A business owner wants $10 million for his company.
The buyer comes back at $5 million.
The seller says the business has more in it. That the record earnings he just delivered are proof of where the business is heading and that trajectory should factor into the price. The buyer says he’s not paying for promises. He wants predictability. Proof that the earnings will hold up after the owner walks out the door.
Neither side is wrong. And that’s why the deal stalls.
I’ve seen this standoff play out more times than I can count. Two reasonable people looking at the same business and seeing completely different things.
But here’s what tilts the table.
If that seller had walked in with his risks identified and mitigated — key-man dependency gone, revenue diversified, client concentration handled — the buyer’s biggest fear just evaporated.
If he’d shown clear, documented paths of growth that were already underway and producing early results, the buyer isn’t guessing about future performance anymore. He’s looking at traction.
If the business was already running day-to-day without the owner in the room, transferability stops being a question mark and starts being a reason to pay more.
And if every system, every process, every playbook was documented and ready to hand over, the buyer isn’t buying a black box. He’s buying a machine he can operate from day one.
Four levers. Risk. Growth. Transferability. Documentation.
Optimise those and the seller doesn’t need to argue for $10 million. The evidence argues for him.
And here’s what most owners miss:
These same four levers are also your four levers of freedom.
Each one you improve takes weight off your back and gives you control over where and how you spend your time. Long before any buyer shows up.
That’s what Fall in Love with Your Business Again walks you through.
Four modules. Four shifts.
Whether you’re selling next year or never.
Pioneer pricing: $97 for lifetime access to the course and all monthly meetings closes on 30 April.
After that it’s $997 for the course and $197 monthly for the monthly group cohort access.
Click here to claim your Pioneer Lifetime Spot.
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P.S. Feeling trapped in your business? Turn it into an Asset you love to run – and that investors want to own.
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