Free, and it stays between us
What is it actuallyworth?
Most owners have never had a real number put on the thing they built. They have a number from a guy at the golf course, or one from a broker who wanted the listing.
Send me a few figures and I will write you back a range with the math shown. You are not agreeing to anything. You never have to talk to me again.
Free, and nobody has to know
Put a real number on it in about two minutes.
Answer what you can. The number updates as you go, it shows you exactly how it got there, and you never have to give me an email to see it.
If that number is close
Want the long version, and a PDF in your inbox?
It opens right here, and a copy lands in your email a minute later. Every number you just saw, what is holding your price down, and what to fix first with what each fix is worth.
- What is helping your price, and what is costing you
- The fixes in order of what they pay
- What the range looks like once they are fixed
This part is for owners who would actually do something near that number. If you were just curious, keep the number and skip this. You do not owe me anything for it.
Your answers go to me and nobody else. You are not on a list and you are not being sold anything.
Your breakdown
What your business is worth, and why
What is helping you
What is costing you
What to fix first
A calculator can only see what you told it. The real number moves on things I would have to look at with you, like your customer list, your crew, and how clean the books really are. If you want me to look, the form at the top of this page is the way.
How the number gets built
There is no magic to it, and you should be able to check my work.
Anybody who will not show you how they got to a number is hiding something. Here is the whole method.
- 01
Start with what the business actually pays you
Not revenue. Revenue is the number people brag about. Take the profit, then add back your salary, your truck, your phone, the insurance, and anything else the business buys that is really for you. In the trade that is called SDE. In English it is what you would put in your pocket if you owned it and did the job.
- 02
Multiply it
Most small businesses trade somewhere around two to three times that number. Where you land inside that range is the whole game, and it is mostly about how much of the business is you.
- 03
Add the stuff on the shelf
Inventory, vehicles, and equipment usually come on top of the multiple, not inside it. This is where a lot of owners get quietly shorted.
- 04
Then adjust for the things that scare a buyer
One customer who is forty percent of revenue takes the number down. A crew that runs without you takes it up. Three flat years takes it down. Contracts that renew take it up. I will tell you which of these you have, even the ones that cost me money to tell you.
Before you send anything
The questions people ask me first.
01Who sees what I send?
Me. It is not shared, listed, resold, or added to any marketing list. If you ask me to delete it, I delete it.
02Am I committing to anything?
No. A range is not an offer and it does not obligate either of us. A lot of people ask for one and then do nothing for two years, which is completely normal.
03What if I am not selling for five years?
Then this is the best time to get the number, because five years is enough time to actually change it. Most of what raises the price takes a couple of years to do.
04Why would you do this for free?
Because I am trying to buy one or two businesses, not a hundred. Getting real about the number early saves us both a year of dancing around it, and most of the ranges I send will never turn into a deal. That is fine.
05What do you actually need from me?
To start, just the form. If you want a tighter range, last year's profit and loss statement and a rough inventory figure will get me most of the way there.