The Business Coach with Laura Murphy: It’s a takeover

Answer: “Coming out of the blue like that is a bit of a shock but also satisfying for the ego that someone thinks enough of what you’ve built to want to buy it. Or conversely that you’ve done a bad job running the business and it’s ripe for exploitation.

You have a number of issues to work through from considering the strategic benefits or disbenefits of accepting or rejecting the offer to how to deal with the emotional involvement you have with the company.

So the first thing is to get expert financial and legal advice and then sit down with your Directors and any partners to discuss your response. Alongside this think about your personal reaction. Do you want to sell? There’s a host of things to consider: what are your personal and business goals, what do you want to do with your life, do you want to become an employee after being an entrepreneur, what sense of responsibility to do you have for the rest of your staff? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

You have to be comfortable with whatever decision you take and ensure that it fits in with your core values and goals otherwise there’s going to be a lot of unresolved conflict. Unless you’re very sure of your path, you should get a good friend or coach to help you work through all of the ramifications of the offer.”

Laura is an organisation development specialist and executive coach with mtc2 ltd and was Highly Commended in the Eastbourne Business Awards Business Person of the Year. To solve your problem email [email protected] Tweet @WayfinderWoman Names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality.