If you're looking to sell your business in the next five years, then the following podcast is for you. You'll hear a panel of entrepreneurs and business owners tell their stories on how they navigated selling their businesses during these challenging times. 

Why would anyone buy a business prior to a re..rec…recession? 

Most business owners are still trying to figure out the Millennials, but don’t forget there’s another age group hot on their trail and they will be shaping the future of all industries soon.  It’s time to get ready now if we hope to sell our products, services, and especially our businesses to them someday.

In developing strategic business plans, we often use Best, Expected, and Worst case scenarios.   Life and business are risky. Planning for the down turns is prudent and necessary.  A business plan based on prolonged luck is not a recipe for success.  The durable, businesses that have stood the test of time, have usually survived as the result of strategic and tactical planning for the short and prolonged down turns. Every business will experience trials and most bad things can be planned and managed. As an extreme example, bad things like death can either ruin your plan, or it can just be a part of your business continuity plan.

Transworld Business Advisors is marking its 40th anniversary with another huge milestone – welcoming its 200th franchisee, making it the largest franchise broker system in the world. As the world's leading Business Brokerage and Franchise Development Company, Transworld spans over more than 235 territories throughout 16 countries.

Starting or purchasing a business is generally viewed as a much riskier proposition than working the steady 9:00 to 5:00 job, with business owners’ savings and equity on the line, fickle customers and market place, loan covenants, tight employee markets, and regulations.  However, closer examination of the risks associated with traditional employees may level the risk perceptions of the two career paths.

When contemplating your retirement and the sale of your business, there are a myriad of questions to consider, that most business owners haven’t had to deal with before. The unknowns of the sale process itself, the business valuation, tax planning, legal documents, etc. can be daunting. The list of questions can be pretty intimidating.  With the shear volume of new things to consider, often some fundamental questions never get asked that are pretty important.  It is less stressful to consider these questions early in the process rather than while you’re reading through your first offer.  Also, planning for these unanswered questions at the front end increases the chances of a successful sale.    Examples of some of these questions are:

A large percentage of businesses listed for sale never do.  Following are the “Dirty Dozen” reasons why businesses fail to sell.

It's often been said that good relationships are key to a business’s success. All too often, owners focus their attention solely on relationships with their customers and their employees, neglecting to nurture their relationships with key vendors and suppliers.