Do You Have An Exit Strategy?
My friend David over at Xfep (eXtra For Every Publisher) wrote a really great post on what to do before launching a blog network.
No matter if you’re a blogger, a freelancer, a small business owner, you have to think of everything (or at least make sure everything is taken care of):
- Hiring people
- Marketing
- Accounting
- Build an online presence
- Increase revenues
- etc…
There are so many things you have to keep in mind when launching a blog network, probably more than 46.
There’s one thing both bloggers and freelancers have in common though:
Most of us don’t have an exit strategy.
Of course launching a blog network is different than getting started in your freelance career, but there are many similarities.
What If?
What if you get tired and wanna do something else? Or cannot work as much for various reasons such as personal or family issues. What if you fall ill? In 5 years from now, do you think you’ll still want to freelance?
How would you answer those questions?
What Is Your Exit Strategy?
Chances are if you’re reading this blog, you’re a freelancer or you run a small business. Maybe you’re just getting started, or you’ve been freelancing for years. Do you have an exit strategy, or do you simply go “day-by-day“?
If you run a small business, you can certainly sell it, and then move on to other things (same thing with a blog), but when you freelance, and always have to look for gigs and find new clients, you can’t “sell” your business, you are the business. You can still outsource a lot of your work, but not “all” of it.
What do you think?
Jon
6 Rockin' Comments
October 12th, 2007 at 8:10 am
I’m a big believer in exit strategies. I plan to retire when I am still young enough to enjoy it, and that means handing over the reigns to other people later on down the road.
My exit strategy details vary depending on which of my website is in question, but the basic idea is to crank them all up to full-steam success, then sell them to someone else, but with the caveat that the sites cannot be significantly changed from their original content/format/intent, and that I get a certain percentage of the revenue for life.
I plan to retire with a lot of money from the Internet, but without actually having to spend very much time online! :)
October 12th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Great questions - that’s all definitely part of looking at your “blog” as a small business. And even with small businesses, people so rarely think of an “exit strategy”.
As successful as your blog may well be, you may decide to do something else at some point… and then what? How do you hang on to the value of all your hard work? Can you sell it? Can you outsource it all? What do you do?
Think about it…
October 12th, 2007 at 10:50 am
It’s a good question, and something that I now realize I haven’t given much thought to. Thanks for asking it.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Hey Jon,
Good points. Something most of us don’t think about very often.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
I like the idea of the exit. First picked that up from Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Outsourcing can really cut down on a lot of the work though.
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