Can your business survive without you?
As an entrepreneur, you can sometimes get stuck in the day to day running of your business and are unable to take it to the next level. You may feel you’re working hard, but not reaping the rewards you deserve.
The ‘Owner’s Trap’
• Does business slow down when you’re away?
• Do your customers ask to deal with you personally?
• Do you know more than anyone else in your company about your industry?
• Or has your revenue reached a plateau?
If so, then you may have fallen into the ‘Owner’s Trap.’ For you and your business to be inseparable can be a precarious position. What would happen if you were to fall ill?
How would you be able to service an increase in demand?
What if you want to take a step back, sell or pass on the business – could it survive without you in it?
But it is possible to run a business without everything revolving around you. This way, your business still works when you don’t.
Freedom = Sellability
If you would like to get out of this trap and get the most from your business, as well as spend less time in the day to day running of it, then it is important to build a sellable business.
Creating a sellable business gives you options, such as:
• Passing down the business
• Becoming a non-executive chairman
• Improving the scalability of the business
• Selling the business
Having a sellable business will give you the ultimate hand and provide you with choices.
How to create a sellable business
Here at Business Doctors we focus on eight areas that will both increase the value of your business, as well as improve its efficiency and effectiveness.
It will also improve its scalability and make it more attractive to prospective buyers.
- Financial Performance. Financial buyers are buying your future stream of profit. So consider how much profit your company will generate in future and make sure your figures are reliable.
- Growth Potential. The secret to scaling is to sell less stuff to more people. It is important to focus on products and services that are not dependent on you.
- ‘The Switzerland Structure’. This is all about independence. The goal is to make sure your business is independent of any one customer, employer or supplier.
- The Valuation ‘See Saw’. Improving your cash flow increases the value of your company – and makes it a lot less stressful to run.
- Recurring Revenue. The more reliable you can make your business model, the more valuable your company.
- The WOW Factor. This refers to how differentiated your product or service offering is.
- Customer Satisfaction. Your goal should be to have customers who are willing to buy again and refer.
- Hub and Spoke. The extent to which your business relies on you personally.
Building a sellable business will help you to attain the dreams you first had when you set out.
If you would like to discover more about how to build your business into a valuable, sellable asset or find out how to get more freedom and choice with your business take a look at our upcoming Freedom Seminars or take a short, free value builder survey.