Business Owners Don't Retire

Business Owners Don't Retire (completely)

I help business owners to prepare their ventures for a graceful transfer of ownership.

Very few plan to "retire" as in, sit in a rocking chair and no longer be active and engaged. They sell businesses, then take some of the proceeds and buy their next business or partner with their kids and younger friends in new ventures.

The definition of retiring is changing, particularly to entrepreneurs. In a recent Gallup Small Business Index survey, only 11 percent said they will stop working completely in their businesses in the long run.

An optimistic 62% say they expect their businesses to continue after they stop working. While 33% said their businesses will stop when they do.

Rusty Fischer of Fischers at Port Canaveral, a central Florida restaurant told me that when he sold Bernard's Surf, begun by his father around WWII, that he used proceeds from that sale to purchase a liqour store. "Where was I going to put it, the stock market," he asked me incredulously. (The market had dropped 300 points the previous week).

Entrepreneurs do business to make money, of course but they love the game. The more they've played that game, if they've won some, the more they love it and want to play more.

Smart business people approach new opportunities like venture capitalists. They invest their time and resources when they have a clear idea of how and when they will exit and with what return on their investment.

Learn more about being a venture capitalist and transferring your organization successfully at BeCauseBusiness.com or call 800.249.1622