exit planning Archives - Your ExitMap

Exiting Your Business Happily, Often Requires a Strong Personal Vision

Steven Zeller — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:57:37 +0000

Some surveys conducted among business owners, find that approximately 75% of owners who exit their business are unhappy with the decision one year after they do so. There are several reasons for this, and some owners struggle with it more than others, but the main reason for the unhappiness after a business exit is because of their lack of “personal vision.” What will their life entail after the exit? What will be their new higher purpose (beyond playing golf)? What will be their new areas for personal growth? If they thrive on working with a team towards a common cause in the organization, how will ... Read more

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Quality of Earnings and Technology Costs

John F. Dini — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 16:35:23 +0000

When a Quality of Earnings audit identifies deferred technology, the price can be magnified many times. Are you deferring technology costs? A few months ago, a subscriber to our planning tools called with a tech support question. “Your software doesn’t work,” he said. After some investigation, we identified the problem. He was using a version of the underlying engine, (a part of Microsoft Office) that was four or five generations past end-of-life. When asked about his willingness to upgrade he said, “I don’t want to be forced into getting a subscription.” (As a side note, no software developers try to develop for compatibility with end-of-life ... Read more

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Creating the Plan to Eventually Depart Your Business

David Lupberger — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Creating and Editing Your Plan I am now 66 years old. It seems like a strange statement to write here. Where did that time go? I have a grown son and my spouse and I are now empty nesters. It is just us now, but we do get to enjoy some delightful visits from my son when he can get away from his own business to join us. Does that sound familiar to you? We will all be addressing a similar outcome as we age into our later years. This will also affect our busines lives. All business owners will exit their businesses, either ... Read more

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The Exit Planning Fallacy – A Business Owner’s Perspective

John F. Dini — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:59:40 +0000

One of the most common sales pitches you might hear from someone claiming to help you “enhance value” goes something like this: “I’ve reviewed your company and believe it’s worth $4.2 million today. With the right planning, it could be worth $7.7 million. Would you rather exit with $4.2 million or $7.7 million?” That’s not really a question—it’s a setup. Of course, no business owner would willingly choose the smaller number. But the real issue isn’t which number you prefer. It’s what it actually takes to bridge that gap—and whether you’re being given a full picture. Are You Falling for the Planning Fallacy? There’s a ... Read more

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Decisions Made from Fear

John F. Dini — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:56:03 +0000

“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 ... Read more

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What is “Holistic” Planning?

John F. Dini — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 16:54:30 +0000

Financial planners use the term “holistic planning” frequently. It’s meant to indicate that they consider the client’s short- and long-term life goals and the future they visualize. According to Fidelity Investments Holistic Wealth Planning is continuous and considers two dozen aspects of client wealth objectives. The Valuation Reality Gap - Only one of those aspects is ownership of a business.

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Build a Successful Business Exit Plan by Using a Planning Process

Steven Zeller — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 16:32:13 +0000

As a business owner, planning the exit from ownership of your business is probably the single most important decision you will make. When to exit, how much to walk away with, who to sell it to, what’s the most tax efficient strategy in your circumstance, what timeline is most suitable, and what are the areas of business that need to be improved upon to make it marketable, etc.? Those are just some of the things that need to be considered.

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Cash Flow Normalization

John F. Dini — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:16:00 +0000

Cash flow normalization is done with the intention of identifying Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) or Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE). These differing measures are not interchangeable, but are used by different classes of buyers for different categories of acquisition.

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What is an Exit Plan?

John F. Dini — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:00:33 +0000

"What is an Exit Plan" is an article I wrote ten years ago. It was just brought to my attention and I realized I never posted it to Awake for some reason. Here, with some updating, we celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Exit planning is the buzzword for those who consult to Baby Boomer business owners. Business brokers, wealth managers and other professionals are adding “exit planning” to their marketing messages.

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Purpose – Life After the Sale Part 3

John F. Dini — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 15:03:10 +0000

The third component of life after the sale is Purpose – “Having as one’s intention or objective.” Many exit planning advisors discuss the three legs of the exit planning stool – business readiness, financial readiness, and personal readiness. In our previous two articles, we focused on two of the “big three” components of a successful life after the sale, activity and identity. The third is purpose.

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Private Equity Reputation

John F. Dini — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 16:33:02 +0000

We began this series by saying that Private Equity reputation is as the Great Satan to some, and a savior to others, depending on the personal experience of the speakers. In fact, both reputations are well deserved, but neither can be universally applied.
The “Great Satan” Private Equity Reputation - PEGs buy companies for the express purpose of improving their performance. That often comes with considerable pain for employees.

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Private Equity Leverage

John F. Dini — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:23:44 +0000

Private equity leverage can dramatically increase ROI, but it can also be a trap. In our previous article, we discussed the general structure of Private Equity, how it works, and the types of Private Equity Groups (PEGs). They have grown rapidly as an alternative investment that produces far better returns than Treasury Bills or publicly traded equities.

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