Preserve Your Legacy While Selling Your Business

As a business owner, you have likely thought about selling the business from time to time. Perhaps, the hassle and stress of daily operations are weighing on you. Or you may be looking for liquidity and time to freely focus on your family, health, hobbies or other business endeavors. If you don’t have an established successor in place, you may doubt that you can find a competent, caring successor that your business deserves.

If so, you should know about a less-commonly available exit option: selling your business to a seasoned CEO with M&A experience, like me. Someone who has bought and run a small business before; who is looking for the one right business to operate for the long-run; who is already a member of the greater Chicago community.

You may have considered options such as selling to Private Equity or selling to a Strategic (i.e. a competitor). But, those options may make you nervous about how selling your business will affect your legacy, your employees, your clients and your greater community.

In selling to me, your legacy, employees, clients and vendors will have competent, caring continuity. They will have all my attention. You can rest easy knowing you found an experienced successor. You will be free to pursue your next chapter.

Is Your Business A Good Fit For Me?

  • You believe in me: You are the foremost expert in your business. You have been operating the business for years. You know best what leadership the business needs to be successful. I need you to believe that I have the skills and attributes to operate your business.

  • We both believe in your business based on its documented track record: You have over 10 years of operating history, with each of the last five years over $2.0 million of Revenue. Loyal customers. Good employees. Profitable.

  • Your business is in my size range: Between $2.0M and $20.0M of Revenue in the Trailing Twelve Months.

  • Your operation is Transition Ready: Your business has good systems that I can learn how to operate in six months or less.

  • Your business is within the Chicago Greater Metro Area: within 90 miles of Chicago

Myths That May Be Preventing You From Selling (Don’t Let Them!)

  • Customer Concentration: You may have heard that if you have a couple customers that are a large portion of your business than you will have challenges selling the business. In my business, I was proud of my large customers. We gave them good service and because of that, they expanded their use of us. So, I can get comfortable with concentration if I believe the customers will stay loyal post-transition and you share in the risk.

  • Key Employee Risk: You may have heard that if your business is dependent on a few key employees, than you will have trouble finding a buyer. When I was running an operation, I was grateful for employees that knew the business and the customers. They helped me navigate business challenges and come up with new ideas. In buying a business, I think key employee(s) are a positive, provided those employees are incentivized to stay and interested in working with me.

  • Non-Recurring Revenue: You may have heard, especially from the private equity world, that only businesses with contractual recurring revenue are valuable. That’s more the perspective of a buyer that’s looking to spin an acquisition again in three to five years. I’m here for the long-run and my main priority is finding a business with revenue that is predictable, repeatable and can be grown over time.

  • Certified Woman-Owned or Minority-Owned Status: I qualify for these certifications.

How It Works

  • Introductory Call

    You have a call with me where you share your story and your goals with selling the business. You share how you got started in the business and what’s leading you towards the next chapter.

  • Confidentiality Agreement & Financials

    If we’re both interested in continuing the conversation, we sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and you send some preliminary financial details to review.

  • Sail Away In As Little As Four Months

    You receive a written offer. Your time is valuable and getting you something actionable quickly is important. If you accept the offer, you can expect to close in 90-120 days after accounting, customer, employee and legal diligence. After close, you help transition part-time for anywhere between 1 to 6 months.

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