Episode 44: Plan, Prepare, Succeed: Succession Planning and Building Business Systems with Julee Yokoyama
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Alyssa Lang interviews Julee Yokoyam, the owner and founder of Project C.Y.A.™, and they dive deep into preparing your business for just in case something happens to you and the importance of prioritizing systems and your team to make it happen.
In this episode you’ll hear:
What succession planning and risk assessing is and how you should apply it to your business
How to pick the right experts to help you legally and logistically to help role out your plan
How to inform your clients that you have a plan in place
How to gather all your important information and get it documented for someone to access
Resources mentioned in this episode:
💻 Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants
🎙 The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast
☎️ Book an hour call with Julee Yokoyama
🏃🏼♀️ Where to start with working with Julee
📚 Built to Sell by John Warrillow
📚 The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski
📄 Project C.Y.A.® Business Owner's Manual PDF
Listen to the Full Episode here 👇🏼
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What conversations are you avoiding in your business? I recently got a wake up call that inspired me to start thinking about the future of my businesses in case something happened to me. It’s not fun to talk about, and I actually got super overwhelmed emotionally when I started making these plans with my lawyer, but I also know it’s for the best so that my clients are taken care of in case of emergency.
One aspect of business planning that a lot of us don’t talk about (especially if you’re still a solo operation) is what happens to your business if something happens to you. And yes, it’s important to plan for even if you don’t have a team — maybe even MORE important if you don’t have a team! And I wanted to start that conversation by bringing an expert onto the podcast this week who knows all the things on preparing your business for tons of different scenarios!
Julee Yokoyama, owner of Project C.Y.A.™, is the queen of risk assessment and succession planning for businesses. She helps people strategize how they want their business to operate in case of emergency by implementing systems and the right professionals for support.
She covers:
How to start planning and why it’s sooo important
What to think about for your succession plan
The one document you need to have updated in case of emergency
And of course, so many other helpful nuggets are shared in this epic interview! I’m obsessed with Julee and her approach to this difficult but important topic, so let’s get into it.
What is Succession Planning?
Julee wants you to think about your answer to this question: What’s the legacy you want to leave behind? Once you know your true “why” it’s so much easier to plan for the future of your business. Your mission, goals, and values can be helpful too, but your WHY can take your legacy plan to the next level!
When you start planning what happens to your business, it’s kind of a snowball effect. Because even when you’re planning for the worst-case scenario, you’ll also start thinking about the smaller stuff too. Like what happens when you need to take an unplugged leave of absence. Or you have to take a random day off because your kid came home sick.
Planning for any potential situation all comes down to systems. And your systems can help you build value in your business in case you want to sell one day. We have a whole module about this in Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants, plus a guest expert session from Julee!
It’s also important to plan for expected outcomes on top of unexpected events, which is why (of course!) systems are the #1 thing that will keep your business running even if you’re not in a mega-emergency.
The bottom line is that you need to make it very clear what you want to happen to your business if you suddenly can’t be there to answer questions.
Isn’t this a job for lawyers?
Yes, lawyers are totally part of the process when it comes to succession planning. The difference between working with a lawyer and someone like Julee is that the lawyer’s going to plan out things like:
Who’s going to take over/dissolve/sell the business
Who gets the assets or gets access to them
But working with Julee is more like:
Where is all the information located
What happens to my clients and team members
How does the work get done
Which bills need to be paid and when
And the truth is you need both! The reality is that your business might not look like it did when you started it (which is a good thing), so setting up your systems and succession plan won’t be a “set it and forget it” type of deal. Keeping your plan updated and keeping key people informed is the best way to ensure your covered no matter what.
Preparing Your Business for Succession
I talk about building your business as if you’re going to sell it one day, but that might not be the dream for everyone! Even if you have no intention to sell, you can still set up your systems in a way that totally removes you from the equation so that if someone else steps in, they can pick up right where you left off.
One question that came up was what to do if you’re a solo firm owner — aka you can’t just leave instructions for a team member! You could leave information to a spouse or family member, but if they don’t know anything about your business it’s not super helpful and could leave them feeling overwhelmed.
What you can do is find a trusted biz bestie in the industry who’ll understand exactly how to follow the instructions and do the work. I love this idea because not everyone has a team right off the bat, but that shouldn’t mean you can’t be prepared for emergencies! And you don’t have to leave sensitive information with them if you don’t want to. Just leave login information and details with your lawyers who can share that info if it’s ever necessary.
Your Next Step in Succession Planning
Do it now! It doesn’t matter how young your business is, I’m telling you — start the process now!
Download this document from Julee’s website and start filling it out with all the important info you’ll need to start planning.
Remember that as a business owner, your day-to-day isn’t going to look the same forever. Ideally, you’ll be building up the systems to have you spending more time focusing on the bigger picture. So just make sure you’re constantly updating the PDF and getting the right people involved in your plans.
And yes, these conversations are uncomfortable and can cause a lot of emotion at first. By planning for the worst, you’re actually doing the BEST thing possible for your business and the people you care about. So don’t waste any more time and get everything out of your head as soon as possible!
About our guest:
Julee Yokoyama is a business strategist willing to tackle the tough conversations that make others run for cover. She helps service business owners answer: What happens to your business if something happens to you? through succession and delegation planning.
Julee brings 15 years of consulting experience as a certified project manager, business manager, and end-of-life doula. Needless to say, she’s a super planner and calm in the chaos—bringing her clients operational efficiency and peace of mind that increases life fulfillment.
She’s also a speaker and host of the Project C.Y.A.™ podcast, committed to increasing education and awareness around risk management and succession planning for the entrepreneurship community.
Julee lives in Seattle, WA, with her husband and two fur babies, Lucy and Desi.
Connect with Julee Yokoyama:
Follow Julee on Instagram: @juleeyokoyama
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julee-yokoyama
Follow Julee on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectcya
Check out her website: https://projectcya.com/
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