Most sellers are genuinely caught off guard by this one. Industry data from business brokerage surveys consistently shows the average time-to-close for a small to mid-sized business runs between 6 and 12 months. Some owners hear that and think they are ahead of schedule. Most find out they were behind before they ever started. Selling a business is not like selling a house. There is no open house weekend, no sign in the yard, no offer in two weeks. It is a layered process of

In many states, there are no licensing requirements to call yourself a business broker. None. That means the person sitting across from you could have closed dozens of deals or could have started last Tuesday. There is no board to check, no bar to pass, no minimum standard to meet. The burden of figuring out whether someone is qualified falls entirely on you. The questions you ask a business broker before signing a listing agreement are the only real vetting tool you have. A

The most expensive mistake I see business owners make before a sale has nothing to do with timing, pricing, or picking the wrong buyer. It is using the wrong earnings metric.

A confidential information memorandum (CIM) is a detailed document prepared by a business broker or M&A advisor to present a business for sale to qualified, pre-screened buyers. It covers financial performance, operations, market position, growth potential, and the overall story of the business in a format designed to help a serious buyer understand exactly what they would be acquiring.

A couple of years ago, I sat down with the owner of a veterinary clinic outside Charlotte. She had built a solid practice over 15 years. Three locations, good revenue, loyal clients. She wanted to sell and retire. On paper, it looked like a clean deal. Then we pulled back the curtain. Preparing a business for sale means getting every part of your company, your finances, your operations, your contracts, your team, into a condition where a buyer can step in with confidence and

Three out of four business owners who sell their company say they deeply regret it within the first year. That is not my number. That comes from the Exit Planning Institute's national survey of over 1,200 business owners. And having sat across the table from sellers who built something real and then watched it slip away on bad terms, I can tell you the statistic holds up. Exit planning for business owners is the process of preparing yourself, your finances, and your business

I got a call recently from a guy who had been trying to sell his HVAC company on his own for fourteen months. He had the financials in order, a solid customer base, and a business worth north of a million dollars. But every buyer he talked to either lowballed him, got spooked during due diligence, or just disappeared. When he finally asked me what went wrong, I told him the truth: he did not need a better buyer. He needed a broker. A business broker is a licensed intermediary

A few months ago I sat across from a business owner who had built a $3 million revenue building company from scratch. Twenty-two years of early mornings and late invoices. He wanted to sell. Great. But he had already made three mistakes before he even called me, and two of them nearly cost him six figures at the closing table. I see this story repeat itself constantly. Selling a business is the process of preparing, pricing, marketing, negotiating, and closing the transfer of

Last year I sat across the table from a guy who built a $1.2 million revenue premium hair product company over 18 years. Good business. Solid customer base. Repeat revenue from service contracts. He told me he wanted $3.5 million for it. When I asked how he arrived at that number, he said his accountant mentioned that businesses sell for "five or six times earnings." That accountant was thinking of mid-market companies with professional management teams and $20 million in rev