Why sell your business?
The 5 main reasons for selling a business may be diverse but they are also the most common we encounter.
Lifestyle change
Running a successful business requires considerable levels of commitment and responsibility. Rarely, if ever, is there the opportunity to leave the office at 5pm without a further thought given to the next day’s workload, operational challenges or the future of the business. After living with the burden of such responsibility for many years, business owners often yearn for a more relaxed lifestyle with time and thoughts dedicated to family and leisure pursuits.
Entrepreneur versus manager
Many owners of privately owned companies have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and building a business, although time consuming and extremely hard work, is also an exciting and dynamic time. However all businesses inevitably require adherence to policies, procedures and legislation during day-to-day operations. All this consumes an ever increasing proportion of the day for each business owner, increasingly pulling them away from the exciting and dynamic environment in the early years of the growing company. For many owners, the motivating elements of growing and running a business becomes far less evident.
Time
Building and running a business often requires considerable commitment. It rarely allows business owners the luxury to take extended breaks away or the care free option of simply working 9 to 5. Because of this, whilst business owners develop and expand their businesses, there is little time left for family and social activities and holidays. For this reason many business owners choose to reap the rewards of their labour and sell their business, using the proceeds to regain lost time.
Business life cycle
A typical business life cycle sees rapid growth in formative years as each business develops from ‘start up’ status into a small and then medium sized company. Once the business reaches this size it is often necessary for the business owner to inject a considerable quantity of capital into the business to maintain the level of previous growth. At this stage many business owners have a stable and profitable business and feel less inclined to make a major financial commitment in the business which may take many years to be fully realised. At this point a decision is made to sell the business and allow a new owner, with greater financial resources and commitment to ensure the continued expansion of the business.
An approach
An approach from a potential acquirer can be the catalyst required to change a business owner’s mindset from running and developing a business to enjoying the often considerable proceeds of a potential company sale. Approaches are typically made either from an external organisation or from the internal management team (commonly known as an M.B.O. or Management Buy Out). Many business owners experiencing such an approach take advantage of BCMS Corporate’s Negotiation only service. For more details please click here.
