Your Fork In The Road

I know this is controversial, but I have to tell you.

At first, I thought this would undermine the work I’ve done for almost 20 years.

Sure, I’ve helped women founders build their revenue and streamline their companies, so they are more profitable and less stressed. Sure, I’ve guided women to exit and often, to sell, their businesses.

But more and more, I’ve been plagued by doubt about the truth of the matter...

Today’s BlockbustHER BrainteasHER:

What if the goal isn’t to sell your business at all?

Patty’s Perspective . . .

Imagine you’re walking on a dusty country road with long grass and beautiful wildflowers defining the path. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and tiny birds are flittering all around. You hear their songs and feel the breeze ruffle your hair.

You’re going where you want to go, at the pace you want to travel. You’re in control.

Now, there’s a fork in that dusty road and it’s up to you to decide the path right for you.

I’m describing your business journey—sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh, and always worth it.

The fork in the road is how you want to exit, because you will exit someday, whether it’s chosen or forced.

But here’s the thing: many years ago, when I started helping women founders transition out of their companies, most women didn’t even think about selling their businesses. That seemed impossible.

I’ve worked hard to raise awareness about the potential for building real business value and finding a buyer for your firm.

Now, everyone and their sister is talking about selling—often as a ‘retirement plan’. But that’s just where the lies start.

The powerful lies we’re sold:

• Your big payday is waiting at the finish line.
• If you don’t exit big, you’re doing something wrong.
• Selling is the only ‘successful’ ending.

Exiting your business is complex and confounding. Since 2006, I’ve seen women get harassed, hurt, and hustled. All. The. Time.

That’s why I help women founders achieve an Elegant Exit™—because you deserve better.

My research and decades of experience now have me challenging the basic premise of building wealth through a business sale. Not because selling isn’t certain—because it’s contingent.

The truth is the Elegant Exit™ provides TWO viable paths when you reach that fork in the road: Latent Capital™ or Living Capital™.

Both create freedom. Both build wealth. Both reduce stress. But they require different truths, different emotional muscles, and different definitions of ‘enough’.

1. Latent Capital™: selling, merging, or creating a deal that moves you out of the business.

The math can work IF you’re generating upwards of $5M annually, with consistent, predictable revenue. You have a strong leadership team. You’ve actively built real business value. And you have the patience and commitment to handle the emotional rollercoaster of the sales process.

2. Living Capital™: extracting value from the business while you still own it.

This is not about passive income—it’s about portable power. Generally, this is a better fit for businesses generating less than $5M annually. Women who choose this path tend to be deeply loyal—to clients, teams, and the identities they’ve worn for decades. Their exit comes in the form of evolving and extracting.

Now What?

An exit is elegant only if it increases a woman’s personal wealth while decreasing the stress required to maintain it.

Anything else is just endurance with better branding.

The Elegant Exit™ is how you convert business success into real wealth—without sacrificing your nervous system to get there.

The true power is not choosing the right strategy—but finally asking the right questions:

• How can you upgrade your life while the business is still yours?
• How can you ensure your current strategy is not built on someone else’s definition of your success?
• How can you design a meaningful transition—instead of waiting until illness or exhaustion decides for you?

When women choose their path—truly choose it—something surprising and exquisite happens.

The noise disappears. The constant internal negotiation—the second-guessing, the ‘should I be doing more’, the quiet dread that you’re missing the right move—goes silent. What replaces it is not certainty, but consent.

You are no longer bracing for the future or apologizing for the present. Wealth—however it arrives—stops feeling conditional.

And in that quiet, you discover that decisions become cleaner. Time stretches. The business no longer feels like a test you must pass, but a tool you are finally allowed to use.

That’s the power of your Elegant Exit™ when the right expert is by your side. As your advocate, I’m looking out for your best interests, guiding you to discover right-fit options, execute critical decisions, and cultivate personal wealth.

Contact me to learn more.

What are your biggest blind spots in crafting an exit? Find out at: http://she-exits.com/