blueskycoaching.com.au
by Tania Basheer, Publisher

10 Business Exit/Succession Planning Tips



Vol . 3, Issue 8
27 Aug 2007
  In This Issue:
Living the dream is published by Tania Basheer, Blue Sky Coaching on the 27th of every month.

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Welcome to Living the dream, my monthly e-zine written to inform, inspire and invite you to take action and start living your dream.

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'I dream my painting - and then I paint my dream.' 

- Vincent Van Gogh
  Hi! From Tania
 

Hi Reader,

Are you ready for spring? I know I am!  

We've been lucky to have had a beautiful stretch of sunny weather in Adelaide this week to prepare us. I love the difference some extra sunshine can make. 

In case you were wondering how it went, Jake had a pretty good birthday party, even though he did get a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. Not very Leo-like, I know. You'll notice though that he doesn't mind the camera.

I hope you enjoy this month's issue. If you have any ideas for future issues, please pop me an e-mail or give me a call. I'd love to hear from you!

Warm wishes,



Tania

Tania Basheer - Publisher
Living the dream e-zine
tania@blueskycoaching.com.au
  Feature: 10 Business Exit/Succession Planning Tips
 

According to the MGI/RMIT University's Australian Family and Private Business Survey 2006,  although 54% of Australia's family-owned business CEOs will retire over the next five years, 65% have not yet identified their successor and only 25% have a documented succession plan in place.

Whether your business is family-owned or a more widely owned enterprise, having a well thought-out and documented exit or succession plan should be part of your ongoing business planning process.

If you don't have a documented plan yet but would like to leave your business when you're ready and on your terms, realise its maximum value, or see the business carry on successfully into the future in someone else's hands, here are 10 tips to help you prepare your exit/succession plan:

  • Set clear goals in relation to exiting your business: Decide how, when and at what price you'd be happy to exit your business. There are many possibilities. Consider which are options for you - such as transferring the business to your family members, a management buyout or selling to or merging with a current competitor. Would you like to have ongoing involvement and income from the business or to make a clean break? Include your retirement or lifestyle goals after exiting the business.
  • Determine and groom your successor(s): If your participation is still critical to the day-to-day running of your business, determine what needs to happen to change your involvement from working in the business, to being in business and working on your business. If your successor is a current employee of your business, create and implement a program with them as soon as possible that will equip them with the skills and knowledge they'll need to succeed in their future role as leader. If you're the only person who knows how every part of your business functions, you're painting yourself into a corner! Ensure that you're constantly grooming your team members to be able to run your business effectively in your absence. 
  • Have well documented, effective systems in place: Ensure that you have created strong systems that suport every aspect of your business operations, from financial to management, to marketing and HR and document these systems so they can be easily understood and followed by a third party. Checklists are a great place to start.     
  • Know what your business is worth: Consult your accountant, business adviser or even a professional valuer with relevant experience in your industry and ask them to produce a valuation for you so that you know where you stand currently. Once you have this information and knowledge about the specific factors that impact on the value of your business, you'll be able to create an action plan for maximising the value of your business before you exit.    
  • Learn how to tax-effectively exit your business:  Speak to your accountant again, this time to get advice about all the tax implications of exiting your business, from income tax to capital gains tax, GST to stamp duty. Your accountant will be able to tell you if you're eligible for any of the tax concessions available to small business owners. With careful planning you should be able to eliminate or at least minimise the tax consequences of the disposal of your business.
  • Insurace Cover: Ensure that you're adequately covered insurance-wise in case you are either permanently unable to continue to work or unable to work for an extended period of time. Do you have sickness and accident cover? Trauma cover? Are you in business on your own? Do you have life cover? Consult your insurance agent or financial advisor for advice in this area.     
  • Buy-sell agreements: If you're in business with a non-family business partner, ensure that you have written plans for what will happen if one of you decides that you'd like to exit the business before the other. Your solicitor can help you prepare an appropriate buy-sell agreement that will document what you've agreed upon.  
  • Determine how you'll find investors/buyers and how you'll market your business for sale: In the same way as you would prepare marketing plans for your business's products and services, it's important to determine a marketing strategy for the sale of your business and to identify potential investors/buyers. These people will want to undertake a due diligence of your business. Will your business stack up? 
  • Plan for an unplanned exit, too!: Even with the best- laid plans, unfortunately, events such as the unexpected death of one of the business's owners can occur. Be sure that you and your business partners or associates have all made provision for this in your wills with clear instructions of your intentions of how you'd like your business assets and debts to be dealt with.
  • Determine how you are going to action your exit/succession plans: It's also important to determine strategies to ensure that your plan is successfully actioned, keeping in mind the stakeholders it will impact on, the timeframes involved for each part of your plan and communication of your plan.

If you'd like any help in creating or successfully implementing  your business exit/succession plan, please call me on (08) 8338 3134 or 0411 471 941. I can assist you either in person or by telephone.  

For more business, executive or life coaching tips and strategies to help you achieve your goals and create and live the life you've always wanted, as well as information on one-to-one coaching to help you get there, visit www.blueskycoaching.com.au or contact Tania by e-mail on tania@blueskycoaching.com.au or by phone on (08) 8338 3134 or 0411 471 941.
  Register Now! Succession Planning Seminars
 

The Australian Government, under the Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Program, is conducting free, 3-hour succession planning seminars across Australia, between August and December 2007, to raise awareness among small business owners of the issues involved in succession planning.

To register your place in an upcoming seminar, go to: http://www.sbsp.com.au/centric/seminars.jsp
  Winter Special Competition
 

ENTER TODAY! Over $250 value. Winner drawn 31 August 2007.

Simply click on the competition image to enter for your chance to WIN a copy of Losing my virginity - Richard Branson - the autobiography

plus a 90-minute business coaching session (in person or by telephone) with me.

For more information about business coaching with me, visit: www.blueskycoaching.com.au/businesscoaching.php
  E.F.T. is The Secret!
 

People often ask me about the relationship between The Secret and how the law of attraction fits in with the use of emotional freedom techniques (E.F.T.).

My view is that because like attracts like, if you are wrestling with negative thoughts or feelings, those thoughts or feelings will just attract more of the same, unless you can find a way to shift these thoughts and feelings to experience more positive thoughts and feelings.

When you feel good, you attract more good things into your experience. Therefore, the use of E.F.T. can help make the law of attraction work for you.

E.F.T. is a powerful and fast technique that you can learn easily and can use virtually anywhere, anytime to completely dissolve any negative thoughts or feelings in just minutes!

Visit www.blueskycoaching.com.au/energytapping.php to find out how you can learn E.F.T. at home, or call me on (08) 8338 3134 or 0411 471 941 to arrange a personal one-to-one session with me, in person or by telephone.

p.s. As a subscriber to Living the dream e-zine, you'll receive any of my E.F.T. packages free of postage charges! Just enter the word 'ezine' in the promotional code field when you order.



  Next Month: 10 Tips for Geting On Top of Paperwork
 

Are you on top of your paperwork, or is your paperwork getting on top of you? It doesn't need to be that way.

Next month we'll look at ten strategies for getting your paperwork under control.

 
  Refer a Friend and Receive a $50 Myer Gift Voucher
 

Reader, I've found word-of-mouth marketing has been largely responsible for the continued growth and prosperity of my business.

So, as a token of my appreciation, you'll receive a $50 Myer gift certificate when you refer any of your family, friends or colleagues to me and they complete a business, executive or life coaching series, and your friend will receive their first coaching session free if they mention you referred them.
  Sponsors and Advertisements
 

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Welcome to Lorenzini Business Class Members Club

Announcing the arrival of our Spring/Summer Collection 2007-08

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By appointment. Call Sal Tropiano on 0414 272 545

Photography By Dale

It's been wonderful to photograph Tania and Rick's little boy Jake on two occasions now and Tania has been kind enough to offer me a spot here to talk about my photography. I hope you enjoyed Jake's first birthday party photos.

My passion is to create photographs of people that are natural and real. I aim for mood, emotion and atmosphere in my images.

I believe that the art hanging in your home should be images of your loved ones.

You can view some more of my work at: www.photographybydale.com.au.

Some recent awards I've received include:

  • 2007 Australian Wedding Photographer of the Year, APP Aust
  • 2007 SA Wedding Photographer of the Year, APP Aust
  • 2007 Adelaide's Best Wedding Photographer - Atkins Technicolour People's Choice Award

Thanks for reading and if you would like to find out what images I could capture for you, please give me a call on (08) 8395 9140.

Dale Smith - Photographer

www.photographybydale.com.au 

Tips for improving the value of your home

Whether you are selling or not, it is a good idea to make sure you stay on top of your home jobs to keep the value of your home up.

Here is one of my pearls:

As winter comes to an end, get the gutters cleaned, the windows, cobwebs and outside of the house cleared. By the time summer comes around, you will have done some of the outdoor jobs, and be in a better position to enjoy your home.

For more hints and tips call Jacque today for a free booklet.

Jacque Opie

Threadgold Real Estate

0405 835 017

Reading this ad? Then why not place yours here. Do you have a product, service or special offer that you'd like to let over five hundred entrepreneurs, SOHO business owners, busy professionals and business executives know about?

To find out more about advertising in this e-zine and to reserve your spot for next month, e-mail Tania your details today at tania@blueskycoaching.com.au and include 'e-zine ad' in the subject line.

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