Today we look at the 8 Deadly D'S. These are the 8 risk factors that could bring your business to a grinding and unpleasant demise.
These are not events that may occur in business. As you can see below these events will happen over the course of any business journey and can destroy years of hard work by the owners. Protection against risk should be every business owner’s priority.
One of the biggest drivers in business valuation is risk-free sustainable income. No business is risk-free or protected against future risk *
1. Disaster.
We know what this looks like after the recent pandemic but there are others of course- Fire Flood -Power failure- IT meltdown e.g. Hacking or Ransomware
Solution: Insurance Protection and a Documented Recovery Plan
2. Disagreement.
This can occur between Business owners or shareholders all the time. if all stakeholders are not on the same page or disagree over business strategy It’s hard to maintain cohesive direction.
Solution: Create a Shareholders Dispute Agreement Document
3. Death of an owner.
This is very common and will obviously destroy a one-man business, but it will have a massive impact on a 2-5 owner business. This can result in debt restructure. Partners of the deceased having claim over the business.
Solution: Create a Fund Through Life Insurance to Fund Any Estate Payments
4. Divorce of a Business owner.
If the business owner has shares, a marital dispute will impact all other owners of the business.
Solution: Create the Correct Holding Structure and Cover This Event in a Shareholder’s Agreement
5. Disability.
Even for a short period if an owner can’t contribute to the business then this will affect revenue staffing and costs. Longer-term it can have a lasting effect on the business revenue and value.
Solution: Estate Planning Combine with Disability and Income Insurance
6. Direction of market.
All businesses are subject to market conditions there are many examples of companies that did not keep up with new styles trends and technology developments and market changes
Solution: Create a Future Committee that is Always Looking at Market Developments not Only in Local Markets but International
7. Diversification.
As above, if markets do change, be it from innovation that impacts your service or product it’s important to have a diversification strategy.
Solution: What are Complementary Products or Services That can be Included on Your Existing Platform
8.Debt.
This is the Business nightmare. We know debt can be our friend but when it gets out of control because of unforeseen issues it is hard to fix. Even some of the above can create further debt and a corporate restructure.
Solution: Always Know the Numbers. Keep Across Your Financials and Try Not to Give Personal Guarantee’s
All businesses as a matter of priority should consider the above when be trying to de-risk their future growth and increase valuation.
*Providing business owners with a Risk Report is part of The BlueKite 21 step process to doubling your business valuation in 12-15 months
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