Most business owners don't have an exit strategy because they believe they will never want to sell their baby. You don't need to want to sell it, but you need to have an exit strategy and build a business that can thrive without you. Most businesses we talk with and discussing exit strategies with them are divided into two groups.

1. They tell us they never want to sell their business, so it doesn't make sense to build a company that can thrive without them and is prepared for the sale all the time.

2. They need to sell their business today. Yesterday was already too late. The economy changed, business owners' health changed, health in their family changed, or something happened. Because of that, they had to sell their business immediately. The company is not ready because it depends on them, and without them, it's basically worthless.

I suspect the second group has been telling the same story as the first one a week, months, or years ago to someone else. And they were sure they don't need to think about exit and don't need to create a business that can thrive without them.

It is a sad story, but mostly it's true.

Your exit strategy could be that your business thrives without you, and you don't have to be there daily, or it's effortless to replace yourself. You then have an option strategy to sell or not to sell, but you know your business has an optimized and maximized value.