Rekindle your love for your business

There comes a time in most business owners’ lives when the whirl of daily excitement starts to dissipate to an everyday drudge. The sound of the morning alarm no longer hurls you out of bed and into the shower in your eagerness to get going. Rather, it drags a sigh out of you as it drives a small fist into your stomach. 

What started all those years ago as a passionate sense of purpose has now become an ache of responsibility to pay the bills and to support your staff. The novelty that running your company used to bring has eloped with your natural curiosity for business. You can’t remember the last time you learned anything new. 

You’re bored, fed up, and longing to escape to freedom forever: life on the ski slopes, the ocean wave or perhaps a desert island … hell, life on anything other than antidepressants. 

Were you to sell your business now, you might be in a position to do just that. The little voice inside your head urging you to start the sale process is getting louder all the time. 

Just wait a minute, though. 

As many wise individuals have noticed and shared with us over the centuries, the grass is not always greener on the other side. I don’t know who came up with that saying (probably a tired sheep farmer fed up with mending fences), but it was Shakespeare who came up with “All that glisters is not gold”, and about 1400 years before him, Gaius Julius Phaedrus wrote “All is not what it seems …”. He must have known a lot about Roman businesses that had lost their appeal as he wrote evergreen fables with such titles as “The Lion’s Share”, “The Two Wallets” and the popular bedtime classic, “The Pearl in the Dung Heap”.

Then as now, it was crucial for business owners to take heed and to think twice before acting impetuously. If you’re toying with the idea of selling your business because you’ve fallen out of love with it, there’s one thing you must do before you act:

 TAKE GOOD ADVICE

You have worked hard to build your business over a long time. Even though you may know it inherently better than anyone else, it doesn’t mean that you’re the expert in deciding what to do with it next. There are specialists who have a far wider knowledge and experience in sales, acquisitions and growth and now is the time for you to reach out for their help. 

Quite simply, they have an objectivity of your situation that you cannot hope to have. You’re stuck in the middle of a loveless relationship with your own business, with people relying on you for salaries and your own family’s needing a solid financial future from a great sale. On top of that, your sanity is taking a pounding every day from the stress you’re suffering – and there’s no arguing the fallout from depression that can easily come from that. 

With their objective point of view and proven expertise, the right advisers may see several options for you. Your “keep going or sell up” dilemma isn’t necessarily all there is on the table. 

One option, for instance, may be to introduce you and your business to someone who wants to share your relationship. 

 FINDING THE RIGHT INVESTOR FOR YOUR BUSINESS

In the sort of marriage that you have with your business, it’s perfectly acceptable to bring in a new partner. In fact, it can be the best thing for all concerned. Here are five good reasons why:

1)   AN INVESTOR BRINGS NEW ENERGY AND IDEAS

If you’re finding your working life listless and repetitive, you’re unlikely to be able to come up with brilliant, new ideas on your own. For that, you need to feel inspired, clear-headed and not focused on the ski-slopes, the ocean wave or the desert island. 

Introducing a new person into the relationship will create a new group dynamic; the energy within your company will be forced to change. With new energy comes new ideas and with new ideas come different actions and outcomes. There may be a lot of growth left in this baby yet …

 2)   YOUR BUSINESS IS LOOKING GORGEOUS

If your business were a person, how dowdy and uninteresting has he or she looked to you over the past months? Now, with all of the new ideas and energy bouncing around, a makeover seems to have taken place. All of a sudden, this boring business of yours is looking glamorous, exciting – sexy, even. Are you sure you want to leave now?

 3)   JEALOUSY

With these stirrings of rekindled love comes a feeling you dimly recognise but can’t quite put your finger on …

Think back. You experienced it when you were a pimply teenager in the midst of your first crush when the love of your life started going out with your rival. This is jealousy – and it fires you up no end.

Alright …we’re all grown-ups and there’s no drama here. But there’s something to be said for the way a newcomer to a relationship can put that fire back in your belly and make you want to pull your socks up.

 4)   YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF STAYING PART-INVESTED

It’s not an ‘all or nothing’ situation. You don’t have to sell your business to achieve that work/life balance you really want. The experts can help you to find the right investor who can take on the parts of the business that you no longer want to handle on a regular basis. That will leave you with a role that’s trimmed down and altogether better designed to suit you now. 

 5)   LISTEN TO YOUR FEELINGS

This is your chance for a better lifestyle without your retiring too early. Remember, the grass is always greener …there’s nothing to be gained by giving yourself nothing to do.

If it’s a change you need rather than retirement, ask for help to find the right investor to join you and reinvent your beloved business. 

Rekindle the love you used to feel for it.

Listen to the feelings you’ve been experiencing and take action – not by rushing into a sale, but by speaking to experts who can give you options. If you’d like to find out more about what you can do to fall in love with your business again before you sell it, contact us at EvolutionCBS for a chat without any obligation. 

 Click here to register for the next Masterclass ‘Behind the Scenes of a Successful Business Sale’