The Reality of Finding a Buyer for the Business
In a previous post I talked about the concept of selling our business to fund our move to Italy, but I never talked about what it would be like to actually list the business and find a real buyer. Let me back up for a moment. We both knew that we were wholly incapable of marketing the business to potential buyers - how would we possibly know how to do that? We know how to market to get auto repair customers, but a buyer of a business?? No - no clue at all. So we enlisted the assistance of a business broker. Yes, they take a fee, but lordy, they know what they are doing. They are far more versed in the world of selling a big ticket item than we ever could be - so yes, a business broker is worth their commission.
When we signed the contract with the business broker, we thought - 'OK, now we wait and see'. We truly thought that we would wait months to find a buyer. That it would be at least a year before we found a buyer, negotiated the terms, they got financing and we closed. AT LEAST a year for all of that. We were so wrong - we had an interview with the first potential buyer 3 weeks into the listing being live. Three weeks!! We were stunned. That buyer didn't work out; we knew pretty quickly that he wasn't the right man for the job. The second and third buyer were both good fits, and they were vetted by the broker. The second potential buyer was the right fit and we really seemed to click during the video call and then in person meeting.
Once we started to negotiate the LOI and things started to fall into place, then reality started creeping out of the far corners of your brain and into the light, front and center. The LOI that we received stated that he wanted to close in about 90 days. What? 90 days?? We would be out of the car business by the summer. I still am a bit in shock when I think I have three more months of being a business owner. We've done this together for more than ten years and in three months, we'll be unemployed.
There are a few reasons why I'm struggling with the potential sale of the business. Aside from being unemployed, the primary aspect is - what am I going to do when I don't have to get up and go somewhere every morning? I'm going to have to figure out a new normal and the idea of reinventing myself is a bit daunting. Coupled with the fact that I will not really be able to prepare for the dynamic shift - it's just going to be there one day. One day I'll be the co-owner of the business and the next day, I'll be the unemployed previous co-owner of the business. And it's not like I can (or do I want to?) look for another job while this transition is happening. Not a chance - my job during this transition is to make sure the business is running at its best ability and to not let up on making the business better for the new owner. I suppose what I am saying is now it's our time to set up the new owner for success. We are making sure that the business is in the best working order that it can be while we are the caretakers of it.
But I'm going to be honest here - I'm terrified that the deal is going to fall apart and we'll have to start again. Marketing the business, meeting with potential buyers, getting the non-disclosure and the LOI, etc, etc. What if it does all fall apart? I'm sure there would be another potential buyer, but the whole process is emotionally exhausting. I know I'll be able to weather that storm a second time, but damn, do I want to?
The reward to this process is the cash out that we'll be receiving. In my humble opinion, the only reason to build a business is to sell it. I think the taboo of not talking about what you made when you sold your business is nonsense. Maybe you don't have to tell people what you made, but it's OK to let people know that you ran your business so well that you sold it for a profit. While there are so many intricacies between starting, growing and selling your business, it's important that you build a business that is saleable.
