My estimate is that at least 30% of business owners are older than 60 years old so in the next 10 to 20 years with the baby boomer aging population many of these business will be offered for sale my goal is to help you prepare for a sale by understanding and preparing in advance you will maximize your return and maybe add some more profit to the bottom line in the process.
The following list of reasons to sell is the most common reasons that I have come across in the hundreds of businesses we have looked at from our own acquisition endeavours. You may have other reasons to sell or exit your company or business but regardless of your reason the book has been prepared so that you can know and prepare in advance for the outcome you are moving towards. The more prepared and educated a seller is on the process then the sale will happen faster and simpler that will benefit both the seller and the buyer.
Divorce – It could be that due to a pending divorce a business needs to be either sold or valued so that one party or the other can purchase the business, or the business is sold the parties split the funds and go on their way.
Health Issues – The owner or owners of a business may have health issues that prevent them from continuing to operate the business this will be especially the case when an owner is a critical part of the management that keeps the business operating.
Retirement – An owner or owners have operated the business for many years and are considering an exit plan to retire and move to a new phase of their life.
Boredom – Many business owners have been operating the same business for many years and don’t find that its challenging as it was in the past, they may not be ready for retirement but would like to move on to something different.
Other – There are so many other reasons that someone would like to sell or move on, maybe it’s due to cash flow issues, or other investments that are requiring more cash this list goes on.
These are the most common reasons that I have seen yet sometimes there can be a reason advised that is not true.