by theEmother | Jun 11, 2011 | build a Mother of a Business, entrepreneurial mothers, EXIT execution, exit strategy, how to sell a business, Sell Your Business, SELL your Mother of a Business, so you think you're in business, start with the end in mind
Starting a business is a BIG deal. Building it to become more than your hobby is even bigger again. In fact, building your business into an asset may result in it being possibly the largest asset you’ll ever own, or second maybe to your home. So what about when you want to Sell your Business, what then? As discussed on Westpac’s Ruby Connection…
If trying to sell it is what you eventually want to do, then get strategic about WHAT it is you’ve got, how it is someone else could do it and therefore who that special someone might be that will love it as much as you once did. Think about it this way, would you put your home on the market without a little thinking and TLC-driven renovation first? so…
What is the “story” of your Business?
Why did you start it? Who was involved? Are they still with you? What happened to them? How is it legally structured ie Pty Ltd, partnership, sole-trader? Why the Business name? Is it registered? Any trademarks/patents? How long has it been going? Does it look today like you envisaged when you started? Is there still a need for what your Business does? And why? Why should someone love it like you once did?
The evolutionary history, as well as its current story, is all-important.
What does your Business sell?
List everything; not just the features, but the benefits to your consumers as well. Why do your consumers buy from you? Did your Business always do what it currently does? If not, what did it start out doing? What happened? Why did you stop? Why the change of direction? Why the current choice? What other options are open in your market that you haven’t done yet? Who else does what you do?
What financial records does your Business have? (eg: Tax Returns and BAS)
Profit – that’s what a buyer wants to know about. To “prove” that requires “real” paperwork, not just what you can pull out of a financial software package. ATO tax returns and submitted BAS’s, Certificates of Currency for insurances, and reports of any forecasting done is what they’re after. This paperwork is very important to a prospective buyer because that’s what they will base a lot of their “valuation” decisions on. These records provide evidence that your Business is a worthy asset.
Starting with the end in mind TODAY, regardless of how old your business is, means you can start to, slowly but surely, gather and assemble the answers to each one of these questions, to be able to convey to a potential buyer WHAT it is they are buying…
Next… Who?
by theEmother | Jun 7, 2011 | build a Mother of a Business, EXIT execution, exit strategy, PrimeTimers, SELL your Mother of a Business, Seniorpreneurship, so you think you're in business
The following recent article raises the question of Boomer spending, once they start spending post-workforce, and what that timeframe might look like. I’m sure it’s fairly typical of the held view in the market also. Only one thing missing is….
No mention of Boomer (or as I like to affectionately refer to them – PrimeTimers) Business Owners. What about those who are still toiling away in their own businesses, and are looking to EXIT over the same period. The Business Sale Tsunami is about to hit us allegedly. So what happens when the value they thought the business was worth is not what the market is willing to pay? Or if the business has not kept up with advances, in requiring an online presence for example, what then? What price? And then where does that leave their pseudo “Super”…
Business Owners beware… if you’re not preparing NOW for the SELL of your lifetime, then you may not end up in as good a place as you had expected, and dreamed of…
They might be still toiling but when they finally pull the plug, this generation will spend up big, writes Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon for TheAge.com.au.
Baby, the boomers are back! After having their retirement plans clobbered by the worst global downturn since the Great Depression, really the Great Recession, they are on the cusp of finally realising the life-after-work dream.
A staggering 46 per cent of boomers who are still toiling are doing so because of the credit crack-up, a study we conducted for the latest issue of our sister publication, Financial Review Smart Investor, has found.
But 31 per cent now expect to retire in the next five years, with almost another third in the five years after that. Their average age will be 64. To get to that point in this investment climate, though, they’ve had to make sacrifices beyond just delaying retirement. Twenty-eight per cent were forced to sell investments, probably at the worst time, and 18 per cent had to pull back on their lifestyle.
This is the first generation to retire with superannuation, which became compulsory in 1992, but that was too late and, thanks to the financial crisis, now far too little. A massive 78 per cent of boomers make additional contributions to redress their retirement funding shortfalls. So where will their money ultimately come from?
Read on…
And don’t forget, there are also PrimeTimers who may also end up getting into Seniorpreneurship!
What I mean by that is, regardless of what Baby Boomers may have done in the past, they still want to continue to contribute. They don’t want to retire yet and nor do they want to work as they once did. So why not buy a smaller business, even online, and play to their hearts content.
Good idea?
by theEmother | Jun 5, 2011 | business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers, MEinc, single parent l single mother
or Daddy?…There was a time in history when no one had a job as we think of it. It was only in the last century that the modern concept of a “job” as work exchanged for wages and benefits was invented.
In the past three decades the social and economic fabric that created this employment system has frayed and now is rending before our eyes. Around the world floods of young people face economies in which there may never be a sufficient number of jobs by the standard definition. In older industrialised nations the ability of employers to pay both good wages and benefits is increasingly challenged. Employment has gone completely global. The acceleration of technology has meant that fewer people are required for many tasks.
So what will become of employment in the next twenty to fifty years? Any quick search will offer lists of exotic-sounding jobs of the future – gene pharmers, space tour guides, body part makers, Hollywood holographers, and the like. Such lists are entertaining. They may even be accurate. But they miss the deeper story of the future of employment.
read on
In the future, people will work “stints” rather than “jobs”, writes Glen Hiemstra for HumanResourcesMagazine.com
by theEmother | Jun 4, 2011 | business ideas & thinking, events, women in business case studies
The next exciting stage of voting is the ‘People’s Choice Award.’ Huggies are asking the Australian public to vote for their favorite idea and the mum with the most votes will win an additional $10,000 grant.
Voting has opened and will be running until June 12th. I encourage you to vote for your favourite idea. I have!
Huggies announced the 5 winners of the $20,000 MumInspired grants. The ideas range from hearing aid devices to top of the range breastfeeding bras. Check out the winning entries here: http://www.huggies.com.au/muminspired/winners-2011/.
I hope you are one of them? Please let me know if you are…
Check out these links if you need to refresh your memory!
Huggies Website: http://huggies.com.au/muminspired
Facebook page: http://facebook.com/HuggiesAU
by theEmother | Jun 3, 2011 | business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), Online Strategy incl. www, so you think you're in business
If you want to learn how to prune an apple tree you could take out a book from the library, sign up for a course at your local college or spend a few minutes on YouTube watching how it is done. The first two learning methods – reading and instruction – have been with us for millennia; YouTube is new. There has been some use of video in learning, but it was expensive and hard to access. YouTube is universal.
Most of the “how to” videos on YouTube are aimed at people’s personal life; topics range from how to make a baked Alaska to how to apply mascara to how to check the transmission fluid in your car. But the range of topics is truly mindboggling and includes management topics like negotiation skills, giving feedback, and business writing.
YouTube is free and fast; easy to use and easy to share. It’s available at your desk or on your smart phone. If employees can meet their training needs using YouTube, why do we need anything else?
read on
Something to definitely pay attention to…
by David Creelman for HumanResourcesMagazine.com
