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

Business is a Competition

I’ve not revealed this before, but earlier this year I was invited to be on the panel of judges for the “ActionCoach My Business Magazine Awards”.  I felt it was a great honour to be asked so could not refuse the request.  The task was not easy for many reasons.  The number of entrants was significant and thousands of pages of data had to be considered carefully to form an assessment of each candidate.  With most being of such an incredibly high standard, this truly made the task for judges very difficult.  Amazingly though, most of us formed a fairly similar opinion of those candidates that really stood out from the crowd.

It got me thinking about how important it is to stand out from the crowd when you’re in business, and not just to win competitions.  It demonstrated to me yet again, that it’s no accident when a business is successful.  It does become obvious to everyone when you stand out from others in business, and there is a lesson in it for each of us in business.

As a follower and regular reader of this blog, you already know that I bang the drum (rather loudly) about business succession, and I do so because you are operating a business that I know you will one day hope to sell.  You’re working hard building an asset, and often you’re so hard working ‘in’ it, that you can overlook working ‘on’ it.

I want to see my followers succeed and stand out from the crowd, especially the crowd that is gathering around the ‘for sale’ post.  I’m referring to the tsunami I mention in my book “Your Business Succession”, because the average demographic age group of small to medium sized business owners are so near to retirement and are looking for ways to extract their equity to move on to another phase in their life.  With so many about to do this (80% in the next 5 to 10 years) there will be quite a crowd of businesses selling.  It will become a buyer’s market and only those that ’stand out’ from the crowd will gain the most when they exit.

You Business Succession
Leigh Riley

Too Young To Exit?  Think Again

Now before you zone out because you think you’re too young for formal exit strategies and succession plans to matter, think about these two very important points:

• 50% of business owners leave well before retirement because of factors they could not have imagined, such as dispute, divorce, disability and death.  You don’t want to get caught out in a weakened position trying to liquidate your business equity in a crowded market, so take steps to ensure you have an action plan that will keep you in control to capitalise when you exit despite your circumstances.
• Raising Capital to grow your business or release your equity when exiting your business takes time to organise.  In fact it’s damn hard for an SME like yours to get finance for anything related to business if you don’t have a clearly demonstrated and formal exit strategy in place. That means your business growth could be stifled or you could get stuck without any funding when you do leave.  Either scenario is one you definitely want to overcome well beforehand, so get ready now.

Time For Your Business To Stand Out In The Crowd!

The  reason I’ve commenced a series of FREE educational webinars, is so you can see what you can do to ’stand out’ and make the difference for maximised cash flow and profits, with an enhanced  business valuation and a strategy to ensure you get paid what you deserve for your lifetime of effort in business, through most circumstances.

I’m pleased to reveal the finalists have been chosen for the ‘ActionCoach My Business Awards’ .  You may see those that ’stood out’ for yourself by clicking here.

Here’s to your business success and profitable exit!

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?

During the last post, we discussed how building a robust financial history for your business can help to BOOST your business valuation.  Many business owners mistakenly believe that BOOSTING their business financial position is the only to change the way their business is valued and viewed in the market place.   You may be surprised to learn that risk mitigation strategies can play a much larger part in BOOSTING your business valuation.

Lever Two: Reduce Risk to BOOST your business valuation.

You will learn a lot more about this at the FREE Webinar I’m running on

Date: Thursday 8th September, 2011
Time: 11.30am

where I’ll be interviewing Sean Hutchinson, Business Valuation Guru live from San Francisco.  Click here to register your place now.  Here’s a brief look at the second lever you can control to BOOST your business valuation.

Reduce Risk and BOOST your business valuation by:

• Understanding the sweet spots that contribute most to your business profitability so that you may rule out lesser profitable activities thereby increasing the economic value of activities engaged in your business
• Decrease your business capital base to remove underperforming activities
• Strategise to mitigate specific risks identifiable to your business industry and insure key persons of your company to implement a clearly defined and formal succession strategy, thereby making your business more attractive to financiers and capital raising sources.  Buyers will always value higher a business that has the ability to raise capital due to it’s robust risk managment strategies.
• Operate more efficiently than your competitors and lower the cost of capital by continually testing the market to compare costs of debt and capital raising
• Reduce customer concentration with diversification, so that your business has no more than 10 to 25% of revenue from one source.  Signing customers to long term contracts will secure your business revenue into the future, adding a significant valuation boost.
• Form a management structure so you as the owner, are not central to the business

In the next post, I intend to discuss how to increase the economic value of activities your business engages in to BOOST its 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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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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How can You Boost Your Business Valuation?

This would have to be the most commonly asked question by business owners preparing to exit.  Buyers are scrutinising more carefully than ever before, so you would want to pay attention to this blog series. The factors impacting your business valuation can seem extensive, which is why I’m running a FREE 45 minute Webinar to explain in simple terms on Thursday, 8th September 2011 at 11.30 am.  You can register your place FREE by clicking here.

FREE Webinar to find out How To BOOST Your Business Valuation!

At the FREE Webinar, I’ll be interviewing Business Valuation Guru, Sean Hutchinson live from San Francisco, USA.  I’ve chosen Sean because he is the best I’ve ever met in my 23 years experience.  Sean breaks down the individual factors without the jargon so you can clearly understand what you can do with your business to BOOST its valuation.

When you attend the FREE Webinar, you’ll discover things like:

• the levers you can easily control to maximise your business valuation
• the 6 risk factors that you’ll want to overcome
• the 3 proven methods to increase your business earnings
• the 5 ways to increase your business acquisition attractiveness
• You’ll have the opportunity to learn exactly how much your business is currently worth; plus learn
• One incredibly simple thing you’ll want to do immediately to dramatically boost your business valuation
  Places are seriously limited to this Webinar and this topic is popular, so don’t delay in registering for your place.

We can’t wait to help you BOOST your business valuation!

Here’s to Your Profitable Exit!

Leigh Riley

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When a Wall Street capital markets guru from New York directly quotes what I have to say as a Succession Strategist, it’s time to pay attention, sit up and listen.   I can almost hear you thinking “I have no intentions of exiting my business for some time, so I don’t need to worry about exit planning yet”;  Sound familiar?   But Here’s why:

1. Taking notice to understand what a business buyer wants is the key to understanding how to position your business so that it can be sold any time, at a premium price through just about any circumstances.

2. These days, business buyers are getting smarter and already have the end in mind before they buy. That means they want to know you have an exit strategy in place before they buy, because one day they will want to release their capital quickly and easily too.

3. Financiers just aren’t lending on business acquisitions the way they used to before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).  These days they also want to see there is a clearly defined exit strategy before they’ll loan to buyers wishing to purchase a business.  So you better get your business in order if you plan to sell it some time in future.

This all adds up to one very important point for you.  If you’re not prepared with an exit strategy for your business, you’re virtually not in the game as a possibility to be sold.  If you hope to profit from the business asset you’ve built, an Exit Strategy is a ‘must have’.

You will never know when, why or how you’ll leave your business.  I only know that you will definitely leave it, even if they end up carrying you out in a box.  If you would like to control the circumstances to your benefit and profit, take action today!  Implement your business exit strategy today.

Here’s to Your Profitable Exit Strategy!

Leigh Riley

(You can see the Wall Street Capital markets guru’s blog at  http://weybenjamin.wordpress.com/)

Overcoming Business Succession Strategy Weaknesses

My previous post consisted of a case study about how to eliminate or reduce tax payable when you exit your business, and in an earlier a post I identified the 8 Exit Strategy Weaknesses that you want to overcome for a more profitable exit outcome.

Being in business requires you to maintain updated knowledge of a vast range of issues, and the economic factors impacting your business are just as important as anything else I’ve covered in this blog series.

Understanding the trends that will develop and change your business as a result of economic factors will be crucial for the longevity and continued viability of your business.

On Friday I was speaking with a dentist who was busy factoring in demographic population shifts and social change to his business decisions.  He was thinking about how these factors that he had identified would affect his Dental Practice earnings over the next 10 years.  Cleverly, he is actively planning his business for the shift in demand, to ensure his Practice continues to remain relevant to the market and profitable well into the future.

Who would have thought that tooth repairs would be affected by changes to the economy?  But dentistry is a business like any other, and this very smart dentist is fully across that fact.

Here’s an economic reality that will affect every business, no matter what your industry or business focus may be.  The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has had a long lasting effect in ways you may not have imagined.  Even if your business has grown and continued to prosper through this period, it is very likely it will bite you when you go to sell – unless you’ve put in place a healthy exit strategy.

How To Can the GFC Effect Your Business Exit?

If you’re expecting to sell your valuable business asset, start thinking about the price that someone will need to pay to buy.  If you’re like many business owners I’ve met, you may have built an asset that is not easily afforded without the buyer borrowing to purchase.

Now here comes the GFC crunch point: all financial institutions are scrutinizing very carefully the money they lend for business purchases since the GFC.  They will only lend to people who have substantial assets to back the loan, and in the absence of that, financial institutions require a very healthy business proposition with a high level of business asset backing and robust sustainable and proven cash flow.

That reality is certainly applying pressure to business owners who hope to make an easy sale in the immediate or medium term.  The situation isn’t likely to improve for some time, so it wouldn’t be wise to live in hope that it will pass soon.

How can you prepare to sell your business for the price you want?

You want to start preparing now!

• Boost your revenue and continue to show a healthy profit.
• Tidy up your business financial status.
• Identify the trends for your industry and start leading your business into the long term sweet spots of revenue earning.
• Develop a strategy that will position your business earnings for the long term.
• Think outside the square about who will buy your business, and how you can position your buyer to afford your business so you can exit with maximum cash flow and all the profits you deserve for the lifetime of effort you’ve invested in building your business.
• Gather a team of succession experts to assist you in locking in your strategy, and make sure they’re working collaboratively for your benefit, so that you receive the best possible solution that will overcome all the barriers we’ve identified.

If you need a quick summary of the aspects of your business that will get you started on preparing your business succession, you can take the Business Exit Quiz. It’s FREE, and you will receive a customized analysis of your exit readiness with a list of items that you need to work on to maximize your business sale price.  The 10 questions usually take 2-3 minutes to complete.  So what are you waiting for?  Click here now to take the Business Exit Quiz.

You could also read the book ‘Your Business Succession‘ for a comprehensive commentary on how to prepare your business for maximum cash flow and profit at your exit.  Order your copy of “Your Business Succession” online.

To Your Profitable Business Exit!

Leigh Riley

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Finally ‘Your Business Succession’ book is ready to purchase from the publisher

After almost 23 years of focus on winning the best possible personal and business financial outcome for my clients, reviewing business exit strategies with allied professionals, and continual research into best practice in business succession strategies, I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally hold this book in my hands and be able to share the valuable information it contains with business owners and professionals who advise business owners.

Proven strategies to boost business profits from start up to step down

‘Your Business Succession’ contains more than 20 detailed case studies, dedicated to all business owners who labor to see their legacy live on. While this book recommends the Stephen Covey principle of starting with the end in mind (7 Habits of Effective People), I can’t stress strongly enough that if you are a business owner who did not start with the end in mind, then the time to start planning for a profitable business exit is now.  Throughout the case studies I reveal the mistakes that you must avoid if you want to exit your business with maximum cash flow and profit.

How to enter, execute and exit your business for maximum cash flow and profit

‘Your Business Succession’ identifies five reasons too many business owners fail to achieve a profitable exit from their business, and also details the exact plans and processes you must follow for your business to achieve maximum cash flow and profits, not only as you exit your business but at all stages of the business cycle.

Advance praise for ‘Your Business Succession’ book

1. “A very timely book. A huge tsunami of business sales is about to happen… in this book, no stone is left unturned. For the business owner prepared to read the book from cover to cover, here is a sure guide on how to conduct a business succession.” Anthony Jensen, AEOA committee member, and currently a lecturer with the school of economics and business at Sydney University.
2. “In ‘Your Business Succession’, Leigh Riley brings real world experience with passion, and solutions to the issues facing business owners leaving their business. This is very positive reading.” Helen Hasty, former manufacturing business owner.
3. “Succession planning is a huge latent problem for our SME market. This book is an end to end toolkit in one place for a proprietor considering succession, and is a solid resource for any professional advising to business owners.” Australian executive business banker.

‘Your Business Succession’ will help you assess how well prepared you are to:

• ensure the quality of lifestyle you’ve worked so hard for
• maximize your business valuation and sale price
• find the right successor
• pre-arrange the sale terms of your succession to lock in your business valuation
• safeguard the value of the business legacy you will leave
• remain in a position of financial power and security at each phase of your business
• be released from debt commitments and exit your business with financial freedom
• maximize your cash flow
• maximize your profit
• exit your business with ease and peace of mind

I trust you will not only enjoy reading this book, but also benefit financially from the valuable information you will discover in the 366 pages of ‘Your Business Succession.’

Click here to buy your copy of “Your Business Succession”

Here’s to your Profitable Business Exit!

Leigh Riley

Business Succession Strategy Weaknesses

In a previous series on why too many business owners fail to exit their business with maximum cash flow and profits, I identified 8 business exit strategy weaknesses that may contribute to a disappointing business succession outcome for you.

My last post pointed out the pitfalls of failing to value your business properly, and this post explains why you want to move your business from the Unilateral Zone of Value™ to the Three Dimensional Zone of Value™ so that your business will have the highest possible valuation at the time of succession.

Why You Want To Move From The Unilateral Zone To The ‘Three Dimensional Zone Of Value’™ In Your Business – Case Study

Fritz was the successful owner of a car dealership that he had operated for more than 20 years. He proudly conveyed that the primary value in his business was his own personality and ability to develop relationships. He was resolved that he was the sole reason for the business success and he knew when the time arrived for him to leave, he would have nothing to sell other than stock, the premises, office equipment, and other goods and chattels.

Fritz admitted to having no formal arrangements with customers and suppliers, who continued their association simply because they liked to deal with him. He considered his staff to be mere instruments for backing him up in the operation, because they added no value to his business turnover or efficiencies without his specific instructions.

Fritz’s biggest complaint about having a business was that he could not get enough time away from it to relax and enjoy some of his success. This is a classic example of a business operating in the ‘Unilateral Zone of Value™’.

This example demonstrates a business strategy problem, but it also is representative of a case with leadership, management, contingency and continuity problems.

Obviously Fritz needs to develop his car dealership from the ‘Unilateral Zone of Value™’ into the ‘Three Dimensional Zone of Value™’ if he wants to increase the business value, and therefore the selling price at the time of exit, which could occur either at a time of his choice, or by circumstances beyond his control.

How to build your business value to the Three Dimensional Zone of Value™ is discussed in more detail throughout my book, Your Business Succession: How To Exit Your Business For Maximum Cash Flow And Profit with specific solutions to Fritz’s predicament in Part 5.

How well prepared are you to exit your business with maximum cash flow and profits?

Take the FREE Business Exit Quiz (5 minutes of your time) and find out where your business succession strategy may be letting you down, and how to improve your chances of building a business for maximum profits and cash flow

To Your Profitable Business Exit,
Leigh Riley

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