The importance for business owners to occasionally adopt the perspective of an investor to gain valuable insights and opportunities for growth cannot be overstated. Here are five key reasons why this shift in perspective is beneficial, including enhanced objectivity, a focus on long-term value creation, identification of strengths and weaknesses, access to capital and resources, and strategic alignment and accountability. Learn more and take advantage of tools like Ready for Next's assessment to evaluate their businesses through an investor's lens, even if they're not currently seeking investment, as it can lead to enhanced enterprise value and long-term success.

Our very own Sean Hutchinson tells us his journey from being one of the first 100 Certified Exit Planning Advisors (CEPAs) worldwide in 2008 to being part of a 5000-strong professional community today. Through perseverance and experimentation, they developed a methodology for value acceleration, emphasizing partnership with owners to unlock their business's value. Plus, Sean shares the origin of Ready for Next’s explorer, pivoter and triggerer approach to business owners. Sean reflects on his growth from a novice CEPA to an expert, highlighting the rewarding experiences and community found along the way.

While the concise answer is a resounding "yes" to the question of whether leadership and culture can enhance business value, the more nuanced response explores how these factors contribute to success. This article emphasizes the importance of regularly assessing and strengthening the leadership team to propel business growth. Key considerations include recognizing the need for delegation, defining roles clearly and being willing to relinquish control for effective team-building.

12 months of life-changing reading for you and your business.

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”

– Carl Jung

We already know successful business owners are accustomed to pivoting their product or service according to the tides of consumer demands. COVID-19 proved this. But what many business owners may not be so familiar with is pivoting to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse labour pool, in order to achieve the same level of success.

In this economy, how many successful companies do we hear boasting about being staunchly unwilling to adapt? In the wake of COVID, the notion sounds absurd but it’s more common than you might think.

If we assume VUCA is an adversarial environment – hostile to our short and long-term business interests – we bypass our cognitive biases telling us to dismiss what threatens our needs. We assume a posture of response rather than reaction and our approach to risk management switches from defensive to offensive.

In our work with business owners, something is almost always better than nothing. A hastily concocted contingency plan trumps no contingency plan. Half-baked ideas about life-after business dreams and goals beat no ideas. We aren’t advocates for shoddy work, but we are aware of the human condition and the last thing a good advisor wants is for a (potential) client to disengage because they’re afraid of falling short of perfection.

Although the Grinch, famously played by Jim Carrey in the 2000 live action movie famously (and very catchily) said, “Hate, hate, hate. Double hate. Loathe entirely”, we think he might have changed his tune about the holiday season a little earlier if he’d been given any (or all) of the following books. Happy new year and happy reading!

Do more with less.

Pick up the slack.

These phrases are common, no matter where you work. However, doing more with less and picking up the slack are less and less palatable to to today’s workers. This article looks at the “quiet quitting” phenomenon seen today.

It is important to have the right people and professionals around the table to help you achieve your optimal transition from business ownership. Even with long-standing advisors, experience in transitioning a business is critical to your success.
Having the right people in your corner will have a positive impact on the outcome. Learn more.

This article by guest writer, Julie Keyes, CEPA offers insight into three important things you can do for your business. These changes will help you have more control over your business transition, no matter how near or far in the future.

Keeping a family functional and communicating can be difficult at the best of times. Add in a family business, especially an inter-generational business. There are five common planning mistakes family businesses make when it comes to succession planning.

Intergenerational business succession in family businesses fail at an alarming rate. This means there is a great deal of opportunity to have better results. Curvespanning™ is a revolutionary approach to work with both incoming and outgoing generations of a family business to improve their odds.

Owner independence is one of the top three value drivers for any business. For smaller lifestyle businesses, the idea that the owner isn’t the “heart, soul and face” of the place is difficult to imagine. But too much reliance on the owner is actually an impediment to growth.

These quick videos answer a wide range of frequently asked questions business owners at all stages in their entrepreneurial journey want answers to.

Building value in a business includes stopping or mitigating the things that kill value. As a flip-side to the top three value drivers blog, here is a look at the top three value killers.

A focus solely on topline revenue can be misleading. Generating true value can take several different forms. Here we focus on the top three value drivers.