“the two happiest days of a boat owner’s life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it.”
Entrepreneurship is a lot like boating. The day you start or buy a business is an adrenaline rush of excitement, promise, and fear; and the same can be said for the day you sell your business. I have had my share of happy days as a small business owner and just recently sold a business that I have owned for thirteen years.
Where I differ from most boaters is that I am thinking about selling as soon as I buy a business now. Michael Gerber, E-Myth author, said it best
Understand, if you don’t sell it, who bought it? You. But is it worth the price you’re paying for it? Every day you go to work, ladies and gentlemen, you’re buying your own business.— Michael Gerber, E-Myth
Even if you are not thinking about selling your business, it is a good exercise to prepare it for sale and ask yourself if you would buy it. Maybe you will be like the boater who wants to sell his boat and fixes everything that is broken, washes and waxes it to get it ready to sell and then realizes what a great boat it is and he can’t sell it. Or maybe you will be like me and have the second happiest day of your life when you walk out of closing and wonder what you will do tomorrow.
