You’ve been running your contracting business for 10, 20, 40 years or more. You think about your business most of your waking hours. You’ve built it up to a first-class operation. It is not just a 40-hour-a-week job, it’s a lifestyle you live day in and day out.
Then, one day, you realize you can’t do this forever. You hear about others selling their businesses and begin to wonder: What are my options? How do I exit my business? How hard would it be to make the change? Before you have a chance to think too long, from out of nowhere someone wants to talk about buying your company—and you figure, it can’t hurt to listen.
You meet and before you know it, you have an offer. You’re filled with an unexpected rush of excitement from the fact that someone wants your business.
It might be a good or even a great offer; but before you sign, think about how selling your company will affect you personally. We all dream of selling for lots of money and washing our hands of those day-to-day headaches, but what will it really be like? Will you miss the feelings of ownership and belonging to something you built? What will it be like to not have new challenges thrown your way all day long? What will you do with your time? Can you really go from 100 mph to 100% retirement?
This is an aspect of mergers and acquisitions most sellers never give much thought to; but in my opinion, this is one of the most important considerations when thinking about selling your company. After all, you want to be happy and be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor with your family and friends. If you find yourself unfulfilled and regretful after selling your company, the sale will have done you no good. And you can’t just change your mind and get it all back. So, you had best be sure before you make a deal to sell your company and transform your life.
Just like other major changes in your career and in your business life, you need to take an objective look and consider all the options and their pros and cons. You might want to make a chart listing different aspects of what your life might be like if you were not owning and running your company.
You could be amazed at how many ways your life will change—from where you get your gasoline and how your lawn gets mowed to how you think about the world around you and what you are going to do day to day. Is there another career you’d like to pick up after you sell the company, or a hobby that you’ve just never had enough time for? Is your spouse excited to spend more time with you, perhaps traveling? Maybe the freedom will allow you and your family to move. I recommend that you spend serious time considering all aspects of what your new life might be like.
Of course, no matter how well you prepare, once you actually sell, your life may change in ways you never imagined. The impact hits everyone differently, so do the best you can to think through every detail and keep an open mind for where this new journey could take you and your family.
There are things you can do to help with a smooth transition to life after the company. Don’t wait until you have sold the company to start your new life. We have all heard of "work/homelife balance." Many of us have ignored that concept for years and spend an inordinate amount of time focused on our businesses. For some, that intense focus is what made us so successful. But it does not have to stay that way.
Once you’ve reached a certain level of success, it’s okay to back off the throttle and spend more time on other endeavors. Even if you are not thinking about selling, make an effort to balance how much time and energy you spend at work. Be cognizant of how much time you spend on work vs. family, home, hobbies and anything else outside your workplace. Get involved in your community and other non-work-related, people-focused activities.
If you think you might want to start another business or take on a new job, do some research and figure things out long before you move to sell the company.
In my case, I started my consulting business seven years before we sold Pro Scapes Inc. Once I stopped working at my old company, I already had something else to dive into. For me, helping other snow and landscape contractors all over the US and Canada has been extremely rewarding. I have really enjoyed helping others grow their businesses and showing them how to leapfrog all the challenges that took me 40 years to learn by trial and error.
You will have your own personal aspirations for the next stage of your life. Consider opening the door to them now.
Thinking of working for the new owners? This is a great option for many. Sometimes things stay the same and people love it. In fact, I’ve heard some say that they enjoy it more than when they owned the company. They don’t need to worry about meeting payroll, filing taxes or many other aspects of company ownership. They may have additional advantages from the new owners such as business consulting/leadership and group buying power.
Other times, though, there can be big changes under new ownership, and that could be hard for you to accept. And, of course, not every buyer wants the prior owner to stay. Even if they do, they may have a totally different idea of what your role should be or how you should carry it out.
From my discussions with prior owners who have sold their businesses, working for the new owners was just too difficult. As owners, they were used to doing things their own way and at their own speed. Many contractors are just too set in their ways to go from owner/leader to employee—even if they are in a management position.
Selling a company that you built from scratch or owned for decades is no small undertaking. Starting a new life after selling your company can be equally consequential. Long before you make any moves, be sure to consider how you will be affected personally and prepare yourself completely. If you do, you can move on to the next phase of your journey and have a rewarding and successful life.
Rick Kier, founder of Forge Ahead Consulting, was the president and owner of Pro Scapes Inc. in Syracuse, NY for 41 years before he sold the business. He is a founding SIMA board member and now consults for snow and landscape companies across the United States and Canada. Contact him at rick@rickkier.com or www.rickkier.com.