Can I Avoid Intellectual Property Theft?

Most businesses these days are highly reliant on knowledge and innovation to beat their competition and, thus, achieve success. In many cases, their IP (Intellectual Property) is the asset that is most valuable to them, and so, it’s considered to be extremely sensitive information.

Intellectual Property comes in many types. It includes trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents. While some intellectual property is protected by federal and state laws, such as innovations, formulas, media products, music, web content, and technological advances, other types are not.

Since the protection of the intellectual property is an extremely complex area, it’s important to seek professional advice. This is where Corporate Business Solutions can help, by offering assistance and guidance about how to avoid the possibility of intellectual property theft.

What Is Intellectual Property Theft?

When someone steals assets such as those mentioned above, it is known as intellectual property theft. The potential outcome of such thefts includes economic damage, a slowing down of business growth, and loss of the company’s competitive edge. It’s easy to see, then, that IP theft is a major concern for any business, and statistics show that world economies lose billions every year due to intellectual property theft in a range of categories such as pirated software, patent infringement, and counterfeit goods.

There are some misconceptions that small businesses don’t fall victim to intellectual property theft. Yet, this isn’t the case at all. Actually, the Netwrix IT Risk Report shows that small and mid-sized businesses are more vulnerable than enterprises to intellectual property theft.

The Most Commonly Experienced Intellectual Property Theft Scenarios

Some of the most common IP theft scenarios include:

  • Human error – if employees lose a device, accidentally send a file containing company secrets outside their business network, or share confidential information with an unauthorized party, intellectual property theft can occur.
  • Malware infiltration – malicious software allows criminals to steal intellectual property by attacking company computer networks.
  • Privilege abuse – employees may exploit their own access to company files and sensitive information by committing economic espionage.

How Can Companies Protect Themselves From IP Theft?

Organizations still aren’t doing enough to protect themselves from IP theft. They tend to underestimate risks that their employees present and even fail to put security basics in place. Therefore, several practices are recommended to improve security in this respect:

  • Gaining greater visibility of sensitive data – when companies know precisely what sensitive data they have and exactly who has access to it, they can build a stronger security system.
  • Establishing a policy for data security – this policy will define how any security threat is addressed, specify the controls that are necessary to mitigate security vulnerabilities in the IT system, and define a plan for recovery if an intrusion into the network occurs.
  • Monitoring of employee activities – even when employers trust their workers, it’s important to acknowledge they still represent a major threat. Critical mistakes can easily be made, so establishing monitoring processes of user behavior is essential.
  • Providing employee training – when employees have poor cybersecurity awareness, the chances of intellectual property loss are greater. Establishing a comprehensive training program for workers based on their access level and the role is important to ensure that misunderstandings are avoided.

Intellectual Property – An Important Driver Of Growth And Competitiveness

It’s clear that intellectual property is vital for driving a business’s growth and competitiveness, and therefore it must be a key element in any security strategy. Building strong lines of defense requires involvement throughout the company at every level and putting clear security policies in place surrounding the protection of sensitive data couldn’t be more important to minimize risks.

 

Business Analytics And The Manufacturing Industry – An Expert Guide

Many of the latest business trends like vertical integration, margin pressure, and globalization have forced manufacturers to look for innovative, new ways of boosting their performance and improving their decision-making processes. This is where business analytics can prove helpful. Traditionally, the manufacturing sector has been quite slow in the adoption of analytics. Yet, now, it has begun to leapfrog other industries through the application of business analytics to a broad spectrum of business areas, from supply chain and finance to product development and marketing.

Now that external and internal data is exponentially expanding, and insights-driven by data has become a strategic necessity, it’s no wonder that many manufacturers have been tempted to launch analytics initiatives across their enterprises that try to analyze and capture all aspects of their business. Yet, taking an all-encompassing approach is risky, time-consuming, and expensive. Therefore, as Corporate Business Solutions consultants say, it’s a better idea to focus analytics on targeted areas to produce optimal results.

Why Do Business Analytics Matter To The Manufacturing Sector?

Analytics provides actionable insights to support any company’s key business decisions directly. Which products have yielded a lower margin? Which suppliers have been more disruptive to production processes? How does the landscape look when it comes to competitive sales incentives? How is it possible to manage and predict the levers driving sales revenue?

Products, typically, lie at the heart of any manufacturing business. Therefore, the first analytics wave is usually focused on improving the development of those products. Other common areas of focus include management of the marketing and sales spend, optimization of the chain of supply, reduction of warranty spend, and improvement of financial management overall.

Analytical insights in those key areas can have major impacts on the manufacturer’s performance. They can also potentially deliver impressive returns on the business’s analytics investment. Not only that but by using business analytics, it’s possible for new revenue models to be enabled that have been designed around the sale of services rather than solely products.

What Are The Advantages Of Business Analytics For The Manufacturing Sector?

Analytics provides an edge over any manufacturer’s competition by revealing new opportunities for the improvement of efficiency through the product’s lifecycle. This allows the company to spread the cost of innovation across various product lines so margins can be boosted.

Also, with business analytics, the link becomes clearer between investments in analytics and business decisions that can deliver improved performance and results. In the manufacturing industry, this is particularly important, since many organizations use the federated business model, with multiple relatively independent business units. Responsive, flexible, and agile analytics provide insights that are forward-looking enough to aid the organization in the more effective management of its resources.

By taking a focused analytical approach, results can be produced that are more relevant than when taking the enterprise-wide approach. Not only that but it’s also cheaper and swifter to implement.

How Can Manufacturers Benefit From Business Analytics?

It’s clear that business analytics has great potential to improve your manufacturing company, giving you a greater competitive advantage within the marketplace. Yet, it isn’t a sure thing. You’ll need to take the correct approach to achieve the results you seek. The best way to do this is to seek advice from experts in the field and Corporate Business Solutions are here to help.

4 Effective Business Exit Strategies To Consider

Business exit strategies are plans for what is going to happen when you wish to leave your company. In this strategy, the form of the transition will be described and outlined. In the same way, as you create your business plan as a way of guiding your company through its life, it’s important to have a similar plan to guide it to its conclusion.

Of course, having a business exit strategy shouldn’t mean failure or disaster. It doesn’t even mean that action needs to be taken imminently. Actually, most business owners begin their company with the intention of existing it after a set period of time. That doesn’t mean they’re not committed as entrepreneurs. It simply means they’ve got a clear plan in place.

However, when you’re thinking about a business exit strategy, you don’t just need to consider the way in which you’ll leave, but also the other factors involved with the process:

  • Will you be making money when the time comes to exit the business, and if so, how much?
  • What is going to become of the business after you’ve left? Is it going to carry on operating with a new owner?
  • How long is the exit process going to take and what sort of transitional period is going to be involved?

When you’re reading Corporate Business Solutions reviews, you’ll see that many business owners have turned to us for assistance in this respect, so here are four of the options that our consultants recommend.

1.Continuing A Family Legacy

Some entrepreneurs are keen to keep the business within the family in the long-term. This means that they make plans to transition their company to a relative. While this seems to be an appealing strategy, it’s vital to ensure that family relationships are strong enough to cope with the stress and volatility of owning a business.

The benefits are that it’s possible to choose someone that you wish to carry on the business once you’ve left and prepared them fully for the challenge. You also don’t need to be completely separate from the business, being able to remain in place as an advisor in the long-term.

On the downside, though, it can be difficult to find someone in the family or is capable or who wants to take the business on. Also, business partners, investors, and employees may not be supportive of the chosen individual, while the process brings a considerable amount of financial and emotional stress to the family.

2.Merger Or Acquisition

When you adopt an acquisition or merger business exit strategy, the company will either be bought by or merge with an organization that has aligned or similar goals. Depending on who the business is sold to or merged with, this could mean greater flexibility with it comes to your own involvement in the future.

This strategy allows you to negotiate the sale price, but it can be a time-consuming process and it may not happen at all. Only a fifth of all companies listed for sale gets bought.

3.Employee Or Management Buyout

While it’s hard to plan in advance, it’s possible when you want to leave your business, the management team or employees may wish to purchase it from you. Since these individuals already know how the organization is managed, this strategy may result in a much smoother transition process, with a better chance of your legacy being preserved. On the downside though, there may be nobody willing to make the purchase.

4.Taking Your Business Public

A lot of entrepreneurs hope that one day they will be able to sell their company to the public and make a huge profit. Yet, when it comes to exit strategy planning for small businesses, this option won’t work for everybody. Even when your business is successful, your industry might not be appealing to the public, and therefore, your company may be devalued. Also, IPOs are quite rare. Yet, they’re also very lucrative and could gain you substantial profits.

No Single Strategy Is Best

When it comes down to it, there isn’t a single perfect exit strategy for every business. The right strategy for yours depends on several factors, and it could develop or change as your company’s life cycle progresses.

It’s important to be aware, though, that planning ahead is the best option. From the moment you launch your enterprise, you should be considering exit strategy possibilities. After all, if you’re proactive about the process – how it could look, how you could execute it, and what the possible consequences could be – you’re most likely to be successful when the time comes to leave your company behind.

 

Struggling With Your Business Instagram Game? 6 Tips to Optimize Your Profile

It’s no secret that for a business to succeed, you most likely need to have a social media presence. Consumers typically search online for a company before going there, and their social media account often is the first to pop up.

Instagram has become a top priority for many companies and their marketing strategy. Posting pictures and behind-the-scene videos of the company can do wonders in promoting what you’re doing.

Don’t miss out on more opportunities by not having an Instagram account. You’ll be surprised by how much it can provide for you.

At Corporate Business Solutions Consultants, we have six points to optimize your Instagram profile for a successful social media strategy.

Choose a High-Quality Profile Picture

Don’t make the mistake of thinking your profile picture doesn’t matter, because it really does. You want something that represents what your brand is. If you have a logo, that is always a good place to start.

The profile picture should speak to who you are. That way, when someone sees that photo somewhere on their feed, they know right away it’s you without looking at your name.

Not only that, make sure the picture is high-quality and not pixelated.

Put Descriptive Words in Your Bio

The bio on your profile is a place for your creativity to shine. Have some fun with it (while still being professional and relevant to your business).

Add keywords that relate to your company. You don’t have a lot of space, so spend some time narrowing down what your business is to a few short lines.

Instagram also added the use of hashtags and tagging other profiles. This is something you should take advantage of. Adding hashtags allows people to follow those related to your brand.

Make Your Own Hashtag

While you’re at it, create your own hashtag for your company. The great thing about hashtags is that anyone that uses them in a post, you’ll be able to see those photos and videos. If you make a hashtag for your business, customers can follow it and get all of the related content in one spot.

Add Your Website

Chances are you have a website for your business. If you don’t, you need to invest in one. Websites are critical for consumers to get valuable information before deciding if they like your business.

Your Instagram profile has a spot for websites that you’ll want to add. Once you have that, you can use their analytics to track how many people use that link to visit your website.

Keep Things Tidy

Because of the limited space on your profile, try to keep it as tidy as possible. Having paragraphs of words or filling it with nothing but emojis can get distracting and hard to follow.

Your profile is meant to be short, sweet, and to the point. So, add line breaks and keep your sentences short. Utilize emojis, but watch that you don’t go overboard.

Incorporate a Call to Action\

Having a call to action is always a good idea. A call to action helps prompt viewers to perform an action you want them to do. For example, if you have something on your website you want people to see, tell them to click on your website link.

The above six points can help get you on the path of having a killer Instagram profile that stands out. Make your account successful. Spend time creating a solid, relevant and creative profile.

Feeling Disconnected From Your Team? 6 Ideas to Help Boost the Office Morale

Whether you’ve been in business for decades or only a few months, you quickly learn that it’s your team that holds the company together.

Research has proven that office morale affects productivity, and it’s easy to see why. If you don’t enjoy going to work and being around your coworkers or employees, it’s challenging to try and get any work done. You’ll likely be counting down the hours until your day is done.

Are you in need of boosting morale at your workplace? Corporate Business Solutions Consultants have a few tricks up their sleeve to help you out.

Start With a Positive Work-Life Balance

Boosting office morale doesn’t have to be simply rewards, games, or team meetings to discuss issues. Promoting a positive work-life balance can do wonders for people. People need time away from the office, emails, coworkers, phone calls, and everything else work related to unwind and decompress.

Starting with something small as having no emails after a particular time policy can make a huge difference right there.

Interact With the Team Outside the Office

Have you ever seen coworkers or employees outside of the office? They’re likely quite different than what you see at work.

Take some time to meet with people outside of the office now and then. You may be surprised by the relationships and connections you develop that can keep a positive vibe in the office.

Recognize a Job Well Done Publicly

There are ways that you can publicly acknowledge a job well done without making others feel left out or embarrassing anyone. It can be as simple as saying an excellent job at coffee break, taking a few seconds to showcase hard work at the next meeting, or making a note in an email.

If you want to go this route, though, ensure that you take the time to recognize everyone’s hard work, so no one feels left out.

Don’t Sweep Things Under the Rug

As uncomfortable as confrontation may be, it’s necessary to ensure that any issues that arise at work (that are work-related) are appropriately dealt with. As hard as everyone works to boost morale and create a positive work environment, issues will pop up.

Not dealing with problems tends to only cause them to bubble into even bigger ones, and that never ends well.

Be Mindful of Everyone’s Schedule

No one likes a boss that doesn’t care about everyone’s schedules and makes people work on a Sunday afternoon. Allowing employees to still maintain their schedules even if it does mean leaving for an appointment in the afternoon can go a long way.

If someone keeps purposely scheduling personal items during work continually, then you may have a problem.

Ask For Feedback

Some of the best things a team can do are learn from one another. Bouncing ideas around to help boost morale (as it’s them that are affected), can bring forward fresh new ideas that could make a drastic difference at work.

Now and then, hold a meeting that talks about office feelings and what everyone can do to keep the office a place people want to be at.

The more you can do to keep the workplace morale high, the better the business will run. Always remember – the team keeps the company running smoothly.

Alignment And Clarity – The Key To A High-Performing Team

All businesses, regardless of their size or industry require a high-performing team to ensure their long-term success. Many company leaders have recognized that one of the best ways to ensure that their workforce achieves their best daily is to maintain alignment and clarity in all ventures. How does this work in practice? The answer lies in regular strategic planning meetings that bring business leaders together with their key team members in a positive atmosphere of cooperation and discussion.

The expert team here at CBS-CBS.com believes that strategic planning meetings are vital in this respect. Not only are such meetings important for drawing up an effective strategy in the first place, but they’re also essential for re-evaluating, honing, and reinforcing that plan to ensure it remains relevant and successful in its aims.

Holding regular meetings to create, re-evaluate and reinforce the strategic plan for your organization helps you to generate both alignment and clarity amongst team members – the two key elements that have been identified as vital to allowing the workforce to achieve its best. So, what does drawing up your business’ strategic plan involve?

How Does Strategic Planning For Alignment And Clarity Work?

The starting point to achieve greater alignment and clarity amongst your workforce through your strategic plan is to assess where your company is right now. The next step is to look at where the business is heading, all the time engaging your team throughout the process. This allows greater alignment and clarity to be achieved simply by taking on board their ideas and suggestions and involving them in the creation of the plan. As a result, your workforce will enjoy greater alignment and clarity for better goal achievement and higher performance overall.

Why Does A Strategic Plan Improve Alignment And Clarity?

When you follow this process, your team will be able to evaluate both opportunities and risks and to discuss them in full and frank detail in a meeting setting. This brings everything out in the open, allowing team members to raise their concerns and issues in a positive environment so everyone can have a greater focus on the things that matter. Ultimately, it allows your team to follow through a process of discussing priority items while also deciding consciously what they shouldn’t do under the current circumstances.

The Benefits Of Professional Advice

Business leaders often feel as if they’re ground down by daily with the day-to-day operation of their company. There is a lot to bear in mind with the daily running of an organization, and strategic planning can so easily fall by the wayside and be overlooked. This is where a team of talented consultants like those at Corporate Business Solutions can prove to be extremely helpful. With the right management consultancy advice, you will be well-placed to identify your company’s most important priorities and to align your team with the best ways to reach your business goals. As a result, you can all achieve more and increase your organization’s profitability in the long-run.

 

 

Build Your Company’s Wealth With Effective Strategic Tax Planning

A key element of building up and preserving your company’s wealth is strategic tax planning. For many, tax is their biggest expense. It, therefore, couldn’t be more important to focus on saving money when it comes to paying taxes. Why waste money on tax that you legally aren’t obliged to pay? This is where strategic tax planning comes into its own. So, how can you retain more wealth? Let’s take a closer look.

Why Lower Your Taxes?

The two ways you can put more money in your company’s pocket are to make more or to spend less. While you can put a lot of effort and time into promoting your company with no guarantees of success, you can, instead, focus on your strategic tax planning to guarantee better tax efficiency. A lot of people try to find ways of making more money, but a financial defense in the form of spending less is actually a better course of action.

How Does Strategic Tax Planning Help?

When you adopt strategic tax planning measures, you can keep more of the money your business makes. So, it makes sense to seize every available opportunity to save on the amount of tax you payout. There are many ways you can harness the power of legal Acts to write off expenses and to deduct payments that will reduce your tax burden considerably. Skilled tax planning consultants, such as the team at Corporate Business Solutions can advise you where these savings can be made.

How Does Wealth Management Work Alongside Strategic Tax Planning?

Wealth management and strategic tax planning work together for your business to yield maximum results. When you lower your company’s tax burden, you can achieve higher profits. As a result, you enjoy greater wealth. Experienced tax planning consultants can help you to use tax codes so that they work for you rather than against you.  With the greater profits that you reap, you can then plow that money back into your business, helping you to grow and expand, and, ultimately, to become even more profitable in the long-term.

Seeking Professional Advice

Many business owners, especially those running small businesses, view taxes as a necessary evil. They have a lot to do and a lot to think about when it comes to running an organization. Often, tax payments sit on the back burner and just get paid year after year. However, we all know that taxes are a major expense for any organization. This is why it makes sense to switch your focus and to put more effort and energy into strategic tax planning so that you can save money where it can most easily be saved. With the right tax planning advice, you can immediately reduce your tax burden and, so, instantly increase your company’s profitability. The Corporate Business Solutions team is here to offer you an expert strategic tax planning service that will lower the amount of tax you pay and boost your company’s profits in one fell swoop.

 

What is Your Business Leadership Style?

he leadership of any organization is about creating direction, not only for the company itself but for its people. However, there isn’t a single style of successful business leadership. Which one works best for each company will depend on the people working for it, and which style helps them to be most productive.

One of the questions that Corporate Business Solutions consultants are often asked is what is the benefit of different styles of leadership, so here, we take a closer look at some of the most commonly seen styles and why they can prove to be successful.

Autocratic Leaders

Autocratic leaders rely on their own judgment and intuition rather than taking advice from other people. They can prove to be extremely effective when quick decision-making and immediate action are necessary. However, the autocratic leadership style is now seen as outdated, with many younger workers preferring autonomy in the workplace. Companies that wish to attract the most self-motivated and skilled workers should avoid this form of leadership and lean more towards a managerial style that allows workers to give their own input into the organization’s direction.

Laissez-Faire Leaders

This type of leader removes themselves intentionally from the process of making decisions, preferring to put their trust in their workers. While the laissez-faire leader stays in overall control, they allow their team to choosing the best way of getting the work done. This style of leadership works very well in creative organizations, but it requires a motivated and independent workforce. In a sector with little room for creativity and tight deadlines, a different leadership style may be more effective.

Transformational Leaders

This is a popular leadership style today, with these leaders having a strong organizational culture and leading their workers through their own example. They inspire and motivate their employees to work for the company’s overall success and encourage innovation that transforms the business’s future. While this is an effective form of leadership, it’s important to watch out for employee burnout if they’re always under pressure to perform.

Motivational Leaders

This leadership style is common in both business and sports, with leaders being able to motivate workers to go above and beyond. By using a range of methods including humor, positive reinforcement and getting to know their workers personally, these leaders are hands-on. Some workers, however, prefer more freedom and space as they are already very motivated.

Transactional Leaders

These leaders use the carrot and stick method of leadership in their company, with a long list of regulations and rules and a strong focus on results. Rather than motivating workers, these leaders focus on the structures and systems in place to reward employees. This style of leadership is very successful in major international corporations needing heavy oversight and in the military. It doesn’t work well in creative industries where experimentation is key to success.

Bureaucratic Leaders

This is an old leadership style relying on strict regulations and rules for the governorship of the organization. Bureaucratic leaders have power due to their position and not their personality and have less focus on individuals than on the organization’s structure. As a result, their company is run predictably and efficiently but without employee input, although their skills are well-used so they can make a strong impact and enjoy excellent job satisfaction.

Charismatic Leaders

A charismatic leader displays complete confidence in themselves while exhibiting a glowing personality capable of attracting followers with ease. They can easily connect with others and are dedicated to finding effective business solutions with an optimistic attitude that inspires employees. Although this leadership style is effective, the organization can suffer significantly if the leader takes time off or leaves the company completely.

Leading Effectively For Organizational Success

As you can see, there are many different leadership styles, each one with its advantages and disadvantages. The key to success is to determine the needs of both your organization and your workforce, then tailoring your managerial style to meet those needs.

 

 

Harness the Power Of A Business Valuation

Sometimes, it becomes necessary for both shareholders and business owners to know the exact value of the organization. Whether you’re planning to sell your company, or sell or buy shares, getting an independent business valuation is often the best place to begin making well-informed decisions.

However, when it comes to finding out the value of the business, it’s surprisingly common for shareholders and business owners to be disappointed. Corporate Business Solutions consultant’s report that all-too-often, shareholders, and owners have an unrealistic idea of how much their company is worth. While sometimes, the valuation they receive will be higher than they anticipated, in far more cases, the figure is much lower than they expected. Why is this the case?

Inflated Valuations

Typically, shareholders and business owners have a highly inflated opinion of their company’s value. This is usually because they’ve read or heard about vast sums being paid out for successful businesses overseas and so apply the same multipliers. Yet, realistically speaking, these valuation parameters simply don’t apply automatically in their situation. Those parameters will be driven by several different company-specific factors that are also based on the industry and economy in which the company is operating.

The True Value of An Independent Business Valuation

Although receiving a business valuation that is lower than anticipated is always disappointing for those who expected a much higher figure, it can be a very valuable experience. It helps the business owner and shareholders alike to understand their true position and to gain fresh perspectives about the organization so they can implement changes that will bring about improvements.

In business valuation, the calculations that have been carried out will be fully explained. Not only that, but elaborations will be made on all the assumptions that underlie the applied parameters. For business owners, this will clarify the reasons for certain discount rates or multipliers being applied to reach the given conclusion of value.

Armed with this valuable information, it becomes more obvious what business owners need to do to boost their company’s value and, often with just a few simple adjustments, they can begin implementing those changes within weeks.

How Can A Business Valuation Impact on A Business Owner’s Decision-Making?

When receiving a business valuation that is lower than anticipated, many business owners decide that they should postpone the sale of their shares or company. Instead, they frequently choose to implement an action plan, starting to work deliberately on improving elements of their organization so that their company can soon be valued at a higher price.

Receiving a strong business valuation report always offers a business owner added value. If they are happy with the valuation they are given, they are armed with everything they need to succeed in negotiations with a prospective buyer. However, when they are dissatisfied with the conclusion of value they’ve received, they can use the report to derive action points that will go on to strengthen their business and improve its value with time.

Own A Business? You May Need A Wake-Up Call

Many business owners are highly focused on the day-to-day running of their enterprise. That isn’t too surprising – running any company is a challenge that throws up constant issues to be addressed. However, it’s important to remember not to spend all of your time focusing on the here-and-now. Yes, it’s important to forge new networking links, to improve customer service and to grow your bottom line. Yet, it’s also very important to plan an exit strategy for the future.

The Exit Strategy – Important Yet Overlooked

Running a business is, all-too-often, a life-consuming task. If you’ve just launched a start-up, or if you’re a few years down the line into establishing your thriving company, probably the furthest thing from your mind is how you’re eventually going to leave the organization that you’re working so hard to build up. However, this is quite worrisome, considering that, on average, around 80-90% of your net worth could be tied up in your company.  If you’re going to work for decades to create a valuable organization, you need to plan for how that value can be harvested when you’re ready to move on to pastures new.

The Key Statistics

For the average business owner, around 90% of their net worth will be tied up within their business, yet around half have absolutely no plans in place for exiting the company that they’ve built up. This leaves a difficult situation when the times come to move on. Whether you’re keen to retire and enjoy the fruits of your labor or whether you’re ready to embrace a new and exciting challenge, the reality could be that it could be harder to get out of your existing company than you ever imagined.

Over half of all business owners have sold their business in mind as their exit strategy of choice, with over 40% of them considering doing this within the next 5 years. Yet, it’s likely that they could find numerous obstacles in their way when they get around to putting their company on the market, and they’re also very likely to be unhappy when they finally make the sale. Even those who want to keep their business in the family face a host of issues when it comes to sharing out ownership amongst several potential heirs.

In short, it seems that exiting any business can be fraught with difficulties, so there’s never been a better reason to start planning well in advance.

Beginning Exit Planning at An Early Stage

The team at Corporate Business Solutions recommends starting to deliberately consider Exit Planning as early as possible. It may even be best to beginning writing your exit plan before you even set up your company! Bear in mind that, to have the best chance of success, your process of exit planning should take somewhere between 4 and 10 years, so you need to leave enough time.

Why does it take so long? A good exit plan won’t just analyze your business and determine ways of strengthening it with your exit in mind, but it also bears in mind the owner’s financial and personal situation as well as their life plan once they’ve left the business. It takes calibration and time to align these factors.

So, don’t leave it too late to arrange the exit you want. When you’ve spent a lifetime building up a successful company you don’t want to throw it all away at the last hurdle. Seek professional help and start drawing up your plan today.