Dear E-Myth
Reader,
As the owner of a small business, chances are you're also a baby boomer between 43 and 61 years old. Whatever your
age, be aware of the coming tide of businesses for sale as boomer business owners retire, liquidating businesses for retirement assets.
What are your plans for your business? ...sell soon ? ...sell later ? ...have the kids take over ? ...just close the doors ?
A solid exit strategy will anticipate trends and steer towards your favored goals. And having documented systems in place will increase your business' value, and will ease the transition to new ownership. Prepare your exit strategy and take advantage of our Year-end Discounts on our Special Offers page.
What's Your Exit Strategy?
It was Benjamin Franklin who said "By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail."
We recommend that you design an exit strategy before the market is awash with businesses for sale.
Perusal of the popular press turns up numerous articles on this coming tide, as do web searches on terms like "boomers selling their business". The approaching events are clearly on the radar of mergers and acquisitions firms and financial advisors.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers found half of US business owners plan to sell in the next decade. Another source expects 40% of family-owned US businesses to sell within five years. What should you be doing now?
Be Smart, Patient and Prepared
Factors favorable to sellers include times of economic expansion, low capital
gains tax rates and low interest rates. Negotiate cautiously, as small business owners are likely to sell exactly one business per lifetime, while active corporate buyers work multiple deals each year. Consider that
Active buyers have the advantage in business valuation and negotiation
Business-valuation-by-owner is often low, typically minimizing profits for taxes' sake
Business owners are often impatient to sell
A vital negotiating point is the strength of your documented business systems and financial statements. Turnkey systems add to a business' value and ease the assumption of control by new owners. In this area particularly, an E-Myth'd business will have a
value significantly higher than a similar business without documented systems.
Year-End Specials
We've got cool year-end specials on our programs. See the Special Offers page for details.
On The Website
December 6 we have a Virtual Training Seminar on 'Documenting Systems'. Check the Calendar for details.
The Instant Business Evaluation at the E-Myth website is still running. At your request, an E-Myth program advisor will discuss your results with you at no charge. On the front page, check out real-life small business success stories in 'How We Did It', clients speaking in their own words about E-Myth Mastery. The poll question
'How has the current credit crunch affected your business?' will be in place for another week. Check the results and cast
your vote at the E-Myth website.
Yours Truly,
The E-Myth Team
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My E-Myth
