Some business owners build their business with no idea that there may be a market for their company.
Others know that a business market exists but have put no real thought into how to get there. They assume a broker will show up someday and sort it all out at the last second.
Neither group has asked the most important question…
There is a scene in Alice in Wonderland that has stayed with me.
Alice reaches a crossroads and asks the Cheshire Cat which way she ought to go.
He tells her that it depends a good deal on where she wants to get to.
She says she doesn’t much care.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Every business owner eventually reaches a transition point.
Through a planned sale. A succession. A health event. A partner dispute that forces the question before you feel ready.
A transition is coming. Choosing the path before you reach that crossroads is the part you still control.
I worked with a man I will call Edmund.
He sold his company for eight figures.
Not because he got lucky. Not because the market handed him a number.
Because fifteen years before he signed the closing documents, he decided where he wanted to get to.
Every path picked between that moment and the closing table was made in service of that destination.
He understood what a buyer would value long before most owners realize that selling is inevitable.
When he reached his crossroads, he already knew which road to take.
Most owners I meet have not asked themselves the question yet.
Not because they lack the ability.
Because nobody put it to them plainly enough, or early enough.
The Cat was right about something many owners are never asked early enough.
If you do not know where you want to get to, it does not matter which way you go.
You will reach a transition point either way.
The only question is whether you will know which way to go when you get there.
If you have never been asked that question directly, it may be worth sitting with it.
Where do you want to get to?
If you own a business, this may be the question worth sitting with:
Where do you actually want the road to lead?
