It is more than just important to know how, when, and how much to sell your business for. There is a big difference between properly preparing your assets to be sold and putting a for sale sign on the front door. Knowing the difference can pay big dividends.
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Seattle Chamber Of Commerce Resources For Selling A Business
Major issues to consider before deciding to sell your business.
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Seller Financing
With as much as 90% of the sales of small businesses involving at least some seller financing, it may be unrealistic to expect to receive a lump sum payment. Yet financing can be tricky, as agreeing to a long period of payments entails the same type of risk as owning the business and depends on the business' future success. Alternatives may include getting the buyer to use non-business assets as security for the loan.
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Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP)
One way to sell the business to your employees is through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). ESOPs are tax-qualified employee benefit plans that invest primarily in stock of the employer. Significant tax advantages may be available to both an individual selling the business to an ESOP and the employees participating in the plan. The many tax incentives and benefits of employees having ownership in the business make such plans attractive even when business owners wish to sell only part of their businesses.
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Selling To The Public: Initial And Direct Public Offerings
Primarily used to raise investment capital, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and Direct Public Offerings (DPOs) may be a way of maximizing the return from the sale of your business.
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Sales Agreement
Checklist of items that must be on the written sales agreement.
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Make Sure The Price Is Right
Find out what your business is worth before entertaining any offers.
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Finding A Buyer
Once you've decided how much your business is worth, the next step is to find a buyer.
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When It's A Seller's Market
Take a look at what happened to 22 companies previously featured in Inc. magazine's For Sale column.
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