Simon had been in business for 20 years and knew that he wanted to slow down in the next five years. He also knew that for this to happen, the business would need to be less reliant on him but he wasn’t sure how to make that happen.

We started by looking at his business financial position to determine what it was valued at and the profits it was producing. We then looked at his personal situation worked out what he needed to draw from the business to fund his future lifestyle.

Once we knew there was a gap, we suggested a business improvement strategy to work on profitability. This meant setting up some KPIs around business performance measures and improving his cash position.

At the same time, we needed to address Simon’s other concerns about building up his team capability so the business could function without him. This meant getting the team on board. We organised a workshop with his key management and helped him explain the profit improvement plan as well as the shift in responsibility. Again, we used KPIs to manage performance and make sure everyone knew what was required of them.

We catch-up quarterly with Simon and his team to monitor the KPIs to ensure that when he wants to step away, the business is where it needs to be.