Do You Have a Plan for Your Small Business Future?

 

New findings released from a study conducted by Securian Financial Group show that many small business owners plan on leaving their companies within the next decade, but most do not have any type of exit plan or proper future outline for their entrepreneurial endeavors.

 

More specifically, over 60% of small business owners have no specific plans for exiting their businesses. The figures also show that about one-third of small business owners intend to leave their companies in the next 5 years. Even more glaring, the research indicates that these entrepreneurs are not working on such a strategy. The main reason they give for this is the fact that they are so consumed by the day-to-day tasks of running their companies.

 

The results of the study, which surveyed 500 small business owners, suggests that those who are counting on their businesses to help provide a supplemental income source for retirement purposes may not be prepared for the future. Many entrepreneurs set up businesses that require less hands-on attention each day, such as real estate investing firms. Lots of these companies are established as more of a supplemental source of income for savings and retirement purposes. If these business owners do not have a proper plan of future action in writing, they could wind up missing out on the financial benefits of such an enterprise.

 

The main issue is that many of these owners have not yet found someone to take over the company when they decide to leave it. In addition, these same owners don’t know what their businesses are actually worth. As for those who have given their business future a good amount of thought, most who were interviewed for this study expressed that they intend to sell their entities to a business partner, a top employee, or to a third party when they are ready to move on from it.

 

On another note, the survey found that small business owners point to financial and legal support as being the most important types of outside assistance for them when designing a business exit plan. They also tend to assemble teams of experts around them for appropriate guidance with their business planning.

 

It can be difficult to think in terms of years into the future, especially when running a money-making company that constantly requires your focus on its present operations. But without some type of reasonable plan in place, business owners are putting the future profitability of their enterprises at risk. Business planning covers many facets of how a firm operates. Remember that putting it in the right position today can help the company flourish and sustain itself on a long-term basis.