Posted on June 18, 2013August 12, 2013 by Kim Brown — Leave a comment

Top 5 tips when starting a new business all over again

Top 5 tips when starting a new business all over again

Starting a new business all over again? What about your existing business? There can be many reasons for selling a business. It may be that you have realised that you are in the wrong line of business, and would like to switch industries. Or, you might have realised that your business is not performing as expected, and you would rather sell your business while it’s still making some profits. After all, over 50% of business start ups go under in the first five years. And, if you are lucky, you have a business that’s roaringly successful, and you would like to cash in the good will and start up a new business.

Start-up business owners usually have little experience of managing their own business. After they have done it for some time, the level of their awareness about the market and the industry is improved. Two years down the line, their vision improves significantly and they can spot opportunities better. For instance, let’s say you have a website that’s also making money. However, by virtue of your experience, you know that another niche is driving more traffic and could deliver more profits. You can always dispose of your existing business without making a loss, and hopefully for a big profit, and start a new business that appears more lucrative to you.

Here are five tips from highly successful entrepreneurs to guide you through the business-switching process.

1. Do Not Jump the Boat

Switching between businesses is like switching between boats. If you jump off one onto other, there are chances that you might end up landing in the cold water. Do not try to start a new business while you are still running your old one. This will require you to be disciplined in your thinking and actions. Once you are focused on a new business, you may get distracted and your old business may suffer in the process. You might not be able to concentrate on the sale of your old business and may lose money selling it a in a hurry. Also, your new business might also suffer because you would not be devoting full time and attention to it. The key is to do one thing at a time. Once you are convinced that you should be going for a new business, concentrate on selling the old business first. This will free important time and financial resources that you can devote to building your new business start up.

2. Devote Time and Attention to Planning

Starting a business is a difficult decision to make. It’s not something that you do in haste. It’s better to devote proper time and attention at each and every stage of the planning process. If, and we don’t hope such is the case, you are regretting to be in a certain line of business, it might be because you did not make a great plan. Dreaming is okay, but your dream must translate into facts and figures through careful planning. How will you finance the start up business costs? What will be your marketing plan? How will you manage the workload? What are your goals in 1 year? 3 years? What is your vision of your business? These are all questions you must ask yourself, and do not move ahead until you have put down every little detail into your laptop.
The problem here is, for many people who are looking to sell their business and venture on a new start up business, there may not be enough time to plan. Urgency may exist because the old business might be consuming too much time or returning too little profit, or both. Under such situations, do the best you can to make the transition smooth.

3. Evaluate the Business you are looking to Start

You’ll need to be 100% sure that the new business that you are looking to start is not all glitter and no gold. Remember that the grass always seems greener on the other side. So, make sure that you talk to a few people in your new line of business. Gather facts and figures about your target market. Evaluate whether the market would be growing in future. You should be careful not to get caught in a fad and be left high and dry when the excitement of the fad runs out.

4. Keep Marketing in the Centre

SMEs are at the centre of the British economy, providing over fifty-nine per cent employments in the country. At the centre of any successful SME, though, is a robust marketing strategy. Marketing is around what your new business should be built. You should start by profiling your target market. Think about the need that your product satisfies; then, think about the people who have that need. Ask yourself: what do my customers do to satisfy their need at present? How can I make a difference? That’s where marketing starts. From there onwards, you should think about the media that your customers watch, the places that they go to, and the product attributes that matter to them. After you have achieved clarity about what you need to do, focus on “how”. Think about the skills and resources that you’d require in order to meet the needs of your target market.

5. Learn from Your Old Business

Apply the learning from your old business to your new business. As Einstein said, “insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results”. You should be doing everything right the second time. However, you’ll need proper monitoring and constant evaluation of your performance in order to be able to apply corrections to your business strategy. Make sure you have a system for monitoring and evaluation in place in your business plan.
Lastly, (but as a matter of fact, firstly), you need to sell your old business profitably. This should be your priority, because you want to capitalise on the time and the efforts that you have invested in your old business.

Business start up is not easy to set up but you’ve done it once before so it should be easier the second time around!

Kim Brown, Co-Founder of Business Wand, helps business owners navigate their way through the start to finish process of selling a business. Her specialty is to help owners cut costs and increase profits prior to sale. To understand how you can sell your business quickly for the highest sales price, purchase the book, “How To Sell A Business: The #1 guide to maximising your company value and achieving a quick business sale”

Posted on June 11, 2013December 25, 2018 by Joanna Miller — Leave a comment

Interview: The Management Buyout (MBO) Alternative

Looking at a Management Buyout Business Sale in Hindsight

There can be no denying the wisdom of hindsight. Looking at things that have already happened gives us important insights and learning. The paradox with the hindsight is that you cannot go back in time and fix things that went wrong. However, we can all learn from other people’s experiences when we are going to do something important in our life. Getting a university degree, setting up and running a business, and selling a business are some of the important things in life where we can gain lots from looking at other peoples’ experience.

Selling a business was a conscious choice that Sandra and her husband made. They were running a creative services agency with many blue chip companies as clients, and they ran it successfully for over thirty years. Then, one fine morning, they realised that the passion had gone out of their work. Their decision to sell the business as a management buyout and walk away to something new had “different motivators for each director”, says Sandra when asked what prompted them to exit the business. “My husband was tired of running the business for over thirty years and wanted to have some easy time. I wanted to move to something new. I had fallen out of love with the business.”

For many people, the desire to have a leisurely life or to do something new can be powerful motivators for planning a business exit. Many entrepreneurs start businesses that they are passionate about. They take pleasure and get their kicks out of what they do, and that’s why they are often successful. After you have done something for a long time, it often loses its charm. It’s the same with business. It is natural to feel that you have had enough, or that you are not interested in the business as much as you used to be. At such moments, it is best to think about a business exit before the diminishing interest takes a toll on the business performance. You know that you have arrived, and you want to celebrate your success.

“What was your original business exit plan?”, I asked Sandra.

“As major shareholders, my husband and I wanted to sell the business to the remaining two directors first. We thought it would be much simpler and easier, as the directors already knew everything about the business performance and strengths.”

Sandra and her husband were taking the obvious route to business exit and chose to take the management buyout option. However, as she would later realise, selling a business to management was much more complicated than she and her husband had initially thought. Negotiating with their directors over a long period of time turns out that it was not something they were fully prepared for.

The process was emotionally “very hard”, says Sandra. “…when business partners that you had excellent working relationship with, and previously had always pulled towards to same ends suddenly had to negotiate with each other. The uncertainty is horrible with the changing scenarios – one day the sale is on – one day the sale is off – emotional roller coaster.”

You can never afford to underestimate the complexity and the emotional stress of going through the process of a business sale. When selling the business internally, be prepared to detach emotionally from the people you’ve been working with and concentrate on a fair deal. The sale process is full of uncertainties and surprises, so be prepared. At the end of the day, you don’t want to throw away the business. You want a price that should reward you for your hard work, and leave you enough money to start whatever you are planning to start next.

“We backed out of the sale”, said Sandra when asked about the final outcome. “The sale value was not enough on its own to make us financially independent, and our next business ideas needed time to start monetising, and so in the end we realised that the sale value was simply not high enough for us. We are now looking to put long term value into the business – which we should have done years ago!”

There you have it. There’s no harm in walking away from a business sale when you feel that the price and the terms do not suit your interest and doesn’t reflect the true value of the business, why give it away to someone else if you can do more with it yourself? Though, be prepared for the repercussions that it would have, as you might not be on the same terms with your directors and other parties that you’ve been trying to sell to.

I wrapped up the interview by asking Sandra, “In hindsight, what are the things would you have done differently, if anything?”

“There’s 1 thing I would do differently. And that is to build long term value into the business. Realised that the main value of the business was US, which is useless if you want to sell. If I had my time again I would (1) develop products using the skills developed during my career and (2) Develop IP around the methodology that our business has built up, eg. by writing a book on this methodology – and create thought leadership position.”

Those reflections are interesting as more and more businesses these days look for ways to innovate and stand out for the crowd. Creating products provides another string to the business bow and can help in times of uncertainty and help smooth out those seasonal variations. On a last note, I did mention to Sandra that it wasn’t too late to take heed of her own findings and enjoy the journey of their management buyout alternative.

Joanna Miller helps business owners navigate their way through the start to finish process of selling a business. Her specialty is helping owners understand how to prepare and make the most of their business sale process to maximise their company’s value. To understand how you can sell your business quickly for the highest sales price, purchase her book, “How To Sell A Business: The #1 guide to maximising your company value and achieving a quick business sale”

Posted on June 4, 2013December 25, 2018 by Joanna Miller — Leave a comment

Sell your business equals entrepreneurship?

Sell your business = entrepreneurship, really?

The other day a business owner told me that he would only consider himself a successful entrepreneur only after he has successfully sold his business. Needless to say my response was one of amazement and I was a little incredulous because I disagree. You don’t have to sell your business to call yourself an entrepreneur. It’s only a label and given the challenges of starting a new business, surviving to break even and growing it to turn a profit, I would say that’s entrepreneurship in its own right and everyone who’s done that deserves to wear the badge of entrepreneur with pride. In fact, in my book, anyone who’s started a new business and had to wrap it up is also an entrepreneur, that includes Kim and myself.

Selling your business could be seen to many as icing on the cake that is ‘business’. Just another goal/achievement to be ticked off a long ‘to do’ list (‘Sold business? Check.). But to link entrepreneurship to selling a business seems to only be acknowledging part of the journey instead of the whole and certainly misses out the startup phase.

Not everyone wants to sell their business, especially if they’ve used our ‘Calculate Your Walkaway Price Pack‘ and discovered that they are better off keeping the business to suit their lifestyle (whether that’s desired or current!) and indeed some have deliberate plans not to. And that’s perfectly alright even though this website is targeted at those that do want to sell their business! I wouldn’t exclude them from being entrepreneurs because of that decision that they’ve made.

But as we know everyone has their own definition of entrepreneurship. Some define is as having more than one business startup (which may lead to a successful business sale), others say its depends on the size of the company (be it number of employees, revenue, profits, number of offices, international presence?). Would you give yourself the ‘entrepreneurship’ label only after you have successfully sold your business?

Posted on May 28, 2013December 25, 2018 by Joanna Miller — Leave a comment

Value your business using a valuation multiple

Value Your Business – the Multiple

There are a number of ways in which to value your business. Two popular financial calculations that are used to estimate how much your business is worth are:

A valuation multiple
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

This article will focus on how to use a ‘valuation multiple’ and we’ll be covering DCF in a separate article later this week.

In our ‘Calculate Your Walkaway Price Pack‘ we included a worksheet that covers three popular business valuations for you to complete for your business.

First of all, let’s define what a valuation multiple is. The valuation multiple is used to multiply a business economic benefit to arrive at an estimate of business value. Revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are just two examples of what the business economic benefit could be. The actual multiplier value depends on the type of business, the forecast for future sales and many other factors.

It really is a simple calculation and it’s based on your last full financial year set of results:

Business Value = business economic benefit x valuation multiple

Your market will most likely have an average ‘valuation multiple’ based on past acquisitions in that sector using a particular business economic benefit.

For example, it could be 2x sales or 3x EBITDA.

Perhaps a business recently sold in your industry – do you remember what their figure was? If you don’t know, you could always ask a business broker or if the acquirer was publicly listed, the information will be on their website as they have to declare the terms of the deal.

Use the industry multiplier as your starting point and then you can adjust the multiplier when applying it to your business. Bear in mind that you may have both positive and negative influences when you do that.

Positive influences on raising the multiple figure would include:

Innovate products and solutions
Strong brand and dominant market share
Low number of competitors
Strong profit
Strong customer base
Reoccurring contract revenue

Negative influences that will reduce the multiple figure include:

Strong competitors with better products and services
Declining market share
Few Customers that make up 20%+ of sales
Legal action

Hopefully your business will have positive influences and no negatives which will help that multiple. Once you’ve valued your business then its time to focus at how you can directly increase and sustain your sales and/or profits (the business economic benefit) so your business valuation increases.

So to recap, what you need to do is:

Decide on the business economic benefit to use
Use your industry’s valuation multiple (or use 2x sales or 3x EBITDA)
Adjust the multiple up/down when applying to your business
Perform the calculation!
Focus on increasing your business economic benefit

Which leads to maximising the valuation for your business.

Simples! You have now successfully valued your business. DCF is up next…

Posted on May 23, 2013April 2, 2016 by Kim Brown — Leave a comment

How You Sell Your Business Will Determine Its Selling Price

How You Sell Your Business…

When you decide to sell your business you could make 50% more or 50% less depending on how you sell your business. When it comes to the how’s, here’s a list starting from the worst way to sell (lower value) to the best way to sell (higher value):

Liquidation
Book value
Unsolicited offer to buy from a competitor
Professional contact introduction
Private Equity Group
Strategic Buyer through a Broker
Strategic Buyers in a Bidding Process

The Liquidation value of a company is often used if a business owner dies or becomes ill. The value does not include goodwill, company earning potential or client lists. By selling your company this way, you’ll get the least value possible. On the flip side, getting Strategic Buyers in a bidding process is the ‘holy grail,’ of selling. This allows for competition and has the potential to increase value through demand.

How you sell your business is a fundamental aspect regarding the value you ultimately achieve. While trawling through YouTube, I found an excellent video that outlines the various ways to sell a business in addition to explaining why. To get a full description on each of these methods, watch the following video created by MidMarketCaptialInc.

How You Sell Your Business Video

Posted on May 8, 2013December 25, 2018 by Joanna Miller — Leave a comment

How To Sell Your Business In A Downturn

“Sell your business in a downturn? Are you crazy?”

This may the reaction that you get from friends and family if you are planning to sell your business in the current economic climate.

It’s not as bad as it appears

Downturn, recession, depression, slump – whatever you call it, there is no doubt that the world’s major economies have been suffering a tough time over the past few years, and there are those that would suggest that you would be better to wait until the storm blows over. However, figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics show that last year, the value of UK company acquisitions was over £20 Billion – so even if the figures are lower than previous years, there is clearly still plenty of opportunity to sell your business in a downturn.

So if you find yourself in the position of wanting or needing to sell your business now, there’s no need to listen to those who think you’re crazy. You may even find that the process is easier than it would be during times of economic growth, because there’s less competition in the marketplace. It is still perfectly possible to sell your business in a downturn, while getting a fair value for all the hard work you’ve put in to make it grow over the years.

Four Steps on how to sell your business in a downturn

To maximise the return on your investment of all that money and sweat, it’s worth bearing in mind the following steps. Several of them apply to selling your business at any time, but in a downturn they become especially important as corporate finance is limited and asset values are generally depressed:

Present your best face – Ensure that your business is as enticing a prospect as possible for a potential buyer. Of course, you always try to run a tight ship (right?) – but now is the time to take the opportunity to make it even tighter. Take a look over the company’s accounts and make sure everything’s up to date. Tidy up those ledgers, tax returns and bank account records so that any buyer can see what they are buying, and that there are no hidden surprises. Renew your leases, insurances and software licenses (and while you’re at it, why not see whether you can use the fact of the downturn to negotiate a better deal?) The better face you can present to the world, the more valuable your business will appear.
Be flexible – In a downturn, there is no getting around the fact that there are fewer buyers and, unfortunately, there is less cash available. After all, that’s pretty much the definition of a recession. This is the time to be flexible about how the deal is done. You may find that there is someone who is willing to buy your business, but would rather make the purchase by means of a loan, or by offering shares in their business, or giving you assets such as buildings or land in return for your business. This may not be your favoured option, especially if your reason for selling your business in a downturn is to release much-needed cash. However, don’t dismiss the possibility without considering it carefully, because you may find that the assets you’re offered now end up appreciating in value as the economy recovers and business confidence returns to the market.
Have a convincing business plan – Anybody buying a business in a downturn will recognise that they are taking on an element of risk, so you can calm their fears by taking a long, hard look at your own company, and developing a fresh business plan that shows how it can maximise profitability from this point forward. You probably developed a business plan when you first set up your business, so follow the same steps now to analyse your market, your competition, the prospects for future growth and ultimately, the value of your business to a buyer. Don’t forget that they will want to see a good return on their investment, so spend a little time and money on advice from your own lawyers, accountants and bank managers to make sure that your calculations represent a realistic prospect of profit for the buyer.
Finally, consider whether your business actually has some benefits in a downturn. Some businesses actually do better when times are tough, such as those dealing with asset repossessions, or discount retail. If you happen to be operating in these markets (or could expand into them), then now is your time to shine! Make sure that buyers recognise the benefits of buying your business in this downturn – you may actually be a better prospect now than in the boom years.

Whatever your motivation, just remember that if you are selling a genuinely valuable business, an economic downturn need not be a barrier. Be prepared to be patient, as things may be slower than you would like, but if you follow the steps above, you can hang on to get the best deal for your business.

Posted on May 7, 2013April 2, 2016 by Kim Brown — Leave a comment

Video Review: How To Sell A Business In A Bad Economy

How To Sell A Business In A Bad Economy

Although this video was created in America during the Fall of 2011 everything the presenter discusses is valid today. How to sell a business in a bad economy is just as pertinent today as it was then! The presenter, Bill Whitehurst, of Whitehurst Mergers & Acquisitions explains that now, more than ever, the good will value of a business needs to be substantiated to prospective buyers. Mr Whitehurst outlines three managerial tools/resources that can be created to help buyers to better envision good will. Within the video, you’ll learn about the importance of a ‘Procedural Manual’, ‘Training Manual’ and ‘Formalised Sales & Marketing Program’.

If you’re thinking about selling or preparing to sell, this 4 minute video is worth a view.

For more help on how to sell a business, please read the free first chapter of ‘How To Sell A Business: The UK’s #1 guide to maximising your company value and achieving a quick business sale” To get the free chapter, go here: http://sellyourbusiness.biz/how-to-sell-a-business-free-chapter/

Posted on April 24, 2013August 12, 2013 by Kim Brown — Leave a comment

Living in the business exit void

The Business Exit Void

Whenever I was asked, ‘what will you do after you sell your business,’ I always responded that I’d start a new business but do it better, quicker and easier. I knew that once I completed my business exit I’d take a 10 day holiday and then start building a new empire.

Goes to show you how much I know myself (or don’t know). After my business exit I dabbled in a bit of this and a bit of that. I went to meetings, considered consultancy, attended a monthly business club, wrote a book on the nature of reality, became a Day Skipper (yachting), started being an at-home parent, set up a website and another and another and soon settled into a void. Nothing seemed to excite me. I would create a business plan or empire and then the following day think, ‘no…I don’t really want to do that.’ My plans to start on a new adventure didn’t seem to materialise.

Luckily I had enough money to coast for a while so finding work wasn’t a short-term necessity. But after several months I wondered if I was lazy – perhaps I didn’t like to work. Perhaps the only reason I did create a successful company was because I was in it for the money. And if that’s the case am I going to have to bumble along until my money runs out and I have nothing to show for all my hard work. (Can you see a crisis coming on?)

I’m sure there are many business owners that exit and know exactly what they’re going to do but this ex-business owner became a lost sheep. I had defined myself so much by my previous job that I didn’t really know who I was, what I wanted or even what I really enjoyed doing. By the time of my exit I was disillusioned with the business world. Part of me wanted to buy a house on Fiji and become a Yoga guru and another part of me wanted to get my mojo back and start something fun and interesting. I didn’t know what I wanted nor did I fully understand my options. I didn’t know what I didn’t know!

Rewind a year previous and I felt stuck, trapped, undervalued, and overworked. Yes – it was my company and yet I felt stifled by it. I wanted to be free! And then after almost a year of negotiations, uncertainty, doubts and sleepless nights my wish for freedom came true. Free at last. Now what?

The reasons to exit and the business exit process can be so consuming that life after the business doesn’t get attention. And perhaps that’s okay. Since my departure I’ve done a lot of soul searching and can honestly say that I now know what it means to follow my heart rather than my head. Rather than doing what I was good at, I took a back seat and let my boat drift around while taking stock on what I liked, didn’t like and where I wanted to go.

It’s taken over a year for me to get my mojo back but this mojo is different. Rather than jump into doing what I’ve always done, I’ve taken my time and changed my entire lifestyle. I’ve gone from being a control freak stressed business owner workaholic to a calm, centred enthusiastic entrepreneur with a portfolio of fun and interesting projects. I’ve learned how to create a life I want to live rather than work endlessly to enjoy a life later.

So whether you are just starting out on your business exit journey or are nearing the end I thought I’d share my living in the void story with you. At least if it happens, you’ll have the comfort that it’s not just you.

Posted on April 16, 2013December 25, 2018 by Joanna Miller — Leave a comment

Interview: Bored Business Owner Steps Back Rather Than Sells Out

Business owners that have become bored or frustrated with their business have a range of solutions. They can:

Close down the business (drastic!)
Pass it on to other family members
Put it up for sale
Go on a course to spur up new ideas, new connections
Remove themselves from the day to day running
Do nothing and become more and more unhappy

After twenty years of owning the successful Green Board Game Company, owner Gary Wyatt felt bored and thought the time had come to sell. Gary explained that he “fell out of love with the original idea.”

When asking Gary how he found the process emotionally he said, “I went to a “free” consultation with a particular business sales consultancy and had follow-up meetings with them. I was not overly impressed with the consultant allocated to my business. It seemed that they didn’t care what business I had. It was all numbers based. Their approach was to try and create an auction by telling everyone they could find that the business was up for sale. ‘Another brick in the wall’ sprang to mind.”

Gary went on to explain, “Emotionally, I really didn’t like this as I had spent a long time building the business. It had my personality and love in the products and I wasn’t prepared to sell it in such an impersonal way. I had visions of the Pink Floyd video with mincemeat coming out of the production line.”

As a result, last year Gary decided against selling and instead installed a full time Managing Director. Since the transition Gary has selected the tasks he enjoys, reduced his time at the office and has successfully groomed the MD to push the company forward. He now spends his time the way he wants and has eradicated the not-so-fun business management tasks. When asked if he’s happy with his decision, Gary comments, “I couldn’t be happier.”

Before finishing the interview, I asked Gary what he would have done differently, and this was his response:

Thought through whether I really wanted to sell the business
Analysed what I would do with my time more thoroughly
Found a more empathetic business sales consultant
Talked to people who had gone through the process
Researched likely purchasers myself

Interview Takeaways

When first considering a sale, there are quite a few things to take in, and sometimes it’s easy to get caught up with one train of thought. If you’re bored, disillusioned or simply tired of managing the business there are alternatives to selling out. Aside from bringing in an MD or management team you could also consider going on a business growth course. Sometimes an injection of new ideas and new connections can recharge your enthusiasm.

Sometimes it’s a matter of paying more attention to what you enjoy and how to get back to that versus what you don’t particularly enjoy. And then take action to redress the balance. I remember times during our business growth spurt when I felt that my passion in the business was being sucked into HR and growing pain challenges and issues. I became bored and frustrated, thinking I was stuck. I blamed it on necessary management tasks but I realised in time that while growing the business it gave me the opportunity to develop people to work in the business so I could get back to working on the business which I loved doing.

The message is this – if you’re bored or feel frustrated there are solutions! Hopefully this interview has given you some food for thought.

Posted on April 11, 2013April 2, 2016 by Kim Brown — Leave a comment

Life After Selling A Business

Selling your business – Define your life after selling a business so you know your aiming for

Business owners choose to sell their business for a variety of reasons. Some want to move away from pain and others are interested in moving towards more pleasure. One business owner might want to escape personal exhaustion whereas another is eager to seek out a new exciting challenge. Some owners might feel forced to sell for personal reasons (health or relationship issues) and others might think it’s time to cash out before the business peaks.

Regardless as to the particular reason for selling it’s imperative to spend time defining what life after selling a business will be like. In other words, the sale is not the end goal – it’s a milestone towards a new life.

Imagine that you and I are sitting in a coffee shop a few months after your business sold, what would your likely response be to the below questions? Pretend that everything went perfectly and you’re now living your ideal life. With that scenario in mind, answer these questions as if they’ve already happened:

What’s your life after selling a business like? How do you spend your time? How do you feel about the activities that have replaced your old life?
How’s your health? How do you feel about your health?
Who’s in your life – what relationships do you have, what do you do with them and how do you feel about them?
How do you feel about yourself? Do you like who you are? Do you like this new lifestyle?
Are you enjoying the fruits of your labour? If yes, what are the results of cashing in? (What have you purchased, how has the money impacted your life and how do you feel about it?)

Contrary to what most people believe, life does not progress in chronological order. Life actually starts off with your end result and then your life progresses to meet that end result. In relation to actually selling your business, it’s important to think about a smooth business sale process in addition to visualising your completion party but that’s not really the end goal. That’s just one step towards the new lifestyle you’re seeking out.

The end goal is your post-sale lifestyle that you hopefully took the time to think about by answering the above questions. The way that life works is that you define what your ideal life is and then you go out into the world, take action (any action) and things, events, people fall into your path to direct you to your predetermined ideal life.

If you haven’t determined the end result, then you’ll most likely continue living and feeling the way you do right now, however the stage props might be different. Instead of having a business around you, you’ll have some other surrounding.

If you’re struggling with this concept, think back to any large success that you’ve achieved. To achieve that specific success (and not something different) you must have defined it. You decided that you wanted X and then set in motion to achieve X. Depending on your beliefs about reality, you went on a smooth or bumpy journey yet eventually arrived at the end result. Selling your business and transitioning into a new life is similar. Decide what you want, feel what it feels like to have it and then go out and take action.

This is the number 1 most important step in selling your business. If you keep doing/thinking what you’ve always been doing/thinking, you’ll get the same results. A fantastic lifestyle change is there for the taking and all you need to do is just claim it.