“The world has gone mad.”
“Everyone is cancelling events.”
“I think everyone is over-reacting.”
“I think we should take this more seriously.”
These are some of the comments I heard yesterday. I’m sure you are hearing similar things. I’m not qualified to discuss the scientific or medical decisions being made, I’ll leave that to the WHO, the Government, the NHS and the plethora of experts on Facebook.
But the net result for many business owners has been for them to more time on their hands this week; meetings cancelled, less time travelling, etc.
We work with business owners to help them get the most from their life’s work by planning their succession or exit strategy so that they can leave their business on their terms. So, where am I going with this?
One thing that has become obvious to me over the last few weeks is that many, if not most, SMEs do not have a succession plan. This is manifesting itself in many ways during the COVID-19 crisis:
- One key person being ill and self-isolating and consequently large tranches of business activity being put on hold.
- A business owner rapidly trying to buy life insurance and not getting the best of deals.
- A family firm now arguing over ownership in the absence of a shareholder agreement.
My recommendation: let’s all start to use some of this extra time we might have to take a serious long-term view of what we want to get from our businesses and how we would like to exit the business one day…on your terms. With advance planning, everyone is a winner.
Be very sure, external events having an impact on businesses on a large scale is not uncommon. More will occur. This year so far, we have been dealing with Brexit, severe floods and now COVID-19. There will be more.
Let’s get planning.
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