When is it Time to Sell a Business?

There are some reasons that someone might want to sell their business. You may have had a plan to pass the business down to your children, but they are showing a lack of interest. You may have been struck with illness and don’t have the ability to work the business anymore. No matter what challenge you are going through, understanding more about selling your business and when to sell it is important. In this article, we are going to talk about the best time to sell a business.

Taking the Emotions Out

While you may have invested much of your time, energy and money into your business, when it comes time to sell, you have to take the emotions out of it. If you don’t think you can take the emotions out of the sale, you may find it helpful to find a business broker to sell your business. Let’s go ahead and look at signs that it would be a good time to sell.

1) You Are Running Low on Resources

If you’ve been running your business for a long time but you find you are low on time, money or other resources, it may be a good time to sell. It isn’t uncommon for life goals to change as we progress through life. While an 80 hour work week may have been totally acceptable when you were a single young entrepreneur, you may be getting tired of spending so much time away from your family now. Your business is meant to keep growing and if you don’t have what it takes to continue that growth that is a sign that the time of you working the business may be in the past.

2) You Have Been Offered a Better Opportunity

If you’ve been offered a better opportunity and you want to capitalize on it, you may need cash to invest in the opportunity. Many people use the money from the sale of their business to move on to another opportunity. You may have been offered a high paying job that would take the stress of business ownership off your shoulders and you can use the money from the sale of your business for whatever else is important.

3) Your Business Experiences a Major Spike in Sales

The worst time to sell your business is when it is declining. When you experience a spike in sales, that is the best time for you to put your business on the market. If you try to ride the wave too long and sales start to come back down, you aren’t likely to get as much money as you would have if you would have sold the business when it was at its peak in sales volume.

4) Your Interests Are No Longer With the Business

Life can change very quickly and so can our interests. Running a business with your whole heart is challenging enough but if you are running a business with one foot out the door, it is likely your business is going to suffer. As soon as you know you may be interested in getting rid of your business, you should start preparing for an exit.

5) You’ve Reached Your Financial Goals

If you’ve reached your financial goals through the business, you may decide it is time to take a break and live a life that isn’t so high paced. Living a high paced life that is full of stress might have taken its toll on you. If you are ready to see what is on the other side of working long hours and spending time away from family, it may be a good time to sell.

6) Your Business Partners Want to Sell

Having business partners that want out may make it difficult to continue running the business as you are used to running it. The transition is likely to cause some upset so selling the business to a hungry buyer often makes more sense than trying to restructure and keep the business going. Speak with your business partners and see if they are willing to stay on until you find a buyer and go through the sales process.

Selling Your Business

When you’ve decided it is time to sell your business, this is when the work starts. Finding buyers and making sure that everything is in order with your business before you start trying to sell it is key. Unless you have experience in sales, you may want to bring in someone from outside to help you prepare and present your business to potential buyers.

Many people find it helpful to work with a business broker when going through the sales process. Business brokers not only know what they are doing and can help you prepare your business but they also have a network of interested people that are more than happy to look at a new business that is on the market. Trying to sell a business on your own can be very stressful unless you’ve done it before and even then it can be confusing and time-consuming when you are still trying to run your business.

Conclusion

Selling your business means you are making a big change in your life. Trying to do everything on your own isn’t always the best way to move forward. Working with a business broker can reduce stress and potentially help you get more money for your business.