#75 - What Happens To Your Business When You Die? Ft. Tony Crilly

And what I sort of thought we should talk about today, Tony, is not just how you could document that properly, but why people resist that and why they don't get off their butt and see the value.

Look, I think the first point about that is that we all think it's going to happen to someone else and to us.

We all have that sense that we're immortal or impervious, but real life intervenes.

And, you know, I was saying earlier that in terms of the amount that business owners have invested in their business and that they quite often have their home, a security system, It's everything.

And when you sit down and you think about the level of risk that you're taking without documenting something or having a plan, should something intervene, whether it's a disability or an accident or the ultimate death, things

don't go well if you don't have a plan.

Yeah.

And inevitably, in any partnership, it's going to come to an end somehow.

Yeah.

Well, not all the

time.

You see, particularly in Australia, as businesses have developed, that people do plan their exit.

And I was reading the Fin Review just recently about the complete office solutions.

It's not always about a legal document.

Quite often, it's about someone who does actually think about it deeply.

And that man, before he had a catastrophic stroke, appointed his two daughters as key executives in the business because he recognized and worked with his accountant to have a plan for business continuity.

So that was... easier for the family as the controlling interest in that business, it gets much more complex to negotiate and to document when you have other parties that you're in business with, other shareholders, other directors, when they have their families and they might have a different level of investment than you.

Or you might have a situation.

Remember that client that we were sort of having conversations with where dad and the son's in the business and we realized after several meetings that dad's developing dementia, like he's getting quite unwell.

It's a well-known business here in Queensland.

Yeah, mental point of view.

And we literally can't move forward because dad holds everything, the decisions, everything like that.

But we can't do anything because he Well, unfortunately, isn't a sound of mind.

And the business is failing.

Absolutely.

And what I sort of thought we should talk about today, Tony, is not just how you could document that properly, but why people resist that and why they don't get off their butt and see the value.

Look, I think the first point about that is that we all think it's going to happen to someone else and to us.

We all have that sense that we're immortal or impervious, but real life intervenes.

And, you know, I was saying earlier that in terms of the amount that business owners have invested in their business and that they quite often have their home, a security system, It's everything.

And when you sit down and you think about the level of risk that you're taking without documenting something or having a plan, should something intervene, whether it's a disability or an accident or the ultimate death, things

don't go well if you don't have a plan.

Yeah.

And inevitably, in any partnership, it's going to come to an end somehow.

Yeah.

Well, not all the

time.

You see, particularly in Australia, as businesses have developed, that people do plan their exit.

And I was reading the Fin Review just recently about the complete office solutions.

It's not always about a legal document.

Quite often, it's about someone who does actually think about it deeply.

And that man, before he had a catastrophic stroke, appointed his two daughters as key executives in the business because he recognized and worked with his accountant to have a plan for business continuity.

So that was... easier for the family as the controlling interest in that business, it gets much more complex to negotiate and to document when you have other parties that you're in business with, other shareholders, other directors, when they have their families and they might have a different level of investment than you.

Or you might have a situation.

Remember that client that we were sort of having conversations with where dad and the son's in the business and we realized after several meetings that dad's developing dementia, like he's getting quite unwell.

It's a well-known business here in Queensland.

Yeah, mental point of view.

And we literally can't move forward because dad holds everything, the decisions, everything like that.

But we can't do anything because he Well, unfortunately, isn't a sound of mind.

And the business is failing.

Absolutely.