Why Do We Want Business Owners to “Get a Round Tuit”?

During the first half of 2018 Sunbelt Business Advisors of Southwest Ohio hosted seminars in Cincinnati and Dayton entitled “It’s Time to Get a Round Tuit.”  The point of the seminars was to illustrate how important it is for business owners to begin the process of developing an exit strategy – the process of planning for a successful transition of ownership of their business, whether 1, 3, 5 or 10+ years down the road.

The concept of the Round Tuit is simple, we all have a tendency to put things off that aren’t of immediate urgency.  Business owners are especially susceptible to this.  There are always a hundred things to do, work on business development, schedule work, hire, train and manage, and the list goes on and on.

Who doesn’t need to get a Round Tuit?  As a small business owner myself, I fall into the trap of procrastination every day.  Some things aren’t pressing, so it’s okay.  Other things are more strategic and need to be worked on immediately.  So why do I put them off?  All the usual reasons, I tell myself I don’t have time right now; I’ll get to it later; the next step isn’t fully formed in my mind, so I’ll wait until I get it perfect, etc., etc.

Sure, everyone suffers from a bit of procrastination, but when it gets in the way of achieving important goals it’s insidious.  The issue is important enough that Piers Steel, Phd., wrote an article in Psychology Today entitled The True Meaning of Procrastination.

In the article he wrote, “My fellow procrastination researcher Timothy Pychyl points out that “all procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination.” Procrastination is a very special type of postponement; unlike the delays in the examples above, procrastination is irrational.

The Oxford English Dictionary gets closest to the irrational dark heart of the word. It defines procrastination as a postponement, “often with the sense of deferring though indecision, when early action would have been preferable.”

When it comes to delaying the planning of an exit strategy, the impact can have devastating results, especially for those owners considering retirement.  Ultimately, the business will have less value and less marketability.  Beginning to plan doesn’t need to be expensive or overly time consuming.  Don’t allow yourself to fall into the procrastination trap.  Instead, Get a Round Tuit.

For more information on how to begin the exit planning process, contact Sunbelt Business Advisors for a no cost, no obligation meeting at [email protected] or call 937-866-4611 or (513) 762-7636.