Author: Mike Finger

The Hard Truth About Business Broker Lies

Without question you need to be able to trust your business broker. After all you’re hiring them to help guide you through what is likely the biggest financial transaction of your life. And honesty is either 100% or nothing . . . right?

Business Legacy is a Lie. Only People Matter

The business I sold in 2010 doesn’t really exist anymore. I’ve never written about this and it’s not something I talk about much either. It’s not that I’m trying to hide the story, and I’m not embarrassed by the fact that the business shut down. It’s just that the details don’t really fit well under one tidy subject area – until we start to talk about business legacy.

Things Get Screwed Up When I’m Not There

Is your business dependent on you? You rightly answer. . . “Of course it is you idiot, I’m a small business owner.” It’s completely understandable. You started the business from nothing. In the beginning it was only you. You made the difference.

If You Want to Sell Your Business, First Forget What You’ve Learned About Selling Other Things.

How different can it be? You’ve been selling for the last 30 years. You’ve sold cars, boats, your house, and all sorts of stuff on the job. Same thing, just a different color, right? Wrong. Most of us have never sold a business, so we equate it to other things that we’ve sold. But using what you know about selling other things can cause you incredible pain when you go to sell your business.

Poorly Endowed: The Small Business Owner’s Value Dysfunction

I’m sitting across the table from a small business owner (let’s call him Dave). Dave is at the end. His business is failing, or more accurate, the business has failed. It was a new food product – an ice cream treat. Carefully created, developed, tested, launched, distributed and sold. Dave and his wife worked hard.