tackled those questions head-on. They started with an appropri- ate time frame in mind, talked about the difficult issues, and came up with written working agreements that dealt with that.” If you don’t have family or staff who want to take a leadership role, then you need to look at external buyers, Maxwell notes. “That might mean people within the industry, or larger entities that are looking to purchase the business. Think carefully about what’s best for your staff and clients. Not all clients are interested in dealing with larger entities.” Start Early One of the biggest mistakes Guthrie sees people make is not starting the succession planning process early enough. “The reason people procrastinate is because succession planning is hard, and no two plans are alike. It requires the use of tools to come up with a plan that works for the family who is involved with selling the business and the family acquiring the business,” he says. Such tools are becoming more common, Guthrie notes, and offer owner-managers and large organizations the means to suc- cessfully exit their business on their own terms through careful planning. “If you didn’t start to plan until you were 65 and when you’re 66 you want to be out of it, you may have a hard time finding the right buyer,” Guthrie says. “If you start at 60, and find a buyer when you’re 61 and say ‘I’m willing to work for another two or three years to ease the transition,’ then you’d be able to meet your goals of not having to show up at the office every day anymore.” Look Internally Rourke made a smart move in promoting internal staff to leadership roles, notes family friend Steve West, who operates Arizona’s RD4Ag, which often collaborates with Ag-Quest to do seasonal research trials. Looking internally can ultimately make succession planning a lot easier, he says. “David tends to have a dominant personality, as most of us in this line of work do, and you don’t want two heads on the ser- pent. Having Dana step in and run things has worked well, and I think there’s definitely lessons to be learned there,” West says. “In these small companies like ours, the work is a labor of love — and finding someone else who’s excited about it and interested in carrying the business forward is hard. Typically, family is a place where that can stem from.” David agrees, and says it’s important to focus on the strengths of others and actively think about why they might be good candi- dates to take over the business after you’ve had enough. “I’m maybe more entrepreneurial than Dana, but she’s more management-oriented than I ever was. My role is largely over Dana Maxwell and David Rouke examine the Ag-Quest fields with Dana’s young daughter, Rachel. Dana hopes Ag-Quest will one day be taken over by a third generation of the family. DECEMBER 2017 SEEDWORLD.COM / 115