Hi everyone,

31 years old, no kids.

I own a small business, and have received offers in the region of £750k. Plus cash in the business would give me a total equity value of around £900k on exit.

I started it 5 years ago now, with the dream that one day it could be sold. Well that day has come and I’m in a very fortunate position of having 3 companies submitting offers.

But, instead of feeling excitement, I feel a sense of dread that I’m doing the wrong thing. This business has been everything for me for 5 years. At points I have genuinely thought it would end up killing me and through the toughest days and weeks the thought of the end goal was often what kept me going. So not to be feeling a huge rush of excitement and relief right now is a surprise to me.

I have 2 options.

  • Exit the business and take the money. in this situation I would invest the profits in property and lead a considerably lower stress, yet comfortable lifestyle.

  • The second option is reinvest our profits and try and take it to the next level. This would invoicing recruiting, advertisement and investment in our general operations. I’d be committing to another 2 - 5 years and going back in balls deep. Obviously the risk here is we dramatically lower our profitability by doing so and fail to scale any further. I worry we may then miss what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell a business for decent money.

Not really sure what I’m expecting to get by posting this, but if anyone has thoughts or has sold a business themselves, did you experience this? Did you regret it post sale? All advice appreciated.

  • dimbolo@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I would say that the most objective way to decide would be to simply take a pen and paper. Get away from all the distractions and start making two comparison lists. One which defines the advantages of selling your business at this stage and one with advantages of not selling it.

    Write down bullet points. Include everything like what you would do, should you sell it, your financial situation as well as ambitions in the near future, your plans for the future, both for business and for family (should you want that) etc. Cover as many aspects as you can possibly think of. Don’t rush it, take a day or two to work on it. Finally, look at both the lists in parallel, without having any prejudged bias for one side.

    Without knowing the variables and conditions at your end, my general advice would be to sell it. Financially, it gives you a good base to build your life upon. Additionally, you now have the funds and experience to start a new business (should you want that). Believe me, the new project, though would require your time, wouldn’t be as much blood and sweat as the first one. You can now hire the right staff (because of your funds and expertise) to manage a lot of the trivial work load and you would be well aware of a lot of processes, policy level implementations, registrations etc. While dishing out most of the tasks to your employees, you look after the core stuff and decisions. This way, you grow, while enjoying the process and without too much pain.

    Hoping you have a great future.