What will be your business legacy?

Many of my business friends are on the wrong side of 40. Actually, most are on the wrong side of 50 but are too embarrassed to admit it. It’s the time of life when we start to wonder what the business community and our clients will remember us for?

A personal reflection

This got me to thinking about my own business legacy. One legacy stemmed from an earlier venture where I developed a culture changing, modern natural medicine centre. You know, the setups we take for granted nowadays with qualified naturopaths, acupuncturists and masseuses. I dragged some great people out of their garages and spare bedrooms. Gave them novel things like a wage and holiday pay. Then we went about changing the face of an industry, at least on the Gold Coast.

Sadly, it didn’t make me my first million. However, there was a great legacy in that my practitioners springboarded to new careers with half travelling overseas to Europe and China. There are also many clients, especially women, who found they didn’t need harsh surgery or shocking after affect medicines to cure their ailments. These are nice legacies albeit small ones.

Family business legacies

Some businesses have real legacy issues. For example, farmers in particular and other business owners who want to transfer their businesses only to find that their kids want something else. Sixty hour weeks, poor to moderate income and a life of hard work just doesn’t seem to cut it with the next generation coming through.

Mind you, it’s not just little businesses that have this issue. Remember the three generations of the Packer family? Sir Frank and Kerry would really struggle with the fact that James has sold out of the business in order to gain some kind of life and mental health balance.

Writing about family legacy means we also need to consider about the increasing number of business owners who just don’t have kids. Such owners are increasingly feeling quite despondent when they find that what they worked generations for is worth very little actual money. Essentially, they have bought a job for 20 or more years.

So what is a better response?

Well I like the work that Warren Buffett has done with Bill and Melinda Gates. Warren is the third or fourth richest man in the world depending on which day of the week it is. He took the Gates couple aside one day and explained that having an endowment worth billions was good. However, it was better to spend the endowment now and make the world a better place rather than wait till you check out and leave it to your executors to manage. The result is a happy Gates family and a world that is really benefiting now rather than in 20-30 years’ time.

So as I complete this introspective blog, I would suggest that you enjoy life currently rather than wait till retirement. Also  feel confident in turning your business legacy into something tangible now rather than when you retire. I have seen too many friends fail to reach the magic time when they can hang up their toolbelts and then look back at their business legacies. Be positive and make an impact now!

Peter Bender is a founding partner of Consultant in a Flash! and can be contacted on 0421 253 771, by email or via Facebook. Alternatively, feel free to leave a comment with this blog.