I love roller coasters but my sister does not. When we were kids, and our parents took us to the amusement part, we were both drawn to what seemed to be the thrill-a-second rides: the twisting and loops and shouts of glee from the riders. Once on the ride, strapped in, and click-click-clicking up that first hill for the first looooong drop, we each had very different expectations of the ride. It was over too soon for me. I could have kept going; it wasn’t over soon enough for my sister.

Business is a roller coaster, too. At the amusement park, some under-qualified high school student earning minimum wage decided when the ride was over. But in business, few business owners give any thought to when and how the ride should end. Instead, they’re still sweating anxiously over that first click-click-click of the big hill.

Your business’ exit strategy needs to be considered before you even start your business. Or, if it’s already started, it’s worth taking time to think about it now. The reason is, each exit strategy will influence the various choices you make in your business. Will you invest in this piece of equipment or that piece of equipment? Will you market with this methodology or that methodology? What combination of employees and family members and outsourcing will you use in your business?

Every decision will impact and will be impacted by your exit strategies. That’s why it is essential that you think about them now. Here are a few common exit strategies and what they mean for your business:

• You want to build a business and sell it to someone else and then go on to building another business. This is a classic entrepreneurial/serial start-up move and the business owner who does this will want to build primarily for the short-term. They’ll want to create an attention-getting flash. Of course he or she will think about the long-term benefits for the business and make decisions that can help the business survive, but their primary goal is to create and demonstrate a business with a lot of value and a lot of potential for more.

• You want to build a business to pass on to your children. Parents who want to create opportunities for their children will choose longer-term strategies so that they sacrifice some revenue and profits today in favor of a longer timeline to success. It’s not so much about creating flash, it’s about building a very solid base. A lot of resources may be reinvested in the business in order to give it that good base. And the family should be brought on board as soon as possible to start learning the ropes.

• You want to earn enough to simply close down your business and retire or do something else. In these cases, there is less emphasis on building equity into the business. The business needs to be streamlined to create maximum efficiency, which can lead to greater profitability. Any investments into equipment need to be considered in light of the ability to dispose of them without any hassle – either by selling them, giving them away easily, or discarding them without a lot of cost. The owner will want to make sure that, by the time retirement arrives, they have little or no equity in the business; that it’s all in cash.

These are not the only exit strategies, but they are among the most common. And many other exit strategies are permutations of these.

Business owners who spend time thinking about their exit strategies will want to consider more than one. For example, perhaps they want to build a business for their children, but what if their children don’t want to work there? Then selling the business and cashing out might be the second choice to consider.

Your business can feel like a rollercoaster. Fortunately, the one who decides when (and how) the ride ends is you!

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