Review - Do It Yourself Business Sales Guidebook

Do It Yourself Business Sales Guidebook, Ben Brickweg, 2011, ISBN 9781456568764

The easy part is to decide when to sell your small business; the hard part is knowing how to do it. This book makes that process much easier to navigate.

First of all, why are you selling? If it is to get enough money to retire to Florida or Arizona (or the south of France), giving the business to your children is probably not a good idea. Get an accountant and tax attorney (if you have not already done so); you are going to need them. Obviously, keep it quiet. The last thing you want is for your employees, suppliers and/or customers to be running for the hills in panic. Get rid of all old or obsolete inventory, and give the facility a thorough cleaning.

There are several financial reports that you will need, but the two most important ones are a Balance Sheet and a Profit and Loss statement for the past several years. Make sure that they are absolutely accurate. It's tempting to fool with the "books" in order to make your business look more profitable than it really is. It's also a really bad idea; your deception will be exposed, sooner or later. Besides, showing a "down" year is not the worst thing in the world.

The book looks at things to consider when you are coming up with an asking price. You need to get on the Internet, and look up the asking price of comparable businesses that are up for sale. If your asking price is noticeably higher than the "average" price, reduce your price accordingly. You can count on a potential buyer doing the same search, and asking why they should pay more for your widget company than for a comparable widget company.

Put some time and effort into the marketing materials that will get potential buyers interested in your business. Get help if you need it. Find the right magazines and websites to place your advertisement. Keep track of everyone who shows interest. If they seem legitimate, send them a Confidential Business Plan, which gives some, but not all, details of your business, right after they sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. If they object, they are not a legitimate buyer, and you can cross them off the list. Serious buyers know that an NDA is part of the procedure, and will have no problem in signing it.

This book covers the rest of the process, from negotiating terms of the deal (compromise is the important word), to due diligence (where you are obligated to reveal all of your business, good or bad), to ensuring a new transition to the new owners. It also comes with a number of checklists and worksheets, to make the process as painless as possible.

For anyone who is even contemplating selling their small business, this book is very highly recommended. It's easy to say that you will never sell your business; life has a way of making that decision for you. This is equally recommended for anyone thinking of buying a small business; it does a very good job of showing what the seller is thinking and seeking.

Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose blog, http://www.deadtreesreview.blogspot.com/, emphasizes small press and self-published books.

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What To Say When You Talk To Yourself - Book Review

"What To Say When You Talk To Yourself" by Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D. is an excellent book on the power of the mind. It is another great book on the subject.

Allow me to share a personal story about my own experience with this book.

It came into my life in about 2005. A time when I first began taking my network marketing business seriously. A side-line friend and I were talking, well, I was griping and complaining, about the setbacks I was experiencing with regard to forward motion in my business.

This friend started pointing out the power of my own words - the power my own words had upon myself!

The teaching of my parents came to my mind...the information they shared with me growing up...and I began asking questions. He just said, "What To Say When You Talk To Yourself, by Shad Helmstetter.

He said that he had picked up the book in a thrift store (for 25 cents!) and he ran out to his car and gave me his copy. I promptly devoured it. I just couldn't put it down until I had imprinted it on my brain. I read it cover to cover.

Wanna know what I learned? I learned that it is important to know the power of what you SAY has on your ability to reach your goals.

I also learned the importance of subconscious programming. Brainwashing? Well, sort of. But think about it more like Brain Washing...you know, clearing out the garbage and making room for better stuff.

Is there any argument over the fact that whether you believe you can or believe you cannot you are absolutely correct?

I hope not. I live my life by that motto. It has proven to be true time after time. It is important to know that your subconscious mind is NOT in control. It is your conscious mind that runs the show. If you don't control what goes into subconscious mind it will believe whatever seeps into it.

Let's say you are watching a rather violent and graphic movie. If you don't TELL yourself that it is just play acting, pretending, and the actor will get up from the scene and walk away to be in another movie another day then your subconscious mind will believe that what you are seeing is REAL.

Shad Helmstetter, in "What To Say When You Talk To Yourself," tells about his experiences with helping people who want to stop smoking. He taught them to speak to themselves with great conviction thus reprogramming their minds to believe that they are no longer smokers. He continues in great detail about success story after success story from his work.

Since reading "What To Say When You Talk To Yourself" I have had other information come into my life that both confirms and builds upon the concepts that I learned from this mind-altering book. I highly recommend this one.

I hope you will take it to heart that you can change the circumstances in your own life by changing your mind. Talk yourself into success!

I'm not saying that it is ALL in your head. But I am saying that when you teach your mind to function on a higher level ideas will come to you from all (and unexpected) directions. I hope you act upon them because it is simply the law of attraction. *wink*

Go out and pop those dream seeds!

I will talk to you later.

Click here today and discover how this book review can help change your mindset. You can also click here and see how Think and Grow Rich can help you as well.

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