As a business owner, you have a lot of responsibilities resting on your shoulders. From your family to your clients, employees, and partners, there are a lot of people counting on you today and in the future. Do you have a business succession plan in place to make sure they’re all taken care of if you can no longer take care of your business?
Unfortunately, most businesses aren’t liquid enough to continue operating and supporting the owner’s family and employees if the owner dies or is no longer physically or mentally capable of running the company. However, with the right plan in place, you can ensure the people you care about the most are well provided for if anything happens to you.
In other words, you need a life and death plan that fully (and correctly) identifies what should happen to your business if you can’t run it anymore. I know, thinking about your death isn’t the most pleasant prospect but doing so can actually make both your life and your business so much better.
The truth is you need a business succession plan that ensures the people you care about avoid facing true disasters when you’re gone. For example, here are just five of the disasters waiting in the future if you don’t have a rock solid business succession plan in place before you die or become unable to run your business:
- Your business will have to close because you don’t have enough insurance (or the right kind of insurance) to provide the cash needed to keep the business going.
- Someone you don’t want to lead your company could end up in charge if you don’t have a written plan in place that designates who will run your business (or prepare it for sale).
- Your business won’t be able to serve its customers, collect payments, or pay bills because there is no documented access to your digital business assets.
- Your business and your family will have to fight to keep your business if they end up in probate court.
- Your business and personal assets as well as your intellectual property could be lost to the State Department of Unclaimed Property.
The good news is that all of these disasters are easily avoided with a well-written business succession plan. Once you have this plan in place, you’ll have peace of mind that if anything happens to you, the people you care about most—your family, clients, team, and partners—will be cared for in exactly the way that you want. This reassurance frees you up to focus on generating more income and making your big dreams a reality today!
When you create and document your business succession plan, you not only ensure the operational legacy of your business is protected but you can also secure the more personal legacy of your business. Through written, video, and audio recordings, you can save the story of your business and leave a documented legacy of your experiences and the lessons you learned along the way as you built a successful company. It’s an important part of business succession planning that you shouldn’t forget!
Leave a Reply