Buyers pay for predictability. Each of these steps makes your earnings easier to trust, and a business that is easy to trust is easier to buy.
1. Clean up your financials
Keep monthly, accrual-based books, and separate personal expenses from the business. Write down every add-back, such as above-market owner salary or one-off legal costs, with the evidence behind it.
2. Reduce concentration
If one customer, marketplace or ad channel brings in more than a quarter of revenue, buyers will price that risk. Adding a second channel or a few mid-sized customers can move a valuation more than a year of growth.
3. Make more revenue recurring
Move one-off sales toward subscriptions, retainers, maintenance plans or replenishment. Recurring revenue is easier to forecast and easier to finance.
4. Make yourself less essential
Document key processes, delegate customer relationships and give your team decision rights. A business that runs for a month without you is worth more than one that cannot.
5. Tidy up the paperwork
Customer contracts, supplier agreements, domain and software ownership, and employee or contractor agreements should all be signed, current and easy to find. Missing paperwork is one of the most common causes of delay in diligence.
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