Kirk Michie is the founder of Candor Advisors. For more than 30 years, he has worked with entrepreneurs, closely held business owners, and high net worth families to achieve their strategic planning, liquidity, investment, and legacy objectives.

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Candor Advisors – Guiding successful founders to better outcomes.

3 Value Bombs

1) Every successful business and every successful founder has figured out, whether through impulses or versions of scaling, how to make their business more successful. Just because your business is successful, doesn’t mean it’s valuable.

2) A lot of times, what the sellers really want is to do something else, be that retirement, or investment in another business, or to come to the office less often, or not have the responsibility of managing people anymore.

3) When you’re a successful entrepreneur, chances are, you have ignored a lot of well-meaning, but poor advise. And, your impulses, which may or may not scale, have caused a lot of your success.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: The Buyer of your Business is a Full-Time Predator and You’re Part-Time Prey – Armor Up!

[1:30] – Kirk shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

Digging into the emotional side while doing what you’re doing, and what you’re afraid of and getting into the essence to that, will leave a trail of breadcrumbs towards what can make you the most successful.

[2:15] – Most sellers of private businesses have regrets. What are these regrets, and how can we avoid them?

Sellers don’t often spend a lot of time thinking about the ‘why’ of selling.
Because they have to spend time digging into their ‘Why?’, they don’t really get into the outcome that’s going to satisfy them.

[4:02] – A lot of sellers leave a substantial amount of money on the table when they leave. Why does this happen, and how does one avoid it?

When you’re a successful entrepreneur, chances are, you have ignored a lot of well-meaning, but poor advise. And, your impulses, which may or may not scale, have caused a lot of your success.
A lot of sellers don’t seek out good counsel and transaction professionals who have a lot more reps.
They give out more information too soon that equips the buyer with a lot of data. This allows the buyer to take advantage structurally, or take the buyers word for it in terms of the valuation of the business

[6:20] – Should sellers hire Wall Street Investment banks to optimize their sale?

If the seller is pretty sure that they want their business to be sold in a semi-confidential auction, where the investment bank puts together the financial model and the materials, then creates a buyer universe – then that might be the right answer.
With an internal sale to management or to employees, developing a successor, taking a step back and become a limited partner in the business… those might be the right ways to do it

[8:22] – A timeout to thank our sponsors, HubSpot, Zapier, and Thinkific!

[10:44] – The 6 secrets to every successful sale.

The first one is, the sellers are clear on why they want to sell.
Secondly, the sellers have to nail their financials.
The third thing is that, because the buyers are savvier than the sellers about M&A, they will typically try to start due diligence or ask for a lot of information that may not be in the sellers’ best interest to provide to them.
The fourth secret is, as a seller, you’ve got to find the right advisors.
Fifth is, to make sure the buyer meets your why, and that you’re talking to the right buyers.
Sixth is self-management.

[15:21] – The “Why” behind the founders’ desire to sell.

The most common “Why” is the desire to sell the business and retire.
In many cases, selling to external buyers and taking as much as possible off the table, is not the right solution

[17:59] – Kirk’s key takeaway and call to action for Fire Nation!

Every successful business and every successful founder has figured out, whether through impulses or versions of scaling, how to make their business more successful.
The difference between a successful business and a valuable business has to do with a few strategic tweaks
Candor Advisors – Guiding successful founders to better outcomes

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!

The Buyer of Your Business is a Full-Time Predator and You’re Part-Time Prey – Armor Up with Kirk Michie

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