Few business leaders believe tomorrow could be their last day driving the day-to-day operations of their company. It may seem impossible to imagine life without one of your greatest passions.

But the reality is that life-altering events take place every minute of every day for people across the country.  If a big change took place tomorrow, would you be prepared?  How would your company respond if you couldn't show up one day?  What if you couldn't show up for the next week, or the next two months?  Can your company survive without YOU?

Creating a succession plan for your business doesn’t mean you have to be planning to eventually exit the business (although having an exit strategy is also a great leadership practice).   Having a detailed succession plan is simply the first step toward better managing the unknown.

A change in the leadership of your company likely will involve a major transition for you, your family, and your employees, and it will also impact your customers, vendors, the community and others.  An event of this magnitude isn’t something that should be dealt with “when the time comes” – succession planning should take place long before that critical moment.

Before you decide to engage and invest in professional resources such as succession & estate planning attorneys, tax accountants, a business valuation, wealth manager/financial planners, etc., watch the video recap of our free HNI University event on succession planning.   While professional advisors are critical to this process, the cost associated with legal, accounting, or advisory fees can be substantially reduced with advance preparation on your part. 

At the workshop, we covered:

• Introduction to Business Valuation
• Determing if your business is transferrable (and what to do if it's not)
• Identifying a successor
• Finding external strategic buyers
• Common misconceptions with buy/sell agreements
• The planning process: why each plan is unique