Welcome to Episode 91 of the Lift As You Climb podcast with your host, Isabel Alexander. In this episode, Isabel dives into a topic that many entrepreneurs eventually grapple with: what to do when you no longer love your business. With her signature insight and candor, she explores the five key options available to business owners at this crossroads.

Isabel reflects on the popular sentiment of "Take This JOB and Shove It" and how, as business owners, we can't simply quit our own companies. She delves into the challenges faced by women business owners, especially in light of personal responsibilities and the toll of running a business.

The five options Isabel discusses are:

1. **Stick It Out**: Some may choose to maintain the status quo and hope for a change, but is this the path to fulfillment?

2. **Just Quit**: The tempting notion of walking away entirely, but what are the complications and consequences?

3. **Transform**: Isabel's personal favorite—transform your role and your relationship with your business to unlock new opportunities.

4. **Scale**: Learn how to scale your business by first transforming your role within it.

5. **Sell Your Business**: When is the right time, and what preparations are needed to get the most value from your business?

Isabel shares her own experiences and the importance of emotional preparation when considering selling a business. She emphasizes the value of expert advice and seeking out peer groups to guide you through these important decisions.

Join Isabel in this thought-provoking episode as she helps you explore your options and make the best choice for your future.

To register for a coaching with Isabel

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.

Founder:

The Encore Catalyst Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheEncoreCatalyst )

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

 

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Speaker: 00:00:06

Welcome to the Lift As You Climb podcast, where it's all about the

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journey and the joy of discovering who you are now, deciding who you want

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to become, and embracing your genuine identity, influence, and impact.

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In each episode, we'll explore how life's experiences have prepared us for what

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we choose to do next and how to create our Encore, write our own script, and

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star in the next stage of our lives.

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I'm your host, your Encore strategist, and transformation catalyst, Isabel Alexander.

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Hi, I'm Isabel Alexander and I'm here to sing for you today.

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Just kidding.

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No, I'm not going to sing.

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That's not one of my many talents and strengths.

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I want to remind you of the lyrics of a country song, ooh, eons ago.

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But if you're my people, you know who I'm talking about when I say,

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"Take This JOB and Shove It!"

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Uh, which was quite popular back in the day and probably still is today.

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In fact, it's a term that's often used when you are just so fed

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up with the job, with the man.

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Or, in our case, with the woman.

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I have often said that I'd like to take this job and shove it.

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But then I realized, I work for me!.

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Yeah, that's the deal, when you own your own business, you can't just say, I quit.

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You cannot say, boss, take this job and shove it.

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Although often, I know, you know, let's fess up, we'd like to.

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I used to make a lot of jokes around this, but as they say, in all

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jest, there is an element of truth.

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I used to say, I work for a real bitch!

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Man, she drives me hard.

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She never gives me a break.

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I can't please her.

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Nothing's good enough.

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She always wants to do something more, bigger, better.

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And then, oops, wait a minute.

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I'm my own bitch.

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So as an entrepreneur, I know you, I know you feel me, I know you get

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this, I know you sing the song.

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That there are so many times that we would like to quit our own role, our own job, as

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the CEO of a company that we have built.

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And so that's why these days I am having a lot of conversations

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with my peers, with my clients.

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There are so many of us of the Baby Boomer generation and the

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Gen X generation, especially in light of recent world events.

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We're worn out.

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We're burnt out.

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We are exhausted, depleted, disillusioned, demoralized.

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It's a constant battle every day to keep a business afloat.

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Hell, just keep it afloat.

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Not even think about growing it.

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It's become a very arduous task and often a very thankless job.

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wHen you come to that stage of you don't love your business anymore and

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you want to take it and shove it.

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You know, you've got options and that's what I'm doing.

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I am holding the hand and talking my clients through those options.

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And there are five.

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So when you just think, Oh man, like I am so screwed.

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I am chained to this for the rest of my life.

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Hold up there.

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You aren't.

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You do have options and the five options that I discussed in the

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strategy sessions with my clients are you can stick it out, you can choose.

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To just do nothing.

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Saying no is a choice.

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Ignoring it is a choice.

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And just, I don't know, go on blindly hoping things are going to get better.

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Choice number one is stick it out, status quo, and hope that your fairy godmother

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comes along someday and goes, Bink!

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And it's all better.

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Option number two?

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is just fucking quit.

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That's it.

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Throw in the towel.

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Give back the keys.

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Lock the door.

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Pull the plug on the website.

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Lay off all the staff.

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Like, just walk away.

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Because sometimes I like to just toy with that idea.

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What if I just silently disappear and not tell anybody and I don't come back?

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I don't answer those emails, I don't respond to those urgent messages for

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answers, money, attention, brilliance.

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What if I'm just done and I quit and I walk off into the sunset?

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There are some complications with that, ladies, and we know that.

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The third option, which of course is the one that I get very excited

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about because that's who I am, I love to look at a situation and go,

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Hmm, how do we make this better?

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How do we make this bigger?

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And that is to transform.

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But really, what am I talking about?

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It's not about transforming the business first.

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It's about transforming our role as the , . The Chief Cook and Bottle

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Washer, the CEO, the president, the executive director, the person where

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the buck stops, is transforming our role within the company and our relationship

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with that business, and that's where all real, sustainable change begins.

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It's stopping thinking about us having to be the burdened business owner and

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transforming our thinking, elevating our feelings to chief investor.

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And I talk a lot about that with my clients and repositioning that, because

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from that opens your aperture into amazing opportunities to transform the business,

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in the way that is right for you.

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The fourth, option for you is to scale the business.

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Now, you know, you kind of have to involve option three, transform you, to

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be able to scale the business because that's also a very...common scenario is

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that we as the head of the company, the primary asset, the face that's first

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in front of the customers, suppliers, the bankers, the staff, is to change

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our role so that then we are able to scale the business with new talent.

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new ideas, new opportunities that you can't always see when you're stuck

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in the woods, when your nose is right up against your own windshield.

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You can't scale a business that way.

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You need to transform your role in the organization to be able to do it.

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And then, hey, write a country song about that because it's going to be beautiful.

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And the fifth option that I review and I talk about increasingly these

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days is, when can I sell my business?

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Uh, when is it the right time to get my business ready to sell it?

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Well, you know, the trite answer is, The day you start your business

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is when you start laying down the plan, the path, the vision for

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someday I will sell this company.

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And these are the important things that I must do to make this business ready

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for sale and to get the highest amount of value for my investment in that company.

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And depending on what your company is, there are a variety of things

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that we go through to talk about that.

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But interestingly, even number five, selling your business.

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It begins in number three, transforming your role, because I will tell you

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from my own personal experience I had an eight figure business, 20

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years, and I got to that Take This Job and Shove It role in my own life.

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I wasn't prepared.

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No one had given me the guidebook, the manual, or held my hand to prepare

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myself for the emotional transformation that I needed to make to successfully

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maximize the value from my company and what I got from it in the marketplace

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and to stay strong and bullet proof.

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Proof, proof through the sale process cause Wow!

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And I'll share that conversation with you more in depth and another

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episode in the future, and I think I'd like to bring some other women on.

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And we'll talk about that because I tell you, they do not tell you that

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in the How To's of textbooks of running your business about the emotional

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impact that you will go through in that process of selling your baby.

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Okay, so that is a lot to think about, but that's what we're working on right now.

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And preparing for, what is that choice?

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Do you want to just stick it out, ride it out, the way things are right now?

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with your company.

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And maybe that's what you need to do while you think a little while.

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But if you're like me and you realize, wow, I only got so much time left in my

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life to do the things that I feel very drawn to do, , to have the influence

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and the impact that I want to, and also the experiences and create the memories.

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So I, I don't recommend option one.

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I recommend that.

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you start the process of thinking about what is it that

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you want next in your life?

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What do you really want for who you are today?

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And what would you like the next 10, 20, 30 years of your life to be more of?

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Is it important to you to come up with a strategy to think about the time, the

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flexibility, the freedom, the fulfillment that you have earned as a woman business

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owner who has been in the trenches and worked the J O B for this long?

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Or do you, are, is your business the kind that you just fold it up?

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and put it in a box under the bed.

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I don't know, but I will tell you that there are things you can't just

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shove it in the box under the bed.

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There are winding down legal processes, financial processes, of course, and I

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also guarantee you There is that whole emotional aspect that you must contend

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with as well, and if you don't, it will come back and bite you in the ass.

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Because remember, your whole identity...

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is vested currently in this business and it has been for a long time.

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Okay, so maybe not your whole identity but a great deal of who you are today

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is encapsulated in that business card that says You are the CEO of this,

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and your habits, your routines, your networks, everybody in your social

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environment are somehow involved in that.

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So, when, if you choose to quit that business, put it in that

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proverbial box under the bed.

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You're going to hear a lot of racket from the people all around you.

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Number three, transform your role with the business, transform

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your role with yourself.

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Celebrate the fact that you are wanting something more different

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in your life at this time, and that you effin well deserve it.

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But how do you go from, well, I'm in that path, that's my behavior, that's my

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pattern, that's my routine, to stepping out and empowering others to carry on

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the vision and also letting go of the ego that you may have around but nobody

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can do it the way I do it or as well as I would do it or I don't trust anybody else.

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How do you build out that team and give them the vision, empower them to go

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forward and give them Accountability, the reportability back to you on the

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metrics of achievements so that you know it's going and be stand back and

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watch it flourish because you are a fabulous leader, mentor, guide, and

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chief investor in your own organization.

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Scale it.

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Make the decision, okay, before I am ready to sell this business, I

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want more out of it, more fun, more financial certainty, more opportunity,

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more experience, more impact.

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Make that decision, and then, really, sit with a business advisor, sit with

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your coach, sit with your mastermind groups, and talk about, really, What

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are the other possible opportunities for scaling your business that

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you may not automatically think?

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Because you know a lot, but you don't know everything.

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And that is why I recommend, and I did, I belong to peer groups

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with like minded women who are a little farther up the ladder.

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than I was, to learn from their experiences and get their

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perspective and welcome their wisdom.

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I worked with my own coaches, and I still do, because again, I know

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a lot, but I don't know everything.

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And so it is so good to reach up and ask for a hand up, some ideas, some

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wisdom, some shared resources, and an opportunity to just look at things through

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someone else's eyes and experience.

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Then, of course, finally, selling the business.

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That's the next of the five options.

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And that is, okay, if that is the decision, you're doing it because

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you want something else in your life.

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Whether that's the freedom, the money, starting your next business,

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which many of my clients do.

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Whether it's, taking a world trip, which is what I'm doing, but I'm still

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running a business and working around the world, to understanding fully that

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it takes a lot of work to prepare a business to get the maximum value for

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it and caution you, there are millions and millions of people who right now

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are thinking in North America that it is time to sell their business.

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So, be ahead of the curve, get expert advice in this decision, and be

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prepared for the amount of work that is involved, both emotionally and

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financially, and, you know, time space to prepare it so that you can sell it.

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Great opportunities are ahead of you and you have choices and

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I'm excited to hear what are the ones that you're thinking about.

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Please reach out.

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if you want me to bring on some guests to talk about any of

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those options in more depth.

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My own personal perspective, or you'd like to come and share your story

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about your experiences with selling your business or transforming your

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role or your favorite country western song, I would love to hear from you.

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On that note, have a great, great year!

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Thank you for spending this time with me.

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I hope our conversation added value to your day and expanded your

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vision for your legacy and impact.

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Please join me in increasing my impact and expanding my reach to even more

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people by sharing this episode on social media, with friends, and leaving

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a review on Apple iTunes, Spotify.

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Or channel of choice to catch all the latest from me.

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Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

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Connect with me and others in our community Facebook group, the Lift

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As You Climb Movement, where you can engage, be inspired by and grow

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with a tribe of like-minded people.

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As I evolve as a podcaster and spokeswoman for collaboration and

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economic empowerment, your input and feedback are especially important.

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To me, I welcome your suggestions and questions to hello@theencorecatalyst.com.

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Until we meet again, please remember your success may be the foundation

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for someone else's to together we can raise success ladders around the world.