"I was educated at Trinity and Knox Grammar schools and spent time in the defence forces. At 50, I wanted to own and operate my own business; not only to secure my financial independence, but also bring some flexibility to my lifestyle.
It was not so crazy at the time, but I bought a profitable tobacconist and Tattersalls gaming business. I made some money from that business and had a lot of time to myself and my family. The business was doing well until the Victorian Government decided to change the game and open up competition, they removed the monopoly held by Tattersalls. I literally lost one third of my revenue overnight.
Now that's not on me. But how do I manage that? I did believe Tattersalls when they told me new gaming options would be made available to me soon, and that this would lift my trading back to normal. I continued to operate my business…. and I continued to lose money. The only way I could pay my bills was to borrow money on the house and dip into my superannuation fund.
And that's what I did.
I then tried to negotiate new lease terms with my landlord, and that didn't go down so well either. There are two factors which influenced my decision to stay in business. The first is failure, I considered a decision to close my business would be the signature of my failure as a business person and because of this my family would think I'm a failure also. After all, the business employed my kids. The I'm not failing syndrome is all persuasive and blinding to the reality around you. The perception of whether any decision can be made against an existing structure is so confusing. Trinity and Knox Grammar were institutions where rewards followed effort. In my mind, results would follow from my hard work. Failure was not an outcome. In the defense forces failure was not an option. So why wasn't I warned about failure as an outcome in my business. No one told me. I felt guilty I was using my family wealth to keep a loss-making business afloat it was stupid. My wife told me to stop, she was tired of using her money to pay for my business expenses. She made me face the reality, Tattersalls aren't going to look after you she said and they aren't paying your bills and the landlord still wants his rent.
So I took a decision, I met a specialist in managing difficult business situations. He helped me sell out and to wind up. And yes, I should have done it years ago." - A tabacconist and gaming business owner.
There could be any number of reasons you would want to exit your business. It could be:
- part of a succession plan
- you’re received an offer to good to be true
- a dispute between participants
- changing market conditions
- poor performance
- solvency or crisis issues
- or it’s just time
Let's connect for a coffee a discuss your exit strategy.
