- Plan early—Most successful business owners sit down at the end of their fiscal year and create a business plan for the following year or a set of projections to help keep them on track with their goal. Do you have a target age for retirement? Good. Now you can work backwards from there. What does your business need to look like in order to retire comfortably? How much do you need to grow each year to meet your goal?
- Know what your business is worth– Speak to an advisor to understand how your business is changing in value. This will allow you to track the value of the business and make the best decision of when you should sell.
- Simplify or record your procedures– There is an old saying in the car restoration community: “Never buy someone else’s project.” If you are the only one that knows how things work or the best way to do things, it will make your business more difficult to sell. Going through this analysis allows you as the owner to identify where you are too involved and where you can make your business operate more efficiently.
- What can you delegate? —Business owners are wired a bit differently and want to control everything in their business. This is well-intentioned and understandable, however before you take your business to market, you should take an objective look at your role in the business and see where you can delegate responsibility.
- Keep your foot on the gas—Once you start thinking about selling your business, human nature takes over and you start to care less about the small things. 9 out of 10 of the businesses we take to market sell within a 4-6 month period, so think of this as the final push to achieve your goal rather than cruising across the finish line.