ARTICLE: Why consider using a Business Broker (just like me) to Sell your Business?

ARTICLE: Why consider using a Business Broker (just like me) to Sell your Business?

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Trying to sell your business on your own, having not done it before, can be fraught with danger!
As the old adage goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know!“. There’s always the chance that you luck your way through, and all hail to you if you manage to do so.

But what I know for sure is, as an experienced Business Broker, is that most do not sell, or sell well.
You (as the owner) eventually use a Broker after trying unsuccessfully.
In many cases, all that’s unfortunately been achieved is that it takes a whole lot longer to sell and by potentially taken your eye off the business ball, the numbers may then reflect the distraction (which is not good for sale purposes)…

So why consider using a Business Broker from the outset?

  • We are licensed to assist in the buying and selling of businesses, at the State level
  • We have insights, gleaned over many years, into specific industries or type of businesses
  • We maintain confidentiality of buyer/seller
  • We act as a buffer between the buyer and the seller
  • We have a working knowledge of accounting, financing, legal, marketing etc to avoid unnecessary surprises in a transaction
  • We play the role of the “conductor of the orchestra” and even the “project manager”.

If trying yourself is what you want to do first, then watch out for these common mistakes to avoid when exiting. Not:

  • Focusing on the bigger picture
  • Doing your own research of your own market
  • Thinking through the “risks” – almost impossible to be “risk free”
  • Entertaining a willingness to accept risks •Example: Special conditions that can “kill the deal”
  • Regarding the probability of things going wrong
  • Reviewing the seriousness of quantifiable damage
  • Budgeting for upfront costs
  • Adapting “generic due diligence checklist/template” to your needs or size of the transaction •Example: Using a checklist suitable for multi-million dollar enterprise on small businesses
  • Deeming it worth the extra expense to seek input from accountants and solicitors with your particular industry expertise, while maintaining an existing relationship with your accountant or solicitor.
  • Being sure of who or what professional to seek appropriate advise from
  • Understanding the limitations of what the professional advisors can provide
  • Giving appropriate instruction to the professionals engaged

The following are 5 tips to help enhance the sale price of your business… by answering these 5 questions, you are seeing your business popping on Buyers Goggles.
Is it:

  1. Profitable?
  2. Renovate-able?
  3. Automate-able?
  4. Scalable?
  5. Saleable? (i.e. not revolving around you)

If the answer is no to any of these, then you/we have got work to do. Contact me.

 

BID; support Charity; win 30mins of talk-time with me…

BID; support Charity; win 30mins of talk-time with me…

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Just think, 30 minutes dedicated to asking all those niggling questions that you’ve had sitting in the back of your mind for some time but just not got around to asking… NOW IS YOUR CHANCE!

I am proud to be involved with Mummy Mentoring Festival – raising funds for Alannah & Madeleine Foundation.

I have donated 3 sessions to help wonderful women, working from home, all across Australia.

 Check out this great charity event and how you can win a 30min phone session with me or any one of 37 mentors from all fields of expertise/business.

BIDDING STARTS TOMORROW 26 October… go forth and win!

http://bit.ly/1Yxa8OY

WIN! Could you be as BIG as Naomi Simpson or Janine Ellis? 

WIN! Could you be as BIG as Naomi Simpson or Janine Ellis? 

Competition for The Motivational Speakers Contest
Have you ever thought to yourself  “I could be really big… I’d love to do what they do”?
OR… what if building your profile is the way to actually EXIT?
OK, lets think about this…
Given one of the biggest hurdles to selling a business that revolves around its owner is because it does just that, what if you could build it so BIG that even though your name is on the door, it continues generating revenue and therefore making it particularly saleable.

How to do this?
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be invited to speak on stage with some of the biggest names in the industry? To travel internationally, change people’s lives and get paid really, ridiculously well for it?
And what if you can trial it for F*REE?

My personal friends Cydney and Carrie from Motivational Speakers International have worked on some of the biggest earning speaker campaigns across the world and they are looking to take on a select few Elite speakers this year.

They are actively looking for 3 things:

  1. Speakers with a desirable and marketable program to sell
  2. Commitment to speaking and delivering trainings for 5 years (or more!)
  3. Credibility and integrity

If this is you, then you absolutely have to check out the Market Leader Showcase Competition!

You could win 1 of 2 fully sponsored places to the Market Leader Showcase program, where you’ll get plugged into the proven marketing machine that positions YOU as a market leading motivational speaker…

 With the entire team at Motivational Speakers Australia behind you, you’ll almost certainly have event promoters and speaker-hungry-corporates chomping at the bit to book you…!

 If you are ready to become a high earning international speaker, and you fit the criteria above, go now and enter your application to win.

Although this opportunity is ideal for up and coming speakers and seasoned professionals who are looking to leverage the reach of the Motivational Speakers Australia Brand, have MAGAZINE COVER EXPOSURE featured with Celebrity Speakers, and want Regular Marketing to Speaker-Hungry-Event hosts… It’s really going to be amazing for anyone who wants to be an internationally recognized speaker!

 There has never been a greater opportunity for marketable, confident speakers than there is now. 
Enter the competition HERE:  
and find out for certain if it is a good fit now to grow your speaking and training business exponentially.

 

I can’t wait to hear your name declared as one of the winners!
And when you’re rich and famous, I can’t wait to sell your business…
GOOD LUCK!

PS: Here’s the link again. Go now and apply for the competition.

ARTICLE: should I Start or Buy a Business? that is the Question!

ARTICLE: should I Start or Buy a Business? that is the Question!

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An excerpt from my article featured on www.startsatsixty.com.au talking about popping Buyers Goggles on to investigate all the different buying opportunities there are…

Many people think that the typical small businesses offered for sale are only those such as cafes and other food or retail outlets, however almost all types of businesses do come up for sale at some point in time. (There is of course the option of tapping an existing business owner on the shoulder and asking them to consider thinking about selling as well).

I strongly encourage you not to make a decision about starting a business until you have investigated what the market has to offer, to see if there are businesses available within the area that you are interested in. By buying, this will enable you to “jump” into a revenue-generating business and leverage off the hard work already undertaken by someone else.

Unless you are looking at developing and delivering something unique into the market place, or you have previous experience to take a start-up business to a stage where it is profitable in a short time frame, buying an established business will generally be more instant, attractive and financially rewarding.

Want to read the full article, here it is…

ARTICLE: Four Ways to Protect Your Patch…

ARTICLE: Four Ways to Protect Your Patch…

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Warren Buffett famously invests in businesses that have what he calls a protective ‘moat’ around them – one that inoculates them from competition and allows them to control their pricing.

Big companies lock out their competitors by out-slugging them in capital infrastructure investments, but small businesses have to be smarter about how they defend their patch. Here are four ways to deepen and widen the protective moat around your business:

Create an army of defenders

Ecstatic customers act as defenders against other competitors entering your market, a factor that has enabled many businesses to defend their market share in their market.

Get certified

Is there a certification program that you could take to differentiate your business? For example, a RTO (Registered Training Organisation). It was a lot of paperwork and training, but the certification process acts as a barrier against other people jumping into the market and competing in the same way.

Get your customers to integrate

Is there a way you can get your customers to integrate your product or service into their operations? Can you offer your customers training in how to use what you sell to make your company stickier?

For example, like how you use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Once the CRM of choice is creating a weekly sales funnel in a CRM platform, it harder to convince you to move to another. That’s what you want your product or service to achieve.

Become a verb

Think back to the last time you looked for a recipe. You probably ‘googled’ it. Part of Google’s competitive shield is that the company name has become a verb. Now every time someone refers to searching for something online, it reinforces the competitive position of a single company.

Is there a way you could control the vocabulary people use to refer to your category or specialty?

Widening your protective moat triggers a virtuous cycle: differentiation leads to having control over your pricing, which allows for healthier margins, which in turn lead to greater profitability and the cash to further differentiate your offering.

Which makes it even more Saleable when the time comes…

Interested in knowing how your business rates at this point in time?
Opt-in (over there ->) and receive the TEMpter which will take you through a checklist to ascertain just how ready your business is to sell right now…

Go on, it’s F*REE!

 

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