Selling your business: How to plan for your exit and your life afterwards

Tom Solly
Head of business owners and entrepreneurs
RBC Brewin Dolphin

Simon Smales
Head of business owners and entrepreneurs
RBC Private Wealth

At the start of 2025, the UK was home to around 5.7 million private-sector businesses – 191,000 more than a year earlier. For millions of those business owners, building a company is only part of the journey; at some point, they’ll need to consider how and why they want to step away.

But planning to sell a business isn’t just about readying your company. While improving performance, preparing for due diligence and finding a buyer are critical, equally important – but less often planned for – is preparing for the personal transition that follows, whatever the nature of the sale.

A business exit doesn’t always mean a clean break. Depending on the deal, you might sell to a trade buyer, bring in private equity, complete a partial sale or stay involved through an earnout (sometimes for several years). In some cases, that means moving from owner to employee and adjusting to having less control over a business you created.

Regardless of the type of sale, once a business you’ve built over decades is no longer yours, you lose more than a role. You lose the daily structure, the decision-making authority, the relationships and the sense of purpose that came with the title. Many founders describe feeling disorientated for months after exit, and most weren’t expecting that feeling.

This is where early planning earns its place. A wealth manager brought in several years before a transaction can help you define the life you want after a business exit, stress-test what it will cost and ensure the business is being prepared to deliver the proceeds that your post-exit life requires.

A guide to selling your business

Thinking of selling your business? Find out how to get your finances in shape and prepare for the future in our comprehensive guide.

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Below is a framework for life after selling a business.

Three years out: Define your dream life

Around three years before you plan to sell, ask yourself what your dream life would look like. What do you want to do? How and where do you want to live? Put costs against those answers. Financial planning and cash-flow modelling can then help estimate the sale proceeds needed to support that life.

That figure links your personal plan to the business. A wealth manager can help establish what you may need from the sale. A corporate finance adviser can then assess the business’s value and what may need to change to reach that target.

Tom Solly, head of Business Owners and Entrepreneurs for RBC Brewin Dolphin, recalls meeting one couple just after they had sold their business. They arrived at the meeting feeling flush and full of excitement about future plans, having already made an offer on a dream home, scoped overseas properties and promised to help their daughters onto the property ladder – they also had ambitious travel goals. But when the team modelled those commitments, the numbers couldn’t support everything on their bucket list.

“Had that conversation happened before the sale, they could have adjusted their expectations or taken their target number to advisers,” says Solly. “They might have kept the business longer, improved its value further or sought a different buyer.”

One year out: Make the most of your options

Due diligence may involve hundreds of questions, which can take up a lot of time; all the while, you still need the company to perform at its best. Corporate finance advisers can focus on improving profit, strengthening the quality of earnings, reducing founder dependence and presenting the business in a way that may support a stronger valuation multiple.

Keep the personal plan moving too. Build the roles, relationships and routines you want after exit. If an earnout keeps you involved, prepare for a different dynamic: you may still run the business, but without the same control.

Exit day: The emotional impact of selling your business

When the sale completes, the wealth connected to your shares can suddenly become cash, just as your day-to-day role changes.

Simon Smales, head of Business Owners and Entrepreneurs for RBC Private Wealth, says: “You should pause for a breath at that point while you adjust to the fact that you are actually wealthy. Before this, wealth is often tied up in shares in a business, which you can’t spend. When you do have a large amount of cash land in your account, it’s a very different feeling and there’s a need to adjust mentally.”

You don’t have to make every major decision immediately. Planning where the proceeds will sit safely can give you room to step back before committing to new investments or projects.

The first six months: Prioritise, test and adjust

For founders wondering what to do after selling a business, there’s no single path forward. However, notes Smales, “[Founders] do something. They don’t often do nothing.” Some start another business or become angel investors. Others take non-executive roles, mentor entrepreneurs, pursue philanthropy or set up a family office.

Solly says successful founders often “take time. They decompress. They don’t rush into things, and they do a bit of experimenting.” Use that period to test what brings purpose, challenge and connection – and then step into it.

How a wealth manager can help beyond the money

A wealth manager can model the lifestyle you want, help establish how much you’ll need from the sale and coordinate with other advisers. After the exit, they can support you through the transition from business wealth to personal wealth.

They can also provide perspective. “We often share insight into what we see other people in a similar position doing,” says Smales, “and we can introduce you to like-minded people who’ve been through the same process, so you can share experiences and figure out what you want to do next.”

The key conversation shouldn’t start when the money lands. Beginning the conversation years before a business exit can help define what you’re moving towards and what the business needs to achieve.

Download our guide to selling your business, which walks through the practical steps, from valuation to deal structure. Or talk to our team by calling us on 020 7246 1111, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Frequently asked questions

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