Those of us searching for good news about credit availability find the search to be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Recent changes to the Small Business Administration’s 7(A) guaranty loan program provide one such shiny needle for owners of companies with purchase prices between $400,000 and $4 million.
Under new rules, [...]

You can not believe it! You decide to sell your business and the next day it seems that half the city knows you are trying to sell. What affect will that information have on your employees, vendors competitors and customers?
This is a real concern once you decide to sell. The next thing you know is [...]

Ultimately, your ability to get top dollar for your company may depend on your ability to create an employee incentive plan that will motivate and keep good management. An important characteristic of any successful incentive plan is that key employees earn the incentive bonus based on a performance standard that, when attained, increases the value [...]

One constant of successful companies is a stable, motivated management team. This quality not only contributes to corporate success, it is also key to increasing the value of your business and your successful business exit.
Should you decide to sell your business to a third party, you’ll discover that potential buyers place significant value on the [...]

In today’s Merger and Acquisition marketplace, an all-cash buyer is as rare as a balanced federal budget. Those buyers who do arrive at the closing table with cash in hand may not be over-burdened with huge bagfuls.
Almost as uncommon as the all-cash buyer is the offer of a valuation multiple that approaches (much less matches) [...]

So, you have decided to become a seller. You have determined that even though market conditions are not absolutely ideal, your company is saleable.
This scenario is reminiscent of a little boy who cried “Wolf!” In our context, the story usually begins when a buyer approaches you (unexpectedly) expressing an interest in acquiring your company. [...]

So what if you’ve never sold a business before? You know what you want from the sale of yours. You know your business better than anyone else. Who better to lead the charge than you?
Don’t mislead yourself. You may be the worst possible person to sell your company.
Why? You may be the person most attached [...]

When time comes to tell your banker you’re planning to exit your business, or when you need money you may experience feelings ranging from mild anxiety to outright panic. Why? We’ve been conditioned to believe that bankers say “no” far more often than they say “yes.” That may or may not be true but bankers [...]

The necessity of having a trained and motivated management team in place before and after you leave the company cannot be overstated. In the eyes of a buyer, a business has little value if its owner’s departure means the new owner must reinvent the wheel. So it is with systems. Once you are gone, can [...]

Fictional owner, Peter Miller, had called his accountant to ask her to help him value his business with the idea of retiring in a few years. No stranger to Exit Planning, his accountant assembled all of Peter’s advisors and launched a complete Exit Planning process. She began, not with an examination of how a transfer [...]