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Insights
Straight answers to what owners are already asking — valuation, the one thing capping your value, and how to sell for what your business is truly worth.
Most businesses run at a fraction of their potential — not for lack of effort, but because the one resource that sets their pace is quietly starved. Here is the Theory of Constraints in plain English, and what it does to profit when you get it right.
Read the guideThe four-year multiple
Most exit advice is a long checklist. This is the opposite: find the single thing capping your company's value, fix it first, and let the multiple compound behind it.
Owner-DependenceOwner-dependence is the single biggest discount a buyer applies to your business. Here's how to remove it — and raise both your income and your eventual sale price.
Owner-DependenceA practical playbook for getting out of the day-to-day — so the business is both easier to own and worth more to sell.
Exit MechanicsMost seller's remorse traces to one of three gaps — no clear reason to sell, no plan for after, no advocate of your own in the deal. All three are fixable, but only before you sign.
Exit MechanicsWhat the four years before a sale actually look like — establish the value, fix the one real limit, make the business transferable, then structure the deal — in the order that captures the full multiple.
Industry GuidesThe single biggest value driver in landscaping is contracted, recurring maintenance revenue. Here's how the revenue mix sets your multiple — and the work to shift toward it before you sell.
ValuationTwo businesses with the same revenue can sell for wildly different prices. Here's what actually drives the number a buyer writes.
ValuationThe multiple a buyer pays is not fixed. Here are the specific risk factors that compress it — and the moves that expand it.
Industry GuidesWhat electrical-contracting buyers actually pay for, the multiple bands by business type, and the owner-as-master-electrician problem that quietly caps your price.
Exit MechanicsThe headline price is rarely all cash. Here's what the common deal structures mean for what you actually walk away with.
Proceeds & TaxesSellers generally do better in a stock sale, buyers in an asset sale — and the gap between them is negotiable. Here's why, including the pass-through nuance most articles skip.
Exit MechanicsThe honest answer most advisors won't give you — and why the owner who starts early captures a multiple the last-minute seller never will.
Exit MechanicsThe type of buyer shapes your price, your deal terms, and your life after the sale. Here's how the three main buyers differ.
Exit MechanicsThree different professionals, three different jobs, three different points in your timeline. Here's who does what — and when you need each.
Proceeds & TaxesThe headline price is not what hits your bank account. Here is the formula for net proceeds, a fully worked example on an illustrative $8M sale, and why deal structure moves the number more than the price ever does.
Exit MechanicsThe sale process itself is months. The work that earns a premium is years. Here's a realistic timeline for both.
Proceeds & TaxesThe headline capital-gains rate is the smallest part of the answer. Entity type, deal structure, depreciation recapture, and your state move the real number more than the rate ever will.
Industry GuidesWhat buyers of light-manufacturing companies actually pay for — and the risks that quietly cap the price.
Industry GuidesDistribution businesses live and die on relationships, inventory, and concentration. Here's how to make yours sell for a premium.
Industry GuidesHome-service businesses — from HVAC to landscaping — are in high demand from consolidators. Here's how to sell yours for the premium that demand can support.
ValuationMost owners are handed a number by someone who has never sold a business. Here's what that number misses — and why your company may be worth far more.
Exit MechanicsA plain-English glossary of the valuation and deal terms you'll hear when you sell — defined for owners, not for M&A lawyers.
Go deeper
My free owner’s guide, Power in Strategic Planning, distills the method into one practical, take-it-with-you playbook — yours free.
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