04. Value Creation Starts with a Personal Plan

As we discussed in the last article, once you have decided you want to be a dedicated Value Creator, the first step is to create a plan. And not just any type of plan, but a Personal Plan.

The Personal Plan is both simple in its goals and the action plan it delivers. Once you have your action plan, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to follow through to achieve your stated goals.

Since you want to be a Value Creator, this Personal Plan needs to map your exit from the business. Thus, when creating your plan, proceed under the presumption that you will need to transfer the business to someone else.

To begin, consider, then write down the answers to these three questions:

1. By when do I want to be independent of the business?
2. How much wealth do I need to live the life I want for me, my family, and others?
3. What will I do with my time once I am independent of the business?

While the questions are simple, understanding your options, be sure to spend time to consider your goals, discuss your thoughts with family, friends or colleagues. We urge our clients to start by selecting a qualified financial advisor to lead them through this process.

An independent financial advisor gives you something you don’t get inside your own four walls: a hard-nosed, numbers-driven view of your personal future that isn’t distorted by the daily chaos of running a business or pressure from one or more biased parties. They force clarity on the three questions.

• By when? An advisor helps you anchor a real date, run the math backward and forward, and translate it into an actual wealth target.
• How much? They quantify lifestyle, taxes, healthcare, legacy, and risk so you’re not guessing.
• What will I do? They guide you in discussions to ensure a post-owner life that’s purposeful, so you don’t sell the company and then wander.

In short, they turn these three simple questions into a concrete Personal Plan—built on data, grounded in reality, and aligned with the life you actually want.

The Personal plan will link personal, business, and financial outcomes and determine who else will participate in this process with you. These will ensure you – and your business – are ready, you maximize your wealth to achieve your goals, and have a plan for life after the business.

Just having this plan puts you ahead of more than 80% of business owners who have never created one. Plus, you will be one of the few who can call themselves a real Value Creator (because only about 15% of businesses can actually be sold). Equally as important, you will have worked through the emotional and practical barriers that business owners face when transitioning their businesses.

In our next article, we will dig into the actual market value of your business, assess your wealth gap to determine the valuation you need to achieve your goals, and review what makes a business saleable.