Local business owners looking to plan for the succession of their business can attend a free workshop on Nov. 22.
The Basin Business Advisors Program is putting on the workshop — which aims to help business owners plan to pass on their business to someone else — on Wednesday, Nov. 22 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Castlegar Chamber of Commerce.
“The workshop is designed for people who are selling an existing business,” explains Will Nixon, program manager for the Basin Business Advisors Program. “We talk about why we do succession planning, rather than just put up a ‘for sale’ sign. We talk about when’s a good time in the business lifecycle to do succession planning. We spend a lot of time talking about different types of buyers — so internal buyers, or external buyers or different types of external buyers.”
Nixon, who will be leading the workshop, will also talk about how to prepare a business for sale.
“So what documentation do people need? What do they need to do to get their business sales ready?” he says.
Nixon recommends the workshop for anyone who is operating a business, whether they are planning on selling their business in the next couple of years or not.
“Building a business that’s … sellable is something that people should consider whenever they’re actually starting a business,” says Nixon. “So anyone in the life cycle of a business, but especially people who are thinking of getting out in three to five years.”
Nixon also says that there is no need for business owners to share personal information during the workshop.
“Or, it is a workshop, quite often our groups will feed off of each other and they’ll give each other examples of what’s worked for them in the past or not,” he says.
The Basin Business Advisors Program is offering a succession planning workshop because it’s something that a lot of business owners they work one-on-one with have expressed an interest in.
“The workshop was developed because we see a lot of need for succession planning and this is just a good way for people to get their toes wet or to figure out what they need to start thinking about before they actually go down that road,” says Nixon.
Following the workshop, the Basin Business Advisors Program can work one-on-one with a business owner on their succession plan — which is a free service. (The program is funded through the Columbia Basin Trust.)
To register for the workshop, visit bbaprogram.ca or call Will Nixon at 1-855-510-2227, ext. 5.