The ultimate test of your business can be found in a simple question: would someone want to buy your company? Whether you want to sell next year or a decade from now, you must be building an asset someone would buy – otherwise you have a job, not a business. Here are eight ways to [...]
One of the things I loved most about my coffee business was its brand. Right out of the gate it summed up everything Chris and I wanted the business to be about. It was energetic, playful and unique. Caffinity was even fun to say, although the brand was about much more than a name. It [...]
Following is a short recap of some of the best articles I’ve read recently on selling your business, buying a business, business value, as well as other useful nuggets of small-business wisdom. [Plus a photo from my travels around Main Street USA.] Part of the formula for selling a small business is YOU If you read [...]
Looking back on the path of business experience that brought me to where I am today, I always smile when I think about the two-year whirlwind I spent working for a venture-backed Internet startup in my hometown of Seattle. With my freshly-minted MBA in hand, I decided to ditch the “old economy” and join the [...]
When it comes to selling your business, there are so many areas that require delicate handling that it’s hard to know which one is the touchiest. Perhaps no other part of the process of selling causes more angst and discomfort than the thought of telling your employees that they’re going to be working for someone [...]
Following is a short recap of some of the best articles I’ve read recently on selling your business, buying a business, business value, as well as other useful nuggets of small-business wisdom. [Plus a photo from my travels around Main Street USA.] Sell Now Or Keep Going? How One Entrepreneur Made Her Decision Good advice from someone [...]
Every two years we get swept up in Olympics fever at my house, and I tend to get hit the hardest. Snowboard cross, skeleton, curling — I’ll stay up to watch it all. Over the past week or so I’ve also watched several bloggers attempt to make elegant tie-ins between growing an “Olympic” caliber business [...]
Early in my corporate career I was in a team meeting where the manager asked us all to answer the following question: what are you motivated by? Sensing a trap, I kept quiet and let my unsuspecting co-workers take the bait. It was only a matter of seconds before somebody wearing his Gordon Gekko hat [...]
When it comes to TV entertainment for business brokers there are precious few shows that people like me can really sink our teeth into. I watch ABC’s Shark Tank for the same reasons most people do, namely to laugh at the ridiculous valuations and live vicariously through the sharks’ snarky comments. The History Channel’s Pawn [...]
Following is a short recap of some of the best articles I’ve read recently on selling a business, buying a business, business value, as well as other useful nuggets of small-business wisdom. [Plus a photo from my travels around Main Street USA.] Business Transitions: It is Hard to Let Go Business ownership transfers are inevitable, [...]
