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Exit Strategies

(c) 2021 Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

The risk to take retirement

The day you start to plan your business is the day you start to plan your exit strategy.

What if the time has now come for you to leave your business behind permanently? You may be selling your business, retiring from your business, moving on to another business that you want to create, or moving on to a time that you may relax and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Consider the following hypothetical situation: Joe was a great financial planner. He attracted and retained a nice mix of middle-class and wealthy clientele.

Joe made a good living from his business. But his business employed only himself. It made it difficult for him to take time away from his office. Moreover, he was very good at what he did. His clients were extremely loyal to him, and as he grew older, he heard more and more nervous jokes about how he had better never retire because they could never find another like him.

But the day did arrive when Joe decided he needed to exit. He thought about selling his financial practice. When he analyzed what he might receive from a sale with a business consultant, he found that because he was such an integral part of his firm, that the price he might receive from the sale was shockingly low. So instead, he decided he would retire.

Joe discovered that if selling a business is a difficult thing to do, retiring and shutting down a business can sometimes be almost uncharted waters. He soon found himself mulling over how to handle this transition. He had a licensing authority and a regulatory group who had guidelines for how to handle retirement issues. Moreover, he felt a certain sense of loyalty to his stable of clients. He wanted to afford them the opportunity to transition gently and over a reasonable period of time. Joe decided to do a six-month transition from active practice to retirement. He contacted his clients, posted notices on his website, and made referral sources and others in the community aware of his decision.

The next six months were extremely difficult ones. Some of Joe’s clients were resentful that he was leaving. Some still wanted him to continue to manage their funds even after retirement (“can’t you just take care of me?”). People who called the office who were referred to him didn’t understand that he was no longer taking on new matters. Some clients were very proactive, and understood they needed to obtain a new financial planner, and did so in a very methodical fashion. Others decided to wait until the transition was almost at its end and then scrambled, causing Joe himself to scramble. There was a lot of confusion over how the relationship of an advisor to clients’ accounts could be transitioned to a new person. There was confusion over records that Joe would be required to maintain that he could not give to the new planner. Finally, as clients knew Joe would no longer service them, they felt less obligated to pay for his services. Receivables, which were never a problem for Joe before in his business, started to mount.

In short, Joe’s decision to transition gradually, feeling it was the best for him and for his clients, wound up being a logistical nightmare.

When you decide it’s time to exit from your business, whether you would be shutting it down and retiring, or whether you have a business that you can sell, you can expect that the transition to ex-entrepreneur may be a rocky one. Even a sale would not necessarily alleviate all the concerns that our friend Joe faced in his choice to retire. Most of the time when someone purchases a business, they expect and in fact will require the seller to work side-by-side with them for a period of time. No matter which direction you choose for your exit strategy, it will likely not be a quick nor peaceful transition.

Contrast this with our corporate cubicle curmudgeon. If he decides that work sucks, an e-mail that gives the requisite two weeks usually does the trick. Okay, if you’re a higher-level employee — an executive, or such — you may give a longer notice. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that if you truly want out, it’s a lot simpler to leave a job than to shut down or sell a business. If you’re really frustrated with your employer, you could even walk out the front door, never to return. This option rarely exists with a business you have created and operate.

What if the reason you need to close down or sell your business is due to health? Most often when we think exit strategy, we think sale or retirement. Another element that should be factored into the entrepreneur’s plans is disability, health concerns or other calamities. With a business you often have a complex web of contracts, leases, and obligations to suppliers, customers and clients. Simply because you want to retire, sell, or get sick, or even die, doesn’t mean that web disappears.

The bottom line is that the exit is part of the entrance. If you’re going to create a business, how will you one day leave it behind? If you want to sell it, are you creating something that’s salable? With rapid changes in the marketplace, an enterprise that exists for decades is becoming a rare bird. You may need to take into account technological obsolescence or other factors in determining the “shelf life” of your entrepreneurial baby. And what if you get sick or pass away? Sobering thoughts, but nonetheless ones that may enter into your business plan.

A Key to Success as an Entrepreneur?

(c) 2021 Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

Philosophers often speak of activities having either intrinsic value or instrumental value. As I understand this, something has intrinsic value if it provides meaning to you in and of itself. An activity that has instrumental value is more of a means to an end.

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Happy New Year — now about those resolutions . . .

(c) 2021 Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

Happy New Year!

This time of year we all make New Year’s resolutions. How many of them do we keep barely two or three weeks later? I bet not many.

Nevertheless, the beginning of a new year, or really any day of the year, is a good time to write a list of 3 to 10 items that you believe will improve your life. Whether it’s losing weight, exercising more, securing a promotion at work, or tangible ways to improve your relationship with your significant other, there is no time like today — whether January 1 or March 16 — to write a list of goals for yourself.

But most of these goals or resolutions are unmet.  Are there ways to increase your odds of success?  Here are 10 hints for keeping your resolutions:

  • Be realistic. If you’re 55 years old and you haven’t exercised in a while, you’re not going to do 60 minutes of aerobics six days a week. And moreover, you’re going to talk to your doctor before you even attempt exercising. Setting realistic goals is an important element to success.
  • Be patient. Understand that it takes 28 days to create a habit.
  • Be mindful. No matter what you do as your resolution, understand that with goals, the journey is more important than the end. Enjoy the ride; remain in the present moment.
  • Be rewarding. Set small but attainable benchmarks along the way and reward yourself when you reach them. If your goal is to exercise three times a week, put five dollars in a jar every time you do so. Use that money towards a new outfit which you’re going to fit into once you’ve been exercising for a while.
  • Be less radical. Giving up Diet Coke entirely may not be achievable; limiting yourself to two cans a day might be.
  • Be less media savvy. Watching TV, reading the ads, or surfing the web will show you idealistic examples of life in these United States. Either cut your media exposure or remain vigilant as you are bombarded with these “photo-shopped” images.
  • Be educated. If your goal involves tangible things such as fitness, dieting, etc., understand the numbers — the metrics — in your quest, such as the number of calories in the ice cream cone you just had at McDonald’s.
  • Be social. Maybe there is a social media site where you can share thoughts with others who have similar goals.
  • Be persistent. Keep asking yourself the question, “how can I enjoy the process towards reaching this goal?” You never need to find the answer; simply asking the question over and over again in itself helps you achieve your goal.
  • Be normal. Understand that all of us set goals and fail to reach them. This makes you a normal human being. Don’t be discouraged and don’t give up!

Here’s to a 2021 that finds all of us more healthy, more wealthy, and more wise!

Getting it Done in ’21

How to Get it Done in ‘21

© 2020 Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

The Resolution Revolution

Change your thoughts, change your energy, change your world! 

I hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, enjoying the holiday season and looking forward to more joy and more fun in ‘21!

How many times have you set about the New Year with a list of resolutions and the best of intentions to accomplish them only to break them in a few weeks?   Did you know that well over 50% of people who set New Year’s resolutions every year do not achieve their goals?

Changing your thoughts is the first step in changing your life.  Bringing your dreams into focus is a solid step in creating a life that you love.  When you begin to think differently, your entire world begins to change.   You actually become a different person!  You will begin to see things differently.  Dr. Wayne Dyer said it best when he titled his book, “You’ll See it When You Believe It.”

How important you think you are is the most important statement about you, your character, your personality and the results that you get in your life.  How much you like, respect and value yourself determines your level of happiness, health and self-confidence.   How do you treat yourself?   Where are you on your list?

One of the most prevalent ways in which we give away our power is through believing our worst reviews, or low self-esteem.  When we struggle with low self-esteem it causes us to make decisions in which we give our power away.  Who are the beneficiaries of our generosity?  To name just a few:

  • Addictive Substances
  • Bosses
  • Doctors
  • Gremlins
  • Lovers
  • Money
  • Parents
  • Politicians

 If you do not value who and what you are, you will look outside of yourself for your self-worth.  You will refer to others whom you deem more knowledgeable than you for validation.  You do this, of course, when you forget that everything you can know about being on the right path for you is inside.

Action is the next important element in becoming your best you and living your best life.  One of the most outwardly identifiable characteristics of successful people is that they are continually taking action to move in the direction of their predominant goals.  What actions are you taking to create the life that you dream of? The more someone fails, the more they succeed, it’s all about action.

Another element of success is focus.  What are you thinking and talking about most of the time?   Are you putting your words, energy and thought toward the things that you want in your life, or toward the things that you don’t want in your life?  Whatever you think about, most of the time, is what you will find showing up in your life, whether positive or negative.

What expectations do you have?  Your expectations will determine your attitude.  If you are approaching a situation with the expectation that you will fail, it’s unlikely that you will try very hard to change the outcome.  If you expect that you will succeed, you will likely take actions to determine that you do.

How are you using your time?  In Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time” she said “life gets precious when there’s less of it to waste.”  Time is a gift.  How are you enjoying your present?  Everyone has 24 hours in each day to spend, save, or waste.  The beauty of living in these times is that we’ve added 15 years to our lifespan!   What changes would you be committed to making to create the life that you want?

How many thoughts of resolution have you already entertained for the year 2021? How would you like to take your life from BOOHOO to BOOYAH by following through on your resolutions this year?

Who do you want to be in 2021? Where do you want to go in 2021?  How will your life be different if you make the changes necessary to go from where you are to where you want to be in the next year?  If you can answer these questions for 2021-FANTASTIC.  If you can’t, and you couldn’t in previous years, it’s no wonder you didn’t accomplish what you set out to.  You may not have determined your motivators, which is another critical step in making a change.

Sharpen your focus by defining first where you are and second where you want to be in the following areas: 

  • Physical Health and Well-Being
  • Finances
  • Career
  • Friends, Family, Love, Romance, Pets
  • Fun and Recreation
  • Living Space
  • Art and Creativity
  • Personal Growth/Spirituality

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there!

George Harrison“Any Road”, Brainwashed, 2002

English singer & songwriter (1943 – 2001)

Be Grateful

A grateful heart is an open door to the universe.  Adding a daily practice of gratitude will keep your heart open and your focus on the positive.

Grant Forgiveness, No Permission Required

When I was a project manager in the corporate world, the expression, ask forgiveness and not permission was the mantra of the successful project managers.  Here, instead of asking for it, you are granting it.

Granting forgiveness to those in your life who may have disappointed you as well as forgiveness to yourself if you’ve disappointed is one of the best things that you can do to make a joyous and fun 2021.

Imagine taking the weight of everyone that you have forgiven off your shoulders.  How freeing is that?  What better way to start the year than by feeing yourself of unnecessary baggage!

The Why

Why are you committed to make this change?  Is it because you want to change or because someone else wants you to change? What are the risks, costs, and benefits to making this change? What are the risks, costs and benefits to not making the change?

The How

Often times, one of the most daunting parts of making a change is that it may seem overwhelming.  Breaking your resolution down into manageable, specific, and achievable steps and marking them off as you complete them will help you to notice the progress that you are making and will keep you motivated.

The Who

Sometimes when we are defining the how, we will find ourselves also defining who can help us in making the change.  Creating a sense of accountability by making your resolution known to your coach, your family, your friends or your co-workers will keep you focused on your goals.

Be Gentle with Yourself

According to Brian Tracy, the law of habit largely determines your future.  This law states that probably 95% of everything that you do is based upon your habits.  Good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with.  Bad habits are easy to form, but hard to live with.  Decide upon the habits that are most supportive of your success and work on developing them until they become automatic.  In my research, I have found that it takes between 21 and 28 days to establish a new habit.

If you do experience any lapses, don’t waste energy on the “beat up” process.  It does not mean that you have missed your mark.  Refocus on your motivators (keep your eye on the ball) and continue to move forward.

Here are a few more pointers for successful behavior change:

  • Believe that you are able to change.
  • Take responsibility for your actions.  Don’t waste your valuable resources or zap your personal power on excuse making or self-blame.
  • Concentrate on the process, not necessarily the results.  Sometimes we make good decisions but due to circumstances beyond our control, the result isn’t what we hoped.
  • Understand your what and your why.
  • Define why your resolution is important.

Breaking Resolve

People break their resolutions for many different reasons.  As a coach, one of the prevalent reasons I see for those who have broken their resolve is the tendency to give their power away.   We are next going to explore some of the ways in which this happens.  It’s time to go within and examine how you are using your personal power. With conscious examination, you may find ways to boost your personal power and to use it more efficiently or you may find that you are giving your power away altogether. Can you imagine Comed or BP having a sale on gas or electric or for that matter, giving it away?  We humans give our power away all the time.  That’s right: we don’t even sell it! 

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Five Procrastination Hacks

(c) 2020 Ann Babiarz and Associates LLC

Are you awesome at creating to-do lists but a miserable failure at attaining them?

Are you avoiding tasks that will move you ahead in your career or business or simply keep your abode nice and tidy?

Are you great at accomplishing everything except what you need to do?

You are likely a procrastinator.  Not to worry as you have lots of company.  And it’s a curable disease.  But if you want to build your business to greater heights of success, take your career to the next level, be the best friend/parent/spouse and yes, simply have a cleaner house, fear not.  I have five tips that can help you discipline the dawdling demon.

  1. Trim your tasks.  Are there items on this list that don’t belong or don’t fit as they are set forth?  Consider the three “d”s:
    1. Divide the task into sub-tasks that you can accomplish more easily.  When you are checking off these bit-sized to-dos it motivates you to keep going.
    1. Delegate the task to someone else.  This is especially important if you are an entrepreneur with a growing business.  I’ve been guilty of being a bad delegator as like most businesspersons, I don’t believe anyone can do any job in my business as well as I can.
    1. Delete the task.  Is this really something you need to do?  Does it make you money, make you happy or are you compelled to do it?  If not, why do you want to?
  2. Trick your brain.  Post your list somewhere you can see it: your bathroom mirror, the wall across from the couch, by your coffee pot.  When you finish something on your list, erase it or cross it off. 
  3. Treat yourself.  Have a reward, even a small one, for completing something.  Watch that short cat video, grab a soda or a glass of wine, or take a ten-minute walk.
  4. Track your time.  Look at what you did instead of a task you had planned.  Was it a total bust-out of 2 hours watching blather on TV or surfing social media?
  5. Tempt yourself .  .  .  NOT!  The biggest tip here is to complete a task with a digital fast.  Put your phone away, don’t have social media windows open on your computer as you work on it, and turn the TV off – it isn’t simple background noise.

Procrastination is a powerful enemy of progress.  But like many limitations in life, it can be conquered by taking some small steps.  Can you see one or more of these five hacks helping you?

Getting it Done in ’21

As we say goodbye to 2020 (hey 2020, don’t let the door hit you in the you-know-what on the way out), collectively perhaps our least favorite year, we shouldn’t forget that December is a great time to plan for a better year ahead.   Whether setting business goals or personal ones, now is your opportunity for contemplation, planning and goal setting.  Maybe you use meditation to clear the decks for beginner’s mind or sip a glass of wine to help your right-brain creativity shine.  Can or should you resolve to do great things over the next twelve months?

New Year’s is traditionally when we make resolutions. And what is a resolution but a goal? We often start each year setting forth goals that we hope to accomplish in the coming days, weeks and months. Sadly, most of us fail to keep many of our resolutions. In fact, statistically, most Americans will miss the target on their New Year’s propositions.

An interesting book addresses the power of commitment. Commitment is the strategy utilized to match your aims. Consequently, it may be raised or lowered accordingly. In her book, Commit to Win, author Heidi Reeder, PhD (©2014, Hudson Street Press) draws upon decades of research to create an equation for commitment made up of four variables. Dr. Reeder expresses commitment as follows:

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How Well Do You Play?

“Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight.” Thomas Carlyle.

The Academy of Leisure Scientists, a group of academics who study time use, has determined that we get the most satisfaction from leisure activities that are difficult and challenging. It’s best for us to put our time into activities requiring high levels of physical and intellectual energy.

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Ten Ways to Celebrate the Winter Holidays

(c) 2020 by Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

As I write this post, transitioning into winter 2020-2021, experts tell us that social gatherings over the next weeks are to be approached with great caution. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is surging and to keep yourself, your family and your friends safe, you need to be a bit more creative than perhaps in years past. But don’t mope around the house. Here are ten fun suggestions for how to brighten any winter holiday, a birthday celebration or even a day that isn’t special on any calendar.

  1. Make and try new cookies or a new cocktail. You aren’t driving anywhere. And one plate of cookies, being mindful of any allergies or food sensitivities, isn’t going to sabotage your diet or health. That said, of course moderation is still an excellent idea.
  2. Decorate festively, funky, frilly or far out. Dig out what you have in your attic, basement or closet. Don’t have a stash of decorations? There are a million articles on the web on how to make fun stuff from what you have at home. And if you have a few bucks to spare, lots of online retailers will deliver a batch of baubles to your door.
  3. Try a holiday jigsaw puzzle or a board game. I hear the groaning already. You might think this is lame. But I challenge you to try it before you roll your eyes. Besides, it’ll keep you away from the cesspool that is social media for a few hours.
  4. Read a holiday book, alone or with family or friends. We all know Dicken’s A Christmas Carol but when was the last time you read it (if ever)? It’s still a cool story and at about 28,000 words, even a meticulous reader will finish in less than 2 hours.
  5. Sing, either with an instrument you or someone in your household plays, or with a Karaoke track. If you do the latter, there are a multitude of these on YouTube.
  6. Host a virtual party. Yes, we are all tired of Zoom. But can you spice up a Zoom call? No, I’m not talking about THAT kind of spice, unless the call is only you and your significant other. Games, reading stories aloud, watching a sporting event together virtually . . . let your imagination be your guide.
  7. Cook a good meal or order in. You can still make Grandma’s green bean casserole even if it’s just you and your household eating it. Or let a deliver service bring you a nice meal. Remember to tip the driver for coming out on a holiday.
  8. Play holiday songs on the radio or from your own playlist. Check out below as we have a free idea to help you start that playlist.
  9. Attend a social distanced outdoor event. Yes, it might be cold in your area but you can bundle up and get together. Everyone can BYOB and make a campfire somewhere where its safe and permitted. If there’s alcohol involved, be sure you have a DD and watch your inhibitions so that you don’t ignore good, safe practices on distance and avoiding close contacts.
  10. Walk (or drive) around and look at decorations in your neighborhood.

Do you have anything you could add to this list? Drop me a line at ann@annbabiarz.com and give me your thoughts. I will publish them in my next newsletter.

Changing your holiday thoughts?

Now that Halloween is a ghost of the past, the upcoming holiday season is fast approaching. Poor Thanksgiving. It somehow gets lost now between the over-the-top decorations of Halloween and the way-too-quick transition to Christmas season.

In the US, the holiday season is usually filled with family, food, parties and people. However, due to the circumstances surrounding us, this holiday season may look a little different than those in recent history. Does this mean our holidays have to be less wonderful? Absolutely not! Like everything else, it all depends on your perspective. Think about it: the phrase, “it’s the thought that counts”, applies to more than the receiving of a good or a bad gift. What is your holiday outlook this year?

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To Each His Own

(c) 2020 by Ann Babiarz & Associates LLC

Photo licensed by www.depositphotos.com

VALUES IDENTIFICATION AND CLARIFICATION

It is time to identify your values. Getting clear about what’s most important to you in life will help you establish a firm foundation for every decision you make, investing or otherwise. Knowing your values will free you from those moments of stunning and frustrating indecision about everything from what to invest in to where to work to what and who is on your calendar. When you take steps to clarify your values, you are making the decisions about your unifying or operating principles. You decide what you believe and what you stand and do not stand for.

When you have clear about your values, it is easy for you to make important decisions. When you know exactly what you believe in and what is important to you, it is relatively simple for you to decide among conflicting courses of action.

Your higher-order values will always take precedence over your lower-order values. For example, two people with the same three top values will behave in a completely different way if the order of their values is different.

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