Podcasts about exitpreneur

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Best podcasts about exitpreneur

Latest podcast episodes about exitpreneur

EGGS - The podcast
Eggs 356: Unlocking Online Success with Joe Valley

EGGS - The podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2024 59:24


Welcome back to Eggs! In today's classic episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Joe Valley, a seasoned Author, Guest Speaker, EXITpreneur, and Advisor. Joe, a Partner at Quiet Light, an online business brokerage, brings a wealth of experience to the table.Over the past nine years, Joe has not only built and sold several companies but has also served as a mentor to countless entrepreneurs striving for their own successful exits. With certifications as a Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, Joe is a sought-after expert, frequently appearing in mastermind groups, podcasts, and entrepreneurial events worldwide.Today, Joe joins us to delve into his latest release, the EXITpreneur's Playbook — How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar. Through a blend of real-life anecdotes and strategic insights, the book offers a roadmap for achieving remarkable exits. Join us as we explore this topic and more with the insightful Joe Valley.----Our Guest:Joe ValleyAuthor of The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to sell your online business for top dollar by reverse engineering your pathway to success: GET IT HERE: https://amzn.to/3BJ7f6jLearn more about Joe:https://exitpreneur.io/https://quietlight.com/Credits:Hosted by Michael Smith and Ryan RoghaarProduced by Michael SmithTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPMThe Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsThe Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunesThe Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music!Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitterRyan Roghaarhttps://rogha.ar ----Credits:Hosted by Michael Smith and Ryan RoghaarProduced by Ryan RoghaarTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPM The Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsFeature with Zack Chmeis of Straight Method up now! https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggs/zack-chmeis-35dae817ac28 The Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunes The Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music! Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitter Ryan Roghaarhttp://rogha.ar

Ecomm Breakthrough
NEW Mind Blowing Strategy To Rank Products on Amazon Using Blog Posts With Dr. Travis Zigler

Ecomm Breakthrough

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2023 66:07


Dr. Travis Zigler is the Founder of Profitable Pineapple Ads, a consulting agency for Amazon sellers who want to grow their business through advertisements. Before founding Profitable Pineapple Ads, Dr. Zigler honed his selling chops as an Amazon PPC coach. Dr. Zigler is also the CEO and Co-founder of Eye Love LLC, an eye health and wellness company he co-owns with his optometrist wife, Dr. Jenna Zigler, providing premium quality eyewear and eye supplements. In this episode… If you're an Amazon entrepreneur who's hired agencies to manage your pay-per-clicks in the past, you know it can be a daunting experience. The agencies make promises they're unable to fulfill, don't provide data in a timely manner, and in the end, you get little return for your investment.  Exitpreneur and Amazon seller Dr. Travis Zigler experienced this firsthand. Although well-versed in Amazon PPC, he still chose to hire agencies to manage his product PPC. Unfortunately, he was unsatisfied with the services. So what did he do about it? He hunkered down and learned the ins and outs of PPC and created his own method. The method has proved to be so effective that he decided to become a PPC coach and consultant.  To learn more, join Josh Hadley in this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, as he chats with the Founder of Profitable Pineapple Ads, Dr. Travis Zigler.Dr. Zigler shares his journey with his agency and the services it offers, his exit from his first entrepreneurial venture, and the latest tactics he's implemented to increase organic sales on Amazon with his clients. Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon Dr. Travis Zigler on LinkedIn Profitable Pineapple Ads Agency Free Lead Generation Course gift from Dr. Travis Zigler Amazon PPC Pros Work for Profitable Pineapple Ads Special mention(s): Steve Simonson on LinkedIn Steven Pope on LinkedIn Kevin King Amazing Selling Machine Matt Clark Jason Katzenback on LinkedIn Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki Google Workspace Ryan Moran on LinkedIn Capitalism Related episode(s): “Actions You Must Take To Prepare Your Business for a Recession” “Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” “Four Critical Pillars for Amazon Listing Optimization”

Next Level eCommerce
Product Research Superpower & Selling An Ecommerce Business - Jesse Weinberg

Next Level eCommerce

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2022 64:19


Check Jesse out at productpearl.comGet a free copy of Joe Valley's book The Exitpreneur's Playbook:exitpreneur.io/nextlevel/Get ready to sell you business by getting your books in order:summitecommerce.co 

The Quiet Light Podcast
Hollywood Executive Turned Entrepreneur (and EXITpreneur) Part 2

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 28:41


Dan Smith is the Founder and former CEO of an e-commerce brand that sells iPhone wallet cases. In 2022, Dan sold his self-financed company for 100 times the invested capital. Dan is a former Hollywood executive, turned entrepreneur, turned EXITpreneur who spends his time consulting for major brands such as Fred Segal, Wired, Macworld, Beams (Japan), and AT&T. In this episode… Dan Smith spent over 10 years as a Hollywood executive before converting an idea into a thriving e-commerce brand. How did he do it? For eight years, Dan grew and nurtured his multimillion-dollar company, even gaining customers like Tom Hanks and members of Coldplay. But as the adage goes, “all good things must come to an end,” and Dan was ready to sell. After consulting with his wife and accountant brother, Dan knew he needed the expertise of a business advisor. Enter Quiet Light's own Chuck Mullins, who brokered a deal that Dan couldn't say no to. In this episode of Quiet Light Podcast, Joe Valley sits down with entrepreneur-turned-EXITpreneur Dan Smith in part two of a two-part discussion about the process of selling a profitable company. Dan explains what led him to sell, the steps taken prior to selling, and the post-sell transition. Finally, Dan talks about his latest venture and how he's helping other entrepreneurs grow their businesses as a consultant.

The Quiet Light Podcast
Hollywood Executive Turned Entrepreneur (and EXITpreneur) Part 1

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2022 30:59


Dan Smith is the Founder and former CEO of an e-commerce brand that sells iPhone wallet cases. In 2022, Dan sold his self-financed company for 100 times the invested capital. Dan is a former Hollywood executive, turned entrepreneur, turned EXITpreneur who spends his time consulting for major brands such as Fred Segal, Wired, Macworld, Beams (Japan), and AT&T.  In this episode… You're happy with your career, but there's a million-dollar idea burning inside you. How should you move forward? Dan Smith was flourishing in his career and having fun while doing it, but as the corporate world goes, a shift in operations forced him to re-evaluate his next career move. Leaning on the years of experience and talents he accrued along the way, Dan realized he could monetize that into his own business.  In this episode of Quiet Light Podcast, Joe Valley sits down with EXITpreneur Dan Smith in a two-part discussion about leaving a career as a Hollywood executive to bootstrapping his own business. From conceptualizing an idea then converting it into a multimillion-dollar e-commerce brand, Dan offers his best advice on how to self-fund a business. Plus, Dan shares how e-commerce brands can benefit from using Google Analytics. 

Wizards of Amazon
#212-What Amazon brands Can Do OFF Amazon to Increase Their Multiple When Exiting with Joe Valley

Wizards of Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2022 38:46


I'm so stoked that I've checked a bucket list having our guest today on the show, Joe Valley, certified merger and acquisition expert as well as the author of Exitpreneur's Playbook.  In this episode, Joe gave us a glimpse into exiting successfully by doing things that Amazon brands can do off Amazon to increase the value of the business. Now if this ain't interesting enough for you to stay tune, he's also sharing roughly the percentage value of a successful business exit.  In This Episode: [00:32] Joe Valley, the writer or Exitpreneur's Playbook on the show. [01:54] Pre aggregators [06:25] Is website recommended? [09:25] How many brands has he helped exit? [11:254] Social media brands helped. [19:50] What would somebody get from the book Exitpreneur? [23:40] Blue Ribbon Mastermind [28:00] Email list [31:00] Exitpreneur   Guest Links and References: Website: https://quietlight.com/sell/?r=ExP.db-Wizards Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exitpreneursplaybook/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMLL54nrH0u_yswj9OgVF0A/videos Website offer: https://quietlight.com/sell/?r=ExP.db-Wizards Guest notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlinUmMpsMJ4T_pss1l9cBzUsz8OkFZ0PGRmr1WmrEc/edit?usp=sharing Book Reference: The One Thing by Gary Keller Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/

The Quiet Light Podcast
Tips From an EXITpreneur Who's Sold $150M in Products

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2022 44:33


Fernando Campos is the Co-founder of MarketplaceOps, a leading Amazon strategy firm that delivers growth to best-in-class CPG brands. His agency leverages fully-integrated technology and proprietary ranking techniques to beat out the competition. Prior to founding MarketplaceOps, Fernando came from the tech industry, where as Head of Sales he helped his company secure over $30M in venture funding and scale to over 80 employees. Fernando is a Member of YPO, an Investor at KOS Naturals, Partner at Seller Tradecraft, and Co-founder of Pixelfy Amazon.  In this episode… Are you an Amazon seller who wants to scale faster and more efficiently, but you're not sure where to start? With the saturated market of product listings, is it possible to rise above the competition? The first step is product differentiation. Fernando Campos says that you want to quantify the volume and brand analytics of Amazon to work in your favor. When it comes to ensuring your product and brand have depth and are seen as leaders, you need to execute three things:  examine the total addressable market, differentiate the packaging, and visualize your product in search results.  In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, Joe Valley sits down with Fernando Campos, Co-founder of MarketplaceOps, to talk about marketplace strategy and management on Amazon. Fernando discusses how influencer marketing can help boost your products, how differentiated keywords can optimize your click-through rate, and a detailed explanation of the Amazon Seller Central. 

Business Lunch
Secrets of a Business Broker with Mark Daoust

Business Lunch

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2022 31:56


Did you know considering the selling factor for your business is something you should always keep in mind?  On today's episode, host Roland Frasier speaks with guest Mark Daoust who shares the secrets you need to ensure your business thrives to its potential. As a business broker and founder of Quiet Light, Mark has had personal experience of brokering billions of dollars of acquisitions and mentions the importance of honesty when doing deals. Mark talks about how businesses today can improve their valuation and  a big mistake that business owners make by viewing their business simply in terms of cash flow. His philosophy is that your business is an asset, and growth and profitability can improve your businesses' valuation. He also shares some things that can be done to enrich your business to its best state before considering selling it. Listen in to discover how you can avoid underestimating your business asset with or without a business broker, and why the guidance may be worth it. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: Why you need to start viewing your business as an asset for future revenue instead of focusing on cash-based accounting. How a broker can help you calculate working capital. At what point do you absolutely need a business broker? The difference between an M&A attorney and an investment bank advisor - does it matter in the face of brokerage companies like Quiet Light? How to assess and add value to your company before contacting a broker What quality of earnings is and why it matters LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: https://quietlight.com/ (Quiet Light Brokerage) https://quietlight.com/learn/podcast/ (The Quiet Light Podcast) https://www.amazon.com/Buy-Then-Build-Acquisition-Entrepreneurs/dp/1544501137/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= (Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game) https://www.amazon.com/EXITPreneurs-Playbook-Business-Reverse-Engineering/dp/1544522223 (The EXITPreneur's Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success.)  OUR PARTNERS: https://scalable.co/7-levels-assessment/?utm_source=business-lunch&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=lead-gen (7 Steps to Scalable workbook) Get a free proposal from https://conversionfanatics.com/ (Conversion Fanatics) Get 3% cash back on your ad spend with https://www.funneldash.com/adcard (AdCard) https://yourzerodownbook.com (Get my book, Zero Down, FREE) Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-traffic-by-digital/id1022441491?mt=2 (iTunes) and leave us a review! Mentioned in this episode: Get 3% Cash Back on Your Digital Advertising! The Highest Cash Back Card For Your Digital Ad Spend. Made By Advertisers. https://business-lunch.captivate.fm/adcard (Ad Card) Optimize Your Website with Conversion Fanatics Put A Creative Team Of Fanatical Split-Testers To Work On Your Site! https://business-lunch.captivate.fm/conversion-fanatics (Conversion Fanatics) Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses! Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! https://business-lunch.captivate.fm/epic (EPIC Training)

Build a Business Success Secrets
How to Negotiate Best Deal When Selling Your Company with Joe Valley Author of EXITpreneur | Ep. 319

Build a Business Success Secrets

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2022 79:31


Joe shares insights from decades of selling companies that will help you get the most money for your company when you sell it. About Joe ValleyJoe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide. EDGE's Weekly NewsletterJoin over 17,000 others and sign up to receive bonus content. It's free sign up here >>> EPISODE LINKS: EXITPreneur Quiet Light Brokerage PODCAST INFO: Apple Podcasts: EDGE on Apple Podcasts Spotify: EDGE on Spotify  RSS Feed: EDGE's RSS Feed Website: EDGE Podcast SUPPORT & CONNECT EDGE's Weekly NewsletterJoin over 17,000 others and sign up to receive bonus content. It's free sign up here >>> Please Support this Podcast by checking out our Sponsors: Mad River Botanicals 100% certified organic CBD products. The product is controlled from seed to end product by it's owners. Use code: EDGE22 to get 10% off all your orders. Shop here>>> *We respect your privacy and hate spam. We will not sell your information to others.  

My Amazon Guy
The Fall of the Aggregators - Blunt Q&A with Joe Valley

My Amazon Guy

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2022 43:09


Joe Valley is a bestselling author, guest speaker, podcaster, EXITpreneur, advisor and partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the world's leading online-focused M&A advisory firms. His book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook, teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit.00:00 The Fall of the Aggregators - Blunt Q&A with Joe Valley00:45 Joe Valley's take on the aggregators02:47 Latest news on the aggregators04:40 Selling to an Amazon aggregator05:13 What do with instability payments08:02 Exitpreneur's Playbook08:22 The Amazon Aggregator website09:01 Biggest mistakes the aggregators made in 202110:44 Aggregator versus rand owner16:31 Predicting when the first aggregator goes public17:17 How to start with zero capital18:28 Is having too many LLCs bad for business credit?21:14 Inflation rate23:11 Why buying a business is a good time right now 25:23 Best practices on creating different brands/seller central accounts28:15 The e-commerce lending28:46 The D&B number29:37 The downgrading of aggregators32:47 Aggregators and US LLC34:37 Main reason to buy Joe Valley's book38:31 The Quiet Light podcast39:11 Prediction on the Amazon space in 202241:48 Books that influenced Joe Valley's lifeSupport the show

Tab Talk
BB10- How To Prepare Your Business For An Exit with Joe Valley

Tab Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2022 63:28


This episode of Builders Build we switch up the 3 musketeer format and bring in an amazing guest, Joe Valley. Joe is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. We cover everything from setting goals for your business, tools and strategies to help document your processes and resources from the start (SOPs, metrics, accounting, etc), picking metrics for your business, valuing businesses, where to sell, and more. Want to learn more about Joe Valley, his book, or some of the links we touch on in the pod? Check the links below: Joes Book - The EXITpreneur's Playbook https://exitpreneur.io/ Places to sell online businesses Quiet Light Flippa FE International Microacquire Make sure to to check out our past episodes and get access to more tools and tips to build your business at https://builders.build

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Get Daily Insights from the Top Internet Marketers & Entrepreneurs Around the World

Most people start an online business because they want the opportunity, autonomy, and money that comes with being an entrepreneur, but they typically find that they're stuck on a hamster wheel and can't get off. It's a different kind of issue for individuals trying to exit their business, and they don't know where to begin and have no notion how much their company is genuinely worth. In this episode, we have invited Joe Valley. Joe is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the world's top online business brokerage-advisory firms. Joe shares his experience in all facets of exiting an online business through direct experiences and real-life. Tune in to this episode to learn more! Resource Quite Light (Site)Exitpreneur WebsiteJoe Valley LinkedIn

High Voltage Business Builders
The #1 Thing All Amazon FBA sellers Need To Do Today To Exit For Maximum Payday

High Voltage Business Builders

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2022 24:29


Welcome to the new episode of High Voltage Business Builders! Today's guest is my friend Joe Valley, a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world.Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide.Today he's making some predictions about 2022 and sharing valuable pieces of advice for people that are running and/or selling online businesses, and everybody in between.So make sure you stick around! Additional sources:If you're a passionate business builder yourself, visit http://voltageb2b.com to get in touch now.

How2Exit: Mergers and Acquisitions of Small to Middle Market Businesses
How2Exit Episode 17: Joe Valley - Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Professional.

How2Exit: Mergers and Acquisitions of Small to Middle Market Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2022 55:33


After building, buying, or selling a 1⁄2 dozen of his own companies, Joe Valley helped build one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. Now, after facilitating nearly 1⁄2 billion in exits, Joe has written the bestselling book The EXITpreneur's Playbook - to help online business owners get the maximum value and best deal structure when they seek their own incredible exit.Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of online entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs worldwide.Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar - shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches readers how to reverse engineer a pathway to their own eventual exit.Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Joe is a Bestselling Author, Guest Speaker, Podcaster, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage.--------------------------------------------------Contact Joe onLinked: linkedin.com/in/thejoevalleyWebsite: quietlight.comGet a free copy of Joe's EXITPreneur's Playbook!: https://exitpreneur.io/how2exit/Book: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B094DRTJZ8&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_5CV4DQ4GWWF7KT9PGVHN&tag=how2exit-20As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Each purchase supports both the author and this podcast. If you'd like additional ways to support this podcast, you can become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=66340956----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reach me to sell me your business, be on my podcast or just share some love:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronskelton/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ronaldskeltonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/How2ExitHave suggestions, comments, or want to tell us about a business for sale call our hotline and leave a message: 918-641-4150----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Listen to it on Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48749292Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how2exit-episode-17-joe-valley-certified-mergers-and/id1561038705?i=1000551277154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/15m9tmMXjwga6WhljVCuKx?si=DqgaDGMrTLak0-ygGWWItQ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Other interviews:Lana Coronado: https://youtu.be/6pxWPbDvMb8Ali Tarafdar and Brucker Krafft from Labruta Capital: https://youtu.be/q_XGvUujdVMRudy Upshaw: https://youtu.be/r3hey09geG8Aaron Bud: https://youtu.be/ObBZoOdrkmMJosh Ploch: https://youtu.be/a0kYduCvP_YJoel Ankney: https://youtu.be/JV9oTuehzlQDana Derricks: https://youtu.be/ETVP058IumkScotty Schindler: https://youtu.be/G9MbE_8SQ94Joshua Johnston: https://youtu.be/-pb5UatK0v0Sharon Brown: https://youtu.be/sOYT1HjXwME--------------------------------------------------

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast
5-Steps to Selling your FBA Business for the Most Money with Joe Valley, Author of "The Exitpreneur's Playbook"

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2022 22:52


Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide. Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. On this episode you'll learn: Emotions: When Brings On A New Advisor/Broker Managing The Sellers Emotions Is Important Aggregators Guys A Cautionary Story When Handling Aggregators Guys Earnouts Aren't Called “Profit Sharing” Understanding DIY and Setting Up A Competition Working with An Advisor The Importance of Valuations Rolling Equity Explained The Trick with Aggregators

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,
5-Steps to Selling your FBA Business for the Most Money with Joe Valley, Author of "The Exitpreneur's Playbook"

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2022 22:52


Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide. Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. On this episode you'll learn: Emotions: When Brings On A New Advisor/Broker Managing The Sellers Emotions Is Important Aggregators Guys A Cautionary Story When Handling Aggregators Guys Earnouts Aren't Called “Profit Sharing” Understanding DIY and Setting Up A Competition Working with An Advisor The Importance of Valuations Rolling Equity Explained The Trick with Aggregators

The Quiet Light Podcast
8-Figure EXITpreneur Shares His Journey

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2022 32:46


Nathan Hirsch is the CEO at EcomBalance, a bookkeeping service for e-commerce businesses, and the Co-founder of Outsource School, an education platform for businesses. With over 10 years of e-commerce experience, Nathan has always had a passion for running his own businesses and being an entrepreneur. He recently built and sold his e-commerce business, FreeUp.net, for eight figures.  In this episode… Do you want to spend more time scaling your brand and less time bookkeeping? If so, Nathan Hirsch has the solution to ease the financial burden for you. As an entrepreneur at heart, Nathan understands the intricate parts of running a brand — which is why he created his bookkeeping service, EcomBalance. Good financials are the building blocks of a successful e-commerce brand, and properly organized books can mean accurate add backs and a greater exit. So, how can you get organized to make more profitable decisions for your brand? In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, Joe Valley sits down with Nathan Hirsch, CEO at EcomBalance, to discuss the importance of e-commerce bookkeeping for growing and exiting your brand. Nathan talks about his entrepreneurial roots, how to get the most profit from your add backs, and why you need clean and proper books as an entrepreneur. Stay tuned! 

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,
How To Sell Your Amazon Business with Joe Valley, Author of "The Exitpreneur's Playbook"

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022 22:44


Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide. Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. On this episode you'll learn: How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar Joey Valley's Background Setting Goals Aiming for freedom and flexibility How do you set goals 4 Pillars of Value How to package the business Venturing Listing business - creating competition for buying Understanding Deal structure How do seller notes work? Why use a Broker? Why not go direct to Aggregators?

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast
How To Sell Your Amazon Business with Joe Valley, Author of "The Exitpreneur's Playbook"

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022 22:44


Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide. Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. On this episode you'll learn: How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar Joey Valley's Background Setting Goals Aiming for freedom and flexibility How do you set goals 4 Pillars of Value How to package the business Venturing Listing business - creating competition for buying Understanding Deal structure How do seller notes work? Why use a Broker? Why not go direct to Aggregators?

SharkPreneur
773: ExitPreneur with Joe Valley

SharkPreneur

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2022 18:47


ExitPreneur Joe Valley, ExitPreneur.io   – The Sharkpreneur podcast with Seth Greene Episode 773 Joe Valley Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide.   Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit.   Gino Wickman, author of Traction, and The Entrepreneurial Leap says “This EXITpreneur's Playbook is a must-read for online entrepreneurs.” Joe has personally closed nearly 100 million in transactions and touched nearly a half-billion in online exits through the entrepreneur-led team of Advisors at Quiet Light   Listen to this illuminating Sharkpreneur episode with Joe Valley about helping entrepreneurs sell online businesses. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week's show: - How you can't just wake up one day and decide to sell your business. - How entrepreneurs make 50% of their money from their business the day they sell it. - Why entrepreneurs need to focus on the four pillars that buyers look at and what they are. - How setting goals makes you a more successful person and business owner. - Why you must take time off after selling your business for me time.   Connect with Joe: Guest Contact Info Twitter @TheJoeValley Facebook facebook.com/exitpreneursplaybook LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48 Links Mentioned: exitpreneur.io   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Link Up Leaders
5-Steps to Selling an Online Business with Joe Valley

Link Up Leaders

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 63:10


The buying and selling of online businesses has been going on long before the explosion of aggregators. (no really!) On today's episode of Link Up Leaders, Francois and Lisa are chatting with Joe Valley, Author of The EXITpreneur's Playbook and serial entrepreneur who will discuss with us how to get the greatest value out of your business. --

How'd It Happen Podcast
Joe Valley, How to Become a Successful Exitpreneur (#236)

How'd It Happen Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2022 64:22


Today's guest is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage—one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world, and he shares with us how he has built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. So listen in and learn more about his journey from being a young worm-preneur to becoming the successful exitpreneur he is today.Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of online entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneursworldwide.Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar -shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches readers how to reverseengineer a pathway to their own eventual exit.Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Joe is aBestselling Author, Guest Speaker, Podcaster, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage.Reach out to Joe at:Website: https://quietlight.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48/Email: joe@quietlight.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoeValleyGrab a copy of Joe's book at: https://www.amazon.com/EXITPreneurs-Playbook-Business-Reverse-Engineering/dp/1544522223Show notes:[3:28] How'd it happen for Joe Valley?[10:17] Communicate with the people in your company[13:59] Set your goals—the smart way[17:35] Share goals with people who can help you achieve them[20:59] Understand how to reverse engineer your path to your goals[27:44] The mindset shift[29:15] Personality profiles[32:11] Joe's worm-preneur days[37:21] Did he have an idea what he wanted to do after high school?[39:34] On doing what you're passionate about for money vs. offering help[45:58] More on his business: QuietLight[51:16] The EXITpreneur's Playbook[1:01:36] Where to find more of Joe[1:02:35] Today's takeaway[1:03:42] OutroCheck the accompanying blog post of this episode at: https://mikemalatesta.com/podcast/joe-valley-how-to-become-a-successful-exitpreneur-236/If you like this episode and want to be the first to know when new ones are released? Make sure you subscribe! Also, a review will be much appreciated, so make sure you give us a 5-star (or whatever one makes the most sense to you).Connect with Mike:Website: https://mikemalatesta.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemalatesta/

How'd it Happen?
Joe Valley, How to Become a Successful Exitpreneur (#236)

How'd it Happen?

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2022 64:22


Today's guest is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage—one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world, and he shares with us how he has built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. So listen in and learn more about his journey from being a young worm-preneur to becoming the successful exitpreneur he is today.Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of online entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneursworldwide.Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar -shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches readers how to reverseengineer a pathway to their own eventual exit.Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Joe is aBestselling Author, Guest Speaker, Podcaster, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage.Reach out to Joe at:Website: https://quietlight.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48/Email: joe@quietlight.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoeValleyGrab a copy of Joe's book at: https://www.amazon.com/EXITPreneurs-Playbook-Business-Reverse-Engineering/dp/1544522223Show notes:[3:28] How'd it happen for Joe Valley?[10:17] Communicate with the people in your company[13:59] Set your goals—the smart way[17:35] Share goals with people who can help you achieve them[20:59] Understand how to reverse engineer your path to your goals[27:44] The mindset shift[29:15] Personality profiles[32:11] Joe's worm-preneur days[37:21] Did he have an idea what he wanted to do after high school?[39:34] On doing what you're passionate about for money vs. offering help[45:58] More on his business: QuietLight[51:16] The EXITpreneur's Playbook[1:01:36] Where to find more of Joe[1:02:35] Today's takeaway[1:03:42] OutroCheck the accompanying blog post of this episode at: https://mikemalatesta.com/podcast/joe-valley-how-to-become-a-successful-exitpreneur-236/If you like this episode and want to be the first to know when new ones are released? Make sure you subscribe! Also, a review will be much appreciated, so make sure you give us a 5-star (or whatever one makes the most sense to you).Connect with Mike:Website: https://mikemalatesta.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemalatesta/

Build Your Network
709: Joe Valley | How to Become an 'EXITpreneur'

Build Your Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2021 35:28


Starting and running a successful business is only half the battle. Do you have an equally successful exit strategy?After building, buying, and selling 6+ of his own companies, Joe Valley helped build Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. Now, after facilitating nearly half a billion dollars in exits, Joe has written the bestselling book The EXITpreneur's Playbook - to help online business owners get the maximum value and best deal structure when they seek their own incredible exit.If you want to learn how to become an ‘EXITpreneur' then dive into this very tactical episode to learn from the master of exiting himself.Things you will learn in this episode:[00:01 - 05:53] Opening Segment I introduce today's guest, Joe ValleyJoe gives us a bit of his backgroundAlways entrepreneurial at heart Parents and upbringing Joe's thoughts on the internal desire to work for himselfCollege experience and education  Learning what you DON'T want to do for a living Taking the leap into entrepreneurship [05:54 - 18:10] How to Become an 'EXITpreneur'Joe talks about his first venture into ownershipStarting a company called “Wrong Number” in college Making half a million dollars in his first year “I'm can not be my business” Joe's lessons from his early mistakes selling his businessWaiting too long to sellYou need to make goalsKnow your when, what, and whereYou don't want to ‘decide' to sell, but ‘plan' to sellHow to detach your name from the business Examples of how to make the transition Seek the buyers who are looking to add value How to choose your buyer instead of courting them Joe shares how he's utilized networking to make a good exit Making connections with like-minded peopleCreating mutual benefitsA quick word from our sponsors[18:11 - 31:39] Creating a Sellable BusinessJoe talks about the reason behind his book Making people comfortable with planning to exit The value of helping and connecting people Why the goal should be to help people 50% of the money you make on your business comes from selling What makes a good, sellable business: an in-depth approachWhat buyers are looking for:Risk, growth, transferability, and documentationSmall businesses carry a bigger risk If your business is growing, buyers can make predictionsUntransferable assets is an unsellable business The importance of good documentation and bookkeepingHow to calculate Seller Discretionary Earnings (SDE)Joe's advice around Acquisition Entrepreneurship[31:40 - 35:28] Closing Segment The example of Amazon sellersHow to connect with Joe and his work - links belowFinal words  Tweetable Quotes: “I am the mistake that I try to help everybody not make.” - Joe Valley“That's the thing I want people to avoid, is waiting till the point where they wake up and say, ‘I gotta sell this.' What they really should do is set some goals.” - Joe Valley“I make more money by helping people than when I was focused on making money.” - Joe ValleyResources Mentioned:The EXITPreneur's Playbookexitpreneur.io You can connect with Joe on Twitter and LinkedIn. Be sure to check out https://quietlight.com/ if you want to exit with more money and better terms!This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and Build Your Network listeners get 10% off their first month at https://betterhelp.com/buildyournetworkDid you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about the episode so we can continue putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to connect with world-class people. Jump on over to travischappell.com/makemypodcast and let my team make you your very own show!If you want to learn how to build YOUR network, check out my website travischappell.com. You can connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Be sure to join The Lounge to become part of the community that's setting up REAL relationships that add value and create investments.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Millionaire's Lawyer - JP McAvoy

A Little About Joe ValleyAfter building, buying, or selling a 1⁄2 dozen of his own companies, Joe Valley helped build one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. Now, after facilitating nearly 1⁄2 billion in exits, Joe has written the bestselling book The EXITpreneur's Playbook - to help online business owners get the maximum value and best deal structure when they seek their own incredible exit.Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of online entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs worldwide.Joe's book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar - shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches readers how to reverse engineer a pathway to their own eventual exit.Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Joe is a Bestselling Author, Guest Speaker, Podcaster, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage.In this episode of The Millionaire's Lawyer, JP and Joe Valley discuss:Joe and JP talk about how drastically the transaction in sizes have changed over such a short amount of time.Businesses have started acknowledging that e-commerce and online businesses can be good businesses to be in, they  have noted how successful they are.Joe Valley states that what makes businesses attractive are the following:RiskGrowthTransferabilityDocumentationThere is a trend that Joe mentions, once you reach 24 months you will start noting them within your business.Buyers do not like downward trends, so sell before you start reaching that point and,make sure you have a built-in way to grow.There are some built-in Assets you can have, Joe Valley outlines them to be:WebsitesProductsLinesJoe and JP wish to enforce how important it is to not be the face of the business, this is because when you go to sell you still have to stick around for a transition period.Your financials are CRITICAL!  It is so, so important to already have QuickBooks set up and functioning, and an e-commerce bookkeeper lined up.Joe Valley mentions some niche industries that are doing well:PetDropshipContentRepeatSubscriptionSassAggregators:101 CommerceRazorThrasoWith the transactions that Joe Valley sees and assists with, the majority of them are Asset Purchases.Make sure you have an exit strategy in place.Joe states how important it is to have the following goals:$$DateEmotionYou want to make sure that when you go to sell, you have competition. This will allow you to negotiate from a position of strength.Always approach the transaction with Math and Logic, Emotion will only cause issues.Connect with Joe Valley:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEXITPRENEURQuiet Light Connect with your host, JP:TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteShow:LinkedInEmail:  jpmcavoy@conductlaw.comPhone:  1-833-890-8878THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR:Conduct LawWebsite

The Smartest Amazon Seller
Episode 131: Are you an Entrepreneur or an Exitpreneur with Joe Valley

The Smartest Amazon Seller

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2021 36:21


Join Scott and Joe Valley this week as they discuss the difference in an entrepreneur and exitpreneur.

The Root of All Success with The Real Jason Duncan
Planning Your Exit Like a Pro Ft. Joe Valley

The Root of All Success with The Real Jason Duncan

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2021 64:37


Today's guest is Joe Valley, who after building, buying, or selling half a dozen of his own companies, helped build one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. Now, after facilitating nearly 1/2 billion in exits, he has written the bestselling book The EXITpreneur's Playbook - which shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches readers how to reverse engineer a pathway to their own eventual exit. Over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. Joe is also a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, Bestselling Author, Guest Speaker, Podcaster, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage. Watch now and learn how Joe was able navigate through the pitfalls of an entrepreneur while also perfecting the art of being an EXITpreneur.   Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review & share! https://therealjasonduncan.com/podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making Bank
Do Good and Sell Well with Joe Valley #MakingBank S6E16

Making Bank

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2021 42:05


Every entrepreneur exits their business.  On season 6 episode 16 of the Making Bank podcast, Joe Valley chats about prepping your business to sell it at the best price. Even if you love your company, one day you will leave it—so why not prepare?  Joe relays the strategies he's learned over the years helping thousands of entrepreneurs sell their business. He talks about the numbers important to buyers, as well as the qualities beyond the numbers that makes a business more salable. Listen to the episode to hear more about what you can do for yourself and the business to get the best price.   Listen to Josh and Joe discuss selling a business: Joe's Background (2:11) Joe has always been an entrepreneur. After starting businesses throughout college, he finally worked for a growing company after graduation. Due to budget cuts, Joe left to start his own company with the goal to make $50,000 in his first year. He made half a million.  Life Lessons (6:10) Joe heard as a kid that if he wanted more money, he needed to go off and find work. He's taken that initiative with him throughout his whole life. He urges entrepreneurs to find where the money is, then work harder and smarter than everyone else.   Earn Your Way In (8:40) Joe talks about earning his way to partnership. You don't always need cash to buy your way into a company—you can work your way into becoming indispensable.   What is Quiet Light? (10:00) After selling his own company to Quiet Light, Joe joined the team as a broker. Through Quiet Light, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs through selling their businesses.   Exiting Your Business (12:16) Every entrepreneur leaves their business. Even if you love it, at one point you will leave it—either through a life event or even death. Therefore, you need to set goals surrounding dollars, dates, and feelings for when that will happen. Joe also covers how to accurately value your business and how to straighten out your finances.  Reading Between the Numbers (17:34) When buyers are looking at a business, they're looking at more than just the numbers. They want to see risk, growth, documentation, and the transferability of the business. Lastly, Joe encourages entrepreneurs to pay attention to how they present themselves and what you post. Trust in Trust (25:44) Joe pinpoints an entrepreneur's trustworthiness as an extremely important, but invisible factor in the buying and selling process. While you always want to be likable, being trustworthy can guarantee more deals with better terms.  Doing Good Brings Good (29:47) When Joe was younger, all he wanted to do was make money. Now, he understands the value of helping others, not only for them, but for yourself and your business. Focus on creating good and good will come your way.  EXITpreneur (31:24) A culmination of over 8,000 conversations, Joe's book EXITpreneur helps entrepreneurs exit their businesses. The book breaks down what adds value, what devalues a company, as well as deal structures, negotiation and more.   The Secret to Being a Great Buyer (37:00) Joe reiterates what he thinks makes a huge difference in the types of deals you'll receive. Start Prepping to Sell Now (39:34) Before Joe wraps up, he urges entrepreneurs to start thinking about selling now. Even if you're not ready now, you want to be when the time comes.   Links mentioned: Making Bank - Website   https://exitpreneur.io/joe-valley/ 

Making Bank
Do Good and Sell Well with Joe Valley #MakingBank S6E16

Making Bank

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2021 44:01


Every entrepreneur exits their business.  On season 6 episode 16 of the Making Bank podcast, Joe Valley chats about prepping your business to sell it at the best price. Even if you love your company, one day you will leave it—so why not prepare?  Joe relays the strategies he's learned over the years helping thousands of entrepreneurs sell their business. He talks about the numbers important to buyers, as well as the qualities beyond the numbers that makes a business more salable. Listen to the episode to hear more about what you can do for yourself and the business to get the best price.   Listen to Josh and Joe discuss selling a business: Joe's Background (2:11) Joe has always been an entrepreneur. After starting businesses throughout college, he finally worked for a growing company after graduation. Due to budget cuts, Joe left to start his own company with the goal to make $50,000 in his first year. He made half a million.  Life Lessons (6:10) Joe heard as a kid that if he wanted more money, he needed to go off and find work. He's taken that initiative with him throughout his whole life. He urges entrepreneurs to find where the money is, then work harder and smarter than everyone else.   Earn Your Way In (8:40) Joe talks about earning his way to partnership. You don't always need cash to buy your way into a company—you can work your way into becoming indispensable.   What is Quiet Light? (10:00) After selling his own company to Quiet Light, Joe joined the team as a broker. Through Quiet Light, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs through selling their businesses.   Exiting Your Business (12:16) Every entrepreneur leaves their business. Even if you love it, at one point you will leave it—either through a life event or even death. Therefore, you need to set goals surrounding dollars, dates, and feelings for when that will happen. Joe also covers how to accurately value your business and how to straighten out your finances.  Reading Between the Numbers (17:34) When buyers are looking at a business, they're looking at more than just the numbers. They want to see risk, growth, documentation, and the transferability of the business. Lastly, Joe encourages entrepreneurs to pay attention to how they present themselves and what you post. Trust in Trust (25:44) Joe pinpoints an entrepreneur's trustworthiness as an extremely important, but invisible factor in the buying and selling process. While you always want to be likable, being trustworthy can guarantee more deals with better terms.  Doing Good Brings Good (29:47) When Joe was younger, all he wanted to do was make money. Now, he understands the value of helping others, not only for them, but for yourself and your business. Focus on creating good and good will come your way.  EXITpreneur (31:24) A culmination of over 8,000 conversations, Joe's book EXITpreneur helps entrepreneurs exit their businesses. The book breaks down what adds value, what devalues a company, as well as deal structures, negotiation and more.   The Secret to Being a Great Buyer (37:00) Joe reiterates what he thinks makes a huge difference in the types of deals you'll receive. Start Prepping to Sell Now (39:34) Before Joe wraps up, he urges entrepreneurs to start thinking about selling now. Even if you're not ready now, you want to be when the time comes.   Links mentioned: Making Bank - Website https://exitpreneur.io/joe-valley/ 

Innovations and Breakthroughs
How Intellectual Property Helps in Preparing for a Successful Exit

Innovations and Breakthroughs

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2021 27:39


Joe Valley is a Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. He is also a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, podcaster, EXITpreneur, and advisor. He has built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies.  Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs worldwide. His book, The EXITPreneur's Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success, shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. In this episode… In order to build a thriving and sustainable company, it is important to hire people who are not only very skilled but who are able to handle every aspect of the business while you are away. This helps in making the company more attractive to potential acquirers if you decide to sell it later. If your company owns intellectual property, your risk level is seen as lower and therefore more valuable than a company that does not have any IP. It makes it easier for you to sell and exit the business, and this can increase its value even before the sale. In addition, ownership of intellectual property makes the business more competitive. In this episode of the Innovations and Breakthroughs Podcast, Rich Goldstein is joined by Joe Valley, a serial entrepreneur and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, to find out how he helps business owners prepare for a successful exit. Joe also talks about his book, what investors look out for when buying a business, and the importance of having intellectual property when preparing for an exit. Stay tuned.

EGGS - The podcast
Eggs 229: How to sell your online business for top dollar with Joe Valley

EGGS - The podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2021 59:25


Hey there and welcome back to Eggs! Today's special guest is Author, Guest Speaker, EXITpreneur, and Advisor, and Partner at online business brokerage Quiet Light, Joe Valley.Over the last nine years, Joe — in addition to building and selling a half dozen of his own companies — has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs worldwide.Joe joins us today to talk about his latest book, the EXITpreneurs Playbook — How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar. In the book, he shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. Here to talk about all that and so much more, please join us in welcoming to the show, Joe Valley.----Our Guest:Joe ValleyAuthor of The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to sell your online business for top dollar by reverse engineering your pathway to success: GET IT HERE: https://amzn.to/3BJ7f6jLearn more about Joe:https://exitpreneur.io/https://quietlight.com/Credits:Hosted by Michael Smith and Ryan RoghaarProduced by Michael SmithTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPMThe Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsThe Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunesThe Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music!Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitterRyan Roghaarhttps://rogha.ar

School for Startups Radio
September 29, 2021 - Exitpreneur Joe Valley and Customer Acquisition Todd Brown

School for Startups Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021


September 29, 2021 - Exitpreneur Joe Valley and Customer Acquisition Todd Brown

Diversified Income Experiment | Passive Income
Planning Your Exit - How to Sell for Top Dollar with EXPERT Joe Valley

Diversified Income Experiment | Passive Income

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 30:32


Joe Valley is an author, guest speaker, EXITpreneur, advisor, and partner at Quiet Light. Joe Valley has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs worldwide. Joe has written a book (coming May 2021), The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar. The book shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit.In this episode, Joe talks about how to sell your business the right way, so you can get the maximum value out of it. He takes us through some of the tips and advice on exiting businesses, which you can also find in his new book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook. Listen in![00:01 – 07:26] How Experience Helped Joe Write ‘EXITpreneur'- Welcoming Joe to the show- Joe talks about writing his book, ‘The EXITpreneur's Playbook'- His experience building and selling businesses- How much it cost him to publish the book[07:27 – 23:39] How to Get the Maximum Value Out of Selling Your Business - The importance of having a clear set of goals- Why figuring out where you are today is pivotal to your desired exit- Dollars, date, and feeling- Joe on helping entrepreneurs exit their businesses- Understanding your financials - Clean financials vs. clear financials- Doing the math[23:40 – 30:31] Closing segment- Learn more about ‘The EXITpreneur's Playbook'- What you can learn from the book- Closing wordsTweetable Quotes:“In order to achieve the exit they want in one or two years, [they have to] set that goal and figure out where they are today.” - Joe Valley“By paying attention to the numbers, you can really see how close or how far you are to that goal, but also make sure that you're clearing up any issues and mistakes.” - Joe Valley“It's just a matter of, ‘I know that I need to trust and respect my buyer that they're going to do a good job with the business', and so I might be open to that if it's the right buyer. I think understanding deal structures is critically important for sellers as well as buyers.” - Joe ValleyCheck out The EXITpreneur's Playbook: https://exitpreneur.io/I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! If you have questions, comments, or want to talk about life-changing opportunities, reach out to me through LinkedIn /in/keithleimbach, send me an email at harry@dincpie.com, or visit https://dincpie.com/

The Ecommerce Influence Podcast
322: Building to Sell: How to Get the Maximum Value for Your Online Business

The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2021 54:15


Are you building to sell? You should be. Even if selling isn't your main priority it will make you a better business owner and it will make the value of your business higher. This episode has the details of how to do it.  Joe Valley is the author of The Exitpreneur's Playbook and a buyer and seller of many online businesses, both on his own and now as a broker with Quietlight.com.  Joe's book is designed to help you get maximum value for your online business and in this episode we go deep into his vast knowledge of building to sell. He answers a ton of questions you should be asking when you're thinking about selling your business, what multiples to look at for eCommerce, plus he shares mistakes you might be making now and how to prevent those BEFORE you're getting ready to sell.  It's an excellent interview and Joe is truly an expert in building to sell. If you're ever going to want to sell your business or have thought about buying a business in the future you're going to get a ton of value in this episode.  Episode Highlights: 4:03 Why Joe wrote his book 6:14 Who an Exitpreneur is and building to sell 7:11 The argument for building and selling a business 10:17 How Joe sets tangible goals with real data 11:41 Where to start when determining the value of your business  17:09 How to find a good bookkeeper  18:47 The multiple you should be looking for in eCommerce 22:13 Why you should separate inventory when looking at the value of a business  24:19 Joe's take on aggregators and the roll-ups of FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) and Shopify stores 29:50 Things to look out for in deal terms and the “stability payment”  32:19 Do roll-ups blow up or end up incredibly successful? 34:36 When you should start planning if you're building to sell your business  36:46 How to “exit without exiting”  39:06 Is there a sweet spot for time to sell a business? 42:09 Joe's first 3 actions to have success with your first acquisition 46:31 How deals are financed on Joe's site 50:32 What Joe's excited about right now Resources: Quietlight.com Exitpreneur.io Book: The Exitpreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley Book: Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel Centurica.com Market Watch  Boopos.fund The Coalition @a_brawn on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

QA Selling Online
Joe Valley Talks Aggregators and Exitpreneur #397

QA Selling Online

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2021 31:03


Joe Valley is Co-Owner of Quiet Light Brokerage #1 best seller in 7 AMZ categories - The Exitpreneur Joe has 5 steps of negotiation with Aggregators What we talked about   - Every FBA business has been or is being approached by Aggregators  - what are aggregators  - how do they get money?  - In most cases, more than half of the money you ever make in a business is the day you sell it  - Chapter 13 ais FBA Roll UPS - can you explain what this is  -is an earn-out ever favorable for the seller? - hired to manage your ex-company  - Joe talks about add-backs  - how long from start to finish Links to Joe Valley https://www.exitpreneur.iohttps://quietlight.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48/

The Ecwid E-commerce Show
Becoming an Exitpreneur with Joe Valley

The Ecwid E-commerce Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 52:44


In our newest episode, we talk to Joe Valley, a Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Professional. After facilitating nearly 1⁄2 billion in exits, Joe has written the bestselling book "The EXITpreneur's Playbook" to help online business owners get the maximum value and best deal structure when they seek an exit.  Tune in for Joe's insights, and don't forget to download three free chapters from his book, just for the Ecwid community: Chapter 11: Identify All Your Add-Backs Chapter 13: FBA Roll-ups, Yeah or Nay? Chapter 15: Structuring the Deal You can download the chapters in the Ecwid Blog: https://www.ecwid.com/blog/becoming-an-exitpreneur-with-joe-valley.html Some key insights of the podcast include: Getting the Basics Right to Build on Your Foundation Set a specific goal for your exit time and value.  Getting the basics right starts with getting your books and accounting in order. Understanding a seller's discretionary revenue is the key to understanding the actual value of your business. The Peculiarities of Selling a Business C-Corporations are harder to sell because they involve an asset sale, not a stock sale.  However, more than just assets will be involved in the contract. Post-sale, you'll need to stick around and help with the transition. For most business owners, the most money is made at the exit.  Becoming an Exitpreneur Learning to look at your business as a short-term project can help you build something great. Shifting your mindset from being an entrepreneur to an Exitpreneur, can be exhilarating, but difficult for some people. What Revenue Levels Are Buyers Looking for Today? The four things buyers look at while deciding on a deal are: Risk, Growth, Transferability, and Documentation. High total discretionary earning is the goal. Two-year-old businesses with six-figure discretionary earnings are ideal. Sell on growth years. Ecwid Podcast on Ecwid https://www.ecwid.com/blog/podcast Ecwid Social Social Profiles:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ecwid Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecwid/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/EcwidTeam Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecwid Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ecwid/ Jesse Ness Social Profiles: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseness/ Richard “RichE” Otey Social Profiles: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardotey/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardOtey 

eCommerce Profits Podcast
Getting the Most Out of Your Exit With Joe Valley of Quiet Light Brokerage

eCommerce Profits Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2021 44:44


Joe Valley is the Co-owner of Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the world's leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms. He helps business owners and entrepreneurs sell and buy profitable businesses. As an EXITpreneur, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs over the past nine years at Quiet Light. He has a long career of founding companies, including Bedtime Solutions, Inc., JVI Media, Inc., and Abbott Industries. Joe is the author of the best-selling book The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar and is the host of The Quiet Light Podcast. Joe Valley has personally closed nearly 100 million in transactions and touched almost a half-billion in online exits through the entrepreneur-led team of Quiet Light Advisors. In this episode… Are you an entrepreneur ready to make the leap and exit your business? Do you worry about all the moving pieces in the exit process? How can you be sure you choose the right advisor for your company? Joe Valley is here to help. Joe Valley has been helping entrepreneurs and business owners exit and sell their businesses for most of his career as a self-proclaimed EXITpreneur. As the Co-owner of Quiet Light Brokerage, he knows the ins and outs of how to get the most money out of your exit. He's here to tell you all his tips and tricks and give you advice for your next exit along the way. On this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin talks with the Co-owner of Quiet Light Brokerage, Joe Valley, all about successfully exiting a business. They discuss how to train for an exit, choosing the right advisor, the mindset of entrepreneurs, and much more. You won't want to miss this jam-packed episode!

Rising Tide Startups
5.33 – Joe Valley – Quiet Light Brokerage

Rising Tide Startups

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2021 49:04


Our special guest on Rising Tide Startups is Joe Valley, of Quiet Light Brokerage.  Joe is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, author, advisor, and partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A firms in the world. He has built, bought, and sold over a half dozen companies of his own, and has helped […]

eCommerce Fuel
Getting Top Dollar When Selling Your Business

eCommerce Fuel

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2021 40:30


Oftentimes, a large portion of an entrepreneur's wealth comes from the exit, and in this episode, I'm sitting down with Joe Valley to get geeky about the highs and lows of selling businesses. Joe is not only the author of The EXITpreneur's Playbook and a long-time business broker with Quiet Light Brokerage, but he has also helped a lot of ECF members exit their own businesses. Listen in as we dive into the art of buying and selling from Joe's perspective, having handled hundreds of transactions over his career, including how you can set up your business to sell for top dollar right from the beginning. We also talk about where the market is right now in terms of buying and selling eCommerce stores, as well as some of the specifics surrounding FBA businesses, addbacks, and what the perfect-sized business really is. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2VxNj6A Interested in our Private Community for 7-Figure Store Owners?  Learn more here.   Want to hear about new episodes and eCommerce news round-ups?  Subscribe via email.

The Entrepreneur Way
2002: Building a Great Business for a Great Buyer to Take over with Joe Valley Founder and Owner of Exitpreneur LLC

The Entrepreneur Way

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2021 63:39


Joe Valley has built, bought and sold over a 1/2 dozen of his own companies, and sold nearly 1/2 billion in online businesses through his firm Quiet Light Brokerage. He is the bestselling author of The EXITPreneur's Playbook - a book designed to help you achieve your own incredible exit. “Keep your overhead  low and don't be afraid of making mistakes”…[Listen for More] Click Here for Show Notes To Listen or to Get the Show Notes go to https://wp.me/p6Tf4b-lOY

eCommerce Evolution
Episode 169 - How to Sell Your Business for Top Dollar by Becoming an EXITPreneur - with Author Joe Valley

eCommerce Evolution

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2021 39:50


Several of my successful eComm friends are selling all or a portion of their businesses right now.  It makes sense.  Ecommerce valuations are at an all time high.  Also, when you consider that entrepreneurs make 50% or more of all the money they will EVER make from their business when they sell it - you have to be thinking about when and how you want to sell your business.     In this episode I interview my friend and expert M&A advisor, Joe Valley.  Joe is a partner at Quietlight Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A advisory firms in the world.  Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Since then, he has helped facilitate nearly a half billion in online exits and now is the author of the bestselling book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar.   Here's a look at what we discuss in this episode:  What is an EXITpreneur and why it pays to think and operate like one Why you should start “training” for an exit now What if someone says - I love my business…I don't want to sell.   Top mistakes to avoid when selling your business Real life business selling horror stories Plus more! I do highly recommend Joe's book. You can get your copy today at EXITpreneur.io and begin to understand the true value of your business - and how to get maximum value for it whenever and however you decide to exit.

Extraordinary Focus
How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar with Joe Valley

Extraordinary Focus

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2021 35:03


Let's talk to Joe Valley of Quiet Light Brokerage on how to get top dollar selling your business! In this episode, we cover: How to sell your online business for top dollar by reverse engineering. The definition of an aggregator and what it means for you. Why a million-dollar business is less risky than buying a $100,000 business. How to increase the value of an online, service-based business. Why the business owner's reputation matters. How some business expenses can DECREASE the value of your business. 5 Risks you MUST be aware of and what you can do to reduce the risk. How to create a plan to exit your business. Joe is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, author, advisor, and partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A firms in the world. He has built, bought, and sold over a half dozen companies of his own, and has helped thousands of online entrepreneurs achieve their goals. In his recently published book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar, he shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit. For show notes and past guests, please visit http://focus.ceo/podcast Download the free 6 min video "How to Double Your Revenue by Focusing on Less" at http://focus.ceo/focusvideo Take the free 60 min Double Your Revenue training at http://focus.ceo/training Follow David: Twitter: http://twitter.com/_focusceo Instagram: http://instagram.com/_focusceo Facebook: http://facebook.com/extraordinaryfocus YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/ExtraordinaryFocuswithDavidWood LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/focus-ceo/

The Fizzle Show
Episode 387: The EXITpreneur's Playbook with Joe Valley

The Fizzle Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2021 57:05


We have talked a-lot about how to be an entrepreneur but what about an EXITpreneur? Joe Valley, Co-Owner of Quiet Light Brokerage and author of “The EXITpreneur's Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar," comes on to talk about best practices when selling your business. Get your FREE CHAPTERS (https://exitpreneur.io/)

Amazing Exits Podcast
0043: The ExitPreneur's Playbook with Joe Valley

Amazing Exits Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2021 40:06


Joe Valley is a best-selling author, EXITpreneur, podcaster, advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions professional and has personally closed over 100 million in transactions and nearly a half-billion in online exits through Quiet Light Advisors.  Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. His best-selling book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook, focuses on the online world of exiting a business. In this episode… Do you understand what your business is worth? How can you ensure a smooth transition and a stronger bank account when selling your business? Joe Valley takes the difficulty and frustration out of selling a business. In his best-selling book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook, he takes you through key steps to understanding how to sell your business. Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs over the last nine years, and through his team at Quiet Light Brokerage, they have successfully closed nearly 100 million in transactions.  In this episode of Amazing Exits, Joe Valley, best-selling author and Partner of Quiet Light Brokerage talks to Paul Miller about how to avoid underselling your business. They discuss how to take the mystery out of selling a business, the importance of training for a business exit, and what you should be thinking about when structuring a deal. Become a part of the EXITpreneur experience and learn how to reach your full selling potential.

My Amazon Guy
Joe Valley Exitpreneur's Best Seller - Quiet Light Q&A Live

My Amazon Guy

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2021 43:45


Most people start an online business for the freedom, autonomy, and money that comes with entrepreneurship— but what they often find instead is the feeling that they're running on a hamster wheel and can't jump off. If you were looking to exit your business, would you know how? What is your business truly worth?00:0000:13 Joe Valley, Author of EXITpreneur's Playbook09:59 Introducing Guest: Joe Valley11:00 What is EXITpreneur's Playbook About? 13:55 Joe Valley asks his readers to write their monetary and feeling goal15:50 What are the Common Answers to "Why did they run their business? What drove them to do what they are doing? How are they going to replace that if their business is sold?"16:45 What percentage of Joe's deals involve buyers who plan to gut or re-organize the eCommerce team after the deal closes?16:12 What have you seen change in the marketplace in the last 6 months?19:45 What percentage of Joe's deals are 100% Amazon vs Direct-to-Consumer vs Blended Amazon & Direct-to-Consumer?20:50 What was the first item you purchased online?21:27 What was the first item you sold online?22:00 Is the aggregator trend a bubble?25:00 Is it smart to sell on other marketplaces like Walmart and Shopify? Or just focus your energy on Amazon?27:04 Which chapter was the hardest to write and why?27:55 What did you enjoy about writing the book?28:55 How much of a problem are "tire kickers?" How can Joe tell if a business owner is serious? Does Joe work harder to qualify clients, or disqualify them? How high is the "full-of-crap" factor?30:33 What are most people get wrong about selling their business?32:32 Is it easy to switch from cash basis to accrual?34:14 Is it harder or more challenging to find, a buyer or a seller?35:15 What is next for Joe Valley?36:45 “Your business strategy should be your exit strategy." Does this idea apply to eCommerce?39:25 Which tends to be worth more in today's market: a business with a phenomenal customer, a phenomenal team, a phenomenal brand, or a phenomenal product?41:19 How can they get in touch with you if they are interested in using your services.42:50 Joe Valley's podcast: The QuietLightAssess the value of your business and reverse engineer a path to an incredible exitAvoid the “ignorance discount” when selling a business on your ownNegotiate favorable deal terms and conditionsCalculate the all-important Seller's Discretionary EarningsThe Quiet Light PodcastLearn the skills and methods you need to turn your online business into a powerful profit engine that you can sell when you want, for the price you designate, to the buyer you choose. Our hosts Joe Valley and Mark Daoust, along with leading M & A, eCommerce, SaaS, marketing, and content experts, will share their decades of experience to give you the tools you need to buy, scale, and exit an online business on your terms.The Quiet Light Podcast is your best source for actionable insights from innovative and successful entrepreneurs who have built, bought, and sold online businesses. If you want to benefit from the most successful strategies and thought leadership to propel yourself toward your goals, look no further.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)

The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast
E390: Lessons on Being an Exitpreneur with Joe Valley

The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2021 31:58


Just like most other sellers, you probably got into ecommerce for the freedom and the money, but the biggest money you're ever gonna make comes on the day you sell your business.   Would you know what to do when that day comes? Do you think you'll be selling your business for top dollar when it does? Have you planned in advance for a 7-figure exit?    If not, this episode is for you.   Today, I'll be talking to serial entrepreneur and Quiet Light Partner Joe Valley about his new book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook.   In this book, Joe uses his expertise and real life experiences to help you get that exit right without leaving any money on the table—from setting up a game plan, to knowing the actual value of your business, all the way to negotiating and structuring a deal.    Timestamps: An overview of The EXITpreneur Playbook - 6:33 A sneak peek into the chapters and sections of the book - 15:27  How far in advance you should be planning that exit event - 20:25 Developing healthy habits and how planning little by little can help you get that exit right - 24:31   I wanna thank Joe for coming onto the show and writing this invaluable book for the ecommerce community. If you want to learn more about The EXITpreneur's Playbook or grab your own copy, head over to exitpreneur.io.   Plus, you'll want to tune in to future episodes, as we'll be announcing the mechanics of the autographed book giveaway. We'll also be announcing the winners shortly thereafter.   On the topic of books, free copies of our Amazon Domination are still up for grabs! This is the definitive guide to launching your product to #1 Best Seller on Amazon—it's yours for free, just pay for shipping.   Also, if you enjoyed this episode as much as I did, don't forget to head over to iTunes and leave us a review.   Until the next one, happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

The Amazing Seller Podcast
RYB 999: The Exitpreneur's Playbook for Buying and Selling Brands with Joe Valley

The Amazing Seller Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2021 53:01


Today, I've got an extraordinary guest that I had on the podcast before.  We're going to unpack his story a little bit further.  His name is Joe valley. He'll be discussing how he sold his business for $1M in as little as two weeks and closed on it in just 35days.We will be unpacking him, writing his first book after attending brand accelerator live back in 2019, where I released my book. This event inspired him, and he said, you know what? I've wanted to do mine, and I'm going to do it now. H has, and today we're going to unpack it. And the name of the book is THE EXITPRENEURS PLAYBOOK.It's a how-to sell your online business for top dollar by reverse engineering your pathway to success with Joe valley. We're going to unpack the process he went through to create the book. Now you can sit back, relax, enjoy this episode with my good friend, Joe valley.

FiringTheMan
The EXITpreneur's Playbook - Author Joe Valley

FiringTheMan

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2021 45:31


Episode 77 Joe Valley fired the man 24 years ago and never looked back ever since. He wrote “The EXITpreneur's Playbook” to guide entrepreneurs in exiting their businesses the right way, specifically sharing tactical steps and mindset shifts that they need to get the most out of their exit. Joe can also be heard regularly in the podcast, “The Quiet Light.”Tune in now and learn from Joe how to train for your exit strategy! [00:01 - 05:03] Opening SegmentWe share our key takeaways from our interview with Joe ValleyFREE chapters from Joe's bookLink below [05:04 - 13:10] Joe The EXITpreneur Let's get to know, Joe, and how he fired the manTraining for an exit vs. planning for an exitThe biggest problem of entrepreneurs right now[13:11 - 20:00] Should You Have a Broker in Selling Your Business? Establishing an exit goal the right way The role of the broker in a transaction Want some Amazon refunds? Check out GetidaPromo code: FTM400[20:01 - 27:30] Earning Money All Day LongBuilding a relationship with aggregators The main quality of a good advisor Joe gives a sneak peek about his book[27:31 - 37:03] Managing Expectations Among Entrepreneurs Joe breaks down the Seller's Discretionary Earnings What can entrepreneurs expect in today's e-commerce space? He shares his experience dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic [37:04 - 43:23] The Mindset to Work for Your Goals “EXITpreneur” is not your ordinary bookJoe talks about the Ignorance DiscountKnow more about Joe in the Fire Round! [43:24 - 45:31] Closing Segment Connect with Joe. Links belowFinal words Tweetable Quotes:“Good advisors earn their money all day long. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the business.” - Joe Valley“[Good advisors] put more money in your pocket with a better deal structure so you could sleep at night.” - Joe Valley Resources Mentioned:ThrasioPerchBook: TractionEmail joe@quietlightbrokerage.com to connect with Joe or follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Listen to his podcast or check it out online: website, Facebook and Twitter.3 FREE chapters of Joe's book! Download herePurchase his new book------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Liked what you've heard? Send us a voice message and share your thoughts!  FacebookYouTubeInstagram Email us --> support@firingtheman.com LEAVE US A REVIEW!

Let’s Buy a Business
Joe Valley - The EXITpreneur Playbook

Let’s Buy a Business

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 31:00


Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, author, advisor, and partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A firms in the world. He has built, bought, and sold over a half dozen companies of his own, and has helped thousands of online entrepreneurs achieve their goals. You need to spend $1 - 15 for your education. This is it. $100M. Yes. $100M. We dive into… - What to avoid while selling - Why business owners don't get valuations - Why over 50% of the money you make comes when you sell Episode Resources Connect with Ryan Condie http://linkedin.com/in/ryancondie http://letsbuyabusiness.com/ https://forms.gle/RRcXpe3dK7pNGqv16 Buy the Book here - https://amzn.to/3zg48Sb Site - Exitpreneur.io Quiet Light Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-quiet-light-podcast/id1034903908 Chapters - The EXITpreneur's Playbook Intro - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XyVXIT4UN__ceOGMxJ3MaJwpere9oIbh/view Chapter 3 - Valuation Overview - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fzjBUnW4BO4CuiHaJzY3hE1nGVgUpF8w/view Chapter 11 - Identify All Your Add-Backs - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pzw25GVqfXiFvi6dLI5Pp9GvOZTRRN1I/view Chapter 15 - Structuring the Deal - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w3mM5QRI80zW1wwvgENmslaW4nbNH24l/view Sponsors: Live Oak Bank is a seasoned SMB lender providing SBA and conventional financing for search funds, independent sponsors, private equity firms, and individuals looking to acquire lower middle-market companies. www.liveoakbank.com Lisa Forrest - Lisa.forrest@liveoak.bank Stay Up to Date Newsletter: http://letsbuyabusiness.com/newsletter 10 Step Video series to Finding a Company to Buy - http://letsbuyabusiness.com/video Joe Valley - joe@quietlight.com 

Seller Growth Podcast
What to do to Get Max Value for Your Amazon Business | Joe Valley

Seller Growth Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2021 47:21


Joe Valley of Quiet Light talks about what to do to get max value for your Amazon business. Joe Valley will also talk about Why would anyone actually sell their business? What's happening with multiples? What's the best way to prepare for an exit? Is preparing for an exit a ton of work? Also covered in the interview with Joe Valley: Why would anyone actually sell their Amazon business? What's happening with multiples? Have the multipliers hit a peak? Getting paid on the backend when selling your Amazon business. Are people buying operators or aggregators? What's the best way to prepare your Amazon Business for an exit? Got any war stories on stupid mistakes or epic successes? How old should an Amazon business be before selling? Joe Valley's Bio: https://www.quietlight.com Author, Guest Speaker, EXITpreneur, Advisor, and Partner at Quiet Light, one of the leading online-focused M&A firms in the world; Joe Valley has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. Over the last nine years, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a ​Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, on podcasts, and at events for entrepreneurs throughout the world. Joe has written an upcoming (June 15, 2021) book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook - How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar. The book shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own successful exit. Gino Wickman, author of Traction, and Founder of EOS endorses Joe's book, saying, “This book is a must-read for online entrepreneurs. The EXITpreneur's Playbook provides powerful, clear, and easy to read information to help you understand the value of your most valuable asset, your business.” Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Since then he has personally closed nearly 100 million in transactions and touched nearly a half-billion in online exits through the entrepreneur-led team of Advisors at Quiet Light. About AccrueMe - https://www.accrueme.com AccrueMe provides Amazon lending to help Amazon sellers grow quickly and increase profits. Our Amazon funding has no credit checks and no monthly payments. Our goal is to help Amazon Sellers earn more money. Growth is almost always the driving force behind added profits. If Growth and Additional Profits interest you, then keep reading. We want to help you grow larger and more profitable, and in return, we want to share in a small percentage of the profits, but only temporarily – only for as long as you want to use our capital to grow. In exchange for doubling your capital, we temporarily receive a small “piece” of a much bigger pie. And you don't even have to pay us every month. Pay us when it is best for you and your business.

The Quiet Light Podcast
Envision and Achieve Your Life and Business Goals With David Wood

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2020 37:54


Twenty years ago David Wood was ahead of the curve in the coaching space thanks to a workshop that led him to delve into the emotional aspects of business leadership. He is here today to discuss ways owners can use emotional intelligence to overcome the hurdles and valleys of growing a business. David is a high performance life and business coach, working solely with established entrepreneurs. He got his start on Park Avenue at the age of 23 and thought he had it made as a consulting actuary. A mandatory personal growth workshop made him realize that he was clueless about anything emotional in business. Today he uses his knowledge in his own business, Play for Real, to help entrepreneurs and business leaders push through tough scenarios with themselves and others and help them to do great things. David also is a coach trainer, mentor, author, and host of the Tough Conversations podcast. Episode Highlights: Reasons why David is speaking with us today. How he takes surface level goals and delves deeper into them. What questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves in order to get through any growth challenges in their business. David's focus on goal setting. The difference between a coach and a therapist. Why people seem so eager to move to the next thing when a sale is over. Quick coaching tips for business owners. The 4-step approach David suggests for sellers and buyers. How David's techniques can help your business and improve your life. Transcription: Mark: So a few years ago Joe I wrote a blog post on the Quiet Light blog and you can actually look this up and it's called I made a bad website acquisition. It was about a business that I bought and made some mistakes with and subsequently sold later on. At the end of that little ownership period that I had with that; it was a really small acquisition, we're talking a very small five figure level here but at the end of that period I hated that business. I hated it so much because it wasn't making any money. It was taking a bunch of my time. The logistics were a bit of a pain. And I got to the point where frankly I was willing to get rid of it for just about anything. And when we talk about the soft side of a transaction a lot of times people want to talk about the financial side and the metrics and the numbers and the financials; how do you actually juice that multiple, how do you get the value as high as you can? But so much of what we do is on that other side and that is the soft side of the transaction and understanding the arc of an entrepreneur's ownership of the business and how are you going to feel when you sold that business as well. And look before you turn it off and think this is all soft gooey stuff; this has a real impact on valuations. And I know you talked to David Wood about this, he was a business coach, because he really kind of keyed in on that as well. Joe: Yeah I know it has a tremendous impact. I like to say don't let the business outgrow you. That's generally why people sell because they've got a certain capacity and the business outgrows them; they get sick of it, they get frustrated, trends change, and they sell which is exactly what not to do. So working with a business coach like David who spends a lot of time with people in the e-commerce world helps you understand what your own personal goals are in business and in life. They're combined when you're an entrepreneur. And helps you get through those valleys and over those hurdles as you need to. David is a good friend of Ezra Firestone. I met him at Blue Ribbon Mastermind. Brad and I and Chris were there so I heard him do a fantastic presentation and I just had to connect with him afterwards and have him on the podcast. I think he can and will and has through the podcast I listened to he imparted some great wisdom when it comes to operating a business within your own capacity. Mark: Let's hear it. Let's get to it. Joe: Hey folks Joe Valley here from Quiet Light Brokerage and today I've got David Wood from Play for Real with us. David is actually a high performance life and business coach. I met him at Ezra Firestone's Blue Ribbon Mastermind event in; where were we David? St. Petersburg, Florida. David: Yeah. Joe: In January of 2019. I'm sorry 2020. David is a good friend of Ezra's and he did such an amazing presentation I wanted to have him on the podcast. Welcome to the Quiet Light Podcast David. David: Hey thank you. I'm happy to be here. Joe: Well, I'm glad you're here. We don't do fancy introductions so why don't you go ahead and give the people listening a little bit of background on yourself and what you do. David: Sure. Well I thought I was successful and I was at the age of say 23 because I was working on Park Avenue. I grew up in our country town in Australia. And here I am on Park Avenue consulting with Sony Music for the next song and I thought I pretty much got it made. I was a consulting actuary and for people who don't know what that is, we deal with financial projections going say 50 to 100 years into the future. Joe: Wow. David: And so my job was risk assessment but then I lucked into doing a personal growth program and I nearly didn't do it because they were all smiling way too much and they all wore nametags. I'm like this is very cult-y. I don't know about this but I didn't let that stop me and they cracked me open. They had me realize that I'd gotten great at systems and logic and results but I didn't know anything about vulnerability. I knew nothing about deep connection with other people and how to really influence people. Emotional Intelligence was something I hadn't even heard of. So the first half of my life was about business and results and success in that line of work and then the last half of my life has been about researching the more I still call it hippie woo-woo stuff like the touchy feely stuff. How do I make eye contact with someone? How do I be vulnerable? How do I deeply connect? So the people who come to me don't just want their business to be better. You can get a lot of business coaches for that. And they don't just want a part of their life to be better. They want everything to be to be better than it was before. So that's the short version of; oh I didn't say to in that course I got to coach somebody. Someone was really stuck about something that was destroying her marriage and I was able to hold space for her and her life changed and I got hooked. I was like this is amazing. I just spot the patterns and see what's missing and make a suggestion and she ran with it, totally revamped her marriage and her life, and I was like I can do this more than as a hobby? And this is back in ‘97 and it turned out yes you can. People were just starting to consider coaching as a career. So now I've been doing it for 20 years and I don't see any sign of stopping. Joe: You were ahead of the curve then and you're doing pretty amazing stuff now. You didn't mention that you wrote a book, that you're on stage quite often, you're on 70 podcasts last year, then Loosening Jack Canfield or John Gray did the inside cover of your book or things of that nature. You're pretty well connected with high level people but you deal with a lot of entrepreneurs as well in your coaching business, is that right? David: Yeah I'd coach entrepreneurs mainly for the last 20 years. Now I'm doing more corporate stuff, some vice presidents and also some prison work and working with prison inmates so I'm expanding but I'm an entrepreneur at heart. So I love working with entrepreneurs who are already doing great things. I don't work with just startup. You have to have a track record of success and then let's; how do you go further? Joe: The people listening are probably saying well why are we on the podcast together; why are you here? David: Yes. Joe: And when we list a business for sale oftentimes someone will say; a buyer, well if it's so great why are they selling? Or we always ask the question why they're selling. And more and more often what happens, people, is that a business outgrows the individual. And what we want people to do is understand first and foremost who they are, what they're capable, what their likes are, what their dislikes are, what drives them, what fills the cup and makes them happy. And that's a lot of what you do in your day to day work, David, is that correct? David: Yeah. Joe: Okay. David: Yeah I get people who have got surface level goals. They come to me like they want to be a better leader. They want to learn how to manage their team or something like that. And that's fine. Let's start there. But then I want to know what's really going to have you be happy. And some people know and they just don't think it's possible or they haven't put time and attention on making it happen. Some people haven't really asked themselves the question; how could my life be better? And that's the sum total of my initial sessions with a client; how can your life be better? Sometimes it's a business goal. If my business increased by 30%, that would do a lot for me financially and my family and then my life would be better. Okay maybe I'll buy that. But normally there are other things like what if my relationship with my partner was deeper? What if my kids opened up to me and talked to me about their life? What if I had the health that I wanted? So yeah I like digging into those questions like how could it be better? Joe: How can the people listening today sort of figure out what questions to ask themselves? Imagine we've got an audience that it's got a healthy mix of entrepreneurs that someday may sell their business. They're learning about buying and selling and preparing the business for sale. And then the other half of the audience might be those that are thinking you know what I'm going to buy one of these someday because they're unhappy in the corporate world or they've sold one and they don't want to take the risk of building another so they're choosing to buy. But let's focus first on those people that are struggling with the business that they have; they've grown it, they bootstrapped it, it's growing like crazy, and they're just trying to keep up. How does one identify what their own comfort level is with the size of the business or the staff or the growth? Because a lot of what we deal with are people that wait too long that things get pretty miserable because it's grown to the point where it's beyond their comfort level. They don't want to manage people. Mark and I had this conversation this morning and he's like we're doing an organizational chart here at Quiet Light Brokerage and I'm in a particular place mark and we're all in different places. The key center of our organization is the advisors; our team of advisers. And I'm straddling a couple of areas, Mark is straddling a couple of areas and we said to each other we have the right as entrepreneurs to do what makes us happy. We want to choose that path. How does one identify what it is that makes them happy? Is there a is there a process that that they would go through in terms of goal setting or asking questions of themselves and I will just stop rambling now answer that question help me out. David: So the question is how can people identify how they can be happy; what are the right questions they can ask themselves? And I love this, on 75 interviews last year no one's really asked me this question. So what I did is I went straight to my website and I'll read out some of the questions. I have a life assessment that anyone can take. And if you like we can give it to people at the end of the show. They can go and fill it in but I'll read out some of the questions. I have people in this assessment rate your life areas out of 10; business career fulfillment, wealth and money, your key relationship, health and peace. I even include relationship with yourself; like how much do you like yourself. So these are a few of the areas, there are a few more which I don't want to steal all the thunder. I'll leave some for people to find when they go and fill it in. And I have people rate them out of ten and that helps them look at oh wow this area is really a three; like my health and peace is a three, what's going on there? Or my relationship with my partner is like a six. Is that really okay with me? Like am I really going to leave the rest of my life at a six? So that's the first point and then I have people rate coaching areas; how about how are you doing with real goals? I'd like to talk about; and you heard this in my presentation at Ezra's Blue Ribbon, GPA, goals planning and action. So out of ten how are you doing with setting real goals, having a real plan, and taking real action? A lot of people would like to be more focused. We're kind of like a monkey on crack when it comes to getting work done. How about your daring, your caring, your decisiveness? So you rate these out of 10 and by the way this form doubles as prep if anyone wants to do a session with me. I use this as an intake because I want to go straight to wow you're doing great here, here, here, here, and here are three areas that look like they could be doing better. Which of these do you want to focus on? Joe: I think the real goals thing is amazing and critical and so obvious that everybody should be doing it but I don't think they do. I read decades ago; right David, we both got some gray on the chin that Harvard; I took a little class at Harvard, half the kids wrote down their goals and half didn't. Those that wrote down their goals were something like ten times as wealthy or successful and happy as those that didn't. One of the things that we're trying to do here and having you on is part of that mind shift. I want people to stop asking the question how much is my business worth, how much can I sell my business for, I'm ready to some business how much can I, how much can I? Instead set goals and say in three years I want to sell my business for X and then reverse engineer the pathway to that and understanding, gaining the knowledge on valuations and setting goals to that pathway exit. Are you working with people in terms of that goal section of their life whether it's personal, with their partner, with their business, with whatever it is that is weak on that scale and helping them with goals or do you just sort of act in a way almost, and what's the difference between a therapist and a life coach and a business coach in this situation? David: All right we've got three areas I want to address here. We'll see if I can track and remember all of them. The first one… Joe: I won't remember them all so don't worry about it. David: The first one is for me I like your process in this many years I want to sell my business for X. I think that's missing a key step. I would say firstly how do you want to feel in three years? It's incredible; and you can do this when you're doing a New Year's visioning session if you ever do that kind of thing. Like don't set goals first, set feeling goals. I want to feel this. And then you can set some goals that will help you feel that. I want to feel at peace. I want to feel deeply in love with my partner. I want to feel joy as I walk down the street and look at strangers. Those aren't some bad goals; actually this came off the top of my head. And then all right to feel like that what would I need to be doing? And I looked at well I love coaching. I've wrote this down; it was three or four years ago, I need to be more coaching and training because I'm inspired when that happens and I want to feel inspired. It's like oh wow I didn't know that. So it is a goal. So first step, how do I want to feel, secondly what do you need in your life to feel that and there might be a financial component to that. All right I need at minimum this amount of money to support these goals that are going to have me feel good. And you probably found this when you coach your clients, it might be less money than you thought the minimum. They have done some studies that show that first; I don't know how much it is 50 or 60 grand can really do a lot to provide happiness in the year and after that it drops way off because you need your own food and you want shelter and you want some basic peace. But after that that poor show that extra trip or vacation isn't going to do that much at all. So that's the first thing. And then there was a second component. I know I remember the therapy component but what was the other component to your question? Joe: I told you I wouldn't remember David. Come on, I'm serious. I meant it. David: Oh that's right. I wanted to say some people come to me ready with goals. They're like I know what I want I'm just not getting there fast enough. So we might do brainstorming or we might have to strategize a plan and they might just need some accountability to put attention on it. All right every week I'm going to do it. Other people it might take three to six sessions to peel the onion and to just uncover. They may not know yet. Like people would come to me with I want this this and this, six months later we've uncovered that; I'm working with an executive right now who finally has seen that he's really arrogant and he thinks he's smarter than everybody else which may be true but it's not serving him. He didn't come to me with that but it's a merge and it's impacting all of his relationships not just at work. Joe: Did he come to that realization and share it with you or did you go you know you think you're; how do you come about that realization? David: Well, sometimes I might gently point it out and I have that privilege because they're paying me. So I can say you know I think I have some feedback that might not be easy to hear but it might be very valuable, would you like to hear it? You're never going to get a no from someone who's paying you to hear your idea. But he came to me. He said you know what I think I can be a bit of a jerk and we; actually this was really fun. Sometimes you get to have fun in coaching. I said to him there's a chance. I know this is hippie woo-woo but I think you could really make a big difference for you if you're willing. It comes from the Himalayas and you're willing to trust me on this. He said all right. So I took him through this Himalayan chant. It starts with; maybe you've heard it, it starts with Owa Tajer Kiam and we did this and we kept on going and he got faster and faster saying it with me until he realized he was saying oh what a jerk I am, oh what a jerk I am, oh what a jerk I am. And when he finally got it he laughed so hard and that's part of my style is let's bring some humor to it. Yeah, you can be a jerk, so can I. When I'm frustrated I'll use my intelligence to belittle the waiter and they may not even know. And then I'll feel bad about it. But we're getting off track. So some people have a sense of what they want, other people it's going to take some time to uncover and I find that really fun and fascinating. And then you said how is coaching different from therapy. It's very contentious. A therapist will argue about this but once I heard this metaphor a therapist will help a man with a broken leg to walk again and a coach will help that man to run the four minute mile. Joe: Okay. That's not mental therapy though that's physical therapy. How do you differ from somebody sitting down and saying I'm unhappy with my life? David: Well the metaphor is more about someone who's really, really struggling to go from bad to okay versus helping someone to go from okay to good or from good to great. Joe: Okay. And you're the okay to good or good to great. David: Yeah, that's my target market. Now there are coaches who might be willing to work with someone who's really struggling financially. For example if someone's got a lot of historical stuff trauma and baggage from that; and I'm one of them, I have no judgment about that. That's not me. I would say a therapist could spend time with you to help you unpack and bring up all those feelings from the past and like that. I'm more interested in what do you want and what are you going to do about it and there is some overlap because sometimes people have limiting beliefs. And I've got one vice president who said I think I've got some limiting beliefs that are holding me back, can you help me with those? I'm like yeah we can bust those open. But I'm not going to do a lot of how was it when your father treated you this way and whatever; that's not my style. I'll refer someone to a therapist if it looks like there's some old stuff that's really holding them back. And a disclaimer and a plug for therapists there are some therapists who will work with people who are doing just fine and help them go to great. So it's a broad brush painting with right now. Joe: But I got to tell you in the future audience you may hear me say how do you want to feel in three years when you sell your business instead of what's your financial goal. What do you want to exit for? Inaudible[00:21:40.0] a combination of both. Because I've got to tell you people are this is their baby they've built it up and sometimes they're sad to sell it. But I'm interviewing people right now for the purposes of writing a book. Yes this is the second time I've mentioned this on the podcast and I will not be obnoxious and plug it all the time but it's fascinating. The idea is when that wire hits your account and you can do it with your phone now and you see all of those zeros in your bank account for the first time, what was that feeling like is the question that I asked. And the feeling was okay, that's good. Now I've got to get to work and helping with the transition of the business and keep going. It wasn't champagne popping and jubilation and things of that nature. And do you think that's because; and I heard this literally at three out of the five interviews that I've done so far. Do you think that is just because they're caught up in time focused on the work at hand versus setting a financial and feeling goal when someone exits their business? David: I think the question is why are people so quick to move on to the next thing and they're not celebrating and enjoying? Joe: Yeah I guess so. Thank you. You do a better job of reframing my questions than I do. Thank you. David: My pleasure. Firstly tell me do you have a working title for your book? Joe: I do. We talked about it. That's right. David: I think there was one line you said and like oh you got to hold on to that line. I can't remember what it was. Joe: We did. I've settled on; and this is the part where I'm either an idiot or brilliant. I sent out two title options; I already said it to everybody here, one was Incredible Exits which is a series we use here on the podcast for people who have sold their businesses. And the other was Exitpreneur. David: That's the one I remember, yeah. Joe: That's the one that stuck. Right. So I think probably 24 out of 25 people said Incredible Exits, go with it, it's just that. David: Do you remember the book title that I suggested? Joe: Yes Making Exit Sexy Again or something along that lines. David: No, that might be the subtitle but you said to me something like the real money is in the something. Joe: It's when you exit the business. Yeah the real money is when you exit. And then yes… David: It was nothing like where the real money is. I forgot what it was but I was very excited about it at the time. I really am. Joe: We're Making Financial Sexy Again that was the subtitle that you suggested. David: Your financials; because you said the real money is in the financials and people might get that and so you can make it sexy. Joe: Or eyes bleed. Well I ended up settling on The Exitpreneurs Playbook with the whole goal of setting a goal and reverse engineering your pathway to that. But we might add some feelings in that goal. David: Yeah. So speaking about reverse engineering I'll comment on why I think we're so quick to skip over the celebration but firstly I want to tweak or reframe something you said. I agree with you it would be good to ask them how do you want to feel when you sell the business. So that's great. I think that would be a good move. And what I'm talking about that I want to clarify it is much broader than that. I'm saying how do you want to feel in your life generally. Joe: Yeah. David: And so just for listeners to make sure that that's clear; how do you want to feel generally when you wake up, as you go about the day, when you go to bed. How do you want to feel and what kind of activities and things actually have you feel that and then reverse engineer the life of that. And you may find that money would be a component and that's where Joe can come in and help you maximize what you get for your business to support what you've already created in terms of your life goals. Now why I think we're so quick to skip and I'm one of them once a while this is I say why we are quick to skip the celebration and I got this from Dan Sullivan I think; a Strategic Coach. So we're looking forward, that's how we're oriented. We're looking forward and we constantly see the gap between where we are and where we want to be. And that's great that's the ego's job because it wants to put food on the table. But when we do that all we're going to see constantly are gaps. We're constantly going to see what there is to do and it can be overwhelming and we miss the celebration. If we want to feel good and acknowledge ourselves for how far we've come we have to turn around. Metaphorically look backwards and see how far we've come and that's the gain. So he talks about Gain and Gap and I'm always like all right that was good. Now what's next? And I have to slow down and even say to people we're celebrating or I'm going to pop some champagne or we're going to dinner or dinner's on me because I want to really acknowledge this win in my life that for example my health has been pretty rough for quite a while and I went out three times last week to go and be with people and get limbic connection and that's a win. So we can slow down and celebrate that and say wow look how great that is instead of looking forward to go there's still so much to do health wise to heal. So does that answer your question? Joe: It does. Thank you. Have you got any quick tips for those that are too afraid to hire a personal and business and life coach; have you got any quick tips in terms of somebody that's caught up in that grind every single day just trying to keep the wheels on the bus and not run out of inventory and deal with the coronavirus now and tariffs and so on and so forth? How do they kind of slow down and focus and appreciate what it is that they've got so that they can look forward with a clear vision? David: Yeah well I would recommend filling in the life assessment at PlayforReal.life. It'd take you five or 10 minutes and it's great information to have about your life. And then you can see oh maybe I want to work on the real goals, I'm going to sit down and do an hour session with myself and set some specific measurable targets that will have me feel great. So that's one thing. I like to talk about truth and daring in particular. Joe: I played that as a kid. David: Yeah well that's Truth or Dare. Joe: I know, I know. David: I like truth and dare. I don't know if those are quick tips but I think the more we speak out truth the better life gets the more attractive we get. We might rock the boat a few times and have some teething pains but I think… Joe: So speaking the truth to those around you, to yourself, is a daring thing to do? David: Most of us have grown up learning to hide things. We learn it covertly and subconsciously. We're like I'm just going to keep all this stuff in here and I'll show the world what's safe. And I get that and sometimes that's appropriate. But nine out of 10 times I think it separates us and a great leadership move and personal growth move is to share the things that are a little edgy. Hey when you said that I felt disappointed or I notice I want us to feel better working together and it feels strange and I don't know what it is to talk about it. Joe: It's hard to initiate that. David: Yeah. Joe: How do you initiate that? I remember I was a kid; I was in my 20s and I was volunteering at this theater in Portland, Maine and doing a massive renovation. It was going to end up being a concert venue and I volunteered to work my tail off so that I could become an employee of the company when it finally opened. And I got that opportunity and it really pissed off somebody else and we weren't done yet. We still had another three or four weeks and that person he could have been bumping into me with his shoulder because he was so upset he would have. It was that kind of you know mental stare and whatnot and finally I just said hey what have I done to upset and offend you? And it was hard for me to figure out what to say but it worked and we became friends afterwards oddly enough. And so I did; I was truthful and confronted him I dared to and it worked out very well but it's very hard to do. David: Yeah. Joe: How do you bridge that gap and say it? David: Well the biggest obstacle is most people aren't even aware of those troops that are swimming around in their subconscious. They're just like that guy's a dick. Or that I don't like her or I'm just not going to work with him again. He's unreliable, right? We don't even see that I could speak up and possibly change this. So that's the first thing is become aware of it. And I'm working on an app called it; that will help you do a true thought to try and work out oh what are the truths that I could say if I felt courageous? Secondly once you work it out say it's like that guy and you're feeling like things are strained and you want to bring up the conversation, the thing that gets in the way is lack of clarity. You're not aware yet what your hope or intention is like what's the good that could come out of it? You haven't generated that yet. So it's a bit murky. You're not totally clear what you're afraid of. It's probably something like he might get defensive or it might be really awkward and might make things worse. But that's not clear in the mind. So I have a free download on the on the website. It's called A Four Step Tough Conversations Blueprint and the worksheet will help you get clear, it'll even ask you is there a request you could make; something they could do that would improve the situation? so you get clarity then you're going to be much more likely to have the conversation because like oh now I know what's going on. Before I was just this jumble of I just didn't like what was happening. Then once you got the clarity you can follow the four steps which give you to them in a nutshell. You asked permission, don't just dump the conversation; can I talk to you about something for a few minutes? You share one hope and one fear. My hope is that we'll feel more connected after it because I'm feeling like things are a little strange now my hesitation is I might make it worse. But are you willing; can I share the issue? And then three you share the issue and make your request. My request would be just that you let me know what's going on or if there's any way I can improve the situation. Joe: You make it sound very easy. David: Well I've had a lot of practice doing them and talking about it and the worksheet really does make it a lot easier. I'm not saying you're not going to feel uncomfortable and I'm not saying there isn't risk. That's what makes it a little bit exciting but your chances of it going better are much clearer because you'll have the steps. You can even take a printout with you and say I wrote down some talking points because I wanted to do a good job at this. And then the step four; super important, is get curious and listen. How is this from your side? What are you experiencing? Do you have a better idea than what I do? And then you shut up and you listen and then you'll work it out together. Joe: I love it. Can you summarize for us as we're wrapping up and running out of time how is it David that this is helpful for people in business; the entrepreneurs that are here in the audience? David: Oh my God. It's helpful for everyone but specifically in business you want your staff to be motivated and empowered. I had my assistant quit out of nowhere. She did only three things that weren't working for her and she didn't have the training as most people don't know how to speak up. She didn't even consider a conversation was possible. So by you learning these techniques and practicing it you can model it for others so that you can have more communication among your team. You become more attractive as a leader. You're going to build more loyalty that people want to work with you. They will have a sense that they can trust you. You'll have more customers because your energy is going to shift. And they'll be like oh wow; like Ezra, right? I say one of the reasons that people go and pay and be part of Blue Ribbon Mastermind is because of who Ezra is and how he shows up. And he's learned how to have these conversations and speak truth. So if we had more time I could probably go into 10 more benefits but here's one final benefit. You will feel better and you will like yourself more if you're speaking truth. Joe: Yeah that's a pretty huge benefit, that's called being happy. So I'm going to go ahead and download it myself. I know you and I are going to chat personally next week and I'm very confident that I will actually become one of your clients and maybe we'll have you back on and talk about my personal experience and how we went through that process and what it's made; a difference for me, in my life here at Quiet Light Brokerage. All right. Any last minute thoughts and then of course again the URL at how people reach you if they want to touch base and possibly have a coaching session or just learn more from what you do on the website. David: Yeah. Thank you. So my last thoughts are you're doing great; wherever you are, whatever you're doing, life is incredibly complex. I'm going to do a rant sometime on this. Things are designed to break down. That's how it's going to work. And you made it this far. You're doing great. You don't need anything else. That's the number one thing. Secondly there's always room for more; for things to be better. That's the game I'm playing. How I do better and get the most out of this this life. And so if you want to practice speaking a truth more maybe having a few tough conversations I think that'll help. Setting goals and really we didn't talk about laser focused action but those are some things that can help. My invitation, if people want to find out more or get in touch with me PlayforReal.life is my website and there are three cool things you can do at that site all at the same link. One you can download this blueprint if you want to have a blueprint; a roadmap for your tough conversations. Secondly I have my own podcast if you want to listen to me as well as Joe. I've got Tough Conversations with David Wood, you can subscribe at the website. And the third thing if something resonated for you on this call and you'll like I want life to be better. I want business to be better and if you think you might be coachable like you're open to input see if you qualify for a discovery session. If you qualify I don't charge for that one because it's fun and too because it's how I find the right people to work with long term. We'll actually dive into your life and business and create a plan. And if you want to implement it on your own, keep me posted. Let me know how it goes and if we both believe that coaching can have a big impact we'll talk about setting up coaching and that's all at PlayforReal.life. Joe: All right. Well I'm looking forward to it myself David. Thanks for coming on the show I appreciate it. And I hope you can help a lot of people in the audience just be happier in life and happier and more successful in business. Thank you very much. David: My pleasure Joe. Thank you. Links and Resources: Play For Real David's Podcast  

The Quiet Light Podcast
How to Cultivate an Exitpreneur Mindset With Joe Valley

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2020 37:49


What is one of the surest paths to substantial wealth? Grow and sell a business. Today's episode is all about Joe's book project, “The Exitpreneurs Playbook.” Joe has over 8000 stories to tell about what it's like to buy, what it is like to sell, and ways to outsmart the typical entrepreneur process. Mark is interviewing Joe about this upcoming project, his motivations behind creating it, and how getting to the writing process carried its share of challenges. Joe believes that an exitpreneur should have the tools in hand to start, run, and grow their business for better decision making later on. He is not telling anyone to sell, he is offering them the strategies they need in order to be ready if they do. Episode Highlights: Joe's idea and the process of putting it into book format. Why he wanted to write the book. Reasons exit planning can be challenging for the business owner. The differences between an entrepreneur who is considering a sale versus one who has actually prepared an exit. How businesses often outgrow the founder and smart moves to make before that happens. The importance of reverse engineering to the goal for a better exit strategy. The difference between the entrepreneur and an exitpreneur. How Joe came up with the book title. Transcription: Mark: So Joe I was at an event recently in Salt Lake City and it was in just general kind of a conference meeting room for about 50 people or so and they had a lot of books in this place. And I was intrigued to just kind of look around and see what was there and you'll never guess what book was up on the shelf. Actually, do you want to guess? Joe: Yeah I want to guess. I'm looking around my office, Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss? Mark: You know what? It actually was in there. Joe: It was in there. Mark: Not the one I'm referring to. Joe: The ONE Thing by John Keller? Now, wait let's call out one of our friends; Superfans by Pat Flynn? Mark: You know I don't know. There were a lot of entrepreneurial focused books so maybe that one was there; I don't know. Joe: Okay. Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel? Mark: Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel; yeah absolutely, that was on the shelf. In fact, they had multiple copies of it. They were giving that book away. And today; what is it? It's February 11th so we're a little bit past a year since Walker launched that book and it spent a year as number one on Amazon Bestseller in this category which is pretty fantastic. I mean obviously, we're super happy for Walker. He won an award for being the thought leader of the year through a major alliance of mergers and acquisition advisors. Joe: Huge. Mark: That is huge. He's had professors from Ivy League colleges come up and talk to him about the book. All of this leads me to something beyond just the accolades and that is the information that's out there in this space about what it's like to sell, what it's like to buy. Walker is talking on specifically which is the buy-side and how to use this as an investment vehicle, how to outsmart the Startup Game as he says and reduce some of that risk. But there's also a whole on the sell-side as well where people don't really know that their business is sellable or they don't think about it. But just yesterday I was reading something on the fastest way to build wealth; what is the fastest way to build wealth? And the conclusion that they had is the fastest way to build wealth is through building a business and selling it. This is one of the quickest ways to actually building wealth. And I know you've had guests on the podcast here who have talked about this process or you call it your Incredible Exits series. I'm really, really excited that you're writing a book on this and you're not calling it Incredible Exits despite everybody else's opinions that you should but it's these stories behind the scenes. Joe: Yeah I'm excited to be writing it finally. I sat down with some friends a year ago probably around a fire pit; maybe a year and a half ago because it was summertime. We're recording this in February of 2020 and I said look I'm making an announcement, I'm writing a book, I'm telling you guys to call me out on it and then I didn't do anything but I tried. I tried to write it. I tried to outline chapters. I tried to follow up… Mark: Hold on one second. You made this promise right on a fire pit with friends? Joe: Yes. Mark: How much did you consume before you made this promise? Joe: I'm a 2-drink maximum kind of guy, that's just the way I am. Mark: Okay. Joe: It's like giving myself an injection of the flu when I have more so it wasn't much. But I didn't get it done. It's a lot of work. So I followed the original book in a box method and didn't get it done at the scheduled time. I was at Brand Accelerator Live with our friend Scott Voelker last September and one of big Scott's announcements was that he actually wrote a book. And it is also here on my desk somewhere; where is it Scott? It's the Take Action Effect. I just turned my head away from the microphone, sorry folks. And I met his scribe; a young lady by the name of Brennan and I connected with her during the event and talked with her and said okay this is it I'm done. I'm hiring a scribe and I'm going to write the book. And I've talked to a number of people about it and let me just cover the process and then answer the question as to why the heck I'm doing this because it's a massive undertaking. The process is instead of actually writing a book myself with written words and a keyboard I get interviewed for I think it was 8 2-hour sessions; so 16 hours in interviews. First, we outlined the chapters and go through the whole process and instead of talking about; I mean writing an article or a chapter on seller's discretionary earnings and add-backs and the three levels of add-backs and all the different things that we talk about on a regular basis Brennan interviewed me. She transcribes the entire interview through UberConference and Rev.com for those that really want great transcription services. And now we're in the sort of lull between all of those interviews and me getting my first draft. They're going to give it to me in thirds. So the first one I will get will probably be I want to say mid to late March and then they'll drip it out in thirds every week for 3 weeks. They want to overwhelm me in terms of reviewing and editing. I still have a lot of technical stuff to add to it but it's really kicked the process into high gear. It's not cheap, let me tell you that. It's an expensive undertaking but I think given what we do for a living and how many people we're trying to help I think it's well worth it. Why am I writing a book? Walker's been an inspiration, very successful with Buy Then Build and the amount of people that he's been able to reach and help on the buy-side. We work with sell-side brokers or sell-side clients for the most part and I've done the math Mark, does it sound inconceivable that I've talked to 8,000 entrepreneurs over the last 8 years? Mark: Not at all. Joe: Yeah and that's probably a conservative number. I'm not saying I've had an in-depth evaluation with 8,000 of them but I have without a doubt talked to 8,000 and that does not count standing in front of a room with 3, 4, 500 people. And the challenge has been we've got to reach them one by one and I know that Walker's book has been as you said best seller. I think it's probably sold over 10,000 copies at this point. Mark: It's over 15 at least. Joe: 15,000 copies? Mark: Yeah, I actually talked to Walker about it a while ago. Joe: I think he told me something like 99% of books sells less than a hundred copies that are published. Now Walker, correct me if I'm wrong but it's pretty impressive. So to get what we share on those valuation calls into somebodies hands before, during, and after they have a valuation call and when they're in an audience that will give them every possible detail that we've developed over the last 8 plus years of doing what we do and sharing that in writing so that they can essentially change their mindset. And that's the goal of the book, it's to change their mindset from reaching out to us when they're sick and tired of running their business or they've had a bump where things get tougher and they say Gosh how can I sell this business? A buddy of mine told me I can get X multiple. I'm going to call Mark and say Mark how much can I sell my business for? I want to change people's mindsets. Instead of saying how much can I sell my business or more often they say how much is my business worth, I want them to say I want to build wealth like you said at the beginning and I want to sell my business for X dollars. I want to do that in 4 years. In order to do that, they need to understand where they are today. And the book is going to help them reverse engineer the path from where they are today to that exit so that they can do a partial valuation, get comfortable with brokers, and drive that path. I had a conversation with Mike Jackness recently and Mike talked about the fact that about what we do sometimes entrepreneurs just don't want to hear it because the idea of exit planning is so beyond what they're trying to do when they're just trying to keep the wheels on the bus, right? They're running out of inventory, they've got competitors coming at them from every angle, they're trying to do cash flow planning and it's just so hard that they can't see out the front window. The objective of the book is to sort of clear that window, have a clear path to an exit that they understand and it's a much better ride. I've been through it myself personally. You did it for me back in 2010. I could see nothing, understood nothing, we had a call, we had several calls and the light bulbs went off and I knew exactly the path to take and I'll tell you what operating my business became a lot more fun and exciting even though I was sick and tired of it after 5 years. Mark: You know the more I experience the business and grow as an entrepreneur the more I'm learning. With anything dealing with a goal really the best way to achieve these things is what you've said, reverse engineer it. Rather than just kind of impulsively decide that I'm going to do something figure out where you want to be and then reverse engineer. But in order to reverse engineer it, you need to understand the mechanisms that are going on to create that value. You're trying with this book to create a shift in the mindset of entrepreneurs, right? By the way, folks if you haven't figured this out we don't have a guest; Joe is the guest. I'm going to interview Joe about the book and maybe we'll talk a little bit about what it is like to do what Joe and I've been doing and everyone else at Quiet Light. Joe: Right, we're co-guests. We're co-hosts and co-guests today because I want to grill you too. Mark: Very good. Alright, I want to start out by saying okay let's talk about your experience. You've been doing this for 8 years. You've done literally tens of millions of dollars of transactions on your own within Quiet Light Brokerage. Joe: I'm fastly closing in on 100 million. Mark: That's right you are. You are; absolutely. Joe: Inaudible[0:11:17.8] 12 to 18 months; pretty shocking. That's amazing. Mark: Absolutely amazing. Talk to me about the mindset that you often see or most naturally see in an entrepreneur that comes to us to sell versus those rare cases of somebody who has planned to sell and what is the difference in the actual process value and stress levels I would say for everyone involved. Joe: Yeah. Look all the success stories that you guys hear about on the Incredible Exits for the most part those are people that had the mindset that they wanted to determine and plan out their exit. They got an education, they figured out what their exit goal was and they called Mark, myself, Jason, Amanda, Chuck, anyone of us and reverse engineer the path to that. They didn't call and say what's your fee, okay I want to list. It was this how does this whole thing work and then we worked with them over a 6, 12, or 18 month period sometimes even more. Those are the success stories that you're hearing about. The people you're not hearing about never sell their business because they call. They might have a call like this or I was just at eCommerceFuel last week as an event and kudos to Andrew Youderian and all the guests and all the people that are there; brilliant, so many smart folks. But even with that high level of entrepreneurial success and drive I still get e-mails like I've gotten this week which is a great chat last week, great presentation. I did a presentation with Mike about the sales of ColorIt. You've really inspired me to sort of try this path to an exit. And then I said okay well this is what I need. Yeah, I don't know I'm so busy with adding SKUs and I'm not really there yet. I'm not ready to sell yet. I'm not ready to think about selling yet. Whereas the yet it should be now regardless of where you are in the business. These people are already doing; the 2 that I'm thinking about where I got the e-mails like the one I don't know his growth. Well, I could do the math on his growth but the discretionary stands out that he's close to 600,000 in discretionary earnings and it is 5 to 6 times more than he ever made in his prior day job. And so he's trying to work towards an exit and retirement. The other was doing nearly 10 million in revenue and had a 25% decline. He's young, he's under 30 years old. And neither of these guys are really ready to exit. Of course, they're not ready to exit but I want them to set a financial goal. I don't care if it's 3 to 5 years from now. Set that goal. I need to exit for X in order to exit. And then figure out where they are, get the education, and work towards that. In 5 years if they're not ready to sell then move the goal post, move it 6 years down the road or 7 years down the road. That is as you said at the beginning the surest way to real financial wealth. But we're not talking about them yet because they're pausing, they're hesitating, they're not going to do it. Those are the stories that I talk about a little bit in the book. There's somebody that was my first million-dollar listing back in the day at Quiet Light. I remember it well. I'm not going to name names. We'll call him Big Mike. That's not his name but we'll call him Big Mike. He had no financials; none whatsoever. And I remember sitting over Christmas break taking all of his bank statements and I actually created the profit and loss statement myself. That is a no-no. We do not do that anymore. No. But I did it. I got it all detailed and accurate and listed the business for 1.1 million. I got an offer for 800 from the gentleman that you sold his business once upon a time. It was actually a good offer because the revenue trends were in decline. And Big Mike said to me well why would I accept it all I have to do is XYZ over the next 12 months and I'll make a quarter of a million dollars and then we can sell the business for 1.2, 1.3 million. And I had a great deal of experience in paid advertising at the time as you know because I just sold my business. This was probably 2012 or early '13. And so we walked through all the possibilities, what to do and how to do it and off he went. The problem was that Big Mike's heart was not in it anymore. He had run up all of his personal debt and personal expenses; his overhead was very high. He lived the life of a very, very successful entrepreneur and his business was no longer trending that way so money was getting tight. He didn't have the ability to pull money from the business and put it into the ad spend that he needed to to reverse it. And so every year for the following 3 years I got any mail from Big Mike that said something along the lines of hey my revenue and profit is at XYZ, can we sell the business for this? And each year it went from that offer from Tony of 800 to the value really was in about 600 the next year. And then the next year he sent me an e-mail it was really based upon what he had given me, about 500. The last time he sent me an e-mail it was about 400. Every single time I replied with based upon what you've given me which is just an email with numbers and I'd say your business value was probably X. Please run a profit and loss statement out of Quickbooks or Xero and export it to Excel with a monthly view. Silence, nothing for 12 more months because he didn't take the necessary steps to do what you have to do in protecting your most valuable asset, in his case his business. And so he's probably got a job, unfortunately. And that's the path unfortunately too many people go down or they learn from the mistakes and they hang up their hat on this particular business. They can't sell it and they move on to another one and hopefully learn from that mistake but it's a painful one. I just want to see people learn from that and therefore the painful process of writing a book. Mark: You know it's great to focus on the success stories. We like success stories. I like talking about success stories that make me happy. But for all these success stories that you have shared so far through the podcast that you'll be sharing through this book we also have the stories like that. And I could probably rattle off a number as well. Maybe I'll start a new podcast or write a book called Unincredible Exits or Nasty Exits or something like that. It will be real depressing and no one will ever want to read it. But you're absolutely right in; that example is really good. That example shows what we see so often from entrepreneurs where they're running; they're used to the hustle, they're used to the grind, they're used to being able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to be able to correct something but sometimes when a business gets mature especially after you've run it for a while doing that can be really, really difficult. I also think it's; I want to re-emphasize something you said which is the picking number, reverse engineering, and getting to that number doesn't mean that you have to sell at that point. We've been pretty public and I will continue to be public by saying that the best scenario for you is to create a business that you can own for your life, right? Because it's difficult to start a business; the cash flow that they build is great, the value that is in them as assets is also fantastic. So I'm a big believer in building and holding or buying and holding and growing but that doesn't mean that exiting shouldn't be an option. And so when you hit that number, if you're not ready to sell you can always move the goalposts as you suggested or create a new goal. But something that I know you've told me in an email where we were discussing this book is you said one of the goals is to not allow the business to outgrow its founder. And boy this is an issue that comes up time and time again that we see and that is business owners were really good at starting, really good at founding something and even growing it to a certain extent getting to a point where making that next shift is difficult. I always describe that the growth path of a business is a series of climbs and plateaus. You climb to a point and it starts to plateau and then you have to change the business a little bit. Maybe you have to add new people; maybe you have to add a different structure to the business. And once you do then hopefully you start climbing again and then you hit another plateau and then it's another shift or another restructuring of the company or maybe a new initiative. What point and is there any examples that you've seen where somebody has hit that point where business is just about to outgrow them and they were smart enough to be able to not let it do that? Joe: Yeah the climbing the plateaus, by the way, let's not forget the valleys, right? Yes, my name is Joe Valley but… Mark: Don't forget the valley. Joe: There are two valleys here, right? It's a climb, it's a plateau, and then boom there's a really nasty valley right there and you're in it. You got to climb out of it. That's why I think it's important to actually do something that you like; something that you enjoy a little bit. It could be something that you're passionate about because when those tough times come and as an entrepreneur they will unless I'm unique and nobody else has tough times. I don't think I'm unique. You're going to have to fight and climb back out of that valley and on the other side there's a mountain, a peak; not a plateau hopefully. And those are great success stories to tell and very sellable businesses. But the idea of a business outgrowing the founder is not original, right? I mean this is something I've seen throughout my own entrepreneurial life where I used to do radio advertising. I owned a radio direct response media buying agency back when there were 800 numbers associated with 60-second spot ads. I could have held that business and grown it but it would have required more and more overhead in terms of people. I don't like managing a lot of people. I tell you what your job is and how to do it and I expect that you're going to work hard and do the best you can. If you don't I'm kind of blunt unfortunately and fortunately in some ways. So if you're in a situation and I see this a lot where buyers sometimes naively say well if it's so great why are they selling it? And it is because the business more often than not has outgrown them. They wanted to live the 4-hour workweek. It turned into 30 and that's okay. And they've got 5 VA's and that's okay. But in order to take it beyond just a SaaS business that's doing 2 million in revenue, they need to hire 3 more developers. They don't want to go through the headache and hassle of that. Or to take it off of Amazon they need to learn SEO offline or email marketing or whatever it might be and that's not their skill set. Or it's hiring people and that's not their skill set. And they learned that one of the greatest ways to earn wealth is to sell a business. Now people that buy Walker's book have learned that they can; a different breed, a different mentality of an entrepreneur comes in. They're not the startup entrepreneurs. They come in and they take over where that startup entrepreneur left off. The business has outgrown them and they hand it off to somebody like Matt Howeth who can. He comes from the corporate world. He's always had lots of travel, lots of staff, and lots of hours. He gets it. He can take it and bring that business in and have a team of employees, a team of VA's and manage it and take it up to the next level because that's his passion. That's what he does. He gets it. The startup is not his passion. It's not his skill set. So one of the things that I think is critically important and sometimes this only comes with age and mistakes and failures and successes and that is to figure out who the hell you are. What kind of entrepreneur are you? Mark: That brings in mind 2 clients I've worked with in the past 14 years now. And one of them; I've quoted this story before but he came to me with a business, I've never talked to him about sharing his story so I won't say what he was selling. But he was selling a physical product. He had initially acquired this business for 5 figures, like a mid-5 figure level and immediately grew the business significantly to the point where it was doing 7 figures in top-line revenue, mid-6 figures in discretionary earnings and so when he gave it to me to sell one of my very first questions was why are you selling? You've been growing year over year, you're only adding value to the business, this looks like a fantastic business, you've got great rankings, great positioning great pricing; all these things working in your favor and he said well right now I store all of the inventory in an external garage on my property. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my son and I go out and we fill orders. It's really nice. It's like I don't have any more room for inventory and if I wanted to get another space I'm going to have to hire somebody and then I'm going to have to hire more people to handle the marketing. I just don't want to do that. I would rather cash out and move on. Meanwhile, another entrepreneur that I've dealt with, he was a CPA by trade and loved being on the buy-side and what he really, really enjoyed was taking a business that was somewhat complex, somewhat messy, somewhat inefficient in the way it was run and simplifying it. And I love; I've sold a couple of businesses for him, I love taking a look at where his businesses started. Their P&Ls were these super long crazy messes and by the time that he was ready to sell they were consolidated down into less than 30 lines because he simplified these businesses, really focused on this principle of 80:20 and said I'm going to just focus on what really makes sense and I'm going to get rid of all the rest of it. For him the act of cleaning it up was great but he would; unlike with Walker's book which is a lot of buy, build, and grow, his was I'm going to buy make more efficient and then I'm going to sell. And he did this several times and it was really fun to watch because he knew who he was. That first seller that I had, he knew who he was. He knew he didn't want to have a staff he had done that and didn't want to do it again. He loved running the business with his son. The second entrepreneur, he was a buyer, he knew what he liked, he also didn't want to have a large staff. There are other people out there that do want to build that team. There are people out there that say I want to have 100 million dollar exit so I'm going to buy a bunch of these businesses and build something or I'm going to acquire 15. They're all different types of entrepreneurs and everyone has different skill sets. Knowing who you are I think that right there is a great bit of advice but going back to what you were saying earlier Joe if you're so busy and in the weeds constantly and just running and hustling and hustling and hustling and never taking a moment to step back and to think about either the exit or about maybe this topic here of what type of entrepreneur are you, where do you want to see yourself in the next 5 years, what type of business operation do you want to have it's really hard to know where you're going and then your business drives you instead of driving your business and your career drives you instead of you driving your career. Joe: Yeah. Walker's book takes the mystery out of buying a business and the how-to and building it beyond that hence the title Buy Then Build or what he coined as acquisition entrepreneurship. My book The Exitpreneurs Playbook is going to take the mystery out of selling your business and setting those goals on what your exit is and reverse engineering a path to that. Now that I've said the title can we make fun of me in terms of predicting I don't know the future doom and gloom of this title because I did the opposite of what everybody told me to do? Mark: You know what? I like it. I remember doing this when I picked the Quiet Light Brokerage logo. I did 99 designs and I had everyone vote on different types and I hated what everybody chose. So I'm like well it's my business so I'm going to do my own thing. Joe: And you know it's a check, check, send something; I don't know, it must've been fall of last year and email out something about the Quiet Light logo and how it has stood the test of time so kudos to you. Yeah so I sent an e-mail out to a couple of dozen past clients that I sold their businesses and they're going to be part of the book. So part of the book is education and part inspiration; inspiration with them sharing some golden nuggets, wisdom, experience things that they wish they did differently. So I sent it out to them and then another say dozen of influencers that are in the space. People that we know well like Mike Jackness, Greg Mercer, Andrew Youderian, Ezra Firestone, things of that nature; people of that nature. And I think out of roughly 25 people Jason Yellowitz is the only one who said he liked Exitpreneur. Everyone else said Incredible Exits, Joe, it just rings, it rings. And there's been something about the term Exitpreneur that has stuck with me during the interview process and the more I said it out loud the more Brennan and I, and again she's my scribe, the more it just felt natural. Because that's what people are becoming when they sell their business, they're exitpreneurs. The difference between an entrepreneur and an exitpreneur is an entrepreneur is somebody that runs their own business but an exitpreneur is somebody that runs their own business and they have the knowledge and a plan. And I want to give them that knowledge in order to devise a plan and become one of those people that generate most of their wealth from an exit. So fingers crossed on that. Can I do a shameless plug right now for the Quiet Light Podcast where I think we're about 25 minutes in and just a little bit of a shameless plug? I have to tell you… Mark: I felt like this whole thing was a shameless plug for your upcoming book. Joe: I know but I don't even; I haven't even put up a website yet. There's no Facebook group. Really what it is, is a plug for education because part; in truth, I've said the same thing 8,000 times over and over. Maybe I'm just tired of saying it so I'm… Mark: With that Joe when I was on this trip recently I was in the airport and thinking about Mission, Vision, Values for Quiet Light Brokerage and I don't have the vision statement out yet but this component of education, if it's not part of our main vision it's definitely one of our core values and really something that I've built up. I was speaking to somebody just this morning before we recorded this about one of the goals or one of the mission; I'm sorry one of the core values of Quiet Light is to give entrepreneurs the right education and the right set of tools to be able to make good informed decisions. Because when I sold my business I didn't feel like I had that. I felt like I was misled. I felt like I was put in a position where somebody wanted to get me in an exclusive contract, promised me big bucks, and then when I went to go sell I was completely unprepared. I didn't know what was happening and so when I started Quiet Light the goal has been from day one not to tell anyone to sell but to give them the tools so that they know what their business is worth today, what it could be worth in the future, what's driving its value so that you can just make a good decision. That's your decision. So the education piece and I joke about this being a shameless plug; the reason that I'm excited about this, and I genuinely am excited that you're writing this book is because that education piece needs to be out there. And I love the idea; more than the idea, love the opportunity that we have to educate entrepreneurs of what's available to them if they transition from an entrepreneur to exitpreneur, understanding that, the bulk of the wealth that you build in your lifetime for most entrepreneurs will be at that exit. That might be 2 years from now, that might be 20 years from now, either case it's fine but having that plan to maximize that value and keeping the process smooth is important. Sorry, I totally cut you off of that but I want to emphasize that the education piece is really what I'm super excited about. Joe: Now we were going to do 2 parts of this podcast, a little bit on the book and a little bit about the philosophy behind Quiet Light's foundation and how you built the company and the entrepreneurial approach. So let's do a; I think we should do an entire podcast on this business and how it's built with entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs just to educate people more about who we are, what we do, and why we do it because I think it's necessary and you've done an incredible job with the model. But in terms of the education, I got a voicemail yesterday and this is the type of thing I want everybody out there that thinks they don't have time to do it and they're just keeping the wheels on the bus so to speak, take the time to make time for planning your exit using the educational tools that we provide whether it's this podcast or articles or Walker's book on my eventual book or having a conversation because that's an education tool. Have a conversation with an adviser at Quiet Light. Really do it. But I got a voicemail from somebody who I sold businesses for, very, very well off financially, runs a family office now, bought a business from Walker for around 8 million dollars in 2019. And he heard the podcast on product innovation, product development with Zack at Gembah. And he just left a voicemail yesterday saying hey man I just want to let you know on the way back home from Austin I got a chance to meet with Zack and we're going to go ahead and do some product innovation, product expansion, adding a number of new SKUs and accessories to the brand. I really appreciate it. I don't know if enough people tell you that we actually use the tools that you share so thank you. It's great to hear that. So thank you sir; I'm not going to say your first name, for reaching out and letting us know. For the rest of us this is the shameless plug part and I've said this, I said this at Blue Ribbon Mastermind and I said it in eCommerceFuel, Mark you and I have done now I think it was 114; I checked this morning, podcasts. So that's how many are up on iTunes. We've got a total of 31 reviews. They're all huge close to 5-star reviews. Thank you, everyone, who has given us reviews. I wasn't aware that we had any at all because we hardly ever plug it. And so I was at Blue Ribbon Mastermind talking to David Wood who will be a guest on the podcast in a few weeks. He's a personal coach and a good friend of Ezra's and he said something about he was on 70 podcasts last year and he chose which ones to go on based upon the number of reviews. So I checked ours. We have 31; pleasantly surprised. I checked the EcomCrew, Mike Jackness and he's got 81. So I stood on stage at Blue Ribbon Mastermind and I said everybody come on now Mike's not here, I want one more reviews than Mike has. He's been doing; I think he's done 3 times as many podcasts as us so we're doing okay. But please if you enjoy the podcast, if you like the podcast take a minute and go to iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you're listening and pop in a review. We greatly appreciate it and share the information and wealth with all the others that need it. Mark: Yeah. There's a video out there and I don't know if we're going to be posting it on our YouTube channel but there's a video out there of you making this plug at Blue Ribbon Mastermind and Ezra is standing there with you and he's thinking this is what you're using the stage time for? Like you have the opportunity to talk about what Quiet Light does and all you're doing is trying to beat Mike Jackness and like absolutely I'm trying to beat Mike Jackness that's it. Joe: We won't be sharing that video. That's not ours to share but I shared it with the team and had a good laugh at myself because of it so no doubt about it. Mike's a great guy. Ezra is a great guy. We don't mention people that we don't like obviously so if we've never mentioned you oh boy that's a long list; oh no, I can't say that. Let's just say thanks; final thanks, Mike Nuñez. Thank you, Mike. Mark: Yeah, Mike Nuñez, absolutely. I think that's a great way to end up this episode here. Let's do one in the future about the building of Quiet Light Brokerage and I'd also love to get feedback from people that have listened this far through this episode and are listening right now. Are there topics that you'd like to hear us talk about outside of bringing guests in? And we can bring on people within Quiet Light Brokerage, bring in Walker on the podcast again or Chuck or Brad or any of the many entrepreneurs that are working with Quiet Light Brokerage. Anything you want us to talk about specifically when it comes to buying or selling? We'd love to know, we want to produce content that you guys wanted to hear so feel free to hit me up Mark@QuietLightBrokerage or Inquiries@QuietLightBrokerage as well. Joe: Awesome. Thanks, everyone. Links and Resources: Quiet Light Brokerage