Plan Your Legacy With a Succession
Plan Your Franchisor Will Approve
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veryone must leave something behind when he dies,
my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting
or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or
a garden planted. Something your hand touched some
way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when
people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”
Ray Bradbury, the author of the American classic “Fahrenheit 451,”
could just as easily have included “business” in his list of items to
leave behind. Indeed, passing a business on from generation to
generation could be the guarantee of safeguarding one’s legacy well
beyond their involvement in a business they started.
Yet, surprisingly, most business owners fail to appreciate
the reality that one day they may not want to run their business
anymore or, worse, can’t. Why? My guess (as a business owner) is
that, like me, t