If you run your own business, one of your aspirations will be business growth. Getting a solid customer/client base, good cash flow and profit are some of the obvious things you’ll want to achieve on your business journey. 

Some business owners have the added motivation to grow their business because their end goal is to eventually sell the business and enjoy time with their family, pursuing other projects & enjoying the fruits of their hard work.

If you are looking to head down that path, then you might be interested in finding out what specific things will give your business a higher valuation when the time comes to sell. 

How can you increase your business sale multiple?

There are several factors that affect your sale valuation multiple. The first one being - your revenue. The higher your revenue, the higher the multiple.

But, it’s not just your revenue. There are many other things that really influence how your business looks to prospective buyers.

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A 12-month business plan is one of the key essentials to have and to refer to regularly. It’s an accountability tool that will keep you on track for the year ahead. You’ll use it to measure your performance against it and see how well you’re doing.

How do you create a 12-month business plan?

• Be clear on your business vision and where you’re taking your business long term. 
• Do your planning and know what you want to achieve in your business in the next 12 months. 
• Break it down into smaller segments – quarters – so the action list doesn’t seem so daunting. 

Business Vision

Before you start creating your 12-month business plan, you need to get really clear on your longer-term business vision. Where are you going as a business and why? What’s meaningful for you to create as the business owner?

Plan

You’ll then want to do your year ahead planning by having a look at several key categories that you need to consider as...

I’m so busy, I can’t even think about taking a break - let alone do some planning or business growth activities.

I’m so buried in work; I just try to churn out what my clients need and meet all their deadlines.

Is this you? Do you have these moments or is it a constant feeling?

What would you say if I told you that there is a way round this?

The key word in this game is PRIORITIES.

If you feel like you are too busy all the time (meeting your clients’ needs) then you’re putting their priorities first.

That is what actually feeds the feeling (aka monster) of ‘I’m too busy’. And it promotes a reactive way of doing business. You respond to every message at any time, no matter what you’re doing. Maybe you don’t do it immediately, but you do it just after you finish an ongoing task. 

So, you get caught up in this servant like manner of doing business that you eventually forget about your business plans and goals. Or you...

Is your business completely dependent on you as the business owner? What happens if you decide to step away or take a holiday? What happens when you want to retire or go and do something else?

Most business owners can’t step away from their businesses – even for a week! And most definitely haven’t thought about the end game and what happens when they want to exit the business.   

So how can you maximise business growth and how can you put a plan in place, so when it’s time to exit – the business keeps going and you reap the benefits of all of your years of hard work. 

One strategy is to bring on a next generation of shareholders into your business. 

A key benefit of having additional shareholders in your business is that you have more people around you, incentivised and motivated to build the business alongside you. It’s a fantastic way to leverage more people around you – helping you grow the business faster. 

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Starting a business is one thing, but running it successfully is another. 

Small companies usually have one person that oversees all the areas of the business - the business owner – AKA you! When you own a business of that size, you are the one who’s in charge of admin, marketing, project delivery, sales, etc. You’re basically a one-(wo)man show. 

And it’s understandable that things are like this, especially at the initial stages of the business. However, as the business begins to grow and the management team expands, things begin to change. 

You, the business owner, no longer feel like you’ve got everything under control because while you’re dealing with one area, something might be going on in another.

That’s why it’s crucial that you have your own business dashboard so that you can stay on top of the most important metrics in your business.

You’d be surprised to find out that many small to medium business owners...

If selling your business or setting your business up for sale in the future is on your radar – then I’ve put together a list of the many factors to consider so you get the most out of the sale.

Essentially, you need to understand what potential buyers will look for when assessing the value of the business. 

So, let’s break it down into four areas that we consider to be the key factors (in no particular order). All of these will contribute to the formula that’s used to calculate your business’s worth.

1. Key person risk

This refers to what kind of management structure you have in place in your business and how you spread the risk of the business being solely reliant on one key person. If everything in your business relies completely on you, then potential buyers won’t look on this favourably as there is too much risk placed on you leaving or not being there any more to run things.

However, if you’ve got an established leadership team...

Planning for an exit from your business is something that needs to be done well in advance. Too many business owners leave it too late or don't plan for it at all. Don’t make that mistake because you'll never get what you want for your business to set yourself and your family up properly.

But you might be thinking - why should I plan for my exit now when I’m not even close to retiring? Or perhaps you’ve only recently started your business journey and you’re full of enthusiasm. So why think of an exit now?

Even if you don't plan to leave your business in the near future, it’s so important that you think about your exit strategy now because that’s how you can maximise the value of your business.

So, rather than being a rudderless ship & waking up one day realising that you don’t have a saleable business or an exit strategy – let’s be very strategic about it now.

What does your exit look like?

Being strategic about it starts by...

Managing a business requires making daily decisions - whether related to setting priorities, finding good solutions, or simply choosing how to best communicate with current and potential clients.

Have you ever thought about how effective your decision-making is? Do you procrastinate when making those decisions? Do you overthink?

It’s only normal to approach making decisions carefully because that is what’s going to take us towards either success or failure. If your decision-making process is flawed though, you’ll come unstuck sooner rather than later.

Today, I want to explore with you why making decisions doesn’t need to be hard and how we can make it easier.

Most often, the core of the problem is putting off making decisions. There are so many to make and we tend to wait for a better time to make them, when we’re focused or have time to think things through. But let’s be realistic. That time never comes - because perfection doesn’t exist.

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When running a business, you go all in right from the start. It’s your baby and you want to give it the best chance of succeeding. Therefore, it’s no wonder that your enthusiasm and motivation are at their highest. You want to have satisfied customers/clients and you work on that day in and day out.

And so, many times you automatically think that the same motivation you have translates to your team. However, the reality is that it is not always the case.

You’ll soon realise that there are two types of people (i.e. workers). And that having both on your team means that it will not be performing as you had hoped it would.

Let’s explore who those are, and how you can create a team of wonderful people that will drive your business forward.

The first type of worker is the unproductive worker (or the laid-back comfort seeker). It is these slackers that can lead to missed deadlines, decreased morale, and ultimately hurt your business.

If we think about why they are...

Pricing your services is always tricky because there are so many different models you can use. Plus, you’ve got to consider your expertise, experience, and the current market situation. So, it’s only reasonable that there will be times when you have clients that challenge your pricing.

Today we’re going to work through what to do and say when a client tells you you’re too expensive. 

A very common initial reaction to this kind of remark is to back down - to really start to doubt yourself with regard to your fees & hourly rates. And what this will do is have you immediately consider reducing your price. 

Or in other words - reducing your worth.

Why does that happen?

It’s the people-pleasing trigger or part of us that gets pulled. We always want to have satisfied & happy clients, or we want to get that new client across the line (aka get more cash flowing into the business). 

But, I’m here to tell you that you need to silence...