"Find What's NEXT For You: Business Owners Share Their Transition Stories, " is an easy to read series of stories from small and medium size business owners explaining their unique transitions from the companies they formed and managed for decades. Their successes, failures, and "lessons learned," make up the core of this timely book. In 2013, the Fox Business Center reported that the sales of small businesses grew by 49%, and the Baby Boom demographics suggest this figure will only grow larger over the next ten years.
Many have heard the story of the entrepreneur who just didn't pay much attention to their transition. Things were going well and there was no urgency to think about what they would do next. Then the "unexpected event" happened and they needed to hastily plan in a crisis environment. This kind of planning usually results in the owner losing some of the wealth they have built up in their company, coupled with added personal and family stress.
One of the owners in the book commented that he wanted to control every part of his business as he was building it. And when it came time for his transition away from the company, he also wanted to be equally controlling by investing the personal time and resources to make his transition as smooth as possible. For the majority of owners who tell their stories, the transition took about five years from the time the started seriously thinking about it.
The book covers stories from a wide range of owners representing many business sectors including service, manufacturing, production and distribution. And the two authors had access to a treasure trove of information which they used to write this book.