Your ExitMap Blog gathers contributions from top exit planning professionals across the country that are indexed into four categories. They include select strategies for planning your exit, ideas for building your company’s value, transfer options you can choose from, or preparing to enjoy your post-exit lifestyle. This page shows the most recent posts from Your ExitMap Blog. If you are seeking a qualified exit planning professional, you can view a map of specialists here.

All articles are copyrighted by the authors, and reprinted here with permission. Each author’s contact information is available via a link at the end of the article.

Most Recent Your ExitMap Blog Articles

Most Recent Blog Articles

Why GenXers Won't Buy Your Business There are six reasons why GenXers won’t buy your business. Last week I presented a webinar for the Exit Planning Institute entitled “The Perfect Storm.” It looks at six factors impacting the desire and the ability of Generation X buyers to acquire a Baby Boomer business. The first three, demographic, psychographic and sociographic, are macro trends that make Xer’s unlikely to buy any business that requires capital or more than full-time commitment. . The last three factors, Regulation, Disintermediation and Entitlements, describe why all businesses are harder to sell today than they were even ten years ago. The presentation is a bit long (38 minutes), ... Read more The Nimble Small Business Almost since time began, the nimble small business has been axiomatic. Large corporations are like big ships, the common knowledge goes. They take a long time to change direction. That is a comforting thought to business owners who choose to see their one-person strategic planning team as a competitive advantage. Like the small furry mammals that survived as the dinosaurs died out, they are adaptable. The nimble small business can react to changes in the market faster, with less bureaucracy, and with greater attention to the customer’s needs. There is one problem. That “common knowledge” is no longer true. In fact, a new definition of nimble is ... Read more Quality of Earnings Part 3: Cash Flow In the past few weeks we’ve discussed how quality of earnings audits look at your income and expenses, and their impact on company value.  Since Revenue less Expenses equals Profit (P=R-E), you could be forgiven for thinking that we have picked apart your earnings as much as possible. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Merely dissecting your customers, lines of business, contracts, one-time expenses and unrecognized liabilities isn’t enough. Quality of earnings also examines how your cash flows. Accounts Receivable Just selling at a decent margin isn’t enough. That margin suffers from invisible erosion if your customers don’t pay on time. I’ve heard plenty of owners say ” ... Read more Quality of Earnings Part 2: Hidden Expenses In my last post we discussed quality of earnings audits from a revenue perspective. Customer concentration, marginal lines of business and contracts are the three most common revenue traps. If you are comfortable with your company’s strength and stability as regards to revenue, it’s time to look at your expenses. There are two expense categories that trip up owners in due diligence, one-time (out of the ordinary) expenses, and unrecognized liabilities. One Time Expenses A few years ago I worked with a client who owned a wholesale distribution business. He presented his financial statements to me to determine the practicality of obtaining third-party financing for an ... Read more Quality of Earnings Part 1: Revenue Traps This will be the first of several columns on quality of earnings. While a formal, third-party Quality of Earnings Study is more often seen in mid-market transactions, even small business owners should be aware of the factors that can cause discounts to a selling price long after they thought it was settled. There are few things as exciting as receiving a Letter of Intent to purchase your company. It may specify a dollar amount, or (as often happens with Private Equity Groups or PEGS) it may set a target range for a price based on multiples of profit. The exact profit, or earnings, that will ... Read more After the Exit; "Nothing Will Change" “Nothing will change.” It is almost de rigueur for an acquirer to include that in his or her opening comments to the incumbent staff of a just-purchased business. Sometimes it is the seller’s attempt at making folks feel better. “Don’t worry. They promised me that nothing will change.” In the moment, it seems like a calming thing to say, a confidence builder for the employees who have just been informed that they have a new boss. In the long run, it can cause more problems than it solves. Everything Changes In any company, change is ongoing. Employees are asked to learn additional skills. Systems are upgraded. Procedures ... Read more Exiting a Family Business: Three Questions Transitioning a Family Business has special issues. This interview was reprinted last week in the newsletter of Steven Bankler, CPA. We asked San Antonio business consultant John F. Dini, one of the nation’s leading experts on business ownership and exit planning, for his advice on handing down the family business. As the author of Hunting in a Farmer’s World, Beating the Boomer Bust and 11 Things You Absolutely Need to Know About Selling Your Business, Dini literally “wrote the book” on succession planning. He recommends that Baby Boomers and other business owners with an eye on retirement carefully consider the following questions. What will your role in the company ... Read more Exiting a "Time and Place" Business “The purpose of middlemen in the marketplace is to provide time and place utility.” I remember the light bulb going on in Economics 101 when my professor said that.  Suddenly, I understood the concept of added value. Someone had to get the product to the customer. “After all,” the professor continued, “The footwear manufacturer in Massachusetts can’t sell a pair of shoes directly to someone in California. They can’t manufacture and handle thousands of customers. It would be a nightmare, and completely unprofitable.” The fact that Massachusetts was still known for shoe manufacturing gives you some idea of how long ago this took place. So long ago, ... Read more The Unsellable Company What does an unsellable company look like? Some business brokers will assert that there is a buyer for any business. That may be true, but historically four out of every five small businesses listed for sale fail to sell. In this post I am specifically discussing profitable Main Street businesses. That is loosely defined as those valued at under $3,000,000. “Small” doesn’t necessarily refer to size. Some low margin businesses, such as those in distribution of commodity products, could have revenue well into eight figures and still be not command a $3 million valuation. Others, like those with proprietary software, might have a few million dollars in ... Read more A Transition to Exit Planning It is time for a new direction. This marks my 400th posting to this site. I’ve enjoyed writing weekly about the daily issues and opportunities of business owners for almost ten years, but it is time for a change. Awake at 2 o’clock has a new look and new navigation, although we decided to keep the title, logo and banner. More about that in a bit. First the why behind the change. Regular readers may have noticed that, over the last year, I have been turning more frequently to exit planning subjects. That reflects my own career progress. Before 2007 I sold businesses as a ... Read more « Newer EntriesOlder Entries »