Developing an exit strategy may seem like a future ‘to do,’ but its benefits extend far beyond the transition.

Having a current strategic plan that focuses on both increasing income and building company value provides clarity, direction, and peace of mind, allowing business owners to navigate the complexities of transition with confidence and foresight.

Investing time and effort into crafting a well-defined value-to-exit strategy is an essential business planning discipline that keeps you focused and consistent.

A business exit strategy is an owner’s plan for how you will transfer ownership of your business.

It’s a roadmap outlining the steps to be taken to transition out of your business while maximizing value (for you) and minimizing disruption (for employees and customers.)

Exit strategies are typically developed well in advance of your actual exit and may involve several transitions and transactions at different times.

Know what your business is worth to

1. manage your expectations about how much a buyer might pay for it

2. understand how much a sale could contribute to your retirement or next venture

3. identify what you can do to increase near term revenue and long term value to maximize your choices and flexibility

Build a successful, profitable business without sacrificing your mental and physical health, marriage, relationships, financial wellbeing and spiritual wellness. By making choices and prioritizing, you get to focus on being consistent (way more important than discipline) in how you use and manage your energy to understand and focus on doing the things that create the most value for you and your business. A combination of processes, automation, routines and learning from actual results helps you make better, faster decisions, and grow confident in your ability to get the most out of the work you do rather than doing the most work.

Business owners have a love/hate relationship with their business. Finding ways to love your business makes it easier to grow a profitable and sustainable business with intention and purpose. Explore three easy habits to help you be a happier and more satisfied business owner.

There are 11 things business owners can do to end the year strong and start the new year stronger. Use this time to orient, reflect, learn, plan and reorient for action. Position your business for a great 2024 by planning and growing on purpose, with purpose.

There are 11 things business owners can do to end the year strong and start the new year stronger. Use this time to orient, reflect, learn, plan and reorient for action. Position your business for a great 2024 by planning and growing on purpose, with purpose.

You wear a lot of hats. You are a manager, owner, investor and family member. And each role demands different things from you. Here are five steps to aligning your many roles to reduce conflict and increase prosperity and joy for you, your family and your business.

Can I sell my business? Great question! Exiting your business on your terms requires planning. Creating a business that generates value for you as the owner and someone else - heirs, management/ownership team, third-party buyer - doesn’t just happen. In fact, according to EPI, 70% of businesses that go to market don’t sell, so there’s no time like the present to start assessing your readiness and attractiveness so that you have plenty of time to build the value of your business long before you want to transition ownership.

We need to talk about pricing, profit and paying yourself. Small business owners struggle with how to price their goods and services, how to generate a profit and how to take home the money they deserve. The good news is, you can control all those things.

There’s way too many metrics for any business owner to keep track of them all. Which is why you have not know what metrics matter to you and your business so you know what KPIs to track and what information will help you make better decisions to hit your revenue, expense and profit goals.

Business owners get a business coach when the pain of working alone is greater than the fear of being vulnerable. Business coaches help owners hone their visioning, planning and execution skills. They help alleviate the pain of uncertainty, doubt, fear and frustration to move clients to calm, confident decision making.

What are growth levers? Growth levers are the tactics you deploy to achieve your strategic business growth goals. Which business growth levers you choose depends on your market, industry and specific goals. When you make intentional decisions about what lever to deploy and when you increase the likelihood that your preparedness will meet opportunity. It’s how you make your own luck.

Build a sellable business even if you don’t plan to sell.

There are lots of things that make a business sellable, things that even if you don't want to sell your business they will make your business more profitable for you. Learn more about what it takes to sell your business by maximizing its value for you and your family.

When facing uncertainty in your business, one way to reduce the risk of making decisions is to ask yourself questions like:

What’s most important to me?

How do I define success?

Who needs to understand this?

What business levers can I use to get my desired end result?

Strategic business growth requires you to ask strategic questions. Asking strategic questions requires you to make time for this important activity which only you as a business owner can do. How much time, you ask? The time it takes. And one way to get started and move faster is to work with a coach who asks these questions all day every day.

Increasing the cash in your business involves a combination of strategies that save money, make more money, and managing cash flow.

Increasing the cash in your business involves a combination of strategies that save money, make more money, and managing cash flow.

Time management is often a concern for business owners. There are lots of different strategies including the two-week lookahead. By looking ahead to see what’s on your schedule you can take control of designing how and when you work. More control earlier in the planning process can make it a lot easier to keep your business running smoothly and avoid overwhelm.

Fear of failure is at the top of most lists about what business owners and entrepreneurs fear most about starting a business. There are plenty of other things that can make entrepreneurship intimidating. All of them can be overcome. Purpose First Advisors explores how to use knowledge, understanding and coaching to cultivate the courage successful business owners use to move past their fears.