Death of a business

I've been thinking about the death of my business. And of how businesses die.

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This is a pre-occupation for many entrepreneurs. And I think there is a lot more value here than at first glance, and might be especially important for more mature businesses too.

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For me, and other early-stage entrepreneurs, the fear is that it dies young. Never quite manages to grow, isn’t seen by the right people, or simply was in the wrong place or time.

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It also struck me that in traditional entrepreneurship, the mainstream dream, seems to be to create something that gets eaten. It’s all about the payout. All nectar and no pollen. Seems a strange reason to bring an idea to life. But then again, there is a lot that is strange about the lives of businesses. For example, when should a business stop trying to grow? And how does a business die? Is it allowed to?

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What if – alongside a purpose and a vision, there was also a statement about when that business should die. Determine the time horizon being thought about. The conditions in which it would no longer be needed. What would a good death look like? When and how might rebirth occur?

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Businesses seem to strive, above all else, for immortality. The underlying motivation is to make money, and to keep making money. Purpose and Vision are often really ways to reframe this in more palatable language.

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So – if successful – what does this mean for my business Wild Mosaic ?

I’m tempted to set a #BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal - https://www.inc.com/leigh-buchanan/big-ideas/jim-collins-big-hairy-audacious-goals.html) Such as:

???? CREATE A MILLION REWILDERS ????

But whilst a nice aim to have in the back of my mind, I’m too early in my journey to have any idea of how realistic that is. One million is simply too big a number to be meaningful at the moment.

Nevertheless, it has its uses. For example, in my current model 1 million rewilders, means restoring around 2,000 acres. That is a lot of people. But it’s not a lot of land – it’s not a game-changer, there are better models for rewilding large amounts of land eg Highlands Rewilding . Where I can make a difference is engaging people and bringing more people together to see the benefit in rewilding, restoring land and wildlife.

So for me, at this moment, my next stage is… drumroll…

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???? CREATE TEN THOUSAND REWILDERS ????

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It doesn’t sound as impressive… although it still a big step beyond where I’m currently at. It instead represents a point where it is reasonable to completely reassess my business model. ?And ask:

??Is this still the best way I currently have to act against the destruction of life on earth ?

It may be that it is growing fast and well, so can keep going in the same way.

It may be this is the right size for my business. Small (in the grand scheme of things) but with the potential to help others and to be a catalyst.

It may be that it opens up an opportunity to change my model, beginning a rebirth.

It may be time to stop, and think about what that means, and how it could be done in the most beneficial way, that holds true to my original aims.

I hope I make it to that stage, to decide!?

A couple of questions:

?? Are you an entrepreneur – have you thought about what a planned death of your business could look like? What other models are there that help build a business to be a healthy component of a thriving ecosystem?

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?? Can you see any businesses around you that should be thinking about how to die well? It seems there are a lot of vampires and zombies out there...