By Penna Dexter It’s hard to overestimate the importance of family businesses in America today. A new book entitled The Braveheart Exit, helps business owners understand how they can operate their businesses in ways that serve to build a family legacy of faith and freedom and increase the likelihood that the business thrives in succeeding generations. You may be at the top of your game, full of energy and feel you’re indispensable. Great. Author and business advisor Randy Long says it’s time to plan your exit. Family businesses account for 50 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, 60 percent of the nation’s employment, and 78 percent of new job creation. It’s important for our economy that they stay strong — and last. In The Braveheart Exit, Randy Long points out that, “More businesses will transition in the next 10 years than at any other time in history due to the retirement of the baby boomers.” There are ways to ensure these transitions are done well. Randy is Founder/CEO of Long Business Advisors, a consulting firm that specializes in building, transitioning, and managing the sale of what he calls BraveHeart businesses. A BraveHeart business is run according to a certain vision, code and process. A BraveHeart, Randy writes, is “a leader that builds a legacy of financial and relational strength at work and at home.” Building a strong family legacy is part of being a BraveHeart. This can be done by equipping your children through their participation in your family business, teaching and mentoring, involving them as you face the inevitable adversity that comes with running a business, building their courage as you exhibit yours. This book’s message to every business owner is, “One day you will exit your business, planned or unplanned.” Often family businesses don’t last more than 2 or 3 generations for lack of a good transition plan. Better to plan for your exit and to begin early to work that plan. The best exits are launched 3 to 7 years before the successor takes over or the business is sold. Exit planning can start even earlier. In The Braveheart Exit, Randy Long takes the reader through three ways to transition a business. The first, and the one he is practicing, is to train your children to run your business and to gradually cede control to those who show interest in and aptitude for the business. When an owner’s children aren’t interested in running the business, or are not equipped to, often a dedicated employee or group of employees is. The book details Long Business Advisors’ tried and true strategy for selling and transitioning a business to employees or to a third party. Preparing your business so it can run well without you will boost its value to a buyer and the chances it will succeed through any type of transition. Our freedoms are diminishing. BraveHearts can buck this trend by building strong businesses and strong families.