When to Hire a Business Advisor
How to Overcome Customer Concentration Objection When Selling a Business
What is the Value of My Business and How to Improve It?
How to Prepare and Include the Business Owner’s Family in the Exit Planning Process
For the business owner who desires a great outcome, including the business owner’s family in the exit planning process, as well as the decision to sell, is vital.
How to Prepare for Due Diligence When Selling a Business
Our Featured Advisors, Attorney Mark Fazio and Business Broker Neal Isaacs, answer a few questions to help business owners learn how to prepare for due diligence when selling a business.
DBAs, Trademarks & Other Tools To Help You Grow A Valuable Business
Earnings Growth Versus Revenue Growth
Contribution Margin Formula
How is a Business Valued
What is Exit Planning?
EBITDA Margin and Adjusted EBITDA Margin
Risks in Your Business Relationships
Business Value
EBITDA Valuation
Enterprise Value
Buy-Side and Sell-Side
Non-Solicitation Agreement
Subordinated Debt
Asset-Based Lending
Quick Business Valuation
Exclusivity Agreement Definition
Rule of Thumb Definition
Intangible Assets
3 Steps To Increase Your Business Selling Price
When a business owner begins to negotiate the sale of his or her business with buyers for the first time, he or she will inevitably face a difference between the buyer’s offer price and the desired selling price. It’s at this point when a lively debate between the parties will occur over the underlying reasons for the business’s asking price being what it is. At this time a seller will be well-served if able to offer justification for an increased business valuation and a higher business selling price.
Google Analytics Reports: What Are Visitors Doing on Your Website?
You’ve invested in Search Optimizing your website with better content, meta-code, and Social Media links. Traffic to your site has increased, and you’ve even started to receive more calls and orders. What’s next? The first thing to realize is that SEO is an open-ended process that is never really complete. It comes with victories and setbacks, and you need to be vigilant about the ways in which your web visitors interact with your site.
Keeping Track of Your Competitors’ Intellectual Property
As businesses grow and develop, so do their intellectual property (IP) assets. And if these businesses are engaging in proper IP management, they are filing trademark and patent applications to protect their IP. However, because of the public nature of both trademark and patent prosecutions, one may get an inkling of their competitors’ business plans if they monitor these application filings. Though not a perfect way to predict the exact nature of your competitors’ future offerings, keeping track of IP filings can be a guide to where your competitors are moving.
Exit Planners: Help Business Owners Make Companies More Profitable
My business partner, the author Jack Beauregard, and I recently had breakfast with Lorraine McGregor from Vancouver, BC Canada. Lorraine is the author of books on Exit Planning and Entrepreneurship, as well as an experienced business consultant. We were all discussing why so many business owners were delaying (the inevitable) transition planning from their businesses.
Employee Retention Strategies During the Sale of a Business
Adjusted EBITDA Definition
One of the many questions asked by entrepreneurs as they plan for the sale of their business is related to the Adjusted EBITDA definition.
The Advantages of Buying an Existing Business
Most individuals who consider themselves entrepreneurs believe they must start their own business to earn the title. However, what some do not realize is that the entrepreneurial spirit can be fulfilled in a variety of ways, not the least of which is purchasing an existing business. The following is a list of advantages for buying a business over starting one from scratch.
Mezzanine Debt: Growth and Acquisition Capital
As markets recover post-recession, business owners are presented with growth opportunities. However, a business owner may not have access to the capital needed to execute on a growth strategy. Where does a business owner turn?
Employees Ownership Incentives — Implications When You Sell
Many entrepreneurs faced with the demands on cash of a growing business are tempted to sell equity to outside investors, or perhaps give away stock to retain a valuable employee. Diluting your stake in this way may solve the immediate problem, but it can have unforeseen consequences when the business eventually is sold. Stockholders’ personal circumstances evolve in different ways over the lifetime of a company, and whatever the original intention everyone may not be on the same page when you are ready to sell.
Surviving Due Diligence & Contract Negotiation
You have endured multiple meetings with potential buyers. You’ve written dozens of emails and suffered through several rounds of negotiations to secure the best price and deal structure. At last you have decided on the offer to accept. That’s the worst of it over then? Think again – you have yet to experience the joys of due diligence and sale contract negotiation.
How to Calculate Customer Concentration Risk
If a customer’s total revenue for the year represents 8% or more of all revenue for the same year, you have a customer concentration risk.
5 Ways to Prepare a Business for Sale at a Higher Price
The reasons for selling a business are many and varied; in the end, however, the desired result is the same – money. So how does one go about maximizing profit when selling a business?
The Value of a Business Plan in Selling Your Business
A business plan is critical to the success of any business. And, if the plan is frequently reviewed and updated, it becomes increasingly valuable over time. It provides valuable historical information to help a business owner make decisions on the future direction of the company.
Non-Solicitation Agreement | How to Keep Your Best Employees
If you’ve grown a valuable business, there is no doubt your employees are a big part of your success. You also know that hiring, training, and managing a great team of productive employees is a difficult task. And keeping your best employees is yet another accomplishment! But the painful truth is your competition would be very pleased to hire away your best employees.
Three Keys to an Effective Performance Management System
For most companies, the end of the year is a time when employees and leaders go through the annual review process. This process is designed to rate performance for the year and, if applicable, apply a merit increase. Many companies consider this their performance management system. A true performance management system however is much more involved.
What is my Business Worth Calculator
Most entrepreneurs build a business with a view to an eventual profitable exit. Most probably have lifestyle aspirations in mind that imply a certain amount of money to be realized from a sale. Whether they are looking at an exit now – or a decade from now – they need more than the subjective opinion of friends and acquaintances as to how much their business is worth.
Business Buyers: Finding the Perfect Match When Selling Your Business
In many cases, the Entrepreneur finds it difficult to know who they should target as a potential buyer for their business. At first glance, any buyer with a checkbook may be attractive. In practice finding the right buyer when selling a business is both an art and a science.
What is a Trademark? Trademark Definitions & Considerations
The legal definition of a trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods and services. Most commonly we think of names and logos, but marks also include taglines, slogans, and even product shapes, sounds, smells, and colors.
4 Ways to Increase the Value of a Business
Often, business owners ask me one of those “quick questions” – what can I do to maximize the sale price of my business? The answer? Not as simple as you may think. But there are 4 factors that can increase the value of your sale price.
Definition of EBIT
EBIT is an acronym for Earnings Before Interest and Taxes. This is a term Bankers often use as a measure of a business’s earnings from operations. The EBIT reveals operating profitability without non-recurring or unusual income or expenses.
When is a Good Time to Sell A Business? | Lessons from a Selfish Entrepreneur
This is a story with an unhappy ending. I heard this story from employees who worked for a company many years ago. I knew the company well and as far as I know, this is the truth.
When Selling a Business, Valuation is a Factor and Timing is Everything
As I meet with entrepreneurs, I’m often asked the same question: “When is the best time for me to sell my business?” The answer to this question is not the same for every business owner, for many reasons.
Optimizing For More Conversions (and maybe) Less Visitors
Definition of EBITDA
EBITDA is an acronym for Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization. EBITDA is often used as a measure of a business’s cash flow. Also it is used frequently in many business valuation formulas, depending on the business’s specific industry.
What Does Gross Revenue Mean to Your Profitability?
Profitability is directly related to a company’s gross revenue, particularly as it relates to its varied customer types. What does gross revenue mean to your company’s profitability? Everything. Let’s back up to review the concepts we’ve covered in previous posts so we may explore gross revenue further.
How to Increase the Value of Your Business
The best solution to a problem lies in uncovering what the root cause of the problem really is. So often, this is the case when an entrepreneur is struggling with profitability in their business. Over the past few posts, we have discussed the concepts of how a minimum order policy and Pareto’s Principle applied to the customer/client base can be very powerful to help an entrepreneur improve the value of their business.
What is a Trade Secret and How is it Protected?
Proprietary information such as customer lists and recipes are intellectual property. However they are not formally protected in the same way as are trademarks, copyrights or patents. These and other types of confidential information can only be protected if they are treated as trade secrets.
Increase Profit Using 80/20 Rule
If you own a business, you want to know that your entrepreneurial efforts will result in making money. However, many entrepreneurs struggle to recognize where they are making money and where they are not!
The Importance of a Minimum Order Policy
Most entrepreneurs find themselves extremely reluctant to turn away an order for any reason. The notion of telling a client or customer that their business or order is too small is frightening to even the most seasoned entrepreneur. However, if you don’t want to leave money on the table, and instead desire to make more profit, setting and enforcing a minimum order policy is absolutely necessary!
Inherent Business Risk That Impacts the Value of Your Company
One of the most crucial, yet subjective, aspects of any business valuation is determining the specific company risk premium of the business being appraised. The specific company risk premium varies with each company and is intended to be an adjustment to reflect a variety of circumstances inherent in the company and its industry.
The Most Dangerous Traits of an Entrepreneur
As I listen to the stories told by many entrepreneurs, it reminds me of the dangers they face in part because of their own abilities. Many entrepreneurs are literally jack of all trades. They are very good at doing many things! This trait has allowed them to strike out and start their own business. How in the world could this trait be bad you wonder?
Intellectual Property Definition & Why You Need to Protect It
Intellectual property is a concept that is not obvious to most people; you probably have heard of it, but what is it really? Intellectual property is the result of human ingenuity and creativity and the law provides mechanisms through which creativity can be protected. Intellectual property can be broken down into three parts.
Key Questions When Transferring Your Family’s Business
Anyone who owns a family business is intimately familiar with the blood, sweat, and tears associated with building and then keeping the business viable. Nevertheless, it is not unusual for the business entrepreneur to postpone consideration of various issues involved in transferring the business to the next generation, including determining the value of the business.
What Is A Patent & What Are Patent Requirements?
A patent is a governmentally granted monopoly that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell their invention for a limited time, in exchange for disclosure of that invention. There are three types of patents: design patents, plant patents, and utility patents. Generally utility patents are being referenced when you hear the word ‘patent’ and these will be the focus of the rest of this article.
The Deceptive Busyness Trap
The Deceptive Busyness Trap℠ is a debilitating business problem eroding cash flow and stifling growth.It’s a common issue facing many business owners who, over time, unknowingly become subject to its influence.
The Importance of a Buy-Sell Agreement
For every entrepreneur, a smooth transition of business ownership will be of importance at some future point. The Buy Sell Agreement deals with a specific exit strategy case. An agreement by and between business owners, it establishes a mechanism for the purchase of ownership interests following the departure of an owner due to a triggering event (i.e., death, divorce, disability, retirement, etc.).
2 Ways to Increase Profit in a Business
If indeed, a greater amount of profit remaining at the bottom of the Profit & Loss Statement is what a business owner is striving for, then one should consider undertaking this exercise before attempting to grow the business by increasing sales.
Understanding the Sales Process Gap
“We need sales training” is a comment expressed by many business owners who feel frustrated that their company is not realizing its full growth potential. Many times this comment is rooted in a frustration caused by gaps in the existing sales process that impede profitable growth. The lack of an effective sales process is one of the top challenges for many entrepreneurs trying to grow a profitable business.
Benchmarking to Improve the Value of a Business
Understanding a company’s operating results is an important factor for a business owner to determine the value of a business. However, the operating results must be placed in the proper context by comparing them to results of the industry as a whole. By doing so, a business owner is able to understand how they are doing financially relative to their industry peers. This exercise is known as benchmarking.
Stay Bonus Plan Definition
Understanding Business Valuations (Transition Plan for the Business Owner)
At some point in time, every business owner will leave their business (voluntarily or involuntarily). Through proper planning, an owner should expect to achieve their desired goals. Statistics show that the value of an owner’s business accounts for over 90% of their personal wealth. However, more than 75% of all business owners do not have a formal transition plan in place.
