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Show Notes
As you begin to think about selling your business there are a few things to consider. You can sell part of the business or sell the entire thing outright. You can also sell shares in the company and list it on a stock exchange. This is not a simple process and you want to make sure you get it right. On today’s episode we take a deeper dive into each of these options. Which one will be best for you and your business?
Phase 11 of the BLL
If you’ve been following the Business Legal Lifecycle we have placed selling the business at phase 11. It’s right at the top of the lifecycle. Everything you’ve been doing up until this point has been to get the business ready for a sale. That means structuring the business in a way that it’s separate from you as an individual. You can sell your interest in that entity or you can sell the business itself.
The process of selling
- Get all the information about your business together
- Collect all financial information about your business
- Interview business brokers about helping you with the sale
- Decide what you actually want from a sale
- Choose a business broker
- Market the business for a sale
- Begin to consider any offers for the business
- Negotiating and accepting an offer
- Transaction process including due diligence
- Final settlement of the transaction
- After settlement
Share sale agreement
A share sell agreement where someone buys shares shares in the company that operates the business rather than the business itself. The main reason that you do this is for tax reasons. As a seller there could be better tax advantages for you selling the company that operates the business. And that could be tax advantages for the buyer. This is where you’re really need to get the right type of advice for from your accountant.
Due Diligence
Due diligence is incredibly important. A lot of people just think it’s an additional cost in the business process. Make sure you sit down with your lawyer and your accountant to create a due diligence plan. Make sure that everyone’s concerns and questions are written down along with a firm plan to get answers to each of those questions.
More about this Show
We started Business Legal Lifecycle to create a simple way for you to understand complex legal terms. Most importantly we want to help you to develop a plan to take your business successfully into the future. There’s a startling statistic the underscores the importance of developing a solid plan. The majority of business owners are just seven months away from losing everything. A single aspect of your business that is not set-up correctly can shut down your whole operation very quickly. Legal advice is not cheap and even when you can afford it there is often a divide between lawyers and their clients. We want to close that gap once and for all. We want to put legal knowledge and tools into your hand to prevent the worst from happening to you.
Twice a week we are going to deliver those tools right to your home or office with Business Legal Lifecycle TV. We’ll start the week with Fast Fix Monday, a short 5-10 minute video that will tackle a single issue that businesses have to deal with. Then on Wednesday’s our main show will feature with more fulsome discussions and interviews all delivered in a straightforward and easy to understand format.
