Episode 23: Exiting Your Business the Right Way, with Mike Finger

Mike Finger is the founder of Exit Oasis, a firm that specializes in helping business owners identify problems with their businesses that might make them less appealing to potential buyers. Mike is himself an entrepreneur who at one time felt trapped in his own previous business, desperate to sell but unable to find buyers. He had to learn essential skills and a different perspective to understand why nobody was interested in his business, and now he and his firm help other business owners avoid that same trap. Exit Oasis has one goal, and that is to help business owners learn how to leave. Exiting a business isn’t just the owner’s last deal, it’s also probably the most important deal they’ll ever do. What You Will Learn: Mike shares a story from his father about when Mike was a kid and his father left him a list of chores to do while Mike's father was at work, and Mike subsequently hired neighborhood kids to do those chores for him. Mike discusses his first business that he and his wife began five years after he'd left college. He talks about the process of learning how to run a business by diving into the deep end. Mike shares how he simultaneously grew his two businesses, a business management and financial support firm that focused on schools and a consultancy focusing on nonprofits and associations. Mike talks about why he decided to leave his business, and he shares the awful moment when he realized his business was unsellable. He talks about feeling trapped in a "self-constructed prison cell". Mike discusses the work he and his team at Exit Oasis do to eliminate the complexity of creating exit strategies and teach business owners how to successfully leave their businesses when the time is right. Mike shares the steps business owners need to take to extract themselves from the daily operations of their business to make the company more attractive to potential buyers. Mike explains why there is a huge gap between the number of business owners who intend to sell their businesses to fund their retirement and the number of business owners who actually do eventually sell. How to connect with Mike Finger: Website: www.exitoasis.com