What's a small business owner to do when they're faced with a life-changing event like caring for an elderly parent?

It's not often talked about in the media, so most people don't realize how at risk business owners are of falling through the cracks and losing their business in these situations.

Before you can build the business of your dreams, you have to understand what you want out of it. To do that you need to understand what you like and don't like, and then you need to understand the lifestyle you want to live (location, income, hours worked, etc.).

Keeping your nose to the grindstone makes it hard to see clearly, though, so I'm going to share some of my likes and dislikes, how I came to understand them, and how I used them to create my dream business. Hopefully this will help you envision yours.

Build your business from the ground up like you're planning to sell it and you'll make better longterm decisions, develop better processes, and be more likely to not try to do everything yourself (nobody wants to buy a job). Chances are, these same things that make your business more sellable will also help you be better positioned to work with who you want, doing what you want, at the prices you deserve, so you'll get more out of the business while you own it – not just financially, but personally as well.

Did you know that around 2/3 of small businesses never sell and are closed down when the owner retires?

And of those that do sell, the average sales price is about 1/2 of what the owner thinks it's worth?

Add to that the fact that most business owners have the vast majority of their financial assets tied up in their businesses, and the prospects for the average owner to ever retire comfortably are slim.

According to Christopher M. Snider, President and CEO of the Exit Planning Institute (EPI), 85-90% of the net worth of the average business owner is tied up in their business, yet "57% of respondents to their survey stated that lifestyle is not dependent on transfer of ownership of the business." That's called denial.