by theEmother | Feb 19, 2014 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, Consultant EXIT Options, exit strategy, Finish Unfinished Business, Online Strategy incl. www, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind, the business model
Regardless of whether you are implementing your Online Strategy as part of your business growth plans or whether it’s part of your EXIT Strategy, the best time to start is NOW!
Not only is the “Best Time” about demonstrating when your Business does what it does and when else it does/might do so (whether you’re directly involved or not). It’s also about forming part of your Finishing Unfinished Business criteria in terms of the timing to actually put your Business on the market.
What I mean by that is, if you maintain sales intensity for a set period of time only, then a buyer is going to be really interested in how she can extend such periods and/or activate them more often, eg: is your Business seasonal? If yes, when is it at its peak, so that a prospective buyer can get a real sense of not only what happens, but also a hint of what the potential is?
Maybe your peak is not seasonal, but driven more by the contracts signed and their term left to run. Say you have multiple contracts that run for 10 years each. It’s going to be more appealing for a buyer if the Business can be bought when there’s a long time left to run on those contracts rather than trying to sell when they have expired and run the risk of not been renewed!
Take my third and largest (7-figure) Business sold in 2011… It had contracts with one of world’s premier petroleum manufacturers for a 5-year term. Knowing that executing an EXIT was in the Business Plan, it made sense to put the Business on the market when the contracts were only two years old, thus giving way for the buyer to not only handle the re-contracting when due, but also to “court” the client, so they got to know and love the new owner before contract due date was nigh.
Same applies when you have got a lease on a premises that the Business can’t really leave easily. If there’s 2 years to run on a lease, that won’t be as appealing as say 20.
Same applies again to the Online Strategy. Is it locked and loaded, producing Google Analytics stats showing the up-trend in traffic. Having identified the key words as part of the initial set up and rollout, are they will relevant and what others need to be added. Is your website and other digital media activities delivering what’s expected?
If yes, then you need to be able to prove it, just like you can with contracts and leases, mentioned above.
Coming back to when your Business does what it does… are there other times when your Business could operate but you have chosen not to? because you do like to sleep some time! This can definitely be an opportunity of interest as a buyer may have ways and means to handle time differences. How can your Online Strategy really make the most of this?
Always keep your Business market trends in the forefront of your mind, know of opportunities and what’s possible, whether you have chosen to capitalise on them or not. Creating and rolling out your Online Strategy is certainly on way of availing of what’s happening in your market.
by theEmother | Jan 29, 2014 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, Finish Unfinished Business, Online Strategy incl. www, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind, the business model
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that I bang on about “start with the end in mind”. And how it’s really hard to do that without knowing what the “end” can look like. Throwing an Online Strategy into the mix may only add to the confusion…
Yes, there are sound universal business practices that should be used at start-up and during growth (Online Strategy included), which would have you in the best shape when the urge to purge takes hold. However, even if you only start getting your ducks in a row now, it will all work out swimmingly.
In a nutshell, to “start with the end in mind” is a mindset thing really, as much as anything else. Closely followed getting a handle on the form your business takes in terms of how a Business Buyer will see and value it… and it can all start today.
Even if you don’t have dreams of exiting your business through a sale (or something similar), what shape is your business in right now? How 21st century is it?
I’m sure you will be familiar with the old “how, what, when, where, why”. Add the “who” and you’ve definitely got the nucleus of your Online Strategy covered.
The most important place to commence with your Online Strategy is the “Why”…
- Why did you go down the path of setting up your business?
- For what purpose does it serve?
With any “why”, there has to be two parts…
a) why the world is a better place as a result of doing business with you? (the external driver of the business)
b) why you set up your business up in a way that suits you? (the internal driver)
Emphasis on the personal only ie “b)” is interesting in terms of your story but it only forms part of it. It’s imperative that there is a larger story at play at the same time, so that the attraction to the business from the external continues whether you are part of the mix or not.
Online, of course, lends itself to this perfectly!
So I ask again, why are you doing what you’re doing? And if wanting to have an asset to sell features somewhere in the answer, be sure to have the two considerations loud and clear in your “why”…
by theEmother | Jan 23, 2014 | build a Mother of a Business, buy | sell websites, Buy a Mother of a Business, growth by acquisition, Online Strategy incl. www, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind, the business model
So I’ve been shopping haven’t I.
Keen to make my next purchase.
But… the ones I’ve looked at in the past week just haven’t met the mark.
That said, I’m assuming that more websites will definitely come on the market progressively over the next weeks, once everyone is back in the swing of things, post the festive season.
I must say though… how addictive is Flippa!
I can get lost for hours trawling through all the sites on sale, most of which don’t meet my criteria but then it’s a bit like any shopping really. You can spend a whole lot of time doing it even though you have something quite specific in mind. I’m confident I’ll have found just the thing to purchase by this time next week.
If you have a website you’d like to sell and want me to have a look at, please drop me a line to sell@theentrepreneurialmother.com
Happy to explore that as an option with you…
by theEmother | Jan 22, 2014 | adventures with daughter, business ideas & thinking, entrepreneurial mothers, MEinc, Online Strategy incl. www, single parent l single mother, the business model
The school Daughter attends (pictured) has long recognised the need for an Online Strategy and like most businesses (of which a school is 0ne), the expertise to deliver it is not inhouse.
So last week I arranged one of my colleagues to sit down with the Sophia Mundi Steiner School Principal, the Parent Committee representative and Marketing Coordinator, the Chairman of the Board, the Registrar and myself to share and nut out what we proposed (based on previous conversations) and how to roll it out… a most productive meeting I must say.
The Online Strategy is now full steam ahead, with rollout commencing before school even goes back.
I’m very excited about this one as it has a direct bearing on not only the continued success of the school itself but also on a personal level. Daughter and I have invested time, effort and money into this fine establishment and we want more to know about it, we want to share the love! What better way than to ramp up the Online presence so others can find out more.
The other option is to call me and I’ll give my glowing testimonial!
If you want to follow its transition, keep your eye on http://www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au/
If you want to explore more about what a Steiner education, an alternative education, can do for you and/or your child, feel free to download “Swimming Against the Current”, an expose I put together from students, parents and teachers alike sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of their experiences.
A most enlightening read, even if I say so myself!
by theEmother | Jan 15, 2014 | build a Mother of a Business, business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), Finish Unfinished Business, Online Strategy incl. www, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind, the business model
As noted in late 2013, Bernard Salt the demographer comments,
“all the global financial crisis did was to accentuate a social and technological trend in shopping that was already well under way. I suspect the same logic applies to recent profound changes in business.
Business is always looking for operational efficiencies, one response has been the contrarian pursuit of new opportunities. But here’s the twist. The new business opportunities coming out of the past five years have split into two categories: the conventional and the unconventional.”
Disruptive Thinking is unconventionally very exciting; it is also the way of the future. Business Owners should not only encourage but facilitate disruptive thinking and thinkers.
Your Business Online Strategy is a classic form of the new Disruptive Thinking.
Hence why it is imperative that you get started on it now, if you haven’t already. It will be even more so when the time comes for you to sell, when your business to good to go on the market…
To watch Bernard Salt discuss Disruptive Thinking, click here
