Transitioning a Business as a Co-Contributor

Our business is not separate from our life. Our business is part of our life. If we consider our business to be separate, from our life, it will have a wide range of negative implications. One of the consequences could be that we might live a "double role" life. As a result, we might have a confused state of mind which could lead to anxiety.

When we treat our business as part of our life, we will integrate our personality into our business. We will see our business as our "creation" and as a result we will try to leave behind our business as our "legacy." It is a matter of our perspective about our business. It is a mindset shift.

This shift in our mindset will have an impact in every aspect of our business including transitioning our business to a new person or entity. For instance, we will not do anything less because we are thinking of selling our business. For that matter, this holistic approach applies even if we had an exit strategy from day one.

This fresh perspective about our business will make our business more attractive. The potential buyers can smell the freshness of our "sense of ownership" from far away. More importantly, we will attract the right "Buyer" which will give us higher multiples both in numbers and in feelings.

This sense of ownership extends to all aspects of doing business which even includes selling and transitioning our business. As a result, we will subconsciously and naturally follow a system which could be summarized in an acronym named PUBLIC, as per following:


P - Possibilities:We have to look at our market and assess all the options that could be available for our potential buyer. This could be within or outside our industry. Basically, if a buyer wanted to buy our type of business, what are the options available. We might have to go as far as finding out what options buyers have if they wanted to buy any business, for that matter, in today's market.


U - Uniqueness:Once we have determined the possibilities, for our potential buyer, we have to find out what is unique about our business? What do we have that others don't have? What is the value that we bring to the table? What will people be missing if we did not exist?


B - Buyer:Now that we know our core value, we have to find out who is looking for this kind of value? Who gains the most from this value? We are looking for personal and corporate alignments of our potential buyers with our business. Basically, who values our value?


L - Look Around:Knowing who wants what we are selling is crucial before we go out and look for potential buyers. Most businesses and their representatives, just put the business for sale in the market, without knowing exactly who wants that business. If we know, who might be interested in buying our business, we will get our Buyer much faster and much easier. We might even find our Buyer within our circle of influence because we can easily filter our target.


I - Involve:Buying a business is a difficult decision. We have to find ways to make this decision easier for our potential Buyer. One of the ways that we can give them comfort is by involving them in our business. For example, we can invite them to observe our day to day operation. Since we have nothing to hide, why not build our Buyer's confidence.


C - Co-Contribute:After they made the decision to buy the business, we can assure them that they have made the best possible decision. We will not burn our bridges but rather we will create a mutually beneficial relationship that may last way after the business transaction. This relationship might lead to opportunities for both sides, outside the sale of the current business. I call this type of relationship a Co-Contributing relationship where both sides are feeding from each others' expertise and experiences.

To build a Co-Contributing relationship, it takes some effort which could be broken down into the following acronym, appropriately named LEGACY:

• L - Learn - Learn more about our Buyer. Understand their ambitions and aspirations. What are their objectives from buying this business?
  
• E - Easygoing - When we understand our Buyer, we will try to be easy with them. Once we know the objective of our Buyer, we will try to accommodate the transition process accordingly. It takes our patience, to transition our business to them, as they are new to our way of doing business.
  
• G - Genuine - Once our deal is firm and final, we have to be transparent to our Buyer. We owe it to them. They bought our business and we have no reason to hide anything related to business, from them. Being genuine and transparent builds trust.
  
• A - Above and Beyond - We should try our best to do more than what we have promised them. We might go out of our way to make sure they fully understand the process. This gesture of ours will solidify our relationship.
  
• C - Comfort - Buyers are nervous coming into a new business, we should try our best to make them comfortable at their new "home." If they feel comfortable with us, they will approach us more often. We could become their sounding board which helps to elevate our relationship to the next level. People are more open around people who they feel more comfortable with.
  
• Y - Yield - We will try our best to assure that they maximize their return on investment. We might achieve this by sharing some of the lessons we have learned along the way while working at our business. We sincerely try to do everything we can to wish them all the best as we see our legacy in their success.
  

Selling a business gives us an opportunity to leave our LEGACY behind. If we look at selling our business from this perspective, we will make sure our buyers are successful. We see their success as our legacy's success. So, our approach to selling and transitioning, our business, will be different. We will look at it as our PUBLIC LEGACY.

Looking at transitioning our business as our PUBLIC LEGACY, will make us leave our world in a better place than we found it. This is made possible just by simply shifting our mindset from selling our business as a transaction to transitioning our business as our "legacy."

This way of doing business will add another Co-Contributor to our business and life. We all know by now that our Co-Contributor makes it or breaks it for both our life and business. Our Co-Contributor is our friend for life and the more we have, the better we live.