By Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC

If a business owner you know passed away tomorrow, what would happen to their business?

Most owners answer, “My family would figure it out.” Here is what we see again and again: no funded buy-sell agreement, no successor, no one who knows what the business is worth, and a family left to sort it all out at the worst possible moment.

The businesses that fail this way were not bad businesses. Many were profitable and well run. They were destroyed by something the owner never saw coming. I call these the Business Killers®. There are twenty-five of them, and the good news is that every one of them can be found and fixed.

The Risk You Can’t See

You can be building a successful business and, at the same time, quietly creating the conditions that could destroy it.

Most owners focus on revenue, profit, employees, and day-to-day operations. That makes sense, because those things demand attention every day. Planning issues usually get attention only after a problem shows up, and by then your options are limited and expensive.

This is not a grade on how you run your business. You have obviously done something right. It is about finding the planning gaps that deserve your attention, with one goal: a better future for you, your family, and your business.

Twenty-Five Killers in Five Categories

The twenty-five Business Killers group into five critical planning areas. Here is what each one asks, and where owners get caught.

1. Business Management and Growth (7 questions). Can your business grow, run efficiently, and gain value? The killers here include no written business plan, no idea what the business is worth, operations that depend on you, and no plan to keep your key employees. Ask yourself honestly: if your best person left next month, what would that cost you?
2. Financial and Wealth Planning (5 questions). Is your success turning into financial independence? The killers are profits mistaken for personal wealth, no retirement strategy outside the business, wealth trapped in the company, no tax-efficient accumulation plan, and thin cash flow and reserves. A business can look wildly successful on paper while the owner has almost nothing outside of it.
3. Business Protection (6 questions). What happens when something goes wrong? An unfunded buy-sell agreement is just a piece of paper. What happens if you die or become disabled? What if you lose a key employee? Do you have a crisis plan?
4. Estate and Succession Planning (5 questions). Does your estate plan actually account for the business? Is a successor prepared? Are voting rights clear at your death? Is there family or ownership conflict waiting to happen?
5. Business Transition and Exit (2 questions). Don’t let the small number fool you. These two carry enormous weight, because every owner eventually exits, whether by choice or not. The killers are waiting too long to plan a sale or transfer, and the biggest question of all: could someone else own and run this business without you? If the honest answer is no, what you own is a job, not an asset.

Find Out Which Ones Are Putting You at Risk

You answer twenty-five questions, and each answer earns points.

Your answer	What it means	Points
Yes	Adequately addressed	0
Partially	Needs improvement	1
No	Not addressed	2
Not Sure	Needs investigation	2

If you don’t know, treat it as a gap. Then add up your score, out of fifty.

Total score	What it signals
0–10	Lower identified planning risk
11–20	Some planning gaps
21–30	Elevated planning concerns
31–40	Significant planning weaknesses
41–50	High-priority planning review

There is no judgment in the number. It simply tells you where to look first.

The Solution: The GWT Planning System®

Once you know your gaps, you need a plan that closes them in the right order. That is what my GWT Planning System® (Growth, Wealth, Transition) is built to do. It treats your business plan and your personal plan as what they really are: one plan. The work falls into three areas.

Increase business value (Growth). Improve profitability, strengthen management, develop key employees, and build a company that depends less on you. This answers the Business Management and Growth killers, and it is the first step toward a business someone else could own and run.

Protect business value. Address the financial impact of death, disability, the loss of a key employee, and ownership disputes. Fund the buy-sell agreement so it is more than paper, name and prepare a successor, make voting rights clear, and build the crisis plan. This answers the Business Protection and Estate and Succession killers.

Convert equity into personal wealth (Wealth and Transition). Build retirement security outside the business, move wealth out of the company in a tax-efficient way, and plan the sale or transfer early, not when circumstances force it. This answers the Financial and Wealth Planning killers and the two Transition and Exit killers.

Business Killer category	GWT work that addresses it
1. Business Management and Growth	Increase business value
2. Financial and Wealth Planning	Convert equity into personal wealth
3. Business Protection	Protect business value
4. Estate and Succession Planning	Protect business value
5. Business Transition and Exit	Increase business value; convert equity into personal wealth

Increase it. Protect it. Turn it into wealth you can actually use.

Six Questions to Sit With

You don’t have to answer these out loud.

1. What would happen to my business if I were unable to work tomorrow?
2. How much of my personal wealth depends on the value of my business?
3. Could my family manage or transfer the business if I died?
4. Do I know what my company is worth today?
5. Could my business operate successfully without me?
6. Am I building a business that can provide financial independence?

If any of those made you hesitate, even for a second, that hesitation is worth paying attention to.

Get a Second Opinion

Your completed assessment is the starting point for a professional review of your business and personal planning. A second opinion can uncover overlooked issues, evaluate arrangements you already have, and help you prioritize what to fix first. This is planning advice, not a product pitch.

If you remember one thing, remember this: the biggest Business Killer may be the one you don’t know exists.

Here is what to do next. Download the Business Killers Self Guide and use it to see where you stand. It takes just a few minutes, and the sooner you see the gaps, the sooner you can close them.

DOWNLOAD YOUR BUSINESS KILLERS- ACCESSMENT GUIDE

If you’d like to talk through your results, reach out to me directly.

Thomas J. Perrone, CLU, CIC President and Founder, New England Consulting Group of Guilford, Inc. tperrone@necgginc.com · 203-530-6615

www.bpbpgrp.com/tom

 www.yourbusinessworth.com