A (0:05)

Let me give it to you straight. No matter where you are in your business, you're already behind. You may not like hearing that, but it's true. Especially when it comes to succession planning. A lot of business owners don't want to think about what will happen when they are no longer in charge. And I get it. Most of you are knee deep in the day to day. You're putting out fires, managing people, chasing growth. But if you don't have a succession plan in place, then you're building a ticking time bomb. As my friend John Maxwell says, where there is no succession, there is no success. Here at Ramsey, we've walked through succession firsthand and let me tell you, it doesn't happen by accident. It takes intentional planning and raising up the next generation of leaders. And here's the real hard part. It takes letting go before you're gone. Today, Entre Leadership's John Felkins will walk you through the legacy builder stage of business, how to get it right and why it isn't just for people who are about to retire. Let's dive in.

B (1:10)

So the legacy builder stage is where you implement your succession plan. Notice I said implement, not create. You can sell or retire from your business at any stage, but if you want to be a legacy builder, you've got to get succession right no matter where you are in business. It's time to start thinking about handing it off. I know that sounds crazy, but the best time to plan for succession was 20 years ago. The second best time is today because succession isn't a one time event. It's an intentional process. And here's the trap most business owners fall into. They build the business around themselves. The brand is you. The relationships are yours. The decisions, the culture, the vision, it all flows through you. Yes, you may be the one who built the company from the ground up, but what happens when you decide to retire or God forbid, something happens to you before then and people have to just figure out what to do without you? If the answer to that is everything just falls apart, then you've got a lot of work to do. Maybe you're actively figuring out a succession plan, but you're not sure how to hand things off the right way and you got doubts about whether the next generation is truly ready to carry the weight. Overall, there may be a lot of questions and let's be real, a lot of feelings tied into this stage of business. You've poured your life into this business and handing it off isn't just a checklist. It's personal. There are four Key areas that you've got to address to get this right. And they're not optional, they're not negotiables. The first is you gotta transfer the leadership of your business. Because whether you're going to hand the business off to your kids or sell it to someone else, you need to do a good job of raising up the next generation of leaders. If you want them to be able to win. You got to start by giving your leadership team more responsibility. Let them lead the meetings, show them how and why you make the decisions you do. And hey, let them fail once in a while. They'll learn from that. If they're going to run the place. They can't just be standing behind you in the shadows the whole time. If you want your team to trust the next leader, that person needs time to build the relational capital to lead. You want whoever you've chosen to be the obvious choice that everybody would make before things are actually official around here. We say leaders need to be elected in the elevator before they're elected in the boardroom. What we mean by that is the team has to be bought into them. Everybody just needs to look to them for that leadership before it's made official. Ultimately, the goal is for them to be at a level where they can already run the company in your absence. The second area is the legal transfer of the business. Listen, a succession plan that's just in your head doesn't count. You need to have all of the right documentation and paperwork in place. Everything spelled out. That's going to include wills, buy sell agreements, operating agreements, power of attorney, all of that legal stuff. And if you're planning to leave your business to a family member, you better put your expectations in writing, especially around character and conduct. Make it clear if they don't live up to it, you reserve the right to pull them from the succession plan. I know that sounds harsh, but this is stewardship, not entitlement. You need to talk to a lawyer. Do it right. Don't leave a mess for your family or for your team to clean up. I know that's hard, but. But it's worth the effort. We'll get right back to that episode. But first, for a lot of entrepreneurs, healthcare is one of the most unpredictable line items in the budget. That's why I want you to look at Christian Healthcare ministries. CHM is not health insurance. It's a budget friendly, faith based alternative to insurance. Instead of premiums that keep climbing and coverage that keeps shrinking, CHM gives you a more predictable monthly cost. With programs starting at just $115 a month. Lower monthly costs can free up capital to build your margin, grow your team and reinvest in your business. And as a faith based organization, CHM aligns with Christian business owners who want their healthcare dollars handled in a way that reflects their values. That's stewardship, not just savings. CHM even offers a groups program for small businesses that want to provide a health care sharing option to to their teams. And right now CHM is offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Go to chministries.org entree and use promo code entree that's chministries.org entree, and use the promo code entree. Now let's get back to our episode and the third thing is the financial transfer of the business. What's the actual transaction going to look like? Are you selling the business? Are you handing it off to a family member or maybe some other leader? You've got to think through the details of the handoff before it happens. And here's one of the biggest mistakes we see. Relying on the sale of your business to fund your retirement. Too many owners pour everything back into the company and assume they'll cash out big one day. That's not a retirement plan. Even worse, you end up pressuring your kids to buy the business so you can retire. Having your family bail you out because you didn't prepare is a guaranteed way to make the holidays awkward for years to come. And if you want to finish well, you've got to separate your retirement from your exit strategy. And the fourth thing is you've got to plan for the brand or reputation transfer of your business. What do your customers think when they think of your brand? If the answer is you, then you've got a problem you need to solve because that means your brand will die when you step away. You don't want that. Think about how Walt Disney transferred the brand from Walt Disney World to Disney World. That was very intentional. You need to figure out your version of that when you get ahead of the transition. You control how the reputation is transferred. So start thinking through which areas of your brand you can begin to shift now. Continue to share the vision as you go. The team and your customers need to know where the business is going to keep the legacy alive. This is especially important if you plan to sell because buyers want a strong and stable business that won't fall apart when they leave. So listen, I know you've poured your blood, sweat and tears and money into this business. You've built something meaningful but if you want it to outlive you, to bless your family, your team, your customers, and even your community for generations to come, you've got to start thinking like a legacy builder today. Not tomorrow. Not five years from now. Today. Take the time to put the right plan and the right people in place while you still have the ability to actually shape the future. And if you haven't read it yet, be sure to check out Dave's book Build a Business yous Love. It's a deeper dive into how to live out all of these principles. Or if you're not quite at the legacy stage yet, you can go back and watch our previous video on the Peak Performer stage. So just click the link in the show notes.