There often comes a time in the lives of value-added small business owners when they consider selling their business. Properly structuring the transaction and getting the most value from the business are important aspects of selling a business.

To learn more about selling a business, read Selling your Business; More than a Price Tag.

For more information on this topic, see the links listed below of articles posted on related Web sites.

Understanding the Process

• Selling a Business – Small Business Notes -- Selling a business successfully depends on a variety of factors.
• Planning a Profitable Auction – University of Vermont Extension -- Whether going out of business or reducing the size of the business, auctions are a simple way of capturing the value of the assets.
• Eight Key Steps to Selling your Business – NOLO Law for All -- Follow these steps on valuing your company, negotiating the deal and creating a sales agreement.
• Sell Your Business – CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit -- Whatever your situation, selling your business will be one of the most important things you'll ever do.
• Buying or Selling a Business: The Process – Lawyers.com -- While no two deals are ever the same, the purchase and sale of a business will typically fall into one of three categories.
• Six Steps to Selling – BizBuySell -- Learn how to form your team, price it right, target your prospects and wrap it up quickly.
• Keeping it Confidential – BizBuySell -- Confidentiality is often critical to the selling process. Know the four steps to keeping your sale on the 'QT.'
• Building a Business worth Buying – BizBuySell -- If you're not selling your business to someone else, you're selling it to yourself.

Establishing Business Value

• Valuing Pre-Revenue Companies – Kaufman Foundation -- Entrepreneurs and investors must both understand the critical aspects of valuation for pre-revenue and start-up entrepreneurial venture.
• Business Valuation - Small Business Notes -- Whatever the reason for needing to know this information, trying to come up with a valid figure can be a major effort and challenge.
• Business Valuation Techniques – Business.com -- Analytical approaches to valuing a firm, including cash flow, economic value added, ratio comparison and valuing equity as an option.
• Valuation Rules of Thumb – BizBuySell -- What's a biz worth? Gain insight on business valuation rules of thumb and why we use them.
• Choosing an Appraiser – BizBuySell -- Find out about the types of appraisers and how to pick the right one for your situation.
• Business Valuation – Merfeld and Schine Inc. -- Business valuation is a mix of art and science.
• Enhancing the Value of your Business – Merfeld and Schine Inc. -- The value of just about any business can be enhanced through some fairly easy steps. Also by making these adjustments to prepare your company for sale, you will make the process go more quickly and smoothly.
• Internal Revenue Service Business Valuation Guidelines – IRS.
• How to Use Transactional Databases for Mergers & Acquisitions – Business Valuation Resources -- The idea behind using transactional databases is to relate the price paid in other transactions in the industry to the respective company’s underlying financial data.
• Make Sure the Price is Right – BusinessWeek.com -- If you value your business …. Value your business.
• How Do You Determine the Selling Price of Your Business – AllBusiness.com.
• Business Valuation – LawInfo.com -- Enter your cash flow information, your cost of capital and your growth rate to determine your business NPV valuation.
• Business Valuation Terms – Business Valuation Resources.

Asset Liquidation

• Asset Liquidation – Small Business Notes -- If you have decided to get out of business and are not able to pass your business on, merge or sell it as a going concern, liquidating the assets could be the most appropriate exit strategy.
• Valuation of Small Businesses – CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit -- The value of a typical small business should be greater than the total values of its hard assets.

Related Information

• Can You Sell a Business Without a Broker – AllBusiness.com -- Brokers aren't essential when completing the sale of your business.