Why plan your exit strategy? | Entrepreneur Education

As a business owner, you give your blood, sweat, tears, and a huge chunk of your time to build something from the ground up, keep it running nicely, and even hire people to help you so it thrives.

So why should you even plan your business exit strategy?

Whether through sale, passing it on, or due to unforeseen circumstances, every entrepreneur and CEO will exit their business at some point. Including you!

👉 Related: Growth vs. Scaling: Which is right for your business?

Planning your exit strategy is not just about bowing out gracefully; it’s about making MORE money with less stress.

You can ensure that the business you’ve worked so hard to build doesn’t burn you out, but thrives and lasts beyond you instead.

Ready? Let’s break these points down one by one.

Why plan your exit strategy?

Every entrepreneur will exit their business one way or another. Whether you’re going to sell it, pass it to your children, merge with another company, or whatever else, your business will be out of your hands at some point.

The trick is to build a business that runs without you.

So how does that work? 🤔

You have to remember that ultimately, you started your business for freedom. Freedom to:

• go on more vacations
• be with people important to you
• do what matters most to YOU

The big problem is: most entrepreneurs just become trapped in their businesses and essentially become self-employed. They work harder and longer just to earn less than if they worked for someone else ☠️

Our Outsourcing Angel CEO & Founder Linh Podetti started on that same path.
Within just 3 years of establishing the company, she managed to grow it into a 7-figure business.

But despite having a large team of amazing and experienced virtual assistants, she found herself feeling trapped in the business 😥

Taking a relaxing holiday seemed impossible as she had to constantly check her phone to ensure everything was running smoothly. All decisions and responsibilities ultimately stopped with Linh.

In other words: her original desire for freedom from the business had not been realised; instead, she had a business that heavily relied on her!

👉 Related:How our CEO runs a 7-figure business without working 24/7

After implementing the right processes and technology to scale her business, Linh has finally reached a point where she can step back, delegate to her trusted remote team, and enjoy her newfound freedom.

She’s finally let go of stress, most decision-making, and the day-to-day running of the business. She’s now semi-retired and living her best life!

CEO & Founder Linh Podetti (centre, in orange) has more freedom to enjoy with her family thanks to robust business systems and a capable remote team.

“I take immense pride in having created a business that now allows me to be semi-retired. I can now work part-time and have the freedom to focus on what I truly love, such as spending time with my family and exploring the world.” – CEO & Founder, Linh Podetti

5 mistakes to avoid in your business exit strategy

So here’s a shout-out to all CEOs and business owners: focus on building a reliable team that can carry the torch without you, and set them up with an environment for success! 💯

This ensures that you make money with less stress, and that your business continues to thrive in the long run—even without your 24/7 input 😌

👉 Related: Top 5 automation tools you should try in 2024

To begin your journey to business freedom, here are 5 mistakes to avoid when planning your exit strategy:

Mistake 1: Being In Busy-ness, Not In Business

The world today has become totally consumed with trying to fill up our time, to the point that there’s no room for anything else. There are endless notifications on our phones, oversaturation of information on the Internet, marketing messages on billboards, posters, and other spots on our way home, etc.

This also translates into the business world, with the whole hustle culture focused on working hard and being ‘so busy’ 😬

So first, stop chasing this badge of ‘busyness’. You might end up trapping yourself in this ‘busyness’ to show the world you’re doing well—but sooner or later, you’ll end up burning yourself out.

👉 Related: Are you a slave to your own business?

And if your business depends on you, and YOU burn out, your business won’t be far behind.

Mistake 2: Doing It ALL

You don’t have to do everything in your business by yourself. If you do everything on your own, you may disillusion yourself into thinking NO ONE can be trusted to complete the work like you can.

It may be faster to do some things yourself than to outsource to someone else. But the truth is, this is a dangerous pattern because your efforts are limited.

The key is delegation. You can only produce so much in the time and effort that you have, so unless you hire someone else to help, your income will always be restricted based on:

• your time
• your energy
• and your resources.

But if you outsource some tasks or business operations, especially those you’re not particularly good at, you’ll have more brains and capacity to expand your business.

👉 Related: 13 VA tasks for your remote administrative assistant

Mistake 3: Outsourcing Tasks in Your Genius Zone

Once entrepreneurs realise they shouldn’t have to do everything, they usually try to find someone who’s JUST like them to help out in the business 👬

The problem here is that by replicating yourself, you might delegate the tasks you actually love to do. These tasks fall under your “Genius Zone.”

The term “Genius Zone” comes from the book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, which talks about focusing on the one thing you’re great at (or a genius at). It doesn’t mean no one else is better than you at that one thing—it just means your “one thing” is better than the majority of the population 💯

And when you delegate tasks that fall under your Genius Zone, this leaves you to deal with areas of your business that drain, bore and stress you out.

👉 Related: Discovering your Genius Zone

You’re not put here on this planet to do what you hate. You’re here to do more of what you love, whatever that is! 😆

So when preparing to exit your business, make sure you can dip back in on the things you love doing. (For example, our CEO Linh Podetti loves building relationships with our clients and giving back to communities. So she does networking and charity work whenever she can.)

Mistake 4: Expecting Everyone to Care (to The Same Extent You Do)

A huge mistake for any entrepreneur is expecting your team to love, care and work just as hard as you… 💔

The truth is, no one is ever going to want your business to succeed as much as you
do because it’s YOURS! Finding that perfect someone who’s going to be as hardworking, as effective, and as committed as you are will usually lead to high turnover rates and frustration.

Here’s a tip from Outsourcing Angel Managing Director Richard Phu: if someone can do 80% of what you can do, then let them!

Let them take tasks off your plate, so you can continue to do what you do best (your genius), whether that’s networking, client management, product creation, etc.

Our Managing Director Richard Phu has 15 years of experience coaching entrepreneurs in designing scalable businesses with automation, systematisation, and virtual assistants.

Mistake 5: Misunderstanding The Value of Time

Finally, the biggest mistake of all is believing it would cost way too much time and crazy amounts of stress to get your business in order, to get it to the point where it runs itself and you just collect the profit.

But your time should only focus on three things: investing in the right systems, processes, and people 👌

👉 Related: How to train and upskill a kick-ass remote team

Once you’ve identified your core moneymaking processes, you can start delegating, then automating or eliminating the rest.

If you focus your time on these three aspects of your exit strategy, you’ll actually give yourself MORE free time in the future.

It will help you scale your operations—and with a reliable team, your business will be practically running itself!

In a nutshell? Begin with the end in mind.

So now you know why you should plan your business exit strategy—and 5 mistakes to avoid when making this strategic move 💯

Don’t forget that even when you’re a busy entrepreneur, you have to begin with the end in mind. Always understand where you aim to take your business.

Is it destined to become an enterprise, a multinational company, or a freedom business enabling you to live the lifestyle you want? 🏖️

Even if you’re not planning to exit soon, designing your business to be run on its own increases its value. It means putting in place:

• a capable team
• efficient systems, processes and practices,
• and a clear vision

that enhances the quality of your products and services.