Like many of you, I wear more than one hat in life. I co-own a child development business with my husband, and I am also a full-time attorney who works with closely held business owners. At the age of 40, I am already working on a plan to help me leave or scale back from my two businesses, even though I won't leave for decades.

When it comes to business ownership, one thing is certain: At some point, all owners leave their businesses. I have found that the best personal, professional and financial results are consistently achieved by those who work with an exit plan, especially since they also help us achieve our business goals of working on, and not in, our businesses.

If done properly, an exit plan will help you achieve your business goals, which will result in the freedom and fulfillment you’ve been working toward for years. In my experience, there are certain elements we should all consider in connection with leaving a business. The basic steps are briefly described below:

Step 1: First, seek the help of a CPA, lawyer and financial planner with whom you feel compatible and whose specialty is exit planning. Unlike a book or seminar, they will help you establish what you want from your future. They will also tell you exactly how to get there.

Step 2: An advisory team can test your goals by matching them up to hard numbers. I have seen "excellent" plans fail because the owner sold his company for the purchase price he wanted, but the net proceeds weren’t enough to maintain the lifestyle he had in mind. A hard-numbers test would have caught this flaw.

Step 3: Once goals are set and tested, it is time to write out a plan. Certain parts of it will involve legally binding documents that must be signed now. Not having these documents in place can and will destroy an entire plan. The plan should also be flexible for business, life or goal changes.

Step 4: I’ve learned that it’s important to have meetings annually (at a minimum) to ensure that your exit plan is on track. As business owners, we all work on our companies to identify changes, remove roadblocks to success, identify opportunities, etc. The same applies to an exit plan.

Step 5: Many owners leave their businesses unexpectedly because of illness or death. With this in mind, an estate plan should coordinate with the exit plan.

I am happy to say that exit planning helps me maintain discipline in running my businesses, and it will help me leave in my own time and on my own terms. It will also protect my family in case the worst should occur. As an entrepreneur, that’s the kind of freedom and flexibility I need.