Selling Your Business For Dummies Paperback – January 1, 2008

I believe that it's the best investment I ever made during my 10 years as an entrepreneur! I sold my small business in January 2016 and this book was instrumental not only in my preparation to sell the business but in the actual execution of the sale.About two years before the sale (November 2013), I wrote a strategic plan for my business and it was at that point that I decided I wanted to sell the business in time to have it sold by my 62nd birthday and before the lease I had expired and needed to be renewed. I developed a timeline to give myself a year for the sale process (starting in June 2015) and included a 6 month transition period with the future owner. In this plan, I also included a list of opportunities for growth that I wasn't going to implement but thought that the future owner should have.I bought this book right away and read it during the holidays that year to get an idea of the steps I needed to take. Over the course of the next year and a half, I slowly began to set things up for the sale, according to the author's suggestions. I began documenting the processes of the business (since everything was in my head and there was very little on paper), but it was not yet organized in an operations manual. Since I was so involved in the day to day of running my business, the ideas from the book were in the back of my mind, but not something I focused on everyday. I was very slowly doing the important things to get ready.The two most important things I needed were to get an operations manual finalized and the last 5 years of financial data created in the form that showed the true profitability (without the owner perks). I was able to get one of my employees to create the manual before she graduated from college and left to begin her career (in May of 2015) and had asked my CPA to prepare the financial data. We met in May to look at the reports and it was in that conversation that he asked me if I were ready to sell because he had a client looking for a business like mine. I told him yes and he setup a conference call for his client and I to discuss the business.Here's where the book had the greatest impact. After that conversation, the CPA called me to tell me the client was very interested in coming to visit my business, but that I had a lot of work to do. I needed to prepare a document describing my business and get it back to him in a few days. Thank God for this book and the template for creating the Seller's Memorandum! In one weekend, I was able to create this document, including the pictures and all the points that needed to be made. What's amazing is that when I got to the part about including future opportunities, I remembered the strategic plan I had written (which I had not looked at since I wrote it) and went back to pull that information. I noticed that the timeline to begin the sales process was June 2015 and the date that I was creating the memorandum with the book's template was June 1, 2015!As it turns out, the client came to visit, he and his wife fell in love with my business, and they purchased it with cash (no financing at all) within 7 months. It wasn't the easiest process dealing with the landlord to transfer the lease and negotiate a renewal for the new owner, and at the end, we got it done. The buyer negotiated a 9 month transition with me, which has been successfully completed.I can't quantify how much this book helped me. I recommend it highly to anyone wanting to sell their business.

No CD with the book. Very disappointed with that. Wanted to see the forms they talk about in the book. Guess I am not the only one either.

Hello!I have been reading the book and I previously complained on this site that the files from the CD ROM were not accessible to Kindle users. I was frustrated because the book content is SO GOOD, and I wanted to get started with my homework and work on the forms. Immediately, the writer wrote to me personally and sent me all the files. It was her husband birthday and she was away from her computer, but still she wrote to me by iphone to reassure me.It's the first time I purchase a book, and it comes with such a personal and nice after sales service. Im impressed with the book, and also with the author. The book is full of crucial information, it's very methodical, and guides you through all the steps, from the mind, to the paper. I have downloaded samples of others books to compare and see. I did not find it necessary to read them. Everything is covered in her book.

I wish I read the other reviews first: This is a good book but there are no CDs! She references the CDs quite a bit. I am willing to buy them because the book is good but how??

Excellent overview of selling process, with good attachments in CD. Provides solid outline of the process and highlights of areas which a seller could research if deemed appropriate for the particular situation. Also gives the seller the perspective of potential buyers. This book would also be very helpful to buyers because it essentially covers/menitons all of the areas that the buyer should perform during the decision process.

still reading. but it is very informative.

I got this prime digital, but they did not send me the CD rom that suppose to come with this book.The book references back on it and also important forms that you need or only on the CD.And if the case is because you buy digital that the forms should come at least in a attachment with digital book or by email.I feel short changed just because I went digital and didn't buy the actual paper back book.

This is an excellent review for anyone selling a business, either on your own or with a broker. The exercises and included CD allow the owner to put together all the important information needed for a sale. There are also many suggestions and ideas to do the best.

Ordered the book but no cd came with it. Many references in book to cd but cant use half of it because i dont have the cd. Can't get a response from dummies.com either.

Very useful book on everything you need to know when selling a business - particularly a small one. Only issue was in applied to selling a business in the USA and not in the UK, when things may be rather different. But overall, very well written.