You’ve decided to create an exit plan, and now it’s time to find out how much your business is worth. What if the value comes in lower than you expected? In this week’s Insights article, we talk about common issues that contribute to a low business valuation and how to move forward.
You’ve been reading our series and have decided to do some exit planning. You’ve audited your time, started planning for your free time, and have an idea how much money you’ll need for the next chapter. Now it’s time to find out what your business is worth now, so you can create a plan to get it to the value you need it to be. This week’s article shares the information you need to gather for a professional valuation, and what to do if you don’t have that information ready.
How do you determine the value of a business? We discuss four methods for determining value, along with the variables and complexities that valuation professionals must factor in. You can address some of these factors ahead of time to set yourself up for the best result.
Ask a business owner over the age of 50 when they plan to transition or exit their business, and you’ll get one of two answers:
– a blank stare, or
– “I’ll work another 5-10 years and call it quits.”(And if you ask this person again in another 5-10 years, you’ll likely get the same answer!)
The bottom line is the same – most business owners lack a plan for leaving their business. Read the article to learn what goes into an exit plan.
It can be a self-perpetuating cycle: a business owner tells me she knows she needs to delegate so she can create bandwidth to plan ahead. But she can’t hand anything off because she hasn’t documented her processes which would allow someone else to follow the same steps and get similar results. Why hasn’t this happened? Because she doesn’t have time because she has so much on her plate.
Read the article to learn how to break this cycle and get out of your own way.
