Do you know the five strategies you must put in place to have a successful liquidity event?
After all, a liquidity event is your most important and largest financial transaction.
Despite the importance of a successful liquidity event, most business owners fail.
Depending on who you speak to, up to 90% of liquidity events fail.
Who am I, and how do I know?
I was the kid who started his eLearning business right out of school with no money, experience, or team. I had no business being in business, and the results showed.
My grit and passion kept me in the game long enough to experience success. With success, I received the proverbial knock at the door from an experienced buyer. The buyer presented a 7-figure offer to buy the business.
My gut instinct told me something wasn’t right. I said “no” to the 7-figure offer and “yes” to mastering the art of the sale.
Two years later, I said “yes” to a 9-figure offer.
I created a 9-step road map of preparation that gave me the certainty to capture maximum value. Today, I pay-it-forward. I help business owners prepare for their liquidity event through a 90-day system.
The 9-step roadmap helped me create a blueprint to optimize the value of my business. It was the same 9-step roadmap that gave me the certainty to capture the maximum value for my business.
Out of the 9-step roadmap came the five strategies that get results.
Do you know what the five strategies are?
Keep reading.
To Have A Successful Liquidity Event, Plan Today What You Will Do Tomorrow Once The Deal Closes
We appreciate yesterday, but we’re looking for a better tomorrow – Jack Ma
To have a successful liquidity event, plan today what you’ll do tomorrow for life after the deal.
Believe it or not, one of the top reasons for failed liquidity events is business owners who get cold feet.
Most business owners are the business, and the business is them. The thought of no longer having the business as part of your life is a frightening proposition.
You’re at the center of activity with your business and are living in the fast lane. The thrill and excitement of closing big deals keep you smiling for days on end.
You enjoy the social rituals of business retreats, conferences, and speaking with customers. The majority of your time and activities are business-related.
Now, picture and feel the silence.
Silence from no longer having those business rituals that you enjoy. You have silence from no longer being in the fast lane. The thrill of chasing down and winning that big deal is gone.
A successful liquidity event means that life as you know it has forever changed.
Read “Create A Life Worth Living If You Want To Be Successful And Happy.”
Employees, vendors, customers, and industry contacts whom you call friends stop calling. Your business friends are living their lives at best, or instead, they realize you can’t help them at worst.
Silence.
Don’t expect empathy because you’re bored, unemployed, and lingering around the house. To the outside world, you’re a wealthy and successful person.
Money buys many things, but it does not buy fulfillment and happiness.
What can you do?
Starting today, plan for life after your successful liquidity event. Your mission is to optimize for happiness.
If You Want To Have A Successful Liquidity Event, Your Business Better Run Without You
If money is your hope for independence you will never have it – Henry Ford
To have a successful liquidity event, answer this question:
Does your business run without you?
Read “Why You’ll Be Happier And Richer When Your Company Runs Without You.”
If you want a successful liquidity event but you answered “no,” stop the presses.
When a buyer learns that the business doesn’t run without the owner, one of two things happens.
Your future buyer will either not do the deal or place a large discount on the enterprise value.
A buyer needs certainty that the business continues to perform once the owner is out of the picture. Your future buyer is not looking for promises. Instead, your future buyer needs proof.
Your proof comes in the form of two important things for a successful liquidity event:
- A strong management team that runs the business without you
- Two or more years of solid audited statements
There’s another reason why your business must run without you. When you work on the business instead of in the business, you get back your time.
With extra time, you find the next painful problem you’re passionate about solving. If you do things right, you can create a market disruption.
With a market disruption, you ensure the longevity of your business and profits soar. Congratulations! You catapulted your enterprise value.
For a successful liquidity event, ensure that your business runs without you.
Speaking of a successful liquidity event, it’s not about how much money you receive but how much you keep.
Do you know one thing you must do that most business owners overlook to their detriment?
Keep reading.
A Successful Liquidity Event Is Not About How Much Money You Receive, But Instead, How Much Money You Keep
Prosperity is the fruit of labor. It begins with saving money. – Abraham Lincoln
A successful liquidity event is not how much money you receive but how much you keep.
Read “5 Reasons For Exit Planning You Really Need To Know.”
The 9-step roadmap I created led to my 9-figure liquidity event. Step number six, the advisory team, is where most business owners fail.
A successful liquidity event depends on your ability to assemble a winning team. One of the members of the team is a tax specialist.
There are legal and effective tax strategies that can save you a tremendous amount of money. To maximize tax savings, you need both preparation and time. It’s common for tax savings plans to need at least a year.
A successful liquidity event depends on the right tax preparation to identify:
- The structural type of sale needed to reduce taxes
- The best State for minimal taxes
- Tax liabilities at the federal and state level
The time required to optimize taxes allows you to make the changes well in advance of a liquidity event.
As the saying goes, when you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. You’ve worked too long and hard to build a successful business.
When it comes to a successful liquidity event, you have one chance, and you better make it count.
A successful liquidity event is as much art as it is science. In the art of a liquidity event, you must do one thing that helps you welcome success.
Do you know what this one thing is for a successful liquidity event?
Keep reading.
How A Winning Mindset Helps You Dominate And Win
A winning mindset transforms the “impossible” into “I’m Possible” – Jeffrey Feldberg
A winning mindset helps you create a successful liquidity event.
Read “This Is What Happens When You Have A Winning Liquidity Event Mindset.”
You won’t find a winning mindset in any formula in a complicated spreadsheet. When it comes to a winning mindset, welcome to the art of a liquidity event.
A winning mindset is a crucial ingredient for a successful liquidity event. In fact, in the 9-step roadmap, step five focuses on how to craft and leverage a winning mindset.
At the heart of a winning mindset is understanding the deal points you want and don’t want. I refer to undesirable deal points as no-fly zones.
When you know both what you want and don’t want, you’re able to craft your strategy, story, and expectations. The currency in mergers and acquisitions is trust.
Stating your desired deal points and no-fly zones upfront does two things for you. First, you show consistency and transparency at each step of the liquidity event. Second, you create trust with your investment bankers and buyers. You say what you do and do what you say.
A winning mindset has you expect the unexpected. A successful liquidity event has you prepared for the worst while you hope for the best. Regardless of what happens, you’re prepared.
You create a winning mindset to tune in to the world’s number one radio station, the What’s In It For Me (WII.FM) station.
For every person, you deal with, tune into WII.FM to identify what that individual wants. Understanding what your buyer wants helps you to craft a creative solution. The result is trust and a win-win.
A winning mindset helps you navigate through challenges for a successful liquidity event.
Do you know why preparation is at the core of a successful liquidity event?
Keep reading.
Why Preparation Is Everything For Both Increasing EBITDA And A Successful Liquidity Event
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success – Alexander Graham Bell
How do you increase EBITDA and have a successful liquidity event?
Preparation.
Read “Want Honest Advice? You Are Not Ready To Sell Your Business.”
Most business owners spend their health, money, and time during a liquidity event. When you’re not prepared, your liquidity event becomes a full-time job.
Keep in mind that the projections you provide to your buyer are both for the present and future. All eyes are on your business performance during the liquidity event.
Missing your projections can either end the deal or lower your enterprise value. Neither situation is desirable.
A liquidity event has the daunting task of creating many reports on tight timelines. You and your team are under immense pressure to run the business and meet the deadlines.
Deadlines and stress rob you of your health. Insult to injury, to get the reports done, you’ll hire expensive outside consultants.
When you follow the 9-step roadmap, you tilt the playing field to your advantage. Preparation done on your time saves both health and money. You and your team gain tremendous insights into your business.
When done right, preparation achieves two essential things. First, you find the hidden skeletons in your closet and remove them. Second, you find the hidden Rembrandts in the attic and broadcast them to the world.
While you’re at it, you avoid unnecessary and costly mistakes. The result is your EBITDA increases, as does your enterprise value.
Know this and know this well. Preparation is everything for increasing EBITDA and enjoying a successful liquidity event.
Conclusion
Depending on who you speak to, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. When it comes to your liquidity event, you have one chance to get it right, and you better make it count.
A successful liquidity event leaves clues. Both in business and life, knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do.
Five essential strategies help you create a successful liquidity event. These five strategies combine both the art and science of a liquidity event.
How do I know?
I said “no” to a 7-figure offer and mastered the art and science of a liquidity event. Two years later, I said “yes” to a 9-figure offer. My journey had me create a 9-step road map of preparation. The right preparation helps you create a blueprint to optimize business value.
Today, my mission is to help business owners tilt the playing field to their advantage. The 90-day Deep Wealth Experience, grounded in the 9-step road map, is how I help business owners.
When you’re prepared, you have the certainty that you’ll capture the maximum value. When you know, instead of believe, you do the right thing at the right time.
Let my in-the-trenches experience and heavy lifting work for your advantage. Take the time now to review the five strategies to help you achieve a successful liquidity event.
Start with the first strategy and stay with it until mastered. When you’re done, move on and repeat the process until you’ve mastered all five.
The best time to prepare was years ago. The next best time is today. Whether your liquidity event is in one year or ten years, the time to prepare is today.
Here’s to you and your success.
Your Raving Fan,
Jeffrey Feldberg
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