There is nothing more dangerous for a founder than to lose interest in his business. It’s like closing your eyes and letting go of the steering wheel on a busy highway. Thanks to inertia, a business can even keep moving fast, but only until an obstacle comes along or the road makes a sharp turn. It is naive to assume that the context will remain the same. Change is the only constant of our time.
The worst thing is the company’s staff. The owner does not announce loudly: “I’m fed up with everything!”, but every employee feels in his back: “There’s something wrong in our kingdom.” The cornerstone of the company’s foundation has disappeared. It was the drive that pushed the business relentlessly, upward and forward. When an airplane’s engine has stalled, the striking silence and smoothness of the flight may be admirable, but only for the first second. Soon a chilling realization will dawn upon you: “We’re only a few minutes away from hitting the ground.” The smart man will jump off early, the greedy will seize power, the naïve will deny reality to the end. And it doesn’t matter how many days, months or years the business has left to exist. Without the fertilization of the spawn of market opportunities by the creativity of the founder, the business is doomed.
What’s the solution? Always have a fallback parachute, that is, a real chance to sell your business. I emphasize — you don’t have to rush to sell it, but it’s essential to have the freedom to do so when you decide. Someone will ask: “When is the best time to start getting ready?” Ideally, when you’re just thinking about starting your own business. Or at the first signals that you are losing interest in the business. Try to plan for 3 years to prepare for the sale. This is short enough to keep your motivation high, but also long enough to implement all the necessary changes in the company. By the way, there’s a bonus — through methodical progress, you’ll grow calm, determined, and optimistic inside.
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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