To business owners who don't want to work foreverOne day your business will change hands...Will you transfer your business to your children, extended family, or sell to a third party? Will it be on your terms? Most business owners don't have time to think too far into the future. That's because they're busy attending to the needs of today: producing high-quality products, overseeing employees, and managing the mind-boggling number of details that go into owning a business. If they do think about the future, it's usually about new government regulations, how the recent elections will impact their business and perhaps new market opportunities for their products. The truly long-term decisions, like when to sell or transition your business (not to mention how to do it), are mentally filed away under the heading, "Bridges to cross when I've come to it." But that bridge may be a lot closer than you think. Understandably, most business owners have great difficulty in setting aside the time to plan for the future of their business in addition to working on their business. To quote John F. Kennedy, "The time to mend the roof is when the sun is shining." It is the planning for the future of your business while the sun is shining that will help protect your business, and ultimately your family, from the rainstorms that loom ahead.You see, recently conducted surveys of privately-owned family businesses, including businesses across North America, report that approximately 40% of business owners expect to exit their family business in the next five years. That number goes up to a whopping 70% within the next ten years. These statistics are a direct result of the fact that baby-boomers are nearing retirement. A significant number of these business owners indicate that they will be relying on the ongoing success of their business to finance their future lifestyle - either by selling the business, or from collecting a salary or dividend after they exit day-to-day management.All this applies to business owners like you. So, ask yourself: 1. Do you have a plan in place to increase the value of your business before it's time to sell?2. Do you have a plan in place that will enable you to transfer your business to your family or sell to a third party?3. Have you planned how to retire on your terms, instead of being forced to transfer or sell your business on someone else's? 4. Are you proactively preparing a successor who will enable the continuity of your business? Or are you one of the 65% of business owners who haven't planned that far ahead? It's true: most business owners haven't planned for the day when they will transition or sell their business. That makes them vulnerable to an involuntary sale, meaning they will be forced to sell their business due to death, disability, or other reasons. As you can see, the question of when and how to transition your business is something that needs to be answered sooner rather than later. The first step is to have a plan. Having a plan in place now can save you untold time and trouble in the future...and it can also help ensure that when the time does come to transition your business, you do it right. The stakes are high. For an overwhelming number of business owners, the sale of their business will be their primary source of income for retirement. That's why it's crucial that they get it right. Otherwise, they will deny themselves the chance at much-needed income during a time when every dollar counts. For others, their major goal is to keep their business in the family. But transitioning your business, even to your own children, is a long and complex process. I've prepared this special book just for you. In a few short pages, we'll look at some of the challenges facing business owners who want to quit working someday, what the most successful business owners are doing, and where you can get additional help.