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Dave Lukas Chats with David Barnett

33: The Art of Buying and Selling a Business with David Barnett

In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome David Barnett. Dave is the author of 3 Amazon best-sellers – Invest Local, Franchise Warnings, and How to Sell My Own Business. He is the owner of a very unique business, Advantage Liquidity Partners. ALP works closely with small and mid-sized business owners throughout the world to help them through the process of selling their business for the best valuation.

Dave has become so sought after that he has helped a business sell in every month for 35 months straight!

Valuing and selling a business is one of the toughest and most understood areas of entrepreneurship, so I want Dave to give what you really need to know if you ever are in a position to sell, as well as, provide some of the business wisdom and lessons he has learned from working throughout the world for so many years.

www.DavidCBarnett.com

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Show Notes

David has always been entrepreneurial. After University, he went into a corporate job, but quickly found it wasn’t for him, so he started a business in the junk removal industry. Within a few months, he made it a success. Not long after, he sold the business and as he says “I did it naively.” He learned a lot and then started a business doing finance brokerage for small-mid-sized businesses.

This did very well until 2008-2009 when financing started to grow up. He then started to get asked about helping buy and sell businesses. Naturally, David started a business for it and was very successful. One issue with the business model of brokerage is cash flow as it is up and down because of lump sum payments. At one point, this problem exacerbated itself where David had multiple deal fall through all at once and he decided to move on.

He had to make ends meet, so he reluctantly took a job and about 4 months into it, he got a call from a person selling a business asking for help. He said no. A week later, he got another call from someone trying to buy a business asking for help to analyze the deal. He found a niche in consulting with people to buy and sell their own business. And this turned into the business he has today where he helps people buy and sell businesses on their own throughout the world.

#1 thing entrepreneurs should know about valuing and selling a business?

A businesses’ price tag has to be supported by the cash flow
Most buyers are financial buyers – A financial buyer is looking to replace their income and grow their income. They look at the cash flow as a way to pay for themselves, the bank, and get a return on their investment.

How does an entrepreneur do the right things now to be prepared for an exit?

Your business will become more sellable if it is more profitable and easier to run.
Run the business in a serious fashion to maximize profits (beware of being in it just for lifestyle)
Implement business systems, policies/procedures, SOP’s, etc. that make it easier to run.

Biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make when they sell the business?

Not properly taking care of working capital (example is having too much inventory)
Payables – a profitable business will accumulate cash over time and businesses will get in a habit of paying bills as they come, as opposed to making sure they are paying when the bills are due. This shows buyers that other people’s capital can finance the growth and operations of the business.
Receivables –one of the best tricks to get paid faster and on time is to put the actual date that is due instead of “net 30 or 45.” Customers will pay you sooner.

At the 21 min mark, Dave gives a great example of how the above can work and make a huge difference in a business.

How does a business owner know when it’s time to sell?

As soon as the owner loses interest and/or is tired, bored, or burned out

At the 33 min mark, David gives his cautions on franchises and what you should know about them
Top Lessons learned?

Never put your last nickel into a deal
Be willing to walk away from a negotiation – always have a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)

At the 42 min mark, Dave gives thoughts on if you are buying a business and thoughts from the buyer side.

Best Quote

Tweet This: “20-30 years ago, everyone wanted to be a McDonald's franchisee, nowadays everyone wants to be Ray Kroc.”

The terms can be important than the price

Look for equity on your income statement in addition to your balance sheet. If you an employee paid on commission is like have a partner with an equity investment in their business – which is equity

Ask, “How can we do it with half the money?”

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