Why spend all that blood, sweat and tears, and not to mention money, just to pack it away with the toys...

Why do this?
Here's the thing…

If you always do what you've always done,
you'll always get what you've always got!

No doubt when starting out in business you will have heard (apart from me already mentioning it!) how you should "Start with the End in Mind". But you know what? It can be really hard to do if you don't know what the "end" can look like.

Starting a business is a BIG deal.
Building it to become more than your hobby is even bigger again. In fact, building your Mother of a Business into an Asset may result in it being possibly the largest asset you'll ever own, or second maybe to your home.

There are "mistakes to avoid", but one of the main ones is thinking you can do it all yourself. Even though you could, you probably don't really want to do it on your own.

Building a Mother of a Business as an Asset means it stands alone; having others work IN your business, as you work ON it, reaping the rewards along the way.

But the time does come when you're over it. Hard to believe I know, but it happens to the best of us! The "baby" you nurtured into the thing of beauty it is today eventually has to leave the nest, or you have to leave it, one or the other.

When you've got to that point, and you're feeling like you want it all to end is quite often the worst time to be thinking about how to get out, exiting or selling. Hasty decisions made quickly may not be in your best interest. It's at this time when it's really easy to just throw in the towel, walk away and "shut up shop".

Of course you can justify taking this course of action in a variety of ways but the end result is usually the same; all that blood, sweat and tears you invested, and not to mention the money, will have been for nothing!

And, you wouldn't want your family to see you all stressed and unhappiness levels escalate because you're stuck doing something you no longer want to do? BUT you know you've spent too much of your precious resource - TIME - on this little baby to not get some sort of payback.

What to do?

The secret is, if you're at the stage in your business that is OK for now, but you've come to realise it is not what you want to be doing for the rest of your life, that's the time to plan your EXIT.

Do it while you still "like" each other (you and the business that
is!) before it deteriorates to ugly divorce levels, where you just cut your losses and run!

If SELLing is the preferred outcome, then it's time to get strategic about how to do that, what necessary adjustments need to be made, and who that special someone will be that will love it as much as you once did.

Think about it this way, as I've noted previously, would you put your home on the market without a little thinking and TLC driven renovation first?

How long before you can sell your business is up to you! What I mean by that is, it will depend on

• how sellable your business is now,
• how long it will take to get it ready,
• how much effort you're prepared to put in,
• how much you're prepared to invest in getting it ready.

It depends on how much of a hurry you're in also!
But we can talk about that at your Mothers Group...

As you know, there's a lot more to being a successful Mother and building a Mother of a Business than just dreaming about it every day. It's about knowing how to mother as you want PLUS earn what you need to earn (and a whole lot more!)

It's about behaving in a manner which builds a genuine business. And most of all it's about having the confidence to do whatever you dream of achieving.

I know that if you are going to make the most of your entrepreneurial mother® experience, you will need to change what you are currently DOing and the way you are currently DOing it.

But you know that right? Otherwise you wouldn't be here...

I built my Mother of a Business and then sold because it was time. I had lost my energy and enthusiasm, and I wanted to try something new and reenergising. Something that would again make me jump out of bed in the morning!

15 years is a long time to do the one thing, a very long time...

I have learnt a lot during this same period, especially going through the process I did. What I want more than anything is to help you avoid the pitfalls, and the delays, and the ambiguities...

As part of the entrepreneurial mother® community, you will hear from me fairly regularly; whether in the form of "Mothers Little Helpers" or bringing Business Opportunities to your attention or even highlighting Education worth considering.

And then, when you're ready to host your "the entrepreneurial mother®s group" in your area, or investigate joining one, or coming to join mine…then you just let me know…

Of course, there's a lot more to read in my chapter featured in the bestselling book Secrets of Inspiring Women Exposed, about me and my escapades to that point. I trust you enjoy it.

 

Feel free to download HERE
(45 pages .pdf file, 2mb)

the entrepreneurial mother® blog is also a great place to stay in touch as I'm always adding new thinking and ideas. You'll find it at www.theentrepreneurialmother.com.au

Happy Mother of a Business building!

Oh, and one last thing…
as Leslie Bennetts – author of the "The Feminine Mistake" so adeptly puts it:

 

The promise of the fairy tale – that Prince Charming marries you and takes care of you forever – usually remains far more powerful than the realities women see all around them. No matter what catastrophes befall their friends, sisters or neighbours, the lure of dependency keeps them mesmerised by a mythology that no dose of reality could break its hold on true believers – at least until such shocks are visited upon them personally. So the main thing I want to say to other women is this: PROTECT YOURSELF. Given the likelihood that you will have to fend for yourself (and even your children) at some point in the future, maintain the capacity to support yourself. Protect your children by making sure you can support them financially should anything happen to you, or their other parent. Protect your future happiness against the doubts harboured by frustrated stay-at-home mothers who can't shake the guilt and regret they feel about failing to explore their full potential. Protect yourself against the desolation of the empty nest, which inflicts the deepest sense of loss on full-time mothers with no other identity to sustain them. Protect yourself against the feelings of uselessness and isolation experienced by so many women who didn't cultivate meaningful work that would nourish them in later years. You'll be glad you did.