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

Small to Medium sized business (SME’s) often struggle to raise capital for expansion plans, especially since the Global Financial Crisis.  It’s even harder for SME’s to liquidate part of their business when they need cash to fund other activities, which is one of the reasons having an SME is considered risky.

Financiers are more reluctant to loan on SMEs because of the illiquid nature of them.  If Financiers find themselves having to foreclose on the business they’ve loaned funds to that is struggling financially, the last thing they want to do is run the business.  They prefer to liquidate quickly to regain the capital loaned.  This is typically harder to do for SME’s, and that is why more and more Financiers are demanding SME’s have a clear path of succession and a formal exit strategy to enable them to recoup the funds loaned more quickly if the business folds.

But what if my team could show you a way for SME’s to fund capital raising easily and provide a facility to liquidate the business quickly if needed?

That’s exactly what I intend to do in my next Webinar:  “How Smart Entrepreneurs Raise Capital to Grow or Go From Their Business”.

When you register for the Webinar, you’re going to discover some of the most innovative techniques you’ve ever heard about raising capital for your business, and you’re going to see a live case in action to demonstrate how easy it is to raise capital.

You’re going to uncover things like:

• 8 Funding Solutions for Growing or Going
• 2 Proven Legal Methods to Raise Capital in Australia
• How the valuation process is crucial for raising capital for your company, and how being able to raise capital easily can help BOOST your business valuation
• 5 Essentials for Good Capital Raising
• 7 Risk factors you’ll want to overcome to ensure you attract the capital you require
• There’ll be a live case demonstrated to show you how easy it is
• We’re going to make you an offer to get started raising your business capital right away.

The best bit is that it’s totally FREE to attend!  You can join our 45 minute Webinar/Teleseminar by registering here now.

The Capital Raising Webinar/Teleseminar will be held on:

Wednesday 5th October 2011  at 7.30pm

Or

Thursday 6th October 2011 at 11.30am.

If you’re looking to Grow or Go from your business soon, you can’t afford to miss “How Smart Entrepreneurs Raise Capital to Grow or Go From Their Business”

Here’s to your profitable exit strategy with easy capital raising!

Leigh Riley

To reward myself for my hard earnt new qualification at Chicago, I took a quick trip to New York City where I made some amazing new business contacts and book sales too, but I found myself attracting people that were hungry for guidance about succession planning.

On the roof top of the apartment I rented at Hell’s Kitchen, I struck up a conversation an American executive (I’ll call him Ritchie) who seemed a bit troubled and open to discussion about his business problems.  To protect his privacy I can’t reveal too much detail about the compnay details, but I can tell you we ended up having a 2 hour discussion (virtually a consultation) as he poured out his anguish around the succession of his father.

View from my roof top in NYC

Family Succession Suffering

Ritchie had been his father’s succession plan and since his dad’s departure, the company had entered troubled waters.  Ritchie had a Harvard Education so he felt he was well qualified to make business decisions.  As a teenager, Ritchie had worked in the company performing menial tasks and his father had wisely insisted that Ritchie must gain some experience with a competitor before allowing him to work in a management position with his own firm.

The trouble for Ritchie was that his father did not adequately prepare him to fill his shoes of as the CEO. The succession handover was rapid and this did not provide Ritchie with adequate time to win the respect of the staff. Despite his education and work experience in another company, the staff treated Ritchie as if he was a spoiled boy of priviledge and undermined every decision he ever made.

Ritchie was feeling quite down about the situation which was amplified by the fact that he was going to have to downsize and cut staff to maintain a competitive company position. He felt this decision would further decrease his popularity in the company and that he may never gain the respect of his co-workers. When he sought his father’s advice as a mentor, his dad categorically refused to provide any guidance whatsoever.

Lessons for Family Business Succession

The lesson is significant for all of us with Ritchie’s situation:

• Statistics show that only one third of family businesses handed to the next generation will survive.
• The statistics worsen to one in seven survival for 3rd generational family companies.
• Preparation for family successors needs to start early.
• Education alone is not enough to support the next generation, and experience with another similar company may be of help, but nothing substitutes the gradual responsibility and succession handover so necessary to assist the next generation.
• If your family business is important to you, preparation should commence as early as possible.

Family business can be the most difficult succession plans to arrange because of the family dynamics, which are sometimes too soft on successors and other times to hard on successors. It can make or break and be the difference between successful continuity of a business built over a lifetime. Don’t delay,  take action on your business succession plan as early as possible! Family Business needs just as much time to prepare it’s successors as any business.

Here’s to your Profitable Exit Strategy!

Leigh Riley M Bus, Certified Exit Planning Advisor® (CEPA®), DFP, Cert IV A & WT
Consultant Business Succession Strategist, Author, Speaker, Trainer

Infighting and Disputes Devalue a Thriving Business

When you decide to join forces with colleagues in a business, your natural response is to focus on all the positives of the union.

The last thing you are likely to have on your mind is the possibility of an acrimonious separation that could result in you losing part or all of the capital you contributed to the business, as well as being denied the value that your efforts contributed.

Let’s face it – if you thought that was a possibility, you would never enter a joint venture, but the reality is that some business relationships do sour, and the worst time to attempt to negotiate fair exit terms is during a dispute.

CASE STUDY – Effects of infighting and disputes among business owners

The situational errors made by business partners Andy, Phyllis and Johanna in a professional services firm caused a tragic loss  of value due to infighting and disputes which resulted in one partner being forced out without her rightful financial entitlements.

A thriving professional services firm’s three partners began to argue among themselves about the business operations and workload. Two of the partners, Andy and Phyllis, felt they were working harder than the other, Johanna, although all were earning the same pay.

The arguments escalated into a dispute when Andy and Phyllis, who were romantically involved, ganged up on Johanna, leading to her unplanned, forced exit. With no formal agreement about succession terms in place, an unreasonable exit payment was offered to Johanna.

Johanna engaged legal representation and a costly legal battle ensued regarding equity value. The outcome was less-than-fair terms for the departing partner after costs. With all parties focused on the dispute, attention was diverted from the business operations. The result was a sizable decline in the practice value.

What’s more, during this disruptive period, some staff left, while others took advantage by slackening off. Many clients left the firm to engage alternative options due to the poor service they were receiving, some following departing staff members, effectively destroying the original value of the firm.

Cases like this demonstrate why you want to start your business relationships with the end in view, and why you must negotiate the exit terms while all partners are in a positive frame of mind.

Why Succession Solutions MUST Be Planned At The START of a Business Partnership

This situation could have been resolved easily had they started their partnership with a succession plan agreement. The conditions of the agreement would need to include the full financial terms applicable to any partner of the firm exiting under each of the possible succession triggers identified in Chapter 2 of the book, “Your Business Succession”. This would have allowed Johanna to decide whether or not the terms of exit suited her before she committed to entering the business. She would have had the ability to negotiate more favorable terms from the start, which would have saved her from the stress, legal battle and financial loss that eventuated.

You can read in detail the actual strategy outlined for the agreement in Part 5 of “Your Business Succession”.

How well prepared are you to exit your business with maximum cash flow and profit under any circumstance?

Take the FREE Business Exit Quiz and find out!

To Your Profitable Business Exit,
Leigh Riley

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