How Not to Build One of the 80% of Businesses That Don’t Sell!
Hi there,
If you would like to know how someone can start an online marketing business… and then… end up getting nothing for it when it’s time to sell… this is going to be the most important message you will read this year…
Unfortunately, the odds of creating a life changing sale of your business are stacked against you!
I’ll tell you about a guy named Jay… an online business owner… not much different from you or me.
He had a big dream to exit his business and sail into the sunset with a fat bank balance.
His business grew it to about $1.5 million in annual profit. During covid business boomed like it did for many online business owners…
This translated into a ‘conversative’ valuation of about $6 million!
And Jay?
He was pocketing a handsome $500,000 every year…
But here’s the thing: Jay made the common mistake of thinking his profits and the value of his business will remain the same!
Unfortunately, nothing in business is as predictable or anywhere near as static and stable. We only need to rewind our lives to the pandemic! Businesses stable for years vanished overnight!
While Jay knew the value of his business he also did what most business owners do when to ‘crystalize’ this value…
Absolutely nothing…
There was no concrete plan to sell, i.e. exit the business!
Now in 2023… inflation reared its ugly head… interest rates went up and valuations dropped!
Jay could see valuation evaporate before his eyes.
Jay’s 4X multiple is about now 2.8X multiple… taking the valuation from $6M to $4.2m. Without even considering any drop in profits, $1.8m has evaporated!
You see, when you wait for the perfect moment, sometimes that moment just sails away.
So, if you’re dreaming of setting sail one day with all your treasures safe, start drawing that exit plan right now…
Here’s the sad truth: Most business owners are like Jay!
They just don’t appreciate how hard it is to sell a business…
Unfortunately, 80% of Businesses Fail to Sell!
“According to Richard Parker of the Business Buyer Resource Center only 20% of all listed companies will sell. This includes both larger and smaller businesses.”
This does not include businesses not even offered for sale!
Amazingly, it can actually be quite easy to be designed for sale at any point in time!
Before I share how you can avoid creating an unsellable business or one that is soul-crushingly worthless…
Nik here from LeadsHook.com!
I have a foot each in 2 different but related worlds…
1. LeadsHook World: which is all about marketing, lead gen, conversions, tracking & campaign analytics
2.Finance World: managing a family office of investments such as bonds, private debt, public stocks and private businesses.
My business career started in banking back in the Wolf of Wall Street days!
Since then I have been involved in a few businesses which I have exited!
LeadsHook was created from a problem created with the acquisition of an Ecom business!
It was for a hair care product called Beautilogy…
I’m sharing this because these adventures in business give me a unique combination of competencies from having exited from businesses and having real world experience in raising funding, finance, marketing, lead generation, operations, technology, and scaling people!
In case you’re wondering if I’m still in the game… here’s feedback from a LeadsHook user who just sold his business last week! 
Back in August 2023, I reviewed the Info Memorandum and made a video for the business broker…
See the reply from where his confirmed his business broker’s acceptance of recommendations…
And, how to design scalable operations that work without the business owner which results in creating a buying frenzy for your business!
I’ve helped new business owners scale…
The real value of being exit-focussed is actual focus on priorities that allow you to eliminate activities that don’t result in contribution to the valuation of your business!
And, double down on only actions to increase the valuation.
I’m sure you already know what I’m talking about…
How many times have you been frustrated at the speed of progress to get things done? Or what every decision needs your input! That’s not a job not a business!
Your business is a job if it’s not a well greased machine that operates without you!
Thankfully, by creating a ‘true’ business, you also create a business without the always-hustling feel with erratic cycles of feast and famine!
The main reason for being exit focused is to cut the fat and have extreme discipline and focus on the value.
Sure, you can sell at any time… as and when you feel like it.
The most important part is transforming how your business is organized so its value is increasing and you could sell it at any point in time!
I call it your…
Business Sellability Quotient (BSQ).
Our step 1 will be to calculate your BSQ so you have a concrete number as your starting point. As you execute your plan, we recalculate this number to ensure it’s moving up!
Being disorganized means you’ll take too long to be ready for a sale!
And by the time you get your affairs sorted out during a sale, your business will become stale!
Preparing a business for sale especially where you don’t use a metric like BSQ is a painful and arduous experience. It often falls into the too-hard basket.
Due diligence requests will scare even a seasoned professional!
Perhaps, that’s one of the reasons why a lot of businesses are simply closed down!
Your business is a product…
And, how revenue and profits are generated revealed in the financials and operations of your business are proof elements which support the value of your business.
Creating undeniable proof takes time and does not happen overnight…
In fact, it can’t happen overnight because buyers of your business will ask for 3 or more years of financials and other evidence.
Introducing… Exit SOS, a bespoke program designed from the ground up to increase your BSP and get your business ready to extract maximum value…
You already know 80% of businesses brought to market don’t sell… but according to wealth manager Charles Stanley…
“Almost half (48 per cent) of businesses questioned admitted to not having an exit plan in place.
But this number could be even higher, as more than one in 10 (13 per cent) said they have not even considered the need for an exit plan, while a further 3 per cent were not sure whether they had one.”
This means… over 65% of businesses are potentially not even brought to market!
We’ll address this in Exit SOS…
6 Main Areas of Exit SOS…
What’s Your Current Situation?
#1 Strategy: Strategy is just a fancy world for getting extremely clear on how your business is the best at serving a specific group of customers!
And the most important part of strategy is market selection. On paper, selecting a market looks easy!
Horrible exit stats paint a different picture…
We’ll get clear on your personal financial goals and how your business will meet these needs.
This section will also include formulating the ‘story’ of your business. This allows you to sell untapped options embedded inside your business so you can expand the types of buyers who are a good fit for your business.
#2 Financial Reporting Redefined: Transform your monthly financials from a mere obligation into a pivotal growth tool. We’ll redesign your chart of accounts for clarity and precision and elevate your accountant’s role to a strategic financial partner.
We’ll take your existing financial statements and reformulate them to what you can use to manage your business! They are not the same thing. In the past I have jumped on a call with your bookkeeper or accountant to explain the process as well.
Once you operate your business with an eye on financial performance, you get intensively focussed on priorities that have immediate and massive impact on your business metrics like Return on Equity.
Unless you know how to model your business, it’s extremely difficult to prioritize actions that move the needle!
See image below for the complete breakdown of analysis you’ll be doing…
#3 Human Resource Excellence: Step into a world where your HR systems are so well refined… you can’t wait to run another ad to eliminate even more busy work off your plate!
Businesses that run without their owners with well documented processes and SOPs expand the number of buyers. We’ll create streamlined SOPs to recruitment strategies. We develop the HR backbone that upholds your business.
#4 ‘Board Meetings’: Meet regularly and get an accountability partner to ensure you’re pushing hard. This is not a walk in the park. There is value to be extracted to be prepared to work!
#5 Monthly Cadence: Move beyond project-based initiatives. We’ll integrate strategic, financial, HR, and board decisions into your daily operations, establishing a rhythm that keeps your business on the beat of success. Everything important can’t be a special project. It just has to be part of the DNA of how you operate.
#6 Revenue Ops: Goes without saying… we also work on your sales and marketing!
The most important part is formation of market segments. Most businesses aren’t even aware how much they could reduce their ad spend by about 30% to 70% if they only did this one thing!
Here’s a simple thought experiment: Take your average monthly ad spend x 30%?
How big is this number? What does that do to profitability?
Now multiply it by 36. This is a very conservative boost in the valuation of your business!
Here’s the math with an example…
Average Monthly Ad Spend: $100,000
Monthly Savings: $30,000
Annualized Savings: $360,000
Profit Multiple: 3X
Valuation Boost: $1,080,000
Your job is to accumulate pockets of valuation missing from the final sale price. The numbers easily turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of lost value that will never be captured unless you proactively plan for your pay day!
There is no other business activity which is so impactful and is 100% under your control!
Almost every business owner jumps to ‘Transaction’ Phase…
That’s a bit like launching a lead gen funnel without a client and without a budget! This almost guarantees failure!
Similarly, you can’t skip ahead to other Phases…
Thankfully, the most important step is the ‘Maximize Value’ Phase. This phase is what you should be doing anyway even if you have no desire to sell your business…
Did you ever get into business to NOT maximize its value? Why not maximize profitability & cashflow today…
Maximizing Value automatically makes your business a unique offer that buyers want to buy. This is a dramatic change in focus in how you might be running your business right now…
“Is Exit SOS for Me?”
If any one of these is true then this is probably going to be one of the highest ROI steps you can take right now for a bumper 2024…
1. You’ve been grinding in your business for a while and seem to have stagnated.
2. You don’t have a financial metrics dashboard which gives you a breakdown of financial levels to calculate a valuation of your business. More importantly, you don’t have a plan to double or triple the value of your business within the next 12 months!
3. You have a hard time recruiting & delegating.
4.You’re not using any techie innovations in your marketing. These could be technical innovations for real time personalization that materially bumps conversions or can show proof of regular split-tests.
5. If you’re able to show a profit only because you’re doing the work of 5 people! If you hired for all of those roles then you’d be showing a big fat loss or a massive drop in your profits!
Who Should Not Apply
Anyone for whom cash is tight. If investing a small amount you’ll see below per month impacts your ability to make payments or put food on the table, then this is NOT for you.
How Will Exit SOS Be Delivered
This program is designed to be a combination of a very small group plus one-on-one consults to maintain confidentiality.
1) Group Sessions: There will be weekly group sessions and individual sessions at agreed times. Depending on participants’ time zones, there could be 2 group sessions per week. Based on feedback from live courses, group sessions create a great learning environment.
2) Private One-On-One ‘Board Meetings’: This is where we discuss your individual challenges. I also act as a sounding board plus I hold you accountable.
3) Quick Resolutions: Got a question or ran into a stumbling block? Reach out at any time via email or a PM for fast resolutions.
Please Note: This is NOT a passive course. We are working on your business together – it’s like having a CFO, CMO and COO by your side. This is NOT a course! I’ll be guiding and reviewing your work and negotiating deliverables with you.
Maximum Number of Participants: 5
Because of the time intensive nature of Exit SOS, there will only be a maximum of 5 people.
| Do Nothing! | Business Broker | Exit SOS |
|---|---|---|
| Likely Exit | No Sale or Deep Discounted Sale | Maximize Value & Potential List of Buyers |
| Maximize Value (Finance + Marketing + Tech + Lead Gen + Analytics) |
None | Included |
| Potential Increase in Value | None | Included |
| Reduce the Hustle | Buy Courses & Consultants | Included |
Now, It’s Time to Make a Decision…
If you’ve read this far then you’re at a crossroad. It’s time to make a decision.
Every business has a life cycle and a use-by date. Some might last for decades and some wither away in a few short years.
The influence of AI is coming fast and we don’t know in what ways we will benefit or will our businesses become obsolete. It’s a massive opportunity and risk!
(We’ll be going through some advanced AI strategies which I don’t share publicly).
It also appears this inflation problem might be around for longer which is causing
There is no better time to plan and consciously maximize the value of your business. This is different to just running another offer or jumping onto the next tactic.
The goal is to maximize the value so you can decide if you want to sell.
The worst thing you can do is be like Jay! You might just wake up one day and realize your business is worthless and you’ve destroyed any opportunity to create generational wealth for your loved ones!
Your Investment
This type of wealth creation work where you’re getting actual hand-holding, you’d expect to pay $30,000 – $50,000 per month. That’s assuming you can find someone with this marketing, lead gen tech, analytics, team scaling and financial expertise!
These types of deals come with a fat monthly retainer plus revenue or profits share and a contract to pay a percentage of upside created when business is sold. Or even an exit fee equal to part of the value created when you want to get out of the contract! Please read this paragraph again!
The last time I did this type of exit planning and execution the fee was $100000 upfront plus a percentage of the final exit price over a minimum valuation.
I’ve been charging US$10,000 per month for one-on-one marketing consulting. This service is also no longer available because it takes a bit too much time for one-on-one consulting.
Your investment is a plain and simple non-contractual US$4,999 per month.
At the end of each month, you decide if you want to continue for the next month.
When do we start? We start in a week or so from now. Exact dates will be released once I learn where everyone lives. There are only 5 spots.
In case you’d like to start at a later date then please send a message. I’ll hold a spot for a small holding fee rebated against the first payment.
Will This Program Be Repeated?
Most probably not. I tend not to rerun any intensive programs. Plus LeadsHook is growing and it needs more of my time. 2024 is going to be a big year.
Got questions? Send an email to nik@runmy.biz.
P.S. This type of hand-holding program to guide you to an exit is unheard of for businesses in online marketing. And never at this price. Along the way we fix your business up and remove you from operations! For $4999 per month (with only 1 month as a commitment), it’s a no-brainer!
References:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-key-reasons-why-businesses-fail-sell-leslie-horton
(https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2023/09/26/half-of-business-owners-have-no-exit-strategy/)
https://www.bizbuysell.com/learning-center/industry-valuation-multiples/
https://businessbrokers.com.au/how-to-value-your-business-right-and-prepare-a-strategic-future-exit