TEMpting: how Business Sellers and Buyers have been tempted this week…

What are you waiting for? GET YOUR SCORE…

[If any of the following tickle your fancy, please contact me by emailing sell@theentrepreneurialmother.com letting me know which one it is…]

 BS9 = Specialist Leadership and Talent Management Provider

Completed Sellability Score.
Looking to a 2013-14 kick off, getting all ducks in a row in the meantime.
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BS14 Leading Book Supplier
Completed Sellability Score
Financials received, more to come. Currently going through refinancing dramas!
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GET YOUR SCORE…

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BS19 Leading Wedding Services Provider
1st meeting had, waiting on Stage 2 financials – meeting to be set
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BS22 Business “Consultancy”
Completed Sellability Score
Stage 2 of process in play = Confidential Data Analysis

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BS23 Health and Well Being Studio
engagement locked in
FOR SALE

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BS26 Professional Services
Completed Sellability Score
“Business Planning; in Reverse!” session conducted, decision due end of July.
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BS27 Training Services Provider
via Linked In
Stage 3 of process in play = Pricing and Proposal
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BS28 Manufacturer
Completed Sellability Score
Referral, greatly appreciated. Stage 1 and 2 of process in play = 1st meeting done, site visited and additional information requested
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BS29 Accountancy
Referral, greatly appreciated. First meeting postponed to August.
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BS30 Online Business
Completed Sellability Score
Had started down process, but stalled…now back on track. Exit Strategy conversation now becoming apparent.
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BS32 Vending Machines
Completed Sellability Score
Looking to move interstate and looking to divest themselves of profitable business. Stage 1 of process in play = 1st meeting
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GET YOUR SCORE…
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BS33 Estate Agent looking for Broker of Online Businesses
referral, greatly appreciated…waiting on best time to chat
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BS34 Online Business
Via Webinar
Authority signed, marketing campaign good to go
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BS35 Book Binder
Completed Sellability Score
May have to sell as part of partnership split, looking for details accordingly
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BS36 Graphic Designer
via LinkedIN
Invited to complete the Sellability Score by way of getting the process started
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BS37 Cleaners
referral, great appreciated
!st chat determined way forward. Waiting on financials. Invited to complete Sellability Score
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BS38 Health Food
!st chat scheduled for Monday
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GET YOUR SCORE…
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The “Sellability Score” reports continue to dribble in each and every week.
More calls to make as a result and more emails to send 🙂
Onwards and Upwards!

 

when the time is right, it’s right…

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Yesterday, I had a call from a Business Owner who had had enough and wanted to get out. 21 years in business but now was the time to go… why?

  • Husband had suffered a stroke
  • parent had cracked the 90’s and was in need of care
  • they would have had 4 jobs in that timeframe
  • the Business Owner was no spring chicken herself
  • it all oiled down to being ready to sell up shop, take whatever they can and live happily ever after!

    Today, I received another call of a similar ilk.
    And yet another who had thought they’d sell but decided to just close up instead.

  • Is it about the Business Sale Tsunami, that many pundits have been predicting, being upon us?
  • Is it about appreciating family while you still have them?
  • Is it about Lifestyle choice?
  • Is it about just not wanting to DO it any more?
  • All of the above and more I expect..

    Needless to say, when going through this mind-game stuff, being the person confided in (and not having a vested interest), is such a a privilege. Assisting in the decision making process is not only personally satisfying, as I know it does good as it also provides a solution to a genuine need in our community. I must say I’m most pleased to be able to assist.

    how do trends affect your business?

    trendwatching.com TRENDS REFRESHED infographic

    Trendwatching.com do fabulous work and this revisit is no exception.

    Well worth revisiting these in relation to your business as well. What applies? What does not? What should apply? What should not?

    We’re often asked what is happening with previous trends. Here we take a look at five: where they are now, where they are headed, and the many opportunities they continue to offer.

    • SELLSUMERS: Will there be any consumers left NOT making some money on the side?
    • MATURIALISM: It’s a raw, transparent, mature world out there – time for brands to grow up or give up.
    • POINT & KNOW: Get ready for a POST-POINT & KNOW future.
    • ECO-SUPERIOR: Why even ‘carbon-neutral’ won’t cut it.
    • MADE FOR BRIC: And now let’s get busy with MADE FOR N11.

    With examples from UNICEF Sweden, Airbnb, L’Occitane, Google, Hong Kong’s Zero Carbon Building, and many more…

    Read it in full here! »

    trendwatching.com TRENDS REFRESHED infographic

    the importance of having around people you who Know stuff…

    20130625-225926.jpg

    Not just talk about knowing stuff.
    Not just learn about knowing stuff.
    Who actually Know stuff and stuff that is of use…

    Having been through a meeting last week, where I had posed a question that everyone in the room should have also known to ask but didn’t, made it all too clear the need for tapping into the right skill set, not necessarily the cheapest.

    The reason they didn’t have the advice offered? Because they had gone to their favourite garden variety advisors, who clearly knew nothing (in depth) about the topic at hand. In fact, they knew enough to be dangerous!

    What it means now though is the direction we thought we were going in has changed course. Just as well I had the learned advisor to go talk to. Otherwise we would have ended up going down a what would have eventually been an expensive and inappropriate path, only to discover it was in fact wrong, if not potentially a little naughty.

    Just today, I’m in a meeting with a prospective seller and he told us the price he wants for his business. When asked what it was based on, the (typical) answer given was “because my accountant said so” and “3x multiple is the norm, right?” Wrong! Especially in today’s market, there are no norms, hence why talking to a Broker who knows their stuff is equally as important.

    But how to find such people?
    There are always recommendations, agreed. More importantly for me though is the track record. Not just around the learning but absolutely around the execution, multiple times. Why offer yourself and your hard earned cash to be someone else’s guinea pig. I don’t get it.

    Even though waiting for my learned colleague to return from a long overseas jaunt seemed to delay proceedings, I knew it was worth the wait because the guidance offered is worth it’s weight in gold, if not more, meaning we won’t be paying out a guinea pig premium!

    What did make me cross was that each of the people sitting around the table had paid good money to go seek advise, only to have the exercise confirmed as a waste of time and money. It’s just plain wrong. I urge you to talk to those that know, Truly Know…

    to Sell or Not to Sell is often the question…

    Door

    Today I had a chat with a Business Owner, who had started down the process of taking her business to market.

    The Sellability Score had been completed. We were confident it would be sold and she was good to go… and then she went on a holiday. Today’s conversation was all about closing the doors instead.

    Why?

    Because she no longer had the stomach for the business, literally.

    Given the nature of its structure, some form of “earn out” was on the cards. However the thought of hanging around any longer, post holiday, was almost making her physically sick.

    To have such a reaction, the decision to close the doors, as at the end of the financial year, was an easy one to make.  If you cannot literally go into the office, then it’s time to get out. Even if others may not necessarily want that as the outcome!

    To her credit, she is the first to recognise that had she gone down the path, when still “in-love” with her business, then off to market we would have gone. As much as she was confident in our abilities to sell it, the process had started way too late for it to come to fruition.

    Moral of story: if you’re starting to think about getting out in the future, start the process now. Not to take it to market but to understand how Saleable your business is and then what to do about it when the time comes.

    Start with the End in Mind today, regardless of how old your business is, is a mantra you should be following…

     

     

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