How to Sell your Business

There are some entrepreneurs out there that have created and sold several businesses and made it seem easy. There comes a point with every successful business when the time comes to decide to scale your business or just sell out and let someone else take it off your hands. Business owners have lots of important emotional and financial considerations to make when considering a sale. For a start, they have to figure out what to do after selling the business. You can make a lot of money selling your business, but an entrepreneur isn’t satisfied unless they are running businesses, solving problems, and coming up with cool new products and services. When you get an offer for your business, it’s time to start thinking and planning.

Buyers Could be Anywhere

Understand that buyers can come from literally anywhere. You may even be able to sell your business to a key employee. They would be a good fit as they understand the business and are passionate about making it succeed. Consider grooming employees to take over the business for you when hiring them. It can take some time for a deal to close, but if you’ve decided to sell your business instead of scale it, then you can use this time to plan your next steps.

Prepare to Leave

Scaling a business and sale it begin with understanding how much it is worth, and how much more it might be worth. There are lots of variations to consider depending on the business itself, the buyer, and the deal in question. Keeping your books clean helps buyers, and you want to have lots of financials available in case of a sudden offer. There are also business valuation companies who can evaluate your business for you. Be sure to use a respected one with experience in your industry.

Negotiate Responsibilities

Selling out a business doesn’t mean that you’re done with it. Sometimes a buyer may request that you stay on with the company for a set period of time to manage special projects and keep the business running smoothly during a transition. Ask what kind of commitments a buyer expects from you, and plan and prepare accordingly.

Create Plans for your Time and Finances

How you plan on spending your time and money is an important consideration when selling a business. Think of it is something of an early retirement, but with the potential to get back into business soon. Do you want to take some time away from business to start a family? Do you have any other business ideas you want to start immediately? Or do you just want to relax for a while and recharge your batteries? It’s important to consider all of this when selling a business. It also plays into the choice of having to scale a business or sell it. Scaling a business often means losing even more of your free time and it takes money. Are you in the right position in life to scale a business? Or should you just sell it?

Never Do it Alone

This is not a decision that you want to take lightly. You should get some advisors that you work with and trust. Accountants, lawyers, and investment bankers are great people to have on your side. Consult with a financial planner about what to do with the money. Having a good team of people who have different strengths and weaknesses helps you to overcome any obstacle put before you and your business.

Categories: Business building, Online Business

Originally published at nomadify.business on January 6, 2019.