Perhaps you know the situation. The moment a president moves into the White House, a whole regiment of new officials also moves in. At the same time, the new leader of the United States and his staff get to choose another establishment. Is that a waste of money or a good thing. "Good," argues Arjan Jansen firmly, "you have to break the old DNA.
We hear you thinking: as a reader of a regional business magazine, what good is a comparison to the president of America and the White House? Well, the partner of CvB Next, the successor to the Centrum voor Bedrijfsopvolging, can tell you in no uncertain terms. 'It's important to put your own face on an office. That's especially true if you're taking over a business.'
So a good, new, fresh start is important. Just as much as dealing with your departure as an entrepreneur with care and attention. 'I see around me that it can hurt if you don't fully undergo the parting process. Just getting up from your office chair and walking away is not the way to go. Not for you and not for the staff either.'
It is actually quite strange, Arjan thinks. That you start a (new) entrepreneurial adventure incredibly seriously and full of good intentions and actually pay too little attention to the end of (this part of) your working life. That is clearly underestimated.
'It is good to go into a mourning phase first. If you don't say goodbye properly, you can't start something new properly either. In that respect, we need to learn much more from nature. Just look at the changing of the seasons. In autumn the leaves fall, in winter everything shuts down (death phase) and in spring everything blossoms. There is then space again.'
The well-known mirror
The Zwolle native, himself a former entrepreneur, sees it a lot around him. That, especially in the case of a takeover, departing entrepreneurs often seem to revolve around financial, fiscal, legal and operational matters. 'But money is never actually the main motive for selling. At most, it is compensation for time and effort.'
So the process clearly pays less attention to the human side of the story than it should. 'It's about daring to hold up the well-known mirror to yourself. That the next phase of your life is no longer about the business but about you! Entrepreneurs derive much of their identity and status from the business anyway.'
Perhaps you are not comfortable putting your heart and soul on the table. Nor is that easy for everyone. How nice it is to talk to former entrepreneurs or people who grew up in an entrepreneurial family. There you will find a listening ear, recognition and understanding for many situations that business owners go through.
Timely thinking
So just as a top football player cannot start a new soccer league without training, Jansen argues that entrepreneurs should start working on the final chord of their business adventure in good time. 'Ideally, you should take five years to do that. That sounds like a very long period, but most entrepreneurs find it hard to quit because they have trouble letting go. Often they know very well what needs to be done with someone else, but with themselves...'
So it is necessary to get off that desk chair and start the conversation. About succession, but more importantly what the effect is on you as a business owner and how you ultimately move forward. 'The office and the chair have been through a lot. It is the place where plans were conceived and concerns were discussed. Once upon a time, that chair, like a seat in Formula 1, was perhaps a kind of holy grail. A place where you felt at home. That's not nothing!
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