Election day has come and gone (thankfully), and I’ve been pondering American virtues like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While we don’t hold a monopoly on entrepreneurship in this country, we are known as a people for having the pluck, determination and societal underpinnings that can turn a dream into a million-dollar reality. Whether you believe you built it — or feel as if you couldn’t have done it alone — it’s likely that the primary motivator for selling your business will be the same one that made you start it: freedom.

Before starting my first business in 2003, I spent a decade working for wireless service providers. There were a number of years when the industry went through a flurry of mergers, and I got laid off in two of them. I also got laid off from a dot-com venture when the bubble burst in 2000, so that makes a grand total of three times I’ve been given the boot. When I became a business owner, part of the motivation was to never again feel like someone else was controlling my destiny. I wanted the freedom to choose my own hours, work from anywhere and take a vacation for as long as I wanted without approval from anyone.

Of course, the reality of business ownership feels a bit different.

After you’ve been a business owner for a while, you realize that freedom is more elusive than simply being your own boss. Along with certain freedoms, business ownership brings absolute accountability and limitless responsibilities. In fact, most business owners confess to for themselves than they ever did working for someone else. While I have the freedom to meet my kids at the bus stop every afternoon, I haven’t taken anything resembling a real vacation — as in two weeks lounging on a beach — in almost ten years. Even if you’ve achieved the holy grail of operational irrelevance at your business, it can still feel like the business owns you.

I find it one of the great ironies of small business that freedom is typically the biggest motivator for both starting and then deciding to sell a business. After years spent as a business owner, most people eventually long for freedom from the constant worries and pressure – burdens they have gladly borne, but are ready to pass on to someone else. Just like in the beginning, you are interested once again in having control over your time and what you do with it.

Selling may also represent a newfound liberty: financial freedom.

The Money Versus Freedom Trade-Off

If you want the biggest payday possible when selling your business, you’ll have some work to do. I tell clients to expect it to take about a year to sell their business. Transactions also tend to be more successful – and lucrative – when you dedicate a period of time to preparing the business for sale before putting it on the market and looking for buyers. In other words, if you want to get maximum value for your business, be prepared to put your freedom on hold. Likewise, if you’d rather have your freedom immediately, it will most likely cost you in the form of a reduced value and ultimate sales price for your business.

When you think about leaving your business, think about the combination of time, money and freedom in your life. Does one take priority over the others? What trade offs are you willing to make to get them?