Many insurance agents dream of the day when they can sit back, kick up their feet, relax and enjoy the rewards of their hard work. They may be thinking they'll just slow down and work less, or they may think they want to retire completely.

Either way, they typically have only one of two options in mind for their business when that day comes:

• Create a business that runs on its own and provides its owner with consistent cash flow — one with very little dependence on owners being present to accomplish growth.

• Sell the business to an outside investor for a nice valuation, based on a multiple of the practice's revenue or earnings.

Whether it's the automated cash flow machine you want or a sell-out, both of these strategies would be a great option for a successful advisor to have in order to live the retirement years they've always dreamed of. But 9 times out of 10, these business people either end up with a practice that is much more dependent on them than they expected, forcing them to work and not retire at all. Or the valuation they get on their business and what they thought it would be worth, are miles apart.

I spoke with a successful financial advisor recently — let's call him “Mike” — who was at this point in his life. He was reaching retirement age and was very proud of the business he had built over the last 30 years. He knew all of the blood, sweat and tears it took to build his business. He was sure the business would be very attractive to buyers, and expected to get a high valuation for it. Besides, he had heard, the bigger the business, the higher the multiple he would get. Unfortunately, outside investors had another opinion on what his company was worth.