More than a Job – for Owners
| While attending an AM&AA conference last month in Chicago, I overheard an investment banker in the middle market saying, “I don’t like to work with business owners over, say, 58 years old. They generally have an attitude that their business is their job, their life, and if thinking about an exit, it’s a very slow process to move forward.” For those of you who work with business owners in this stage of life, this may sound familiar.
It’s actually not that different from another comment from an Exit Planning Exchange breakfast in Boston a few years back by long-time consultant and Babson College professor Les Charm: “If the owner doesn’t know what they’re going to do on the Monday after the deal if closed, he or she will drag their feet and find every reason not to do the deal.” Well, why is that? The reason is that most business owners are so completely immersed in their business that it is simply all they know. Years of dedication and devotion have made some closer to their business than their families while others see their business as their identity. To have a successful exit, owners need to decide and plan for the next activity that will be as absorbing to them as their business has been. Add to these facts that cash is tight, prospects are unclear for the economy, technology continues to change how we do business, and threats feel omnipresent, it’s not surprising the older generation of owners are delaying their exit planning. But, they are selling themselves (and their businesses) short. |
