Owning a company or leading an organization can be grueling, uncompromising and unrelenting; but it can also be rewarding, inspiring and liberating. As you move forward in your career, much of your success will be measured by how well you were able to mitigate risks and manage full-blown crises. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for disaster to strike to earn your stripes and secure your legacy. By taking time to identify your business’s most vulnerable areas today you not only gain the insight needed to quickly and efficiently address troublesome issues as they arise, you may be able to employ some successful preventative measures.
How To Stop Common Risk Areas From Hurting Your Business
Protect Your Customers
If you are not doing everything you can to protect your customer base, you are at risk of losing them – and without customers, you no longer have a reason to stay in business. But there are steps you can take to maintain your pool of customers, including making sure that when an employee leaves they don’t take their accounts with them.
Protect Your Daily Operations
Do you have a superstar employee? Are YOU the company’s superstar employee? If so, you have a problem. … No one should be irreplaceable. Your team is the backbone of your business – and potential buyers will want to know that they won’t miss a beat once the star employee steps away. Your goal should be to become obsolete. Your team should be so strong that your business can thrive without you.
Protect Your Assets
If it’s easy for competitors to do what you do, your market share is at risk – and so are your customers. Your business will be much more attractive to buyers if it’s “one-in-a-million,” rather than “a dime-a-dozen” – and they’ll be willing to pay more for it. Instead, consider what makes your company or organization unique. Why are you better than others who may be offering something similar?
Protect Your Future
In addition to the short-term risks you may encounter, there are long-term risks and preferences to consider. If you were to retire this year, do you have a plan in place to guide your predecessor? Have you thought about how you want your legacy and the legacy of your business to live on? Don’t wait, start your succession planning strategy now.
Get Serious About Mitigating Your Business Risk
Start by identifying all of your business risks. Next, quantify how each risk factor impacts your business’s value. Then, develop strategies and action plans to reduce the risks you’ve identified. Finally, rank each risk factor by priority and get to work. And don’t feel like you have to do all the work by yourself. Help is available along the way. Email a financial planning expert for guidance as you develop your plan to protect your organization from disaster.
By Paul Weisinger, CPA/ABV, CVA, CEPA (Cleveland office)