Planning Your Exit from Your Business

1. Plan Ahead

1.1 Start planning early for your exit.

• In an ideal world, you would have possible exit routes in mind when you first set up the business. But at the very least you should start planning a few years ahead.
• Planning lets you get your business into the best possible shape for an exit.
• Identify a particular year, level of sales or other objective (eg if you plan to retire at 60, you might want to start considering your exit at 55. You can always change your plans later if you need to).

1.2 Think carefully about your aims. Consider:

• Your objectives as a shareholder (see 2).
• Your objectives for the business (see 3).
• Your objectives as a manager (see 4).

1.3 Be realistic.

• Many owner-managers have an inflated idea of the true value of their business. If you cannot think of a good reason why someone would buy your business, you are likely to struggle to sell it.