Posts by John Allen
Elements of a Plan to Sell Your Business to Insiders
Today, we discuss the essential elements of a plan owners use to transfer a business to insiders that keep the owner in control until he or she is paid the sale price. If you suspect that the children, key employees, or co-owners you would pick to succeed you do not have the funds to…
Read MoreKeep or Sell Your Business Test
Knowing when to act and when not to act is a key component in all important decisions. Likewise, knowing when to keep your business and when to sell it can make a significant difference in the success of your exit and your future financial security. Take the following test and review your answers with…
Read More6 Reasons Your Business Won’t Sell for What You Want
There are many reasons a business might achieve less than its desired price upon sale, the most fundamental of which is that a buyer does not assign the business the same value as the seller. Here are some common company characteristics that cause buyers to downgrade value — and ways to address them in…
Read MoreIs the Bank With You or Against You?
Many business owners have mixed feelings about their banks and their banking representatives. They are unsure about whether they can be completely honest about their business without a negative impact on the bank relationship. On a daily basis, you do not spend much time thinking about your banking relationship. When the time comes to…
Read MoreValue Drivers? Yes! Between The Owner’s Ears? No!
Dawn and Preston Slater, owners of a machine shop with $7 million in annual revenue, sat down and announced, “We have decided to leave the business as soon as possible. We’ve got our management team in place and want to execute a transfer of the entire business in the next six to 24 months.…
Read MoreSo You’re Never Leaving…. Got A Plan For That?
We hear it all the time. Do any of these sound familiar? “I’m never leaving my business. I love what I do.” “I don’t intend to exit my business. I plan on working until the very end.” “I can’t leave my business. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself!” These are valid positions…
Read MoreA Race Against Time
Successful, active business owners seldom slow down. Many business owners are both great at planning (for their businesses) and terrible at planning (for themselves). There are so many great business challenges to tackle, planning for your personal ownership future can get pushed to the back burner. We all know that the only things likely…
Read MoreCan You Sell Your Company to an Outside Third Party?
We talk to business owners every day who “plan” to exit their companies via a sale to a third party because they believe that they’ll get more cash up front (and more overall) than if they sell their companies to insiders (family members or employees). Consequently, they believe there is far less risk selling…
Read MoreFormer Business Owners Express No Regrets About Selling Out
Business owners are still active after they sell their businesses.
Read MoreFailure to Plan Has a Price
I never worry about action, but only about inaction. –Winston Churchill “I haven’t decided what I ultimately want to do with my business, when I want to exit, how much money I’ll need, or whom to sell to. So how can I plan my exit? Besides, I don’t want to exit right now.” If you’ve…
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