Your Business Isn’t a Baby. It’s an Asset and It’s Time to Treat It Like One

For many founder-CEOs, your business can feel like your second child – or maybe even your first. You’ve nurtured it, sacrificed for it, stayed up at night worrying about it. But the reality is that your business is not a baby, it’s an asset; and if you want a high-value exit to fund the years ahead (think no mortgage, exotic holidays, financial freedom), it’s time to treat it like one.

If that makes you feel a bit defensive, good! It’s probably the nudge you need to reframe your mindset – not just for your own future, but for your family’s, your team’s, and your legacy’s.

The Baby Trap: Why Emotional Attachment Costs Millions

When you’re emotionally entangled with your business, you’re more likely to:

• Postpone critical decisions that would support greater profitability
• Avoid hard conversations with team members, clients or supply partners
• Miss opportunities to scale, systemise or sell

You might even reject the idea of a sale entirely because the idea of ‘giving your baby away’ feels wrong. However, clinging to that mindset puts both the business and your financial future at risk. If you are not focused on growing your ‘asset’ you are likely preventing your business from reaching its full potential (so in many ways you are preventing your ‘baby’ from growing up and leaving home). An asset needs to be managed, optimised, and eventually transitioned at peak value.

Reframing the Exit: From Sacrifice to Strategy

In Die With Zero, Bill Perkins encourages us to stop hoarding for a future we may never fully enjoy. The same applies to business owners who delay exit planning under the guise of duty or tradition. If you’re waiting for the “right time,” you might miss the best time. Perkins argues for investing your time and wealth into experiences and purpose – something too many entrepreneurs put off until it’s too late.

The most successful exits aren’t about walking away – they’re about walking into the next chapter with clarity and confidence.

This book really resonated with me. Too often, I still have conversations with CEOs and business owners who “believe” that they need to keep working through to 65 and they are failing to see that by then – their best years have gone… literally. We should be out there creating memories that will serve us when we can’t get up and travel anymore.

Perkins also highlights that once you have enough money – why work a day longer than you need to enable you to live your best life. Again, CEOs (not my clients obviously!!) and business owners, can get all consumed in the crazy sum that they want to sell for when they do retire (which they often don’t realise because they have not managed their asset optimally) – and then just walk away… or retire, sell up and are no longer physically able to do all that they had hoped for in their golden years. My motto, like that of Perkins, is build it quickly, sell it, enjoy it, spend it all whilst you are alive, literally – die with zero.

The Family Factor: What if They’re Not On Board?

One of the trickiest parts of an exit is family dynamics. Your spouse, adult children, or even siblings might be involved in the business – or at least emotionally invested. They may fear a sale means job loss, loss of identity, or financial instability.

Here’s the thing: fear often fills the space where strategy is missing.

If you’re clear on your exit planning, your family will feel more secure. That means:

• Transparent conversations early (not at the 11th hour)
• Defining legacy goals together
• Exploring staged exits or succession with outside support

In my experience as a business advisor, executive coach, and leadership coach, families navigate exits best when they’re treated as part of the strategy – not as a side conversation.

The STS Capital Philosophy: Finding the Rembrandt in the Attic

At STS Capital, who I partner with as an exit advisor, we help founder-owners uncover the hidden value in their business – what the STS Capital team call “the Rembrandt in the attic.” It’s the unique combination of IP, brand, team, and purpose that, when positioned correctly, attracts not just financial buyers – but strategic impact buyers willing to pay a premium, making extraordinary exits possible.

As a business consultant, I’ve supported over 55 business sales and seen first-hand that a successful exit isn’t just about the number – it’s about aligning your vision with the right buyer and unlocking an exponential return on the years of energy you’ve poured in.

What Comes After: The Quiz That Changes Everything

So what happens after you sell?

That’s often the most neglected question in exit planning and perhaps why so many CEO owners put it off. Most CEO-owners say they’ll “figure it out later” – but when ‘later’ hits, they’re lost. That’s why I developed a “What’s Next?” Quiz – built specifically for CEO owners planning their next chapter.

The quiz helps you explore:

• What lifestyle you want after exit
• Whether you’re wired for full retirement or board-level involvement
• Your philanthropic, health, and family goals
• The type of legacy you want to leave

It’s practical, quick, and might just change the way you think about exiting. Message me here to receive the quiz.

A Strategy That Goes Beyond Sale Price

Every smart business strategy includes a business exit strategy. That doesn’t mean you’re ready to sell tomorrow – but it does mean you’re building with purpose. A business that’s designed to be valuable without you is more valuable to others. And that’s where true freedom begins.

As a business consultant and coach, I help CEOs create the structures, systems, and leadership capacity needed to scale sustainably and exit profitably. The goal? To get you the best high-value exit in the shortest time possible, while still living life on your terms.

Life is too short to wing it with your ‘asset,’ make it work for you, so that you can live your best life.