10/27/2026
The hardest part of leaving a business isn't the sale. It's the Tuesday after.
For twenty years the business produced two things: an income and a reason to get up. The sale replaces the first with a number. It doesn't replace the second, and it doesn't tell the number what to do.
Chapter 7 of my side of UNSPLODE is about planning the exit and the life beyond it. The question I ask owners isn't "what's it worth?" It's "what does Tuesday look like?" Where does the income come from now, in what order, and for how long? What does the money have to fund first: a slower season, a second act, the people who depend on you?
Three things I'd put on paper before any sale closes:
1. The income map. Which pools the first five years draw on, and what each one is for.
2. The calendar. What you'll do with the hours the business used to take. Blank space fills itself, usually with worry.
3. The team. Who coordinates the tax, legal and investment decisions, so you aren't the project manager of your own retirement.
The exit is a transaction. The life beyond it is a plan.
Thursday I'll share a short video from a conversation about the first year after a sale. More in UNSPLODE. Link in my Featured section.