Episode description

What would it feel like to receive a check or wire transfer for $5, $10, or $100 MILLION when you successfully sell your business? HOLY SHIZZLE!
 I’ve done it FOUR times, and I can tell you from experience, it can either be a horrible experience or an exhilarating one depending on whether you know what you’re doing.
 
 This week on the show, my co-host, Dan Sullivan, and I talk about something that can really feel like a near-death experience in the entrepreneurial world … SELLING your company! We’re talking about your BABY! Something you nurtured, grew, and put all of your focus and energy into. Then sometimes you get to a point where you're actually thinking about selling your baby … NOW WHAT?
 
 In Dan’s and my experience, nine out of 10 times, the entrepreneur doing the selling has a VERY negative experience. There are a ton of reasons for this that we get into in this episode. Plus, I share my most valuable secrets for having a super successful and profitable exit.
 
 Okay, let’s talk about the fact that MOST of us, myself included, have NO clue how to exit our first business. As a matter of fact, my first business cost me my first marriage, my sanity, and near bankruptcy. And my third business was a MAJOR contributing factor in my getting cancer because of the stress it put on my body.
 
 We get into this thinking that we're going to get to a “certain point” in our business where everything will be just “hunky-dory,” so in the beginning we trade time for money and compress all our energy for the big payout ... the “BIG CHECK!” The thought of, “Wow, what would it feel like to have my ‘f*#k you number’?!” The number where you’d actually have financial freedom and everything it represents, and so often … THAT becomes the driver INSTEAD of having what I regard as the “pure thought process.” That’s experiencing pure GRATITUDE for being able to provide great service and great value to an audience who loves you as their hero and being rewarded for THAT instead.
 
 That’s really what the game of business is all about.
 
 Some of the key points that we cover in this episode:
 
 * How I successfully and NOT so successfully sold four different companies (what to do and what NOT to do).
 * How I woke up one day and knew I was done (with my last company) so I made the decision to get rid of all the things that didn't serve my body, family, marriage, son, and purpose because it just didn't feel right anymore.
 * How Dan has only ever had ONE company and plans on keeping it that way because it serves him and his mission well.
 * EXACTLY what buyers are looking for in a company when they buy it.
 * The ONE BILLION dollar sale of one of Dan’s clients’ businesses and the correct motivation behind it.
 * How to approach the sale of your company like you’re the BUYER.
 * How important it is to TRAIN your audience how to buy from you.
 * How passion and experience play a BIG role in the success of most entrepreneurs’ first businesses and those sales.
 * The BEST exit mindset to adopt for success.
 * The importance of taking time off after you sell a company to HEAL, but why getting back in the saddle within a year is important too.
 
 Two of the most VALUABLE pieces of advice I can give you as someone who’s owned and sold four businesses is:
 
 * When selling a business, make SURE you have complete and total detachment. The moment you hand over the keys, if you're attached in any way to the “baby,” you just allowed someone to adopt knowing that you may never see them again ... you're in trouble.
 * The investment is never actually in the product. The investment is in the entrepreneur. Our smartest investments are ALWAYS in people.
 
 As usual, there’s always MORE. Dan and I LOVE elevating and amplifying your life!