Getting into gear on Exit Planning

Lee Iacocca summed up the importance of just getting started:

"So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we have satisfied all of the uncertainties, it may be too late."

Applying Mr.Iacocca's sentiment to Exit Planning the message is: you don't have to do everything all at once to get yourself and your business ready for transition. However, you do need to start by creating a series of discrete, achievable steps, as suggested below, and tackle them one by one. The task can be made easier by:

1.) Breaking your distant goal of exiting your company into more immediate objectives, and
2.) Creating a list of small action steps for each objective, with deadlines, that will serve as a road map to your exit.

In my experience, it is rare for owners to maintain the momentum and discipline to see their plan come to a happy end, unless they take these steps.