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Millions of baby-boomers who started companies in the 60's and 70's will be transitioning their business through a sale, a family transfer, ESOP's or other means. What is seldom considered, however, is the psychological difficulty of founders letting go of the business they have built. Founders who have "left it all on the field" when it comes to building and managing a business can feel like leaving it is akin to falling into a black whole of oblivion. After being important in the business community and being looked up to as a hero and role model, it can be threatening to lose one's primary identity. M & A firms are all too familiar with the pattern of buyer's remorse that kills sales at the last minute, not for a business reason, but because the founder has not thought through "life after owning my company."
Just as the baby-boom reinvented social and political mores since the 1960's, business owners from this generation will reinvent what it means to retire. Now that people are healthier and it is not unusual to live into the 80's, 90's and even 100's we need a new model. There may be 10, 20, 30 or more productive years that can be the most fullfilling years of one's life, prvoided that one takes the time now to reflect and really think through what is most meaningful and desirable for your life after you leave your company.
Using business methods similar to strategic planning, we help executives discover meaning and purpose for this next stage of life, The Platinum Years, between owning a business and the Golden Years of retirement. This 4 to 6 month process created by the Successful Transition Planning Institute in Boston, MA. The program leads you through a process of discovery and reflection so you can create a blueprint for a life you can't wait to get to. Once this is discovered, it becomes easy to let go of the business that has been such an important part of identity for so long, and move on to something that could be even more fulfilling and meaningful.
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