If you’re a business owner who’s spent years building a successful company, the idea of preparing for an exit might be both exciting and overwhelming. You’ve earned the right to consider selling, merging, or passing on the reins through a management buyout. But there’s just one problem: you’re already maxed out. Your days are consumed by operations, people, clients, and a to-do list that never seems to shrink.
How do you find time to prepare your business for sale, manage the deal process, and keep things running smoothly? Here’s the good news: you don’t have to do it alone. But – you do need to carve out the space to begin. And that means making some intentional changes.
“I’m Too Busy to Even Think About an Exit”
It’s one of the most common concerns we hear, and it’s totally valid. Selling a business is no small step. Due Diligence, financial analysis, negotiations, legal documentation, and countless decisions, its intensive and the fear of taking your eye off daily operations is real. At first glance, it might seem like preparing for exit will require more time and energy than you can afford to give.
But here’s what we know. With the right people beside you, it gets lighter. The right corporate finance expert doesn’t just advise from the sidelines; they roll up their sleeves and take meaningful weight off your shoulders. At the same time, small shifts in your own routine can make the difference between putting exit plans off and getting them quietly underway.
5 Tactical Ways to Make Time for Exit Planning
Even small shifts in how you manage your schedule can create enough space to move forward thoughtfully. These steps aren’t disruptive, they’re intentional and strategic:
- Block “Strategic Hours” Weekly – Set aside 2-3 hours per week in your calendar as non-negotiable time for strategic focus. Label it clearly “Strategic Planning” so others respect it, and you do too.
- Delegate tactically, not just broadly – rather than delegate entire roles, isolate 3-5 tasks that consistently eat into your schedule and pass them on. Look at reports, approvals, recurring meetings and consider what can shift without risk.
- Centralise Key Information in Advance – start pulling together data that will likely be needed in any exit scenario (financials, contracts, key client metrics). Better still, get others to centralise this data as part of BAU. Organising these early saves time later.
- Appoint a Transition Lead – someone internally or bring someone new in who can support you along the exit journey. They’ll help triage tasks, chase down information, and keep things moving even when your head is down.
- Break the Exit Journey into bite sized stages – rather than thinking of it as one giant task, divide the exit planning into 3-5 management phases. That way, your focus is always on the next step, not the entire process.
The Role of a Corporate Finance Expert
A skilled corporate finance advisor does far more than crunch numbers or prepare spreadsheets. They’re your strategic partner. Their job is to manage the entire exit process, so you can stay focused on running your business.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Clarify Your Exit Goals: Helping you articulate what success looks like, whether that’s a full Exit to Trade or Private Equity, a partial sale, MBO or EOT and designing a plan that reflects your personal and financial priorities
- Deal Strategy & Preparation: Preparing your business isn’t just about gathering data, it’s about positioning. At this stage your advisor will guide you through a deep dive of your financial performance, operational structure and commercial strengths to uncover what drives value in your business. They’ll work with you to shape a clear, credible narrative that highlights its full potential.
- Managing the Sale Process: From identifying the right buyers or investors to negotiating terms, leading the charge, so you’re not pulled into every conversation or negotiation.
- Handling Due Diligence: This is often the most time-consuming part of the process. An advisor will prepare your business, package the data, and respond to information requests, acting as the central point of contact for lawyers, accountants, and the buyer.
- Maximising Value: Perhaps most importantly, they work to ensure your business is presented in the best possible light, helping to protect and maximise its value – a crucial outcome after years of hard work.
Why This Matters for You
If you’re like most business owners, your company’s performance is still closely tied to your day-to-day involvement. That means the more distracted you are during a sale process, the more risk there is that performance, and therefore value, could suffer. By instructing a corporate finance expert, you’re not just getting a deal done, you’re protecting your time, your energy, and your business’s future.
Where to Start
If any of this feels familiar – if you are time poor, curious about an exit, unsure how much time it is going to take up of your already busy calendar – find 10 minutes to consider what you’d need in place to make an exit viable. Ask your Corporate Finance advisor what your time commitments might be at each stage of the process, and if you choose to explore further, do it with someone who puts your goals first.
How The MGroup Corporate Finance Can Help
The key is finding a partner who understands what it means to run a business, knows the landscape, recognises what matters to you, and can take control of the process with professionalism, experience, and integrity. If the idea of selling feels too big to take on alone – don’t. Our expert team are on hand to support your exit journey and realise your end-goal, leaving you to focus on what you do best.
If you’re considering your options and would like to explore what exit planning could look like for you, now is the time to start the conversation. Contact Partner Geoff Pinder for a confidential, no-obligation discussion.