Selling Your Business: Now or Later?

As you can see from this recent article in the Wall Street Journal, timing is everything when you want to sell your business.

Although this recession, in  many instances, has put off plans for selling a business, many people have good businesses that can be sold today for a “good” price, even in a bad economy. However, the prevailing feeling is “if my business is worth $X now it will be worth $Y in a few years, so I’ll just wait.” 

Very bad idea, very bad.

When I was looking to buy a business, I ran into situations like this all the time. The seller was looking for a price he/she was offered five years ago, but waited on the theory it will be worth more in a few years. But as we've seen, things change rather quickly these days, and before long, they realized their business was now worth substantially less than it had been. It’s a hard pill to swallow.

The moral of this story is that the passage of time does not always guarantee an increase in value of a business.  Sometimes, it is just the opposite.

I owned several businesses. I learned very quickly that timing is everything in life. When it’s time to sell, then SELL. Do not wait.

For more thoughts on this topic, I invite you to check out this article.  For some nuts & bolts thinking on the sale of a business, check out this article.