I was listening to my iPod when I read the news of Steve Jobs passing earlier today due to pancreatic cancer.  It rocked me, at the sad loss to his family and the company he’d built over 30 years of his 56 years of life.

But Did Steve Really Die?

I’m not trying to be glib about such a sad event in history, but I am serious with my belief that Steve lives on because of the incredible legacy he has left to the world with his creations.  Steve not only placed his very own special mark on the Apple company that is now a world-wide household name, his legend will continue for generations ahead.

At age 21, he started Apple with two colleagues from his parents garage with minimal start up capital.  They dreamed big, then made those dreams a reality. A business rollercoaster unfolded, with mistakes made and disputes unravelling a power struggle that forced Steve out of the company in 1985.  Never being one to be held back, Steve forged forward developing the animation studio Pixar that he acquired, and in 1997 returned to Apple, completely turning around the then struggling company, boosting its value off the charts.

The resurgence of Apple under Steve Job’s vision and management saw it become the USA’s most successful company with more cash than the US government, but it is the innovation that has completely revolutionised the computer world that resonates most.

Steve understood very well the impact of succession, continuity and legacy.  He has exited from Apple twice.  The first time proved to almost be the company’s demise, but the second time around, he’d learned the lessons and this time he built it for continuity. He knew how to boost his business by reaching for the stars, but also how to inspire a team to follow on and implement to make it all a reality.  I say that Steve lives on through his legacy, as he will go down in history as having been an inspiration to all entrepreneurs with a dream and as having had a lasting profound impact on society for decades to come.

My team “The Exit Experts” send our most sincere and heart-felt condolences to Steve’s wife and 4 children whose loss must seem indescribable right now.  Steve’s body may rest in peace, but his legacy continues on.

The Ultimate Succession Plan

For me Steve has become the guidepost for what I would term the ultimate ideal business ’continuity strategy’, because there aren’t too many phenomenal leaders that can leave their post without so much as a hint of financial hitch in sight like Steve has.

What are you doing today that will build your business legacy so it can continue on well after you exit?

Here’s to your successful business exit!

Leigh Riley

Australian Websites Sales Are Booming, Is Your Business Cashing In?

Australian Internet sales rose to $51 billion (3.6% of GDP) during 2010 and this is rising.  If you’re trying to BOOST the value of your business, that’s a business statistic you simply cannot ignore.  If you haven’t already made an attempt to learn how to ride the web wave, it’s likely your customers or clients could soon be choosing competitors over you, leaving you with that ‘dumped by a wave’ feeling or worse, with a dramatic fall in sales adversely impacting your business valuation.

Ride the Web Wave to Wealth for Your Business

The web wave has been building for a while, but many businesses have been caught out by failing to understand how the internet has enabled a broader trading field with global wide competitors rather than those only in the immediate community.  Some of you may have thought too narrowly and failed to realise your customer base has potentially widened significantly.  Without a strong internet presence you are failing to capitalise on that potential and not boosting your business valuation the way you could be.

If you’ve established a website, you’ve started paddling toward the web wave to wealth and success for your business, but this alone is not enough if your business is to stand out and be found online amongst the trillions of sites already in cyberspace.  You might be surprised to learn that having website prominance in your niche is not just about expensive advertising.  There is a lot you can do to organically lift your search engine ranking and get found.  It just takes a little knowledge with some training to make the difference.

FREE Webinar to Learn How to BOOST Your Website Traffic for Increased Online Sales

I want to help you take every opportunity to BOOST your business valuation and profits however I can.  That’s why I’ve decided to have a FREE Webinar on the topic: How To BOOST Your Business Valuation With Your Website! The FREE webinar will be held this Thursday at two different timeslots, 11:30am and 7:30pm.  I’ll be interviewing special guest and website expert, Karyn Clarke from HubsiteBuilder.com.  During the sessions, Karyn has promised to reveal 6 of her best secrets about how to BOOST your website ranking organically, so you can get your business found and start to make more sales online.

If you’re looking to ride the web wave to wealth and success for your business to BOOST its valuation, you really can’t afford to miss this session with me and Karyn.

Register by clicking here now. Who knows, it could turn out to be the most profitable 45 minutes you spend learning about your business website presence.  Don’t delay because places are limited to just 14 attendees.

Here’s to your BOOSTING Your Business Valuation With Profits From Your Website!

Leigh Riley

How can You Boost Your Business Valuation?

Increase Your Business Acquisition Attractiveness by:

• Developing a market presence that is desired by potential buyers
• Obtain critical mass with demonstrated consistent growth across niches
• Maintain higher margins than your competitors
• Add value with a management team and systems
• Create effective planning that aligns your business motives with your employee’s actions

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you register yourself to attend the FREE Webinar I’m running so you can learn all you need to know about how to BOOST your Business Valuation.  I’ll be interviewing Business Valuation Guru, Sean Hutchinson live from San Francisco. Sean excels in explaining the levers you can control to increase your business valuation and I’m very certain you will learn a lot from listening to him. Register for

Date: Thursday 8th September, 2011
Time: 11.30am
Register Now for the FREE webinar at http://yourbusinesssuccession.com/bizval-webinar1.php

You can’t afford to miss this opportunity to learn all you can about how to BOOST your business profits and valuation.

Here’s to Your Profitable Business Exit!

Leigh Riley

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How can You Boost Your Business Valuation?

Here is a taste-test of some of the items to be covered in the FREE Webinar I’m running on:
Date: Thursday 8th September, 2011
Time: 11.30am

You will discover how to BOOST your Business Valuation when I interview Business Guru, Sean Hutchinson, live from San Francisco. Sean is sensational at explaining the levers you can control to increase your business valuation. You can Register Now for your place at the FREE webinar at http://yourbusinesssuccession.com/bizval-webinar.php

In this post, we will discuss How can you Increase Earnings in a way that increases your business market valuation?  Here’s how:

Lever One:

Build a Robust Financial History for your business by:

1. Increasing sales, but not just any sales.  Increase the sales of your products and services that add the most economic value to your business.  It’s worth spending the time to understand which of your products and services are the most profitable to your business.  Making more sales of products and services that are not overly profitable doesn’t make good sense.  If you want to BOOST your business valuation, concentrate on increasing sales where it counts most.
2. Lowering cost of goods sold means taking control of the input costs of production of your products and services, to increase profitability.  You may want to renegotiate with suppliers to lock in lower in-put costs. If your business sells services, consider how you may reduce costs by making more efficient use of lower cost labour and materials. Segmenting the costs of your service offerings will allow you to understand which of your goods and or services provides the least and most economic benefit to your business.
3. Controlling operating expenses Segmenting the costs of your service offerings will allow you to understand which of your services provides the least and most economic benefit to your business.  Once you can clearly define the most profitable products or services sold by your business, you will be in the position to make decisions about how your business will continue forward.

Timely Factors: don’t leave it ’til the 11th hour

Understanding fully the levers that you can control and manoevering them to boost your business valuation, can take time.  For some strange reason, business people too often think they don’t need to worry about it until the moment before they exit. Here are the important reasons why that’s faulty thinking:

More than half of business owners will be forced from their business due to factors they could not have imagined (statistics show 51% leave due to sudden and unplanned events).

• The sudden event means there is no time to prepare; and
• When you’re vulnerable due to unplanned events, it leaves you without power to negotiate

This means you are forced to be a ‘price taker’ and to accept whatever is offered without question.

The time it takes to build a business of value means it is not something you can leave to the last minute or just prior to exiting.

Business Boosters

In the next post of this series, stay tuned for: “How Can You Increase Earnings in a way that increases your business market valuation”, I’m going to reveal the 6 risks you must overcome in your business if you are to increase your business market valuation.  You’re going to be surprised at how large a part mitigating risk in your business will BOOST and contribute to your business valuation.

Until then, make sure you register for your FREE place at the Webinar to be held on Thursday 8th Septemeber 2011 at 11.30am. You can’t afford to miss this opportunity to learn all you can about how to BOOST your business profits and valuation.

Here’s to Your Profitable Business Exit!

Leigh Riley

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