Don’t forget that the life cycle of you and your business may not always align
Your business will always be your baby, but let’s be honest…at some point in your life cycle, you will not want to invest the same amount of energy in your business as you did in the start-up and growth phases.
You do want an opportunity to enjoy your life beyond business.™
This may mean selling your business, or significantly changing the amount of time you spend in the office in any given week. Not acknowledging this reality can ultimately harm the value of your business, too.
Dave Driscoll explains in his interview with Ron Ameln of the Smart Biz Show...
[powerpress url=”/docs/audio/05.mp3″ height=”80″ width=”300″]
Transcript of this segment:
Ron: Dave, let me ask you this question, and I am big believer that every business has a life cycle and some people disagree with me. But if you look at a Blockbuster video, when videos came out you had the little ‘mom and pop stores’ in the little residential areas that were renting video and then the big Blockbusters came and basically put them out of business. But now people stream their videos on cable, so now Blockbuster is gone, the same with book stores. You know every business has a life cycle. It does not necessarily mean the owner did anything wrong, it is just what happens. The beast is so big and competition comes in. So are you a believer from your experience that every business owner should think about an exit, no matter what stage you are at, because you never really know when the life cycle of your industry may hit, or maybe you do, but you know when it is coming.
Dave: I do not know the life cycle of the business, when you are in it you understand, you should understand. But there are two life cycles that are going on. One is the life cycle in your industry and the other is your own personal life cycle; because when you are young and twenty four and starting a business you have got nothing but energy. You are going to push; you are going to drive through it you could go through brick walls. As you get into your middle age and you are having children, your focus is on your family, you have got to provide for your family.
And then as you get into early fifties, things change, your energy levels drop. Your interest levels, whatever it is… it is a physical, emotional thing that goes on. And there is the time that you are really most vulnerable is when you’re fifty – and really I’m putting bench marks on something that changes for everybody. Between that fifty and sixty-year old level is really where you will have to make a lot of hard life decision as to where you are going. And those are the most critical times. If you are prepared moving into that phase, then you can evaluate your options as they’re presented to you. If you deny that phase and maybe push through it and get to the other side, you may be at a position where your business value is diminishing because of your lack of interest.
