.

There is a lot to digest here. However, a great place to start is establishing your values and prioritizing them. From there, establish S.M.A.R.T. goals in each of the values that you want to focus on. It doesn’t have to be all of them; you can focus on a few in the first part of the year, the rest in the second part, and so on.

I recommend that you consider establishing a personal Vision statement and Mission statement because it reinforces why you’re striving for these goals in the first place.

Steven Zeller is a Certified Business Exit Planner, Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Investment Fiduciary, and Co-Founder and President of Zeller Kern Wealth Advisors. He advises business owners with developing exit plans, increasing business value, employee retention, executive bonus plans, etc. He can be reached at szeller@zellerkern.com