It's Time for a Fresh Start
Every January, when the clock strikes midnight and we venture into a new year, we are always thinking of what challenges, opportunities, and adventures that the year will bring. Maybe 2025/this year is the year to start something new, stop bad habits, or grow professionally. Maybe this year is the year a business owner decides to sell their business. A new year stands as an opportunity to grow and change, and you may have heard the expression, “New Year, New Me.” But how do you achieve that “new me” feeling?
The first step in trying to find that “new me” is enlisting the expertise of a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA ®). But what is a CEPA? And, what role does this person play in crafting that “new you” in the new year? A CEPA is the go-to point person on the team, sometimes referred to as the “quarterback,” that aims to take a business from successful to significant. It is a professional credential awarded by the Exit Planning Institute® (EPI) that signifies the skillset to assist business owners on actual exit planning. Having this quarterback on the advisory team empowers the business owner to take control of their growth, build a holistic strategy moving forward, and offer the right framework for exit planning.
With a CEPA, the team can sit down and build out goals for the new year, crafting a business-centric new year’s resolution. Business owners will be able to move forward with confidence knowing that the CEPA is on their side, which helps to avoid the typical pitfalls of new year’s resolutions that fizzle out come February.
Reflect on Last Year
The key to knowing what to do with a business in the new year is reviewing what that business did the year before. Don’t just dwell on the things that didn’t work out, but recognize the wins too. Knowing the business’ strengths and weaknesses helps inform the owner, the CEPA, and the rest of the advisory team on what to consider when planning the 2025 strategy.
Part of what a CEPA can provide is the right questions that the business owner should be asking when thinking about the past year. CEPAs, trained on and using the Value Acceleration Methodology™, are well-equipped to find the questions owners want to ask when thinking about the scope of the business (including potential exit planning). The three gates of Value Acceleration urge the team to think deeper and Discover, Prepare, and Decide what the next steps are.
Something else to consider when thinking about the last year is the owner’s personal mindset. After all, the Three Legs of the Stool™ principle calls on owners to consider three different aspects of exit planning: business, financial, and personal. When reflecting, the personal leg of the stool is just as important as the business and financial legs. Take stock of how their work-life balance was. Some questions to ask during this process are...
- Do you feel like you spent enough time with your family?
- Who are you outside your business?
- Do you feel like you spent enough time on personal goals outside of the business?
- Did you have goals outside of the business?
- What are your goals in life?
These questions can help refocus the business owner mindset which can often and easily be wrapped up in daily stress associated with the position. Business owner mental health plays a significant role in how well the business functions, both on a day-to-day level as well as a strategic level. The advisory team can help bridge the gaps that the owner may have been overextending themself to fill.
Setting Goals for The New Year
Now that the team has considered the past year, it’s time to shift forward into the new year. Think about two factors from the previous year—the strategies, concepts, and ideas to take and the ones that should be left behind. Strategic goals should be informed by the answers to these questions, guided by the insight that only a CEPA can provide. A CEPA can take any abstract answers and break them down to create actionable business insights. With more than 5,000 CEPAs with EPI, there are many options for business owners looking for passionate, engaged, and qualified individuals to assist in this process.
With all that context, teams will arrive at the critical question—could this year be the year to exit the business? If the answer is “yes,” what are the realistic and achievable business exit planning options? That’s where the CEPA comes in. The Value Acceleration Methodology will open the door for owners to take the next steps into the future.
Planning for the Present & the Future
It’s important to know that exit planning is not just a spur of the moment decision. It’s a continual and ongoing process that may even end with the decision not to exit the business. Keeping both the present and future in mind not only helps the team better understand the business, but it also builds value over time, providing owners with a wider range of exit options when the time comes, and you hit the Decide gate of the Value Acceleration Model. Taking this growth framework into the new year will set the team on the right path to achieving goals and celebrating successful new year’s resolutions.
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