Selling your practice: the self employed professional case

In my last post I spoke of the difference between the self-employed professional and those trying to build a professional services business. I suggested that one key difference lay in the attitude to final sale.The self employed professional does not think of sale, the business builder does.

One of the things I try to do is to get my self-employed professional to consider the sales option.

I recognise that sale of practices has become more difficult in many areas. The doctor who used to think of sale of practice as an integral retirement option may now struggle to find a buyer because of changes in the profession. The aging principal in many smaller engineering or legal practices may conclude that he (it is still usually a he in these cases) has no choice but to close the pratice.

Yet despite all these difficulties, sale is still a far realler possibility than many people realise. The key need is to identify and test the possibility well in advance. You can then put it aside or, alternatively, start planning for it.