Every business owner faces a number of roadblocks when transitioning or exiting his or her business.  These roadblocks exist whether your exit is anticipated or unexpected.  These roadblocks can collectively create an exit bottleneck which delays, diminishes or dooms your successful exit.  Exit roadblocks prevent the vast majority of exits from being successful or from accomplishing the results that business owners want to see.  An exit roadblock is any obstruction which prevents or slows down your eventual successful exit from your business.

15 Common Owner Exit Roadblocks
The essence of Transition Growth Planning includes overcoming your exit roadblocks.  Some of these are from internal forces.  Some are from external forces.  Fifteen common roadblocks are:
• Hanging On Too Long.  You simply want to keep owning and/or working for personal, non-economic reasons.  You aren’t ready to retire or you aren’t ready to move on to a new venture.  You may have accomplished all of your economic goals and all of your other roadblocks to a successful exit have all been dealt with.  However, you simply want to keep working and you aren’t ready to pass on ownership.  This may be fine. 

Or it may become destructive, either to your health, your family well-being, and the goals and objectives of your key employees (who may decide to move out to a company with leadership opportunities).  Or it might cause you to miss a selling opportunity that won’t be there later.  Not understanding how to move on and how to take on new personal and family objectives post-exit, i.e. “hanging on too long”, can become a roadblock to a successful exit that ought to be occurring sooner rather than later. 

• Tax Hit.  If you haven’t planned at least five to ten years ahead of your exit to address the tax issues that you will face upon your lifetime exit or your death exit, then your exit is unlikely to be as successful as you’d like because of the “tax hit” roadblock.

• Price Mis-Expectation.  If you don’t know or can’t achieve a reasonable, realistic value for your business, then “price mis-expectation” becomes a roadblock that will bottleneck your exit. 

• Leadership Void.  If you haven’t worked on grooming one or more potential leaders (not simply managers) or if you don’t have the likelihood for recruiting a successful leader from the outside upon your exit, “leadership void” is a roadblock to a successful exit.

• Objectives Chaos.  If your personal, financial and prime transition or exit objectives conflict with each other, then “objectives chaos” is a roadblock to your successful exit.

• The Missing Buyer.  If your business in its present or likely future make-up is not marketable (or is not marketable at a fair price) to an insider or outside third party, then “the missing buyer” is an exit roadblock.

• Management Shallowness.  The absence of sufficient, capable business managers, i.e. “management shallowness,” is a roadblock to a successful exit.

• Financing Gap.  Insufficient or unwilling outside bank or other third party lender financing can create a “financing gap” roadblock which means you need to carry back part of the sale price. 

• Financial Dependence.  If your company’s outside third party ongoing operations financing requires your ongoing, post-exit personal guarantee or other financial support, then “financial dependence” is a roadblock to your exit. 

• Third Party Consents.  If outside consents (e.g. from a lender, franchisor, or licensor) are needed and will be difficult to obtain, then “third party consents” can delay and sometimes sidetrack an exit.  The need for your franchisor’s consent can particularly present a potential roadblock for a franchisee. 

• Co-Owner Disputes.  If co-owner disputes can’t be resolved (resulting in the loss of business value), or if you can’t require other owners to sell or to buy (when you are ready to exit), then “co-owner disputes” can become a roadblock to your exit.

• Family Disputes.  Family disputes (usually over money or management roles) tend to doom many businesses and owner exits.

• Insufficient Cash Flow.  If your business doesn’t generate sufficient, predictable cash flow, then “insufficient cash flow” will mean neither a sale to an insider nor to an outsider will likely meet your objectives.

• Non-Credible Accounting.  A “non-credible accounting” system which can’t be relied on by a potential inside or outside buyer, can delay or prevent a successful exit indefinitely. 

• Unexpected Adversity.  An “unexpected adversity”, such as a downturn in your business or the loss of key employees (including yourself), can delay or prevent a successful exit.

Be The Shortstop
Exiting your business is easy.  Anyone could exit their business today and be on a beach in Aruba tomorrow.  The trick, however, is to exit successfully, with your goals (personal and financial) intact and accomplished.  In baseball, the shortstop is one of the most highly skilled players.  To be a successful play maker he needs to be able to quickly move to the left or to the right, to charge forward, or to fade back into the outfield.  The same is true of the successful business owner planning his or her future exit.

Do Something Today To Make It Happen
The Next Step for  Business Owner Transition Growth System will help you learn how to move and how to recognize and overcome your exit roadblocks and bottlenecks.  It will help you address specifically what you need to do today to help make your future exit successful tomorrow.