The Best Way To Profitably Exit Your Small Business

Someone sent me a message on Facebook recently and asked what is written on a journal that you can often see in the background of my Periscopes. It says:

Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

It’s the perfect sentiment for my previous Periscope, Why What You Create Matters – what you create also matters when you need to think about the best way to profitably exit your small business. 

I help business owners get results in their business. It’s one of the things I love to do. I love to strategize, I love to figure out the best way to increase revenues, and I love to help people figure out profits. This also includes knowing how and when to profitably exit your small business.

I have a little bit of experience with this. I’ve sold a couple of companies – one for pennies on the dollar, basically selling the value of my inventory, handing the keys to the person, and walking away. I’ve also sold one for over 6 figures. I understand what it takes to actually exit your business and leave with some money. I also understand what happens when you leave your business without money.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty about how you actually plan to profitably exit your business, I want you to know there is no shame in wanting to exit your business.

Lots of people build businesses primarily for the purpose of exiting them. Lots of people set their business up for acquisition, or to be able to sell to the next person so they can take that money and invest in something else or start another company. So, if you love your business and never have a desire to exit that is OK, but if you want to build equity in your company and sell it so that you can make money and exit gracefully, then this is a good Periscope for you.

5 things that are really important for you to know about The Best Way to Profitably Exit Your Small Business are:

1. The time to sell is not when things are in disarray.
2. Keep your books clean!
3. In the months before you sell, make sure you are generating the most profit possible!
4. Secure long term business – if you have a service based business.
5. For retail businesses – sell your dogs! Get rid of the inventory that isn’t continuously bringing in money.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think is important when exiting your business.