Local Business Spotlight: Ennis Legacy Partners — Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief

Most business owners know how they got into business. Far fewer have a plan for how they will eventually get out. This week, we spoke with Joe Markovitch, a certified exit planning professional with Ennis Legacy Partners, about why "turning off the lights" is not much of an exit strategy and why every owner, ready or not, will eventually leave the business they built.

Joe walks through the real work behind exit planning, from understanding whether a business is actually sellable to building transferable value, cleaning up financials, strengthening management, reducing owner dependence, and coordinating the accountants, attorneys, brokers, and other advisors who need to be involved. His point is simple: the best exits are planned years before they happen, not after burnout, health issues, or an unexpected offer forces the decision.

The conversation also gets into the part of selling a business that does not show up on a balance sheet: identity, purpose, regret, and what comes next. For many owners, the business is not just what they do; it is who they are. Joe explains why a good exit plan is not just about the transaction, but the transition into a meaningful next chapter.

Ennis Legacy Partners offers a free exit readiness assessment at ennislp.com, designed to help business owners understand how prepared they are financially, personally, and operationally if they had to leave or sell the business sooner than expected. Joe also hosts the Exit Readiness Podcast, another useful resource for owners who know they need to start thinking about the future, even if they are not quite ready to say the word "exit" out loud.

Have a listen.

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