The Blueprint for Future-Proofing Your Business

When starting a business, we often have one of two mindsets: building a long-standing legacy or building to exit for a quick profit. The truth is, whether your goal is to pass it on to the next generation or sell it off, you're going to hand the business off to somebody eventually. And you want to hand off something that's clean.

Building a Clean Business

A clean business, in a nutshell, is one that isn't dependent on the owner for day-to-day operations. This is a critical point we discussed in this episode, especially with the "silver tsunami" of baby boomer business owners who are now trying to retire but find they have no succession plan in place; 80% of these businesses won't have a successor or buyer. The reason? Many are "jobs" not true businesses.

The Problem with Building a Job, Not a Business

A job, as we see it, is a business where everything is in the head of the owner. They are the bottleneck, the person everybody has to rely on and ask every question to. We agreed that this type of business isn't building for anything. In this case, processes are undocumented, and if you're a solopreneur, you can't take a break because when you take a break, money stops.

The solution to this is to formalize your plan and your processes. The vision for your business starts with you, but it won’t go anywhere if you can’t scale it. And to scale, you need to empower your people and document your processes. I recounted an audit, where we couldn’t find any of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) because we had gotten so busy in the middle of it all. It was a wake-up call to go back to doing things the right way.

The Power of Documentation and Planning

I shared a story about a side project I started a few years ago. I didn't document anything. When I tried to bring on help from Fiverr and Upwork, I got so frustrated because I felt like he had to do the whole job myself. The vision and the layout were all in my head, and nobody could help. This taught me the importance of having a repository for systems, and a way to document how things are being done.

We also talked about how the hardest thing for most entrepreneurs is getting things down on paper in a well-thought-out way. We have to bring it down to the level where we're explaining it like we're talking to an elementary school kid. You may think it’s common sense, but it’s only common because your mind has been doing it so much.

The Role of Technology

Today, we live in the information age with technology at our disposal. We're now at a point where the issue isn't whether we can get things done, but whether we've sought out the information and know how to use it. I shared a story about using ChatGPT to help my wife document her business processes, even after she initially resisted the idea, and I mentioned NotebookLM, where you can pour all of your SOPs and documents to create your own internal AI.

The Legacy of a Vision

Ultimately, whether you decide to build to exit or build for a legacy, you are building for the legacy of your vision. It doesn't mean your children have to take over; it can be a legacy of talented people showing up and knowing they can do just as well as anyone else. By building a clean business with systems and processes in place, you ensure that your business can thrive with or without you.

We would love to hear from you.
Watch the full episode at https://youtu.be/2Hf52QhcwBo.