Author: exitoasis

Understanding Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE)

Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) goes by other names: owner’s benefit, total owner benefit, seller’s discretionary income, etc. All these terms are designed to answer one question: What is the financial benefit of being the full time, owner operator of your business? When the costs of the business are met, what’s left over for you as the owner?

Unrealistic Seller Expectations – The Wrong Way to Exit Your Business

Along the way, I’ve heard many sad, and even sometimes horror stories, of people sold their businesses the ‘wrong’ way. It is heartbreaking to see years of blood, sweat and tears invested into a company only to have it end in a big fizzle out. The regrettable part of this is that it can be prevented by doing some simple, even basic, exit strategy planning.

It Sure Looks Like Lipstick on a Pig From Here

Don’t make the same mistakes we see in this business for sale article – sales pitch with deep undertones of a failed business. Warning! Warning! Warning! There are certain warning signs that tell you you’re dealing with a failing business, before you ever see the financials.

Positioning a Business for a Merger or Acquisition

Selling a business is different than selling anything else, and your prospective buyer will closely scrutinize your business before they make an offer. Are you ready for that level of examination? Jim Grebey helps you get ready in this article originally posted here. (re-posted with permission)

How Best To Respond ​To An Offer To Buy Your Business?

What do you do with an unsolicited offer to sell your business? It’s exciting, it’s surprising, and it’s confusing. I just sold a small business from a surprise offer, and there’s a lot to consider in a short amount of time. Our good people at The EXIT Firm help provide some great advice below (from an article originally posted here).

3 Reasons Why We Decided To Sell Our Business

“When you feel yourself become unwilling to make what you know are the right decisions for the growth of your business based on personal or emotional reasons, take it as a sign that it may be time to get out.” We love the real life stories of those who have built and sold businesses. Barbara Taylor tells a simple, and compelling, story of her journey. See original article here.

Dead Capital in a Business (and Buying a Job)

Great story here from David Barnett. Things get very real at around the 5 minute mark from our perspective. Talk to any business broker and they can tell you stories about business owners who believe in an inflated value of their business. It’s easy to understand why the owner in this story thinks his business should be worth more, but equally easy to understand why a buyer would never pay it.