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

Family Business Exit Strategies

(Read on for your Three FREE offers with this post)

During the last two posts of this series, I introduced the concept of different business categories and how each of these will be affected differently when establishing Your Business Succession Plan. 

Business Succession Planning is relevant for every business owner because one day, you will either want to or have to, exit your business. How this is to occur will depend on the type of business you have and the type of outcome you are looking for.

Despite the type of business you have, you’ll want to maximise the cash flow and profits you receive when you exit, whether by planned or unplanned circumstances.  This will be very important if you want the sales proceeds to fund the next phase of your life, or to assist you and your family to maintain a decent living standard after you exit your business.

During the previous posts I discussed situations involving the Sole Proprietor and the Medium-sized Business about how to maximise their outcome when they exit their business. In this final part of the series, I will discuss the succession plan of attack for the family business owner who wants to pass the business on to the next generation.

Typically the family business owner can be the most difficult succession plan to devise, because it not only involves the business value, money and mode of operation in succession discussions, but also the family and its dynamics. 

If you are a family business owner, it is especially challenging for you because, not only do you need to build it in a manner that will make it a valuable asset to set you up comfortably for the next phase of your life, but it must also help you to pass on and assist the next generation (your family) to build sufficient capital and skills to buy and run the business.

However, even If you are like some family business cases, where you have sufficient additional assets to consider gifting the business asset to family members when you exit your your business, careful succession planning is still essential. 

There are substantial tax implications for you when you gift your business to family members, so don’t overlook the opportunity to gain specialist succession advice well before exiting. 

Your family business is just as vulnerable when you fail to take the action to formalise an agreement to overcome the six identifiable succession triggers (Dispute, Death, Disability, Divorce, Desire for change, Decision to Retire). There are plenty of failed family businesses because they rested on the thought that as a family they’d be ok and work out any succession planning issues when the time came.  If anything, the emotion within a family can steer a business in an un-business like manner.  Don’t become the next statistic.

Do you want to know how prepared you are to Exit from your Business?

Take the FREE Business Exit Quiz to receive your customised report. It takes about 2-3 minutes to complete.

You can also Download 3 FREE chapters from the popular book, “Your Business Succession”.

If you haven’t engaged a Business Succession Strategy Team working together for your benefit
it’s time to do so. Click here to Book your FREE 15 minute consultation with the Exit Experts Succession Strategist (only for subscribers of this blog, so please log on to subscribe)

Here’s to your profitable Business Succession!

Leigh Riley

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Every business owner’s dream is to eventually exit their business with maximum cash flow and profit, assuring a comfortable retirement income as a reward for their years of dedicated hard work  To achieve this you will need to maximize the price you receive when exiting if you want to enjoy the comfortable retirement you’ve been hoping for.

Alarming facts about small business owners and retirement savings

Australian statistics reveal that only 5% or retiring business owners will have sufficient retirement savings to be completely financially independent.  In the US the average retiring business person has enough savings to fund approximately 8 years of their retirement, but will on average live 17 to 18 years beyond retirement age.  Facts such as these really bring home the need to focus on succession strategies that will boost your business valuation so you can exit with maximize profits and retirement income.

5 reasons business owners miss out on maximum retirement income

While some business owners will be sufficiently prepared to reap the rewards of years of effort, the reality is that many will fail to maximize their business value in a way that could ease their financial burden during the next phase of their life.  Here are the 5 main reasons why:

1. Strategy Weaknesses involve 8 key areas of failure to have the end in mind when operating their business.  The strategic decisions made in the business do not adequately take into account market demand for the products and services they provide, nor the market conditions in which they operate. They lack a long term customer service focus, and fail to recognize the competitors they’re up against. Two types of competition exist -  competition for customers who use their services, and competition for potential purchasers of their business when they exit.
2. Structural Faults encompass 4 main areas of fault when a business lacks a management culture, and fails to understand the associated tax implications of the ownership structure of a business, particularly when exiting.  To protect yourself against structural faults I can’t emphasize strongly enough that you need to use a team of specialist advisers to collaborate and mitigate the 6 D’s of Succession.
3. Situational Errors takes into account the 6 identifiable situations that, without adequate contingency planning, can impact your business value and move your financial success beyond your control.
4. Sustainability Breakdown comprises the 3 factors that impede effective business continuity and your ability to handover your business whilst receiving full financial benefit for a lifetime of effort.
5. Steering Off Course involves leadership and management challenges and embodies the 4 business succession leadership challenges that you must overcome to ensure your business remains on track for maximum profits and income from enhanced business valuation and sale price when you exit your business.

How ready are you to take on the challenge of overcoming the 5 reasons too many business owners fail to achieve the profitable exit they had hoped for?

Business exit strategies to achieve maximum income for your retirement

1. Take the Business Exit Quiz (2 mins of your time) and find out where your exit strategy may be letting you down, and how to improve your chances of building a business for maximum profits and cash flow
2. Read my book “Your Business Succession” to discover what you want to do to ensure you will not become one of the poor statistics outlined earlier in this article
3. Contact our Business Succession Strategy office to plan your business succession strategy, so we can eliminate the stress of making the right decisions for your best chance of maximizing your business valuation for a profitable exit.

To Your Profitable Succession,

Leigh Riley

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Sole traders deserve a profitable exit strategy too

If  your business has no employees, and your family members are not interested in taking over your business when you leave, what is your best exit strategy to make sure you actually receive the cash flow and profits you’ve worked so hard to earn?

If you are a sole trader you may believe that you are at a disadvantage when leaving your business, but there are many options to help you  maximize the value of your business and therefore maximize the return on your investment.

7 tips for a profitable sole trader exit strategy:

• Make sure your business has a proven track record with financial accounts  and tax statements to verify the income and profits of your business.

• Keep your place of business organized and attractive.

• Document all client records, including contact details

• Establish and document systems for all procedures and processes to make it easy for someone else to fulfill your role when you exit your business.

• Communicate your success to your business associations, competitors and trading partners to make it a well known that your business is an attractive purchase proposition.

• When considering potential buyers don’t overlook the newer graduates and trainees that you meet at business associations. They may currently be working with your competitors, but aspiring to own their own business one day.  You can portray your business as an easier path to owing their own business with instant income, rather than building a business from scratch.

• When you’re comfortable, approach someone in your network to enter into an agreement with you to buy your business one day upon specified events occurring.  The events can be agreed with terms to include retirement or another matter causing you to leave the business,and the term should also include events such as sudden illness, accident or death.

This strategy will allow you to agree on a price for the time when you exit the business. Your agreement should include the terms of sale, and can even make provision for funding the purchase price.  This is known as the ‘friendly rival’ strategy.

Benefits of the ‘friendly rival’ exit strategy for sole traders

Any agreement you set up should be arranged by a team of experienced business exit strategy specialists and should make provision for the changing value of your business.

Due diligence must be given to the tax implications upon changeover.  The agreement should also provide for terms to protect your business asset from the contingencies, with insurance to cover sudden illness, accidents and death.

Putting a ‘friendly rival’ exit strategy in place will allow you the comfort of knowing you have a certain buyer when the time comes for you to leave your business, no matter what the circumstances. This will also provide you with assured financial security in the form of both cash flow and profit int the future and remove the pressure of finding a buyer if you ever have to leave suddenly.

FREE online tool to evaluate your exit strategy:

Start with the end in mind and sharpen your business strategy in a way that will enhance your proitable exit . Invest just 3 minutes to complete the FREE Business Succession Readiness Quiz and receive your FREE customized evaluation, plus a ‘To Do’ list of specific actions you want to take to ensure your profitable exit from your business.

Take the quiz now

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The headlines read ‘Earth and Venus may collide’!  If that is your latest reason not to take action on growing your business value and arranging your business exit plan, think again!

There is a one-in-2500 chance of Earth and Venus colliding.  But there is a 100% chance of you leaving your business one day… whether you choose to or not, it’s inevitable, so isn’t it time to face facts, stop making excuses and start on your business succession plan?

Leaving your business is lot less scary than the thought of planet Earth crashing into Venus.  You and I both know that if you’re the type to look for reasons not to get things done, there’ll be another reason waiting in the wings to justify your inaction.  If this possible threat is just a distraction from reality for you, then wake up and start on your business exit plan now.

Taking simple action will add value to your business, because you’ll present it in its best light, making it more appealing to potential to buyers.  When you are preparing to sell your car – you clean, polish and service it, and you obtain a mechanic’s report to verify its reliability.  These simple actions certainly add value to the car because buyers will pay more for the beautifully presented vehicle in great mechanical condition.

Practical business exit plan steps you can take right now

Similarly with your business, you need it to be in top condition to maximize its value.  Preparing to exit your business is similar, but it takes a bit more time and effort. Here are five practical steps you can take right away to start the process of maximizing your business value:

1. Keep your premises clean and tidy
2. Maintain your equipment, stock and tools in good order
3. Document all your systems
4. Ensure your staff are well trained in the day to day processes of your business
5. Verify the profitability of your business with an accountant’s financial reports for at least 2 years

FREE help to start on your business exit plan now

Take the FREE business succession readiness assessment that I designed to support you and readers of my acclaimed book ‘Your Business Succession’ How To Enter, Execute And Exit Your Business For Maximum Cash Flow And Profit.

You need to invest only 3 minutes of your time to complete the free assessment…. And you’ll receive a customized ‘to do list’ of the main actions you want to take to get started on your business succession plan. You have nothing to lose and much to gain … so take the quiz now

Take the quiz

How well prepared are you for planned or unplanned business succession? Share your story or your experience with the quiz on the comments box below.

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