Is Your Business All About You?

Looking at your business through the eyes of the Buyer


Ideas to de-personalize your business and make it more desirable to Buyers.


Many sellers feel that their business should reflect their own personal touch and in some ways that may be good HOWEVER not when you are selling your business.

There are many sellers who over “customize” their business making it too much about them as business owners for a buyer to see themselves in the business. Buyers often have concern that the business is dependent on the seller and when you are trying to sell your business this will work against you.


We have even seen over the years many different scenarios that with small tweaks issues could have been avoided.  For instance we had an upscale restaurant where the owners labelled each menu item with their own names, for example Mary’s Meat Loaf or Ricky’s Ribs.  What happens when a buyer takes over that business? Do they keep the menu items as Mary’s Meat Loaf even though their name is Sue? If they do change the names of the menu items there is a cost for menus to be re-printed and more importantly will the customers think that the recipes are now different and they can’t order their favorite meal.  It’s even a good idea to look around your business with fresh eyes. Is your business covered with personal items such as family photos or photos of your last fishing trip, or even mementos of achievements?   Awards for a restaurant or business services are great but too many personal items can detract when selling.


Take a look at your business through the eyes of a buyer.  You could have a very successful business that is family owned with too much personal customization.  When it comes time to sell, this will scare off potential buyers because they believe that the owners are so tied in with their customers or clients that the business will lose revenue once the business changes hands.


The sellers of this particular restaurant had previously attempted to sell their business with no success. We realized when we took the listing that they were hiring us for our experience and often common sense advice.  We immediately suggested that the sellers make changes to their menu to remove their names from each item. The result was that we sold the business within a very short time period.  Their business was truly successful but buyers couldn’t see past all the personalization with this small change their business became much more saleable which of course resulted in happy sellers and buyers.


A potential buyer must believe that the business that is being offered is transferable without a major loss of business because of the relationship of the sellers after the transaction is completed.


As Business Brokers, we always advise business owners who are considering selling to de-personalize their business prior to the business being marketed. So how does the business owner remove personalization such as an abundance of family photos etc. without alerting everyone that they are considering selling? One method we have witnessed is that the business owner considers some “small” remodeling or painting where he or she needs to remove items.


The bottom line is that if you are considering selling your business, talk to your First Choice professional to review whether your business is not only saleable and desirable but also if your business is ready to sell from how the buyer will view it. Make sure that the buyer will not feel that your business is “All about you”.

Recent Articles For You

A Strong Business but a Modest Multiple

By Kim Santos • June 16, 2025
When Sean McAuliffe sold his company, he had a lot going for him. His distribution business was generating nearly $19 million in revenue. Margins were healthy. Growth was solid. And yet, when it came time to sell, his company was valued at around four times EBITDA, a relatively modest value for a $19 million company. The reason? Sean didn’t fully control his supply chain—and buyers noticed. Dependency Makes Buyers Nervous Sean’s model was simple. He bought car key fobs from suppliers in Asia and sold them to locksmiths across the U.S. It was a classic distribution play: source cheap, sell smart, and manage relationships. Sean executed well. He even created his own brand, Keyless to Go, and FCC-registered his products—moves that set him apart from competitors. But despite these efforts, Sean was still reliant on third-party suppliers. He didn’t own the factories. He didn’t control manufacturing. His business was exposed to the decisions of vendors half a world away. In today’s environment—where tariffs and geopolitical tensions can change the cost and availability of overseas goods almost overnight—relying on foreign suppliers feels riskier to acquirers than ever. This kind of dependency is exactly what The Value Builder System™ measures through the Switzerland Structure—one of the eight key drivers of company value. The Switzerland Structure assesses whether your business is overly dependent on any one customer, employee, or supplier. Buyers pay a premium for companies that aren’t beholden to any single relationship. Why Monopoly Control Drives Value Contrast that with businesses that own their brand, control their production, or have proprietary products. Companies with a defendable moat—what we call Monopoly Control—are 40% more likely to have received a written offer to acquire their business, according to analysis of more than 80,000 business owners who have completed their Value Builder Score report. When you control your product and customer experience, you influence your valuation upward—giving buyers fewer reasons to discount your business. The Takeaway for Owners Sean still built a great business. His execution created life-changing wealth. But if he had owned the supply chain or had exclusive manufacturing rights, he likely would have commanded a higher multiple.  The takeaway for business owners: Building a valuable company isn’t just about revenue and profit. It’s about creating a business that can thrive without being dependent on any one customer, employee, or supplier.

How to Double Your Chances of a Premium Acquisition Offer

By Kim Santos • April 21, 2025
Value Builder Analytics, drawing on proprietary data from over 80,000 business owners, found that companies that can run without the owner for at least three months are twice as likely to receive an acquisition offer above 6x EBITDA. The concept is simple. The execution? Not so much. Take Kristie Shifflette for example. She was an early master franchisee with Orangetheory Fitness, a one-hour, coach-led workout that uses heart rate zones to boost calorie burn during and after exercise. When she opened her first location, she did it all—marketing, hiring, payroll, and even handling construction headaches. It worked but only because she was working constantly. As she expanded, things started to break. With two locations, she was stretched. At three, it became clear: The model only worked when Kristie was the model. She knew she needed to change. Kristie stopped focusing on being in the business and started focusing on building the business. From Operator to Owner Kristie started documenting everything. From pre-sale processes to day-to-day studio operations, Kristie developed detailed playbooks that codified exactly how her Orangetheory locations should run—without her. She created a compensation structure for studio managers that gave them ownership over their results: modest base salaries paired with meaningful bonuses tied to net member growth and total revenue. Top-performing managers could double their pay, and they were treated like mini-CEOs with full responsibility for their studio’s performance. By the time she sold her business, Kristie had built a company with 13 locations generating well north of $10 million in annual revenue. Some of her top-performing studios, like the Chapel Hill location, were bringing in revenue of $2 million a year, with EBITDA margins around 40%.  Kristie’s story includes an important lesson: Make yourself less essential, and your business becomes more valuable. If you’re still the one opening the door in the morning and locking up at night—literally or metaphorically—it’s worth asking: What would break if I stepped away for 90 days? Start there. Whether it’s building a playbook, empowering your team, or simply learning to let go, taking even one step toward reducing your involvement makes your company not just more valuable but more enjoyable to own.

Why Imperfections in Your Business Don’t Make It Unsellable

By Kim Santos • April 14, 2025
For business owners considering their endgame, learning what makes a company valuable can feel overwhelming. Buyers prioritize factors like recurring revenue, a differentiated product or service, and a leadership team that operates independently from the owner. If a business doesn’t check every box, it can seem as though selling is perpetually just out of reach. But perfection is not a prerequisite for a sale. While improving the key drivers of value is important, an imperfect business can still be highly desirable to the right buyer. In fact, some acquirers actively look for businesses with fixable flaws because they see an opportunity to increase value. Blake Hutchison on Why Imperfections Can Be to an Acquirer’s Advantage Blake Hutchison, CEO of Flippa, has witnessed thousands of business acquisitions. Flippa is an online marketplace where business owners can buy and sell companies, particularly small to mid-sized digital businesses. The platform connects sellers with buyers looking for opportunities to grow or optimize an acquisition. In a recent Built to Sell Radio interview, Hutchison explained that many business owners assume their company won’t attract buyers because it has shortcomings. In reality, most acquirers aren’t looking for perfection—they’re looking for potential. Many buyers have a strategic advantage, whether it’s a strong distribution network, operational expertise, or access to capital, that allows them to take an imperfect business and make it more valuable. A prime example of this is the acquisition of PetCoach. How PetCoach Turned an Imperfection into a Selling Point PetCoach, co-founded by Brock Weatherup, was a two-sided marketplace designed to connect pet owners with veterinarians. The challenge for any marketplace business is keeping both sides in balance—generating enough demand from pet owners while ensuring there are enough veterinarians to meet that demand. PetCoach had built a strong product, but it lacked a broad distribution channel to acquire pet owners at scale. Without a solution, growth would remain limited. Instead of seeing this as a dealbreaker, Weatherup positioned it as an opportunity for the right buyer. That buyer was Petco. With more than 1,500 locations across the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico, Petco had access to millions of pet owners. By acquiring PetCoach, Petco could instantly expand its offerings while solving PetCoach’s biggest challenge. Weatherup didn’t need to fix the scalability issue before selling. He needed to find an acquirer for whom the business’s weakness was actually a competitive advantage. Your Business Has Value—Even if It’s Not Perfect This doesn’t mean business owners should ignore the fundamentals of value creation. Strengthening factors like recurring revenue, customer retention, and operational efficiency will always increase a company’s attractiveness. However, not every issue needs to be resolved before an exit.  Instead of viewing imperfections as obstacles, business owners should consider how an acquirer might perceive them: A company struggling with customer acquisition may be a great fit for a buyer with an established customer base. A business with inefficient operations might attract an acquirer with expertise in streamlining processes. A company overly dependent on its owner could be appealing to a buyer with a strong leadership team ready to step in. As Blake Hutchison explains, acquirers are often looking for businesses where they can add value. The key is to position the company in a way that highlights its strengths while framing its imperfections as untapped potential. The right acquirer won’t see weaknesses as dealbreakers—they’ll see them as opportunities.