Mike Finger from Exit Oasis, 4 time business seller, on how to get a better exit

Show Notes

@MikeFinger from @exitoasis has been a #businessowner and #businessbroker. He's had 4 successful business sales of his own and now coaches owners to help them build more sellable businesses. Mike is based in the US and in the discussion we cover;

• why owners need to 'learn to leave' their business more successfully.
• the different perspective Mike can bring from being able to sit on all sides of the table i.e he's, sold, and brokered small business sales, and seen the pluses and minuses in each of those chairs
• creating the freedom for the business owner to make the choice when they're ready
• the downside for owners in the existing #businessbroking model for selling businesses
• how the #businessbroking industry is compensated based on complexity;
• The reason most small business owners fail to sell is because of something simple
• Why owners really want to sell – because "I've got these 3 problems in the business and I'm just tired of dealing with them." 
• Why you can’t sell unless we solve that problem 
• The irony that comes when that problem starts to get solved - the owner starts to fall back in love with their business. “Hey, this isn't so bad. I'm actually making some money. Hey, this isn't so bad. I don't have to be there every day.”
• The key to all = Ownable is Sellable. Create a business that gives the owner of the flexibility to make either choice. 
• How too many owners think that selling their business is their worst-case scenario. 
• They think that's their my fallback, that's my safety net when they're not aware that best stats available show that 80 percent of small businesses will never sell.
• 3 key questions Mike ask’s owners to work out how well progressed they are to selling;
  • Are your results desirable? 
  • Can I buy or duplicate your results? 
  • And can you document your results? 
• When your retirement plan is based on the sale of your business 
• His dislike of the term #exitplanning
• His preference for small business owners giving themselves choices
• Being into a business for years and years and then woking up one morning, and I just I don't want to do this anymore
• Feeling toasted - looking in the mirror and seeing a piece of toast looking back
• Mike’s most important pieces of advice;
• Not leaving things too late to get started on getting prepared to sell
• Set a half an hour a month, make a lunch date with your future self every month, and spend that half an hour learning about selling a business. Learning about what this topic means. If you're lucky enough to do it, it's the single biggest financial transaction you're ever going to have, how about spending half an hour month learning about it? 
• The magic of the space that occurs right after you sell a business. It is magical, what happens there. You've got this massive thing that consumed your life for so long. You get a successful completion of that effort. You get rewarded for that effort and you get this open landscape in front of you of opportunity. I love that space. I'm talking a little bit about the money, but I'm mostly talking about that freedom to clear your brain. I carry ownership pretty heavily, right? It was always on my mind. It was always in my head. So to be set free from that, that's a fabulous thing. 

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