Read This Before You Sell Your Business

Entrepreneurs devote a considerable part of their time and energy to building and nurturing business and taking it to a successful level. It is only fair that when it comes to selling the company, they should get their due.

While pricing is important, it is not the only factor that should be considered. It can be hard to digest, but what matters is how the deal is made.

What will you prefer? Selling your enterprise for $15 million and keeping $1.5 million or selling it for $10 million and keeping $3 million? This may seem like a no-brainer, but for many owners, the highest value paid for their business takes priority.

It may be tempting to see high dollar value assigned to your hard work, or it can be merely the pleasure to boast about the high-stakes sale. The urge to sell the venture before it’s time just because you are getting a reasonable price is not feasible and should be resisted.

The Importance of Planning

I Believe I Can Fly/shutterstock: Have a proper plan in motion before selling a business

The step requires asking yourself a lot of hard questions and being honest while answering. Nobody wants to be stuck running a business that does not excite them or make them happy. Eventually, what happens is, the operations are sold at the first decent offer. It may result in payment of abnormal taxes that could have been avoided by proper planning.

Consider this real-life example. A family business was run and operated for several generations. The command was automatically passed down from one eldest member of the family to another.

Roobcio/shutterstock: Proceed with caution while selling a business

Over some time, they accumulated massive losses, legal disputes, and fights broke out within the members.

Why?

They never paused to ask whether the person taking the reins was fit to do so? More importantly, did they want to do it? Many problems would have been solved if people were just honest with themselves.

Set Your Priorities

Photon photo/shutterstock: Have some priorities for a successful sale

The single most crucial factor for the accomplishment of your goals is to be clear about them and work towards achieving them with unwavering efforts.

When you start a business, determine the long-term picture for your entity. It will help in making routine decisions more manageable and will put an end to procrastination. You will be doing yourself and your business a favor by being honest.

Only after you have figured out the motive for your actions can you expect your business to be valued at its true worth. Be ardent enough to ignore any distractions that come your way.