Would Someone Want to Buy Your Business?

Would Someone Want to Buy Your Business?

By Mark Satterfield

I attended a "Congratulations" dinner last night for Sam Lockwood. Sam's been a client for a number of years and recently sold his boutique consulting practice to one of the "Big 5" consulting firms.

Although selling his company was not his objective when we first started working together, it became clear about 2 years ago that this would become a distinct possibility if a few of the cards fell right.

And they did.

And today Sam's net worth has been increased by a bit more than...(well, he asked me not to mention specifics but suffice it to say, Sam doesn't need to work anymore.)

Anyway this got me thinking about why Sam was able to build such an attractive business in less than 5 years that he had not 1 but 3 bidders.

What I've concluded is that Sam thought differently about his business than most of my clients.

It also raises the question...Do you have what it takes to create a million dollar business that someone would want to buy?

You may think of yourself as a financial planner, HR consultant, executive recruiter, coach-whatever. But suppose you're wrong? Suppose you're actually a million-dollar business that could be attractive to a number of buyers?

What if by making a slight change in how you think about yourself and your business you could create opportunities beyond your imagination?

Now, in reality building a multi-million dollar business is not for everybody. It may not be for you. But here's an interesting question...how can you know?

As I do every year at this time I reread Michael Gerber's wonderful book The E-Myth. I'm sure you've read it or are at least familiar with the basic argument he presents.

To put it far less eloquently than Mr. Gerber does, the reason so many businesses fail to reach their potential is primarily due to the fact that owners define their business as what they do.

I'm a financial advisor.
I'm a HR consultant
I'm a technology expert
I'm a leadership coach

Rather than thinking that they are in the Business of what they do.

That's a significant difference as I'll explain more about in a moment.

But first, let's go back to the question I raised...Are you just a consultant, advisor or solo-entrepreneur, or do you have the potential to someday sell your business for a 7-Figure sum?

Here are 5 short questions that will help you determine the answer.

1. Do you believe you deserve this level of success?

I find it surprising that so few people really believe that they're worthy of this level of success. Somewhere along the path of life something happened that made them believe that outsized success is for "other people"-not them.

What do you believe?

I'm very fortunate. From an early age Mom & Dad ingrained in me a fundamental core belief that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. While I never took success for granted, my goals have always been set high.

I was talking with a client the other day who wanted to write a book. I mentioned the books I had done for McGraw Hill and the writing I did for the Wall Street Journal. "No, no, no", he said. "I don't think I'd ever get published by a real publisher, I just want to self-publish this"

Well why the heck not!

If you are doing the book primarily to promote your business (as I'm doing with my next book Unique Sales Stories-which is designed to market my newest sales training initiative) self-publishing is fine. But that's not what he planned to do.

No, he thought he could never get published by a large prestigious publisher because he wasn't worthy.

Self-fulfilling prophecy.

You've probably read the study of the public school teachers in Chicago. A small group of them were told that they were going to be teaching the top 5% of the students in the public school system and that it was the school board's expectation that these students be accepted into top universities.

The teachers took the task seriously and met the school board's expectations.

Which was great.

Except for one thing.

The student's weren't the top 5%. They were randomly selected.

This was one of the first (and very powerful) studies on the role that positive expectations have on performance.

So, what about you? Does your belief filter send the message that you're not worthy of the same level of success as my client Sam?

If however you said to yourself, "Yes I DESERVE to be just as successful as those entrepreneurs I read about who sell their companies for millions of dollars", then CONGRATULATIONS, you're taking the first step in making this a reality.

2. Do you have a dream?

Of course you do. Everyone does.

So let me rephrase this...Do you have a dream that so motivates you that you are willing to do whatever it takes in order to turn it into a reality?

And let me be specific here. I'm not talking about a dream of having a "successful" business. I'm talking about what comes along with the dream when you achieve it. The money...the prestige...the visibility...the freedom to focus on doing what you're interested in doing-not what others dictate you should do.

If your dream is so strong that you will sacrifice and do what is necessary in order to turn it into a reality-then you have an excellent chance that you have what it takes.

3. Are you willing to learn what you need to know in order to be successful?

Sam is the third person I've been personally involved with who's sold his business for large sums of money. One thing they all shared-and this is true about every successful person I've ever met...They were willing and interested in learning new things.

Obviously you know a lot about your particular area of expertise. But my question is, Are you willing to recognize that you don't know it all-and are you willing to do what must be done in order to fill in the gaps?

Unless you have financial resources and can afford to hire top experts to do the work for you, you're going to have to learn how to create a business plan and a marketing system.

For example, I often ask people who come to me for advice, What type of marketing budget are they working with?

I'm amazed at the small percentage who can formulate a coherent answer.

That's the difference between an "individual contributor" and a business owner.

You need to know which media is most promising for promoting your services, what your most effective sales message and offer is...how to position yourself against your competition....

And much, much more.

The good news is that the sources for your education are all around you and the Internet has made learning so accessible that anyone with the desire can acquire the knowledge they need.

If you approach learning as a challenge...if it excites you to develop new knowledge-muscles...you may have what it takes.

4. Are you willing to take a risk?

Sure it takes money to build a million dollar business. But, it doesn't take a million dollars.

To start takes very little. It's mostly mental heavy lifting. How to position yourself? What offer to make? Websites, PDF reports, autoresponder services...they cost next to nothing.

However it does take some money to drive traffic to your micro-website. You need some chips in order to play.

Yes, you are going to have to risk some money and some time to get started.

So how does that make you feel? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Discouraged? If so do yourself a favor and don't embark on the entrepreneur's journey.

But...if you pulse quickens with the idea of risking a few hundred or couple thousand in order to make tens or hundreds or thousands...or even millions, you may have what it takes.

5. Are you willing to be patient and persistent?

I'm an avid reader of biographies and memoirs of successful people. I'm absolutely fascinated with what they went thought before they were successful.

In every single case, without exception, no one who is successful today started out that way.

They all took risk.

They all failed at times.

But...they stuck with it

They didn't give up.

They were patient for the success that ultimately came.

...So how did you do?

If you answered, "Yes" to all five questions perhaps you have more than just a individual practitioner business. Maybe you have the makings for building something that someone will want to pay you millions of dollars for.

As a reader of Gentle Rain you know that at a very fundamental level, Gentle Rain is all about direct response marketing.

Which is the best type of marketing to grow your business.

Because at every step in the process you know precisely how you're doing. And that's what prevents us from getting in too deep before we make a course correction.

As a direct response marketer and Gentle Rain reader you have the tools to make your company a big as you want.

So instead of thinking of yourself as a coach, consultant, advisor or expert...try thinking like an entrepreneur. It could be the difference between dreaming about a millionaire's lifestyle, with all the independence and freedom that comes with it...and actually living that dream.

Food for thought

There are many guerilla marketing ideas for getting lots more new business and this is just one of them. Sign up right now for Mark's free online newsletter that will show you how to get more new clients with no cold calling or hard selling. http://www.GentleRainMarketing.com

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