The Myth of ‘Someday’ Wealth

Kristin is sitting on the floor of her closet, her back against a row of impeccably polished pumps she hasn’t worn in months.

Her laptop is open, glowing with a spreadsheet she has stared at for hours: revenue projections, EBITDA adjustments, buyer scenarios.

She did all the things. Built a seven-figure consulting firm. Hired the COO. Installed the dashboards. Sacrificed evenings, friendships, and her body’s warning signs.

And now it’s shockingly clear: After fees, taxes, earn-outs, and contingencies, the payoff she’s been promised will barely net what she already makes in two growth years…

Today’s BlockbustHER BrainteasHER:

Where are you deferring wealth in exchange for the promise of ‘someday’?

Patty’s Perspective . . .

Like many of us, Kristin believed the story that goes like this: Build. Sacrifice. Delay gratification. Exit. Finally exhale.

The myth of ‘someday’ wealth begins with the idea that you have a big payday waiting for you at the finish line.

But selling a business is not a lottery ticket. It is a complex financial event.

The corporate growth-and-exit model fosters an unspoken hierarchy in entrepreneurship that makes me angry:

• Sold: If you’ve sold your company, you’re seen as ‘more successful’ than someone who is still running a profitable business—even if that business builds more personal wealth than the exit ever did.

• Old: A one-time sale is culturally valued more than building a business that sustainably funds a great life for 10, 20, or 30 years. Longevity is treated as less impressive than a one-time liquidity event.
  
  
• Gold: Being acquired by another company is treated as the ultimate validation—even if the founder loses autonomy, stays on under golden handcuffs, or ends up earning less than they did as an owner.

This hierarchy is nonsense because it confuses liquidity with wealth, visibility with success, and approval with freedom.

It’s why I’ve come to believe that you have more control, better focus on your real priorities, and better odds of building wealth when you build Living Capital™, instead of trying to sell your business to a stranger (what I call Latent Capital™).

But here’s the truth behind this unspoken hierarchy:

• Sold: A founder who exits once may never recreate that wealth; a founder who continues operating a high-margin business can compound wealth for decades—with far more control and less risk. Yet only one of them gets applause.

• Old: A business sale converts future options into a fixed, taxed, fragile number. A sustained business can adapt, distribute cash, fund investments, and evolve as you do. Calling the business sale ‘better’ ignores math, taxes, and risk.
  
  
• Gold: Profitable and free means you choose your workload, your clients, and your timeline. The corporate growth-and-exit model doesn’t offer that and can no longer be the gold standard of success.
  
  

Living Capital™ doesn’t ask, How do I make this business attractive to someone else?

It asks: How do I make this business finally work for me?

It values lifetime wealth over headline numbers. It recognizes that for many women, the smartest exit isn’t a transaction—it’s a transition. One that happens gradually, strategically, and on your terms.

Now What?

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.

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.

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’.

My research and decades of experience lead me to these conclusions:

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.

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.

An exit is elegant only if it increases your 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.

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/