Advice for business founders: what precisely does a “success story” post-sale look and feel like to you?

I find a great many founders, who come to me at the start of their exit or transition plan crave that story.

Yet most are already a “success” but they aren’t acting like a success (poverty mindset). I tell my clients, pay me now, I’ll show you. Pointing immediately back to them, I ask for the cheque and explain the flaws in how they are acting.

1. You must not consciously or subconsciously cede power and control over your life to others (the business buyer, your investors, your family or others) unless it is to accomplish clear, discernible personal and professional goals (positive selfishness).
2. You must give yourself permission to talk confidently about your personal achievements and be comfortable with your success (business and social gatherings).
3. You must treat yourself, your family and the communities that you live in well (why save $2,000 on a first class air ticket or not give generously to your old school foundation).
4. You have no “obligation” to help feed others in your post-sale life or to leave large future inheritances for your family members. Safe for offering your offspring a good education, and loving support.
5. You must not become a “prisoner” to your good fortune. Putting up physical or metaphorical “hedges” to protect your wealth and privacy, at the cost of distorting you and your family’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.
6. You will need clarity about the future purpose of your wealth and appropriate family governance, formal or informal. Seek professional help particularly in large and complex situations.
7. You must invest assertively in your future health and well-being (exercise regularly, eliminate tasks that bore you, hire help that conforms to your new life needs and experiment with new pursuits).
8. You will have exponentially more discretionary time for the first time since early childhood. How do you plan to use it in ways that will delight you, and you can productively contribute to society? (the golf course, the yacht or the wine cellar is never a replacement for the business).
9. You must continue to personally learn, develop and find new ways to apply it. You want to be seen as an individual of increasing interest to others (don’t fall into the trap of “I have seen everything” or sit on your past glories).
10. You will need a more eclectic group of friends and acquaintances across different age groups. Don’t merely hang out in stultifying environments with other wealthy types, who express a common worldview (The Beverly Hills Tennis Club syndrome).
11. You must find and take advice from new sources of qualified expertise (financial and non-financial affairs).
12. You must stop searching for the exact same entrepreneurial thrill and competition. You have made a life change, find what you love to do, what you excel at and what you can build a new life around that will excite you.
13. The discipline, organisation, focus, speed and resilience that has served you well as founder will need constant “maintenance” post-sale. Whether it is planning your day, getting priorities done, reviewing investments or rebounding from bad decisions.
14. You must embrace the richness of travel and the wider world while your health allows it (new cultures and new experiences).
15. You must accept that you are not who others see you as, you are who you see yourself as today, nothing more (self-worth).
16. There will always be someone with greater piles of cash or material possessions. Wealth is merely fuel for the life you want to lead, you have that in abundance, stop worrying or drawing unfavourable comparisons.
17. The terms and conditions attached to your business sale are often more important than the price paid for the business. Ensure the time you give to both in the negotiation phase is reasonable and appropriate.
18. A change of control means there is a new boss at the helm, a new set of objectives, a new direction, and a new set of fears about the journey ahead. What happens post-sale is largely out of your power and control, get comfortable with your new status, and the probable foreseen and unforeseen consequences. Otherwise, why sell?
19. You want to sell well. That means you agree and adhere to a set of joint accountabilities post-sale. On your side, you don’t undermine the new owners to feather your own ego. When you do comment, you remove the emotion, and offer logical reasoning, based on hard evidence or strong anecdotal information. Otherwise, you stay silent.
20. Finally, the value that a buyer places on their business, is simply the pulling forward of future cash flows, which are expressed as a net present value. It is not the final judgement or score on your personal “success story”.