Preparing Your Business to Step Away
As owners, we build and build and work and work on our business. But what happens when we need to step away for a time? Can the business move on without us? What if we are out for a hot minute and someone needs to step in on our behalf, have we established a company that they can move into? Let’s look at the areas we need to consider for continuity of service if we, the owner, need to take a sabbatical.
Ten years ago, my health hit an all-time low. I had not yet started my coaching firm but had multiple other businesses I was running. Thankfully, I had partners in those companies, so I was not alone doing anything. When I had to step away for a few months to have surgery and go through recovery, others were able to quickly fill in where I could no longer participate.
Fast forward 6 years and it was time for my husband and I to update our wills since our children were now grown men. As a part of looking at our state of affairs, we met with our financial advisor, accountant, bank officer and attorney. We had all new papers drawn up to represent not only our life at that time, but the change in the tax laws that had taken place from the prior documents we drew up when the kids were just born.
When the pandemic began just two years later, having updated documents brought us a big sigh of relief.
We began seeing people we knew impacted and unable to work due to being ill and some sadly, not making it. One of the first things my husband and I did was begin to document everything for each other. And we went back through our documentation to ensure we had everything.
Last year, our family was hit with an unexpected health crisis that we had to stop within one week and pivot to be able to move forward. This crisis again brought up all the areas that we needed to protect – both personally within our home, and within my business.
Here are some of the things that we did to allow for continuity of service when we only had 4 workdays to be ready for surgery and a few months of recovery ahead of us.
We made peace with the fact that we both were going to be out of the office. Me for a minimum of one week, my husband for months. I cannot say enough about the fact that we had to wrap our heads around this. Because in doing so, it gave us permission to ask for help and assistance that we may not have if we really thought that we would be back to work quicker.
We reviewed the medical documents we have. Our hospital and surgeon both asked us to bring copies of the medical power of attorney, healthcare directives, and any other documents we may need when undergoing major surgery. We pulled those documents, did a quick review to make sure we had not changed our minds in the last 3 years – and made a copy to take with us. If you have not done this, please consider putting it on your short list of things to do this year.
We looked at our home needs. We were both going to need to be totally away from our home for one week. We have small dogs and they needed care. My sister was able to come in, care for our home, our pups, our sons, and their significant others. This allowed us to completely relax on this front. She even came in a couple of days early so we could prepare calmly and were not running out of the door the minute she got here. She was a godsend to us.
We took time to look at our secret file. This secret file is an online file that is password protected. My husband and I have the logins and passwords and details in it, such as names and phone numbers, of everything that we do in our home. You could consider it a mini home SOP. We reviewed this document together to see if we needed to add or change anything. This includes our home bill pay schedule, our retirement information, savings information, insurance, etc. Whatever we need to run our home is in this file and we both have access to everything.
We called our financial advisor and accountant to let them know in case I had to call and have help or access to something for my husband’s care.
We then turned to my business. I have a similar business file that my husband has access to in case our roles are reversed, and I am the one out of commission for an extended period of time. This file includes all those who work for and with me and their contact information.
I met with my team and explained what we were facing and how I needed to step away for a week minimum. They quickly were able to jump in, even through nerves, and fill any gaps. Thankfully our SOPs were up to date, and we all knew what needed to be done. We anticipated what I would normally need to do in that week and either moved it forward to be done early, replaced the work with someone else doing it, or pushed it off a week. My calendar was cleared for all but one zoom call for one hour at the end of the week which I wanted and needed to keep. I shared with my private clients that I would be slow to respond for that week and a brief overview of what we were facing. I was able to go into the hospital with my husband and totally concentrate on him, his health, and his recovery without the weight of work on my shoulders.
Back in 2018 when we reviewed everything together, we also asked our attorney about my business which is 100% owned by me. What would happen to it if I died or could not work? We made a plan to pass it along to my husband to make the determinant next steps. We also realized at that time that no one had access to my bank accounts but me. So, we went to the bank and put my husband on the accounts so he could access the money and make decisions if I could not.
Consider who needs to do this for you.
It could be a spouse, a friend, or a trusted employee. But someone needs to know how, in an emergency or incapacitation, to get to the details that keep a company going. They need directives on how and when to shut it down or sell it. I have been asked on more than one occasion how to price items in a business for sale when the business owner has passed away and a spouse or child had to make tough decisions. All of these steps will help you protect your interior design firm in the long term.
Leverage the time you have when you are without the immediate need of making tough decisions with your business because the more you can document and share appropriately before you need the information, the better off you will be.
While we had a few short days to get our affairs in order, I cannot imagine what that would have been like if we had not recently completed meeting with our attorney and having updated papers drawn up. We were able to pull things together easily without additional stress. Trust me, we had enough stress with what we were facing and did not need or want the added stress of not having the paperwork or emails or passwords we needed to move through.
None of this is meant to scare you – but to prepare you.
Preparation is key to success. We prepare to meet our clients. We prepare to hire. We prepare to run the day-to-day. But do we prepare to step away, to have a health crisis, to need assistance in some way?
I have done this both ways – prepared and not prepared. And I can say with full confidence that having things in order was a much better way to move through this because we were able to do this hard work when we were in a calm and good place mentally, emotionally, and physically. If one of those areas were fractured, doing this work would be so much more difficult.
Being profitable in business is about so much more than money.
My goal is for each of you to be profitable in the financial management of your company, but also in your processes, in your people, in your communication, in your stress relief. Profit is wider and deeper than a dollar. This type of preparation is something we cover in the AIM with Intent™ methodology. This is part of the process system. I would love to help you protect what you are building as I offer customized solutions for interior design firms. If you are interested in learning more, go to the Work With Me page. Choose to be profitable in caring for your business because profit doesn’t happen by accident.