The NFL season started with the usual hyperbole, predictions, and upsets. The first upset was when the defending champion Chiefs got beat. A big factor was their tight end, the best in the game, was injured a couple days prior.
If you plan in advance, you can overcome obstacles a lot easier. Or, as Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The Chiefs got punched in the mouth. If they had two months to plan, they’d of done things differently.
The same goes in business. If you realize something unanticipated can happen, you’ll handle it better. If you plan for your exit, it will go smoother.
It comes back to how much better companies with a business plan do. Lots of info on this and I like to quote from a national accounting firm study saying companies with a business plan growth twice as fast as those without.
I don’t know of any numbers on having an exit plan versus no exit plan, but my anecdotal evidence says firms with the basics covered sell easier and for more. The basics being good financial systems, growth, a management team, and an owner not needed day-to-day.
“Even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked.” Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Sometimes it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and the rest of the time it’s the other way around. Lawrence Block
