Benjamin Franklin is well known for saying, “By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Richard Cushing said, “Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” John F. Kennedy said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Hopefully, the point of this article is clear: people of responsibility and importance plan. Writing things down helps people prioritize, follow and implement rules and best practices, and move towards achieving their personal and financial goals. Despite all the positives that come from planning, many successful business owners don’t have a written plan that helps them prepare for their inevitable future.
Written Plans Plot a Course
What’s going to happen to your company in the future? Are you going to sell? Will you give the business away to a family member? Perhaps there’s a key employee who has been loyal for many years, and you wish to bless them and see your business continue through them. These are all great ideas, but until you write them down, they remain ideas. Don’t get me wrong, ideas have power, but an idea is too vague to produce a clear, communicable, direction for action.
Written Plans Force Us To Consider The Future
One of the most important parts of a successful business transfer or transition is achieving, your version, of financial security. Financial security can be simply defined as never needing to work again unless you choose to. Financial security should always be the goal of your transition out of your business. Defining what financial security means to you, is a powerful motivator to plan. If you understand how much money you’ll need during retirement to live at your desired level of comfort, you’ll be better able to understand what you’ll need from the sale of the business.
When owners start writing things down (with help from their professionals), many discover a gap between what they have and what they need for financial security. When we write things down and owners can see that gap, the problem becomes real and undeniable. Once the problem is known and assessed, then a plan can be developed and implemented to help the owner narrow the gap and get closure to financial security.
Written Plans Produce Accountability
When you write things down, you and your advisor review your plans regularly and it allows for feedback and accountability. Comparing what was written to actual performance metrics or certain milestones helps gauge how the plan is progressing. For example, writing down names, giving responsibilities, setting deadlines, and setting future meetings, all help motivate owners to complete the tasks assigned and stay on track for their goals.
Written Plans Can Free Your Mind to Explore Other Opportunities
As you meet your business goals and free up your time, you might find that other personal goals become more important to you. For example, as your business becomes less reliant on you, you may find your priorities changing. Perhaps providing your family more chances to travel the world becomes more important, or donating your time to a local charity, or becoming a business mentor for young entrepreneurs. There are all opportunities you wouldn’t normally have time for, but they’re opportunities that may be very rewarding and satisfying.
Written Plans Can Help Your Family if You’re Not Around
By planning, you’re placing all your wants and wishes for the company and family down on paper. This provides your family, employees, and advisors direction on what to do with the business if you were to prematurely die or become incapacitated. Without a written plan, it can be much harder for the people you love to be cared for and for your final wishes to be carried out.
We love working with business owners to help them identify and prioritize their goals. These goals create a clear path that we use to develop thorough plans with our clients. We then walk hand-in-hand with our clients until they achieve their desired result. If you are ready to talk about your goals for the future and create a plan that is both reasonable and actionable, lets talk. Please reach out and ask for your no-cost initial meeting. We’d love to work with you to achieve your goals.
