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Jack had owned and operated his pavement maintenance company for almost 29 years and with the exception of a few lean years in the early 1980s had witnessed his company’s growth each year. He and his wife, Jerri, had put two kids through college, one that had joined them in running the business. After two years the “kid” was beginning to get a feel for the financial aspects of the business. Jack and Jerri were beginning to wonder if this wasn’t the right time to start thinking of turning the reins over to their son.

If you are a little gray around the temples this scenario is probably all too familiar. If you are just beginning your upward path in ownership this same scenario will become familiar, maybe earlier than you imagine.

For an owner the second most important objective to accomplish after running a profitable business is to make sure your exit from your company is done seamlessly, without even a faint dip in production, loss of invaluable people, and profits. Three “laws” will help you do that.

1. Clarify Your Life’s Purpose. It is extremely vital to your own mental health that you are clear about what you “want to do with your life.” Many contractors go crazy when they finally leave their business thinking that retiring to golf, fish, travel, or take care of grandkids is going to satisfy their thirst for satisfaction. I know because I’ve been engaged with many pavement maintenance contractors who have struggled with letting go of their business.

Before you ever begin to plan a transition you must come to grips with what you will do to occupy your time once you’ve really exited your company. You can always fish, travel, etc. Heck, you can do that before you exit. No, you must begin to consider what more with your life do you want to develop, whether it’s serving on boards in a consulting position, providing business advice to small company owners, joining a ministry that engages your business knowledge or construction experience, act as a trainer for their company of new employees, or move into a “business development” role for the business.