Podcasts about exitpreneur's playbook

Robert Leonard chats with Cody Schneider about all things digital marketing and online business.Cody Schneider has held various Head of Growth roles at startups, helping them scale rapidly, and has now founded two successful SaaS businesses, SwellAI and Drafthorse AI.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:00 - Intro.09:33 - What niche sites are and how they work.12:06 - How AI is impacting content generation.30:44 - If niche sites are still viable with AI hitting the scene.33:26 - Why you should be posting content on Twitter.41:23 - Why brand is so important.44:10 - How to grow a podcast.51:44 - How to grow a newsletter.*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCESBuy Then Build by Walker Deibel.The EXITPreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley.Related episode: Listen to Building an Online Business Empire w/ Jacky Chou, or watch the video.Related episode: Listen to Investing In (and Building) Online Businesses w/ Mike Vranjkovic or watch the video.NEW TO THE SHOW?Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Try Robert's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.P.S The Investor's Podcast Network is excited to launch a subreddit devoted to our fans in discussing financial markets, stock picks, questions for our hosts, and much more! Join our subreddit r/TheInvestorsPodcast today!SPONSORSGet a FREE audiobook from Audible.Learn how Principal Financial can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team today.Your home might be worth more than you think. Earn extra money today with Airbnb.Get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance for free.Enjoy an all-in-one personal finance app that gives you a comprehensive view of all your accounts, investments, transactions, cash flow, net worth, and more, with Monarch Money. Get an extended thirty-day free trial today.Be confident that you'll be small businessing at your best with support designed to help you reach your goals. Book an appointment with a TD Small Business Specialist today.Shape and flex your home loans how you want with Athena. Join the thousands of Aussies taking control of their mortgage today.Invest in the same paintings available to billionaires, at a more accessible price point with Masterworks.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.Connect with Robert: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Cody: Twitter | WebsiteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Leonard brings back his friend Connor Gross, who is an avid life hacker, financial optimizer, and host of the award-winning podcast All the Hacks. Together, they talk about how to build and sell companies to Google and Wealthfront, what life hacking is, and more!IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:00 - Intro06:41 - How to build and sell companies to Google and Wealthfront.16:34 - What it's like being a VC at Google.16:34 -What VCs at Google look for when investing in companies.18:35 - What life hacking is.39:03 - How to optimize your credit card rewards.45:02 - Which personal finance tools are best.And much, much more!*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCESConnor's newsletter.Connor's course: How to Quit Your Job.Bob Iger's book The Ride of a Lifetime.Empire Flipper's marketplace.Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel.The EXITPreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley.NEW TO THE SHOW?Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Try Robert's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.P.S The Investor's Podcast Network is excited to launch a subreddit devoted to our fans in discussing financial markets, stock picks, questions for our hosts, and much more! Join our subreddit r/TheInvestorsPodcast today!SPONSORSGet a FREE audiobook from Audible.Learn how Principal Financial can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team today.Be confident that you'll be small businessing at your best with support designed to help you reach your goals. Book an appointment with a TD Small Business Specialist today.Return to the all-access world of the rich and powerful. Don't miss new episodes of Billions streaming August 11th on the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan.Shape and flex your home loans how you want with Athena. Join the thousands of Aussies taking control of their mortgage today.Your home might be worth more than you think. Earn extra money today with Airbnb.Get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance for free.Invest in the same paintings available to billionaires, at a more accessible price point with Masterworks.Enjoy an all-in-one personal finance app that gives you a comprehensive view of all your accounts, investments, transactions, cash flow, net worth, and more, with Monarch Money. Get an extended thirty-day free trial today.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.Connect with Robert: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Chris: Website | Twitter | LinkedInSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Leonard brings back his friend Connor Gross to talk about generating cash flow with online businesses and putting that in physical assets, like real estate.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:00 - Intro06:12 - The current state of self-storage deals.09:57 - What unlevered yield on cost is, and why it's important.11:35 - How interest rates are impacting real estate portfolios.14:05 - What the e-comm business model is.15:40 - What products to look for when starting in e-comm.41:10 - How to get your first customers in an e-comm business.And much, much more!*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCESConnor's newsletter.Connor's course: How to Quit Your Job.Bob Iger's book The Ride of a Lifetime.Empire Flipper's marketplace.Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel.The EXITPreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley.NEW TO THE SHOW?Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Try Robert's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.P.S The Investor's Podcast Network is excited to launch a subreddit devoted to our fans in discussing financial markets, stock picks, questions for our hosts, and much more! Join our subreddit r/TheInvestorsPodcast today!SPONSORSGet a FREE audiobook from Audible.Be confident that you'll be small businessing at your best with support designed to help you reach your goals. Book an appointment with a TD Small Business Specialist today.Learn from the world's best minds - anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace with Masterclass. Get 15% off an annual membership today.Get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance for free.Make investing in Short Term Rentals aka Air-BNBs simple, passive, and profitable with Techvestor. Listeners of Millennial Investing get better terms by just mentioning "Millennial Investing!" Sign up and book your call with their Investor Relations Team to get started today.Return to the all-access world of the rich and powerful. Don't miss new episodes of Billions streaming August 11th on the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.Connect with Robert: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Connor: Twitter | Instagram | WebsiteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Leonard and Jacky Chou delve into the realm of online business, including how to start an e-comm business, product selection strategies for e-comm companies, the upcoming trends in niche websites, and an array of other captivating subjects.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:00 - Intro07:31 - What the e-comm business model is.07:54 - How to get your first customers in an e-comm business.11:51 - What products to look for when starting in e-comm.28:21 - The best online business models.35:36 - Whether content sites are dead or not.And much, much more!*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCESJacky's Marketing Letter.Jacky's Hold Co Indexsy.Empire Flipper's marketplace.Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel.The EXITPreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley.NEW TO THE SHOW?Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Try Robert's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.P.S The Investor's Podcast Network is excited to launch a subreddit devoted to our fans in discussing financial markets, stock picks, questions for our hosts, and much more! Join our subreddit r/TheInvestorsPodcast today!SPONSORSGet a FREE audiobook from Audible.Be confident that you'll be small businessing at your best with support designed to help you reach your goals. Book an appointment with a TD Small Business Specialist today.Return to the all-access world of the rich and powerful. Don't miss new episodes of Billions streaming August 11th on the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan.Get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance for free.Learn from the world's best minds - anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace with Masterclass. Get 15% off an annual membership today.Make investing in Short Term Rentals aka Air-BNBs simple, passive, and profitable with Techvestor. Listeners of Millennial Investing get better terms by just mentioning "Millennial Investing!" Sign up and book your call with their Investor Relations Team to get started today.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.Connect with Robert: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Jacky: Twitter | Website | LinkedInSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robert Leonard chats with Mike Vranjkovic, who is a founding Partner and Managing Director of Empire Flippers Capital. They discuss about building and investing in online businesses, including FBA businesses, niche sites, content sites, e-commerce, and much more!IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:00 - Intro02:32 - What online business models exist.07:33 - Which online business models are best.11:49 - How AI is impacting online business.29:54 - Valuation and sale process of online businesses.32:32 - How to invest in online businesses.And much, much more!*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCESEmpire Flipper's marketplace.Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel.The EXITPreneur's Playbook by Joe Valley.NEW TO THE SHOW?Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Try Robert's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.P.S The Investor's Podcast Network is excited to launch a subreddit devoted to our fans in discussing financial markets, stock picks, questions for our hosts, and much more! Join our subreddit r/TheInvestorsPodcast today!SPONSORSGet a FREE audiobook from Audible.Be confident that you'll be small businessing at your best with support designed to help you reach your goals. Book an appointment with a TD Small Business Specialist today.Return to the all-access world of the rich and powerful. Don't miss new episodes of Billions streaming August 11th on the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan.Get a customized solution for all of your KPIs in one efficient system with one source of truth. Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance for free.Make investing in Short Term Rentals aka Air-BNBs simple, passive, and profitable with Techvestor. Listeners of Millennial Investing get better terms by just mentioning "Millennial Investing!" Sign up and book your call with their Investor Relations Team to get started today.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.Connect with Robert: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with Mike: WebsiteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are you a business owner looking to exit your company successfully? The "Avoid These Mistakes: The Essential Exitpreneur's Playbook" podcast is your go-to resource for invaluable guidance and expert advice on navigating the complex journey of business exits. Hosted by entrepreneur, Tyler Jefcoat, this podcast provides essential insights to help you avoid common pitfalls and maximize the value of your exit. Joe Valley brings his wealth of experience as an exitpreneur and shares practical strategies, real-world examples, and candid discussions with industry experts and successful exitpreneurs. This episode is designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to plan and execute a seamless business exit. Key topics covered in this podcast include: - Exit planning essentials: Understanding the importance of early exit planning and setting clear goals. - Maximizing business value: Strategies for enhancing the value of your business prior to the exit. - Avoiding critical mistakes: Insightful discussions on common errors - made during the exit process and how to steer clear of them. - Accurate valuation and pricing: Techniques for evaluating your business's worth and determining a fair asking price. - Attracting the right buyers: Effective marketing and positioning tactics to attract potential buyers who align with your vision. - Negotiation mastery: Tips and techniques for negotiating favorable terms and conditions during the exit negotiations. - Due diligence essentials: Understanding the crucial role of due diligence and how to navigate this phase smoothly. - Legal and financial considerations: Key legal and financial factors to consider during the exit process. - Life after the exit: Post-exit strategies such as tax planning, wealth management, and reinvestment opportunities. Whether you're contemplating a sale, seeking new ownership, or planning for retirement, "Avoid These Mistakes: The Essential Exitpreneur's Playbook" provides the knowledge and insights you need to make informed decisions and achieve a successful business exit. Tune in to this podcast, and embark on your exit journey with confidence, avoiding common mistakes along the way.   #amazonseller #productivityhacks #profitability #exitpreneur #playbook #bookanalysis #selleraccountant #joevalley #onlinebusiness #goals

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/

Joe is the author of The EXITpreneur's Playbook, THE reference guide on how to exit your business right way! He has built, bought, and sold six companies. -->exitpreneur.io

In this episode of Return on Podcast, Tyler and Joe Valley talk exits, avoiding business owner burnout, and why you should stop multitasking. After building, buying, or selling a 1⁄2 dozen 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 over 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. Where to Find Joe: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejoevalley/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exitpreneursplaybook/ Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/exitpreneursplaybook Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoeValley Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thejoevalley Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMLL54nrH0u_yswj9OgVF0A Also mentioned in this episode: https://quietlight.com/ https://exitpreneur.io/ The EXITpreneur's Playbook - Joe Valley Atomic Habits - James Clear The ONE Thing - Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan Deep Work - Cal Newport Stolen Focus - Johann Hari Welcome to Return on Podcast, the show where we help e-commerce sellers improve their ROI in business and in life. Hosted by Tyler Jefcoat and in affiliation with Seller Accountant, Return on Podcast aims to leave listeners with new insights and actionable life and business hacks at the end of each episode.

Entrepreneurial Tips you'll learn today on The Sales Podcast... He used to focus on the money Now he focuses on how many people he can help Now he makes more money Self-employed since 1997 Was a media buyer back then  We present good information and let people make a decision." In 2005 he launched his first online business Came out the other end tired and woke up and just decided to sell his business His advisor told him to hold on for another six months because the market was turning around in his opinion He put together some SOPs and sold in 2010, took a year off, and joined the Quiet Light Brokerage then (a team of two) Last year they did $250 million in transactions Grown 55% a year on average the last four years They represent the sellers They don't "sell." Considers himself an educator When you're desperate you can't give it away He was a typical entrepreneur He ran his business and got sick of it and wanted to move onto the next venture, but he wasn't prepared for it Most entrepreneurs don't have accounting in place Most entrepreneurs don't have accrual accounting He didn't outsource his accounting Outsource your e-commerce accounting Set a goal to sell and reverse engineer your business You need to know your exit goal in dollars to know if it's a pipedream or a reality Buyers are looking for four things Risk Is it a single-channel vs. multi-channel? Is it a young business? Buy a bigger business with more history Growth  Transferability Documentation Gets 300-400 leads a month The valuation call is free Buying with an SBA loan is fantastic But SBA loans are tough for online businesses since they might be too young or they co-mingled their finances You need to qualify as a business and a buyer for an SBA loan E-Commerce Lending in Florida is a great SBA broker/lender His median transaction size was $1.8 million and 90% were all-cash SBA deals are usually more stable and more likely to close, but they take longer It's emotional It's hard to find a buy-side broker He has to help the buyer as much as the seller He creates a detailed P&L He asks all of the tough questions upfront There are lots of reasons to sell a business Entrepreneurs get shiny-object syndrome and want to move on In the vast majority of businesses, the bulk of the money is made when the business is sold, i.e., when Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos "sold" by going public Most people don't take a lot of money out in the early years In 2021, about 30% of buyers were FBA Aggregators—Fulfilled By Amazon This is new in the last five years, Thrace.io is the biggest The other 70% are private equity firms (20%) and smaller entities buying for themselves (50%) "Acquisition Entrepreneurship" - "Buy Then Build" You should like what you're doing There will be tough periods so it helps to have a passion Training and Transition period Hold back 20% to keep the seller around 2013 he closed 23 transactions that were sold by what he'd call kids today We're in a different world now People know what an online business is today Transaction size has grown 10-fold 3.7 offers per listing But it's not as crazy as real estate Younger businesses are growing quickly This is not a passive investment You're buying a job Most transactions are done remotely, without meeting in person He does best when he focuses on one thing His one thing is M&A, so he doesn't mess with crypto See Cryptocurrency-Related Posts J. Hunter: Crypto Gaming Nik Bahtia: Layered Money author Erik Voorhees: Bitcoin Explained He has never had his entire team of 15 in one place He has never met his business partner's spouse in the decade they've been partners The book is a playbook for the seller If you're buying an online business, get his book and, "Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game" Sales Growth Tools Mentioned In The Sales Podcast Get a free download of "The EXITPreneur's Playbook" Get his book, "The EXITPreneur's Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success"

My guest today is Joe Valley from Quiet Light Brokerage, who has had his hand in buying and selling—get this—over a billion dollars of businesses online. He's the author of The EXITpreneur's Playbook, and he joins me on this episode to discuss his journey with building up, buying, and selling businesses and how you can best set up and maintain your business so that when you're ready to exit, it's a very streamlined process. We start the episode with some info about the tradeshow experiences and workshops we've got coming up before diving into Joe's background as an entrepreneur, from his childhood business selling nightcrawlers to selling his last e-commerce business and joining Quiet Light. Then I ask Joe to explain how to begin thinking about whether your business is sellable, and he discusses the importance of setting goals for what you want out of selling your business and reverse engineering a path to those goals. He also talks us through The Four Pillars of Value, markers that potential buyers look at to figure out the value of your business, which will dramatically influence the offers you receive. We then turn to some more technical details of selling a business, with Joe explaining how to deal with discretionary earnings, the different types of buyers (including aggregators and private equity firms), and the benefits of setting SOPs. He also goes through some of the dirty tricks aggregators can pull and advises that having a trustworthy broker in place can help you avoid these and have a smoother exit. Then we wind things up by talking about the emotion involved in selling a business and how going through an honest and understanding broker like Quiet Light can help manage those emotions and expectations. And last but definitely not least, Joe shares how you can get your hands on a FREE digital copy of The EXITpreneur's Playbook. You can chat more about how to successfully manage your FBA business with the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community by joining our Facebook group with today's codeword EXIT, where you can learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you're ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today. This week on the Amazon Files: There are a few spots left in the tradeshow experience we have coming up in Grand Rapids Joe's first entrepreneurial experience How Joe broke into and got out of the e-commerce world Knowing your business is sellable and setting goals for the future The Four Pillars of Value in today's FBA business world Built-in paths to growth Risks for buyers Owner-operators and discretionary earnings The difference between aggregators, private equity firms, and private individuals as buyers The benefits of setting up SOPs The dirty tricks aggregators play and using brokers to avoid them Add-backs and the mistakes people make without representation The emotion of selling a business Quiet Light and honesty about the salability of a business Joe's book The EXITpreneur's Playbook and how to get your FREE digital copy “Always have your exit in mind because you just never know what's going to happen.” - Kristin Ostrander Quotes: “I've got a question for you. Are you selling wholesale? Have you had issues with wholesale? Are you scared? Are you nervous? Do you not know what the heck you're doing wholesale? If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions, I would love to help you navigate wholesale.” “This is where you want to be able to continually set up and maintain your business so that if and when you decide to exit, it can be a slam dunk for you.” “Came out of that five-year stretch, tired and worn out, woke up one day and said, 'I wonder if I can sell this thing?' Didn't plan it, necessarily, just woke up and needed to move on as an entrepreneur as we often do.” “Now we've got a team of fifteen advisors, about ten support staff, we closed just under $250 million in total transactions in 2020, all online business transactions.” “As entrepreneurs, we seem to have short attention spans, whether that's three years, five years, ten years. We're always wanting to pivot and change.” “Every business is sellable. It's just a matter of what it's worth to the buyer and what it's worth for you to go through that sale process.” “I mentioned documentation. If you want to reverse engineer the path to your goal, you have to figure out the value of your businesses today. If you do not have profit and loss statements with a monthly view, you're not even going to get out of the gate.” “Your CPA is a tax-mitigation specialist, and they file your tax returns. Don't let them be your bookkeeper, too, because they will just screw it up.” “Growth, they love to see growth trends and built-in paths to growth.” “When it comes to pure risk, the larger, more established businesses are less risky than the younger, smaller, less-established businesses.” “Risk, growth, transferability, and documentation is what buyers look at.” “The more they trust and like you and believe in you and what you've built, the better deal structure and the higher value of the company. So that's one reason to set up SOPs. The other is if you get hit by a bus, your spouse can take over or your employee fairly quickly. Or, you know, if you just want to go on vacation and not be bothered by anybody, not check email, SOPs are great.” “The aggregators are well-educated, charming, likable, they'll heap lots of praise on the brand that you've built in your business and say that they'll buy your business for all cash and close in thirty days and then they'll slide in there, ‘Avoid the broker fee.' If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” “The advisor is somebody that should be in the middle, helping you first understand the value of what you have, what levers to push and pull to increase the value of that. And then eventually, when you're ready, exit it for maximum value.” “We consider ourselves an education firm, first and foremost. And then we happen to do M&A deals as well.” “You need to be able to feel really comfortable about handing your baby off to someone else who's going to be able to take care of it. Regardless of the check that they wrote you, you still want to be able to feel comfortable and confident that what you've built isn't just being, you know, tossed to the wayside.” “These are very emotional processes. You're a week, two weeks away from life-changing money for the baby that you built, and you know, you need somebody on your side that's going to support you and help you through that process.” “If it's a situation where it's not sellable in its current environment or current state, we'll tell them why. And if it's a situation where it's a great business, but it's not sellable by us, then we'll tell them why.” “Let's be real, we all don't want to work for the rest of our lives forever, all the time. Retirement, whether it's at fifty or seventy or thirty-two, you want to be able to have a plan and be prepared, and this is the best way to get that done.” Related Content: 2022 Workshops - Coupon code: workshop50 Wholesale Bundle System Email questions Learn With Us Coaching The Amazon Files Hub Quiet Light homepage The EXITpreneur's Playbook on Amazon Get your FREE digital copy of The EXITpreneur's Playbook Grow Your Amazon Business! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest review. Don't forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword EXIT to join us on Facebook. Each week, Kristin hosts a live discussion on how to grow your Amazon business. Don't forget to check out our website and subscribe to our mailing list for even more resources.

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--------------------------------------------------

Kris talks to Joe Valley in this episode. Joe has been referred to as “the G.O.A.T. in the acquisition game” because of his 5-step process for getting the maximum value out of an exit strategy. Kris and Joe discuss his best-selling book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook, and dive into topics like how to know when it's time to sell your business, the four pillars of value, and the role an entrepreneur plays in their business's valuation. 

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. --

As business owners, our goal is mostly focused on building and growing our businesses. However, once it's up and running, we need to start thinking about an exit goal.In this episode, best-selling author of the EXITpreneur Playbook Joe Valley talks about setting up your exit goals for your business. He shares the five critical steps to consider before selling your business.Listen up and let's set some goals.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEInclude exits in your goals.Reverse engineer your path to that goal.One key differentiator when you're selling your business is understanding that you're selling the business as a multiple of discretionary earnings and for e-commerce business owners, the inventories are always sold separately.If you renegotiate the cost of goods sold halfway through the year, you get to do an add-back for that.Shift your mindset from an entrepreneur to an exitpreneur.Learn about deal structures.Create competition when selling your business.When a good advisor has your best interest in mind, in the long run, it helps them more.The valuations are 10% math and 90% art.Documentation is a critical part that buyers are looking for.Once you've got a business that's up and running, it's time to think about those exit goals.Business is not about selling anything. It's how many people you can reach, connect with, educate, and help.Recommended Tool: Google FormsRecommended Book:Good To Great by Jim Collinshttps://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996Today's Guest:Joe Valley helped build Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A Advisory firms in the world. He did this after building, buying, or selling a 1⁄2 dozen of his own companies, Joe Valley. 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 incredible exit.Connect and learn more about Joe here:Website: https://www.quietlight.comhttps://www.exitpreneur.ioEmail: joe@quietlight.comThe EXITpreneur's Playbook Free Book FormThis episode's sponsor is KnoCommerce - the first survey platform built for eCommerce brands. Gain insight on everything from marketing attribution to purchase motivation, while leveraging your customer data for enhanced personalization.Start for free athttps://knocommerce.com/pages/mmWe love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-applyIf you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Joe Valley is an entrepreneur, advisor, and guest speaker. He mentors entrepreneurs to achieve their eventual exit from the business world and has mentored over 8,000 entrepreneurs over the last decade. He is also the author of “The Exitpreneur's Playbook”.    Not everyone can boast successful stories as an entrepreneur. Joe, however, has had great success since he caught the entrepreneurial bug in college and even as he went on into the e-commerce world.   “When I was younger, all I wanted to do was make money. Now, I'm older, all I want to do is help as many people as possible.”   Join Joe as he talks about his entrepreneurial journey, growth strategy in business, business development tips, and how to exit a business successfully.   Find more about Joe here: Website: https://quietlight.com/                 https://exitpreneur.io/joe-valley/ Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/QuietLightAdvisors                     https://web.facebook.com/joe.valley.10?_rdc=1&_rdr Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48  Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheJoeValley

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/

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/

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

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

This Is A Special Episode – The Recording Of A Live 'Ask Me Anything' With Joe Valley On How To Sell Your Online Business, Recently Offered Inside The Brand Growth Membership. Joe is the author of The EXITPreneur's Playbook. He's a buyer and seller of many online businesses and the president of Quiet Light Brokerage. He's an expert on how to sell for max profit.  If you listened to my earlier episode with Joe this AMA session takes those concepts and goes deeper, which is what we do in the Membership. The podcast is just a glimpse into what we cover in the Brand Growth Membership. We're giving you a sneak peek inside the Brand Growth Membership with access to this Ask Me Anything session because we just launched a brand new version of our membership and it's KILLER - check it out here.  I hope you enjoy this session and if you want to check out more of the Ask Me Anything sessions and trainings we have in the membership... we're offering a 21 day trial for just $1.  Go here to sign up. (only available until Dec 12, 2021) Episode Highlights: 3:37 Introduction to Joe Valley  5:19 The valuation formula 8:33 What multiple ranges to expect for valuations 8:49 The different types of add-backs and examples of how they are applied 10:08 The 4 things buyers are looking for (and the surprising 5th) 38:34 Q&A – Is there anything different about a sale of a minority stake? 40:53 Q&A – Should we build a brand that is targeting a different demographic as a separate brand or sub-brand? 45:09 Q&A – What are the differences in this process for Canadian companies? 46:17 Q&A – How long does it take for a deal to close? 48:18 Q&A – Are there any hidden fees to be aware of? 51:01 Q&A – How are multiples different between different types of businesses? 54:47 Q&A – What is the smallest SDE that a private equity firm will look at? 56:39 Q&A – Is there a different approach to building a business for sale to a strategic acquirer vs a typical buyer? 58:16 Q&A – Can agency marketing spend that has been replaced by in-house work be considered an add-back? 59:40 Q&A – What kind of multiples are there for wholesale businesses? 01:07:22 Q&A – What are the options to sell for a Shopify site vs. an FBA? Resources: The Brand Growth Membership Podcast 322: Building To Sell: How To Get The Maximum Value For Your Online Business @a_brawn on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, M&A Advisor, podcaster, and Partner at Quiet Light, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world. He is the author of The EXITPreneur's Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success and host of the Quiet Light Podcast. As a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, podcasts, and speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide, Joe has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs who want to manage their own exit. In this episode… Do you have the stamina to pursue a dream, fail big, and still keep going? Joe Valley's honesty and integrity are evident as he shares raw stories of failure, greed, lessons learned, and building his company to help other entrepreneurs succeed. There is an overwhelming success that can be achieved if you are persistent, open to learning, building relationships, growing, and simply being a good person. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz talks with Joe Valley, a Partner at Quiet Light, to hear his insight on becoming a successful serial entrepreneur and best-selling author. Joe also shares the benefits of utilizing media for advertising, tips for buying and selling a business, and how to epically fail — and still succeed. Stay tuned!

Joe Valley just authored The Exitpreneur's Playbook to help sellers maximize their exit value. Visit https://exitpreneur.io/ to get 4 free chapters of the book. This episode is brought to you by my Amazon marketing and advertising agency IncrementumDigital.com. Visit 8fig.co to learn more about growth capital solutions for your ecommerce brand. Join the E-commerce Mindset Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecommercemindsetgroup/ on facebook to continue the conversation and follow Liran on social media: https://www.facebook.com/lhirschkorn https://www.instagram.com/liranhirschkorn/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/liranhirschkorn/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/liran-hirschkorn0/message

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

In this episode I talk to entrepreneur and author, Joe Valley. Joe has sold over a half dozen of his own companies and has helped thousands of entrepreneurs prepare for their eventual exit. I promise, even if you've never considered the thought of selling your company, this conversation will put your inevitable (yes, inevitable!) exit in a new light.We dive into Joe's story and learn why exiting your business is inevitable, what makes a business sellable, the most appealing types of businesses for buyers today, and more. The EXITpreneur's Playbook EXITpreneur.io Find the full transcript and more at BYLT.co/joe-valleyEnjoying the show? Let me know on Twitter! I'm @jeffSARRIS.As always, this episode of Starting Now is brought to you by BYLT. At BYLT we help you get started online. Whether you want to start a blog or a business head on over to BYLT.co to get started.Subscribe to Starting Now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also watch the video interview on YouTube.And, finally, if you're enjoying our podcasts and care to learn more about us, at SPYR we build minimalist businesses and we help you start your own at BYLT.———————————————————————Some of the links above may be affiliate links which means that I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. 

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/

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

Hi, I'm the Profit Answer Man Rocky Lalvani! I help small business owners simplify their financial reports so that they can make more informed business decisions with fewer hassles. We utilize the Profit First system created by Mike Michalowicz Effortless Cashflow Course: http://bit.do/effortlesscashflowcourse Schedule your free, no-obligation intro call: https://bookme.name/rockyl/lite/intro-appointment-15-minutes   How many entrepreneurs start a business with the intention of selling it? Hardly any because entrepreneurs are great at two things: starting businesses and failing out of them. (Ever heard of a “serial entrepreneur”?)     According to Joe Valley, planning your exit from day one is an integral part of growing your business. Otherwise, things can get ugly when you're ready to move on from your business, but your business isn't ready to move on from you.    Most entrepreneurs don't think of it this way, but choosing to exit your company doesn't mean you failed -- it means that you've done everything right.    In his upcoming book, The EXITPreneur's Playbook, Joe guides entrepreneurs in “getting their house in order,” regardless of whether they're looking to sell their business today or 20 years from now. The point is that whenever you're ready for your next adventure, your business will be ready too.    exitpreneur.io   More about making profitability simple: http://profitcomesfirst.com/ Questions: questions@profitanswerman.com Email: rocky@profitcomesfirst.com Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitanswerman/ My podcast about living a richer more meaningful life: http://richersoul.com/ First 2 chapters of Profit First: https://sendfox.com/rocky Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.

The week on Inspired With Bell... After building, buying, and 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 sell their business.

What an exitpreneur is, why we're not able to run our businesses forever, and what factors to keep in mind when deciding to sell your business with Joe Valley. ----- Welcome to episode 321 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Joe Valley about making a great exit and maximizing your profits when selling a business. The EXITpreneur's Playbook When it comes down to it, we're not able to run our businesses forever. And most business owners wait to sell until they're exhausted and emotionally rundown, and by that time, it's too late to have a great exit. Enter: Joe Valley! 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 possible when selling their businesses. Even if you're not quite ready to sell your own business, this interview will show you what areas to focus on to create a successful pathway to your own eventual exit. In this episode, you'll learn: What an exitpreneur is Why it's important to be on top of your financials What the difference is between a CPA and a bookkeeper Why it's important to consider risk, transferability, documentation, and growth when deciding to sell Why you need to have specific goals in mind when it comes to selling your business What SKUs are What the transition period looks like after selling a business What most people do after selling a business Resources: The EXITpreneur's Playbook Read the first three chapters of The EXITpreneur's Playbook for free! Quiet Light The Quiet Light Podcast 32: Buying & Selling Websites with Mark Daoust from Quiet Light Quickbooks Xero Pilot EOS TinyBit Puerto Rico's Tax Incentive Code 176: Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers with Chris Guthrie Follow Joe on Twitter and LinkedIn Check out the Food Blogger Pro YouTube channel (and subscribe while you're there!) If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership

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 

對於大多數企業，尤其是網路事業，你賺到的錢有一半以上是發生在你出售公司的那一天。因此，你要懂得創業也要懂得漂亮退場，從草創、成長到出售，再帶著更豐富的知識和經驗重新再來一次。

對於大多數企業，尤其是網路事業，你賺到的錢有一半以上是發生在你出售公司的那一天。因此，你要懂得創業也要懂得漂亮退場，從草創、成長到出售，再帶著更豐富的知識和經驗重新再來一次。

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.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-valley-833ba48/ https://www.amazon.com/EXITPreneurs-Playbook-Business-Reverse-Engineering/dp/1544522223

If you are thinking about selling your Amazon FBA business at some point in the future, this is the episode for you! After building, buying, and selling a half 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 half 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 sell their business. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you are notified of new episodes!

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

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/)

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.

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!

Joe Valley is an Advisor and Partner at Quiet Light, a business advisory firm that helps online entrepreneurs achieve amazing exits. Joe joined the firm after selling his own e-commerce business through Quiet Light in 2010. Over the past nine years, he has mentored countless entrepreneurs with the goal of helping them achieve their own profitable exits. In addition to being a frequent speaker and podcast guest himself, Joe is also the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast. Recently, he published his first book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook, to help entrepreneurs successfully sell their online businesses. In this episode… Some e-commerce entrepreneurs find meaning in growing a single business to its fullest potential. Others, however, are looking for the freedom and profit of selling their businesses. For these business owners, the key to success is knowing when and how to exit. With stakes so high, it's crucial to get it right the first time. So, what is the secret to making a successful exit? As a former e-commerce business owner and a current business advisor, Joe Valley knows the ins and outs of successfully selling a business. He has perfected the art of preparing a business for a profitable exit, from identifying add-backs to structuring a deal. Now, he's here to share his expert recommendations and advice to help you create an exit game plan today.  In this episode of the Ecommerce Wizards Podcast, Guillaume Le Tual interviews Joe Valley, Advisor and Partner at Quiet Light, to discuss how to successfully exit an e-commerce business. Joe shares his strategies for properly evaluating your business, making the most out of tax laws, and preparing your financials for a profitable exit. He also reveals key takeaways from his recent book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook. Stay tuned for more.

Joe Valley is the Co-owner and Director of Brokerage Services at Quiet Light, a business advisory firm that helps online entrepreneurs achieve amazing exits. Joe joined the firm after selling his own e-commerce business through Quiet Light in 2010. He has advisor expertise in all web-based niches, including SaaS, e-commerce, and content businesses.  In addition to being a frequent speaker and podcast guest himself, Joe is also the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast.   Mark Daoust is the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light. Since starting Quiet Light in 2007, Mark has guided dozens of entrepreneurs and small business owners through their exits.  Before his work at Quiet Light, Mark founded Site-Reference.com, an online publication with a subscriber base that he expanded to more than 220,000 members. Now, Mark is a well-known presenter and guest author, as well as the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast.  In this episode… Are you ready to sell your business — but don't quite know how to negotiate a deal? Do you want to ensure that you're agreeing to a fair contract when buying or selling a company? If your answer is an enthusiastic “yes,” this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast is a must-listen! There are many variations of deal structures to choose from when transferring a business, and each option is full of nuance that the average buyer or seller might not understand. So, how do you know which structure is right for you? Today, Joe Valley is here to break down the nuts and bolts of each deal structure — and share his tips for determining which option is best for your business transfer.  In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, Mark Daoust and Joe Valley explain everything you need to know about deal structures, as featured in Joe's new book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook. Listen in as Joe and Mark give an overview of each option and share their strategies for negotiating a profitable deal. Plus, they reveal how you can access an in-depth, written explanation of deal structures in The EXITpreneur's Playbook today. Stay tuned!

Joe Valley is the Co-owner and Director of Brokerage Services at Quiet Light, a business advisory firm that helps online entrepreneurs achieve amazing exits. Joe joined the firm after selling his own e-commerce business through Quiet Light in 2010. He has advisor expertise in all web-based niches, including SaaS, e-commerce, and content businesses.  In addition to being a frequent speaker and podcast guest himself, Joe is also the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast. Mark Daoust is the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light. Since starting Quiet Light in 2007, Mark has guided dozens of entrepreneurs and small business owners through their exits.  Before his work at Quiet Light, Mark founded Site-Reference.com, an online publication with a subscriber base that he expanded to more than 220,000 members. Now, Mark is a well-known presenter and guest author, as well as the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast.  In this episode… Are you thinking about selling your business, but don't quite know where to start? Do you want a resource full of expert advice to guide you through the ups and downs of exit planning? If so, this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast is for you! According to Joe Valley, selling a business is a lot like running a marathon. You could choose to avoid the pre-race prep, and when race day arrives, you could probably get out of bed and finish the marathon. However, without proper training beforehand, the race itself will be ugly, painful, and simply not worth it. Long story short: training matters, both for running a marathon and transferring your business. So, what are the key concepts and strategies you need to make a successful and profitable exit? In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, co-hosts Mark Daoust and Joe Valley sit down to discuss Joe's upcoming book, The EXITpreneur's Playbook. Together, they talk about Joe's motivation for writing a book about exit planning, some of the key lessons and stories from the book, and where you can grab a copy of The EXITpreneur's Playbook — starting June 15th, 2021. You don't want to miss this exciting episode!

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.

During this episode of Quiet Light, we talk to the former Controller of Priceline about TACOS and the three pillars of e-commerce. Tune in to hear on discussion on these topics and more. Topics:  How working in accounting led Matthew to where he is today. The three pillars of ecommerce: Inventory management. Website management. Advertising Assessing your sales. Managing the core elements of your business. Tracking customers. Keeping an eye on the value of your inventory. Why commingling expenses is harmful. Transcription: Mark:             Joe, we've been kicking out these podcasts on a weekly basis. We talk about a lot of different things on these podcasts; everything from inventory management to how to work with suppliers to SaaS metrics that you should be looking at. And this week, you talked to the former controller of Priceline; a very smart guy, worked a long time at KPMG as well and you guys talked about TACoS. Joe:                Yeah, it's total advertising costs for those… Mark:             It's not the crunchy tacos? Joe:                Not crunchy. No. We might have mentioned that, but not in detail, yes. Mark:             Okay. All right, so you talked about TACoS, but you guys were specifically talking about three pillars of e-commerce. Now, we love pillars here at Quiet Light Brokerage. We have the four pillars of value, which we talk about quite a bit, a simple mechanism to understand what influences the value of an online business; risk, growth, transferability, and documentation. He has the three pillars of an e-commerce business, which are three areas that you should really be focusing on that build up an e-commerce business. You guys went into detail on it, which included tacos, but not the yummy kind. Joe:                Right. Yeah, so these are his pillars. He came up with them. I asked him, what do you look at first when you work with a new client? What Matthew does now is CFO advisory services. So he's a fractional CFO if you will. We met at a local mentoring facility here in Davidson, North Carolina; it's part of Davidson College. And I introduced him to a client of ours, somebody that I'm not going to mention his name because of the details and we chose not to mention the name in the podcast, but somebody that sold the business for 7,000 and then his next one was 20, his next one was 220, his next one was just under 9 million, and his next goal is to sell a business for a hundred million. So when I met Matthew I saw him do a presentation on fractional CFO services; a very referral based business that he had done on a website and I thought, you know what, he should talk to this particular individual. The individual liked him so much that he ended up flipping from a paid per service to a piece of the pie for the eventual sale of his business. He wrote to me, hey, buddy, I can't thank you enough for the intro to Matt. It's so great to work with him and he really became one of the most important people at my company. Without him, I would be lost. No joke. So Matthew went through these three pillars and what he talks about. And it's not just a total number-crunching geek type of thing. It's looking at number analysis across your business; across your e-commerce business. And it was really interesting to see, especially from a guy that comes from Priceline, which is obviously an e-commerce business, but not where you've got a physical product. It's more affiliate digital. So it's fascinating and hopefully, the people that listen to this that get all the way through to the end are going to start to understand the importance of some of the things that you and I talk about all the time. But it's not for us this time. It's from somebody that was a vice president controller at a company as well-known as Priceline. Joe:                Hey folks, Joe Valley here from Quiet Light Brokerage. Thanks for listening to the Quiet Light Podcast. Today I've got a pretty impressive guy on the podcast with me. His name is Matthew De Wald. Matthew, welcome, how are you? Matthew:       I'm very good. Thanks for having me, Joe. Joe:                A local here in Davidson, North Carolina; we met through a local mentoring group at the Hub at Davidson. And you've recently worked with a client of mine who basically called you a finance rock star. And that client's been on the Quiet Light Podcast. We've talked about him. I'm not going to give too much details, but he loved you so much that he said, look, in lieu of paying why don't I just give you a piece of my company which goes to how damn valuable you are. Well, let's get to all of that in a minute. Who are you? What do you do? What's your background? What's your history? Why don't you tell the folks listening a little bit about yourself? Matthew:       Sure. I'd like to just think that I kind of come from humble beginnings. I'm one of nine kids, actually. Joe:                Wow. You and Mark have a lot in common; Mark has got seven. Mark is my business partner. All right [inaudible 00:05:20.3] nine kids. Matthew:       Yeah, so I grew up with… Joe:                What number in the sequence? Not that it's relevant in any way, but what number? Matthew:       I'm number two. Joe:                Oh, okay. All right. Matthew:       Number one if you ask me but number two in lineage. Joe:                Fair enough. Matthew:       And I love my brothers and sisters. So I grew up with a brood of us and I think my father is interesting. He's a very brilliant guy but he isn't necessarily business savvy. He's very smart. He can put things together but he just doesn't do the business environment. So I didn't grow up really with a business background or business family or anything like that but I was like; my older brother, who is like the complete opposite of me likes to call me a miser growing up and it's; that was always counting the money that I had and where I was going to go and trying to think about the future and that kind of stuck with me from high school into college and then beyond. So heading into college, I got an accounting degree from Pace University, and from Pace, I joined KPMG as an auditor. And most people can't cut that out for more than a few years and I can't blame them but somehow I was able to do it for 15. Joe:                Wow. Matthew:       And after 15 years of it, I realized it at about 13 and a half years, I didn't feel like I was learning anymore so it's time for something new. So I landed a job at Priceline.com that actually some of the partners at KPMG helped me to get. And at Priceline, which is a subsidiary now of Booking Holdings, at Priceline I was the vice president of finance and controller there. And that's where I went from, really kind of looking at an organization from an outside point of view as an auditor at KPMG looking at really kind of macro issues to really diving into operations. And what I realized is that from an operations standpoint, especially in a place like Priceline, where you're dealing with literally hundreds of thousands of transactions in a day you really need to have a solid IT infrastructure and systems and really a mechanism of keeping control of all that. And so that was kind of a really important career point for me. And I spent four years doing that. And actually, the job I had at Priceline was like really the dream job but one day I kind of woke up and said, I want something else and I don't know what that is. And so I reached out to a community people and I was telling them what I was looking to do and really what I was looking to do was leave and not have anything on the other side. I'd say about half the people who I spoke to, maybe three quarters were very supportive and the other quarter were like, what are you doing? You're making a ton of money. You're doing great. All you got to do is continue grinding through all that and that was it. I didn't want to grind anymore. So what I actually did is I got on a motorcycle and traveled across the US going back and forth two and a half times over the course of seven months and worked part-time at Priceline to transition my load, my client, my responsibilities to my successor. And then after that, I took all of 2018 off from work and then kind of fumbled around and said, well, what do I want to do next? And in doing that, I networked a lot with the Charlotte Community and realized that the startup community here really needed a lot of support and help from a financial perspective. And going back and tying in that Priceline piece is what I realized is that it's helping cost companies to scale and figuring out what does their finance operations need to look like in order to go from where they are now to 10 or 100x than they currently are. And it was that experience of Priceline that really made that difference. And since then, I've kind of created a little business doing fraction CFO work and it's been thriving and prosperous and probably more so than I even want it to be. Joe:                Yeah, you got a good problem. People actually want your services. I would imagine, though, early on, they don't realize the strong need for it. But you get business through referrals and friends and clients and being on podcasts like this. It's similar in the way that we broker. Clients don't realize how badly they need someone to review their business and do a valuation and set them on a path towards achieving their goals. This is something that I preach all the time. First and foremost people probably are sick of me hearing about get your numbers in order, get a good bookkeeper, and your CPA is not a bookkeeper; there's a distinct difference between the two. But for actual CFO services are completely a step above. Our friend in common now that you're working with, what do you do; what problems do you see for an e-commerce company that you go in and you work with? And there are lots of them that are listening right now, people that are buying businesses anywhere from a quarter of a million to 20 million dollars and people that are running them, that are doing anywhere from half a million to 20 million dollars in revenue. What is it that you look for when you go in as a fractional CFO to help them improve, understand where they are, and help them get to where they need to be or want to be? Matthew:       Yeah. You know the way I look at business is; I guess this is a skill I have, I don't know. But I like to look at businesses and transactions and events in their purest and most simplest form. I think that it's too easy to get bogged down with complexity. And I think the greatest mantra I live by is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and I'm always looking for that straight line. So the case of an e-commerce company is a perfect example is that I say it really comes down to three things and you got to do all three of them really, really well. And if you don't do one of them well, you're going to have sell up results. Number one; and these are, again, all of equal importance but number one is inventory management. You really need to know where's your inventory, how much do you have, what does it cost in order to bring that inventory in, and what are lead times? So a lot of e-commerce companies nowadays are procuring inventory from China, for instance, which might take six to 10 weeks of lead time. Well, you need to be building that and planning for that in advance. So forgetting about the numbers, you just need to have it in stock so that way, if a customer comes to your site, you're able to sell it. Which brings me to the second point is what I'll call website management. You need to understand and know where your website is and your content and be able to have an avenue that has as few clicks as possible in order to get a customer who sees a product, is interested in it, and gets you to closing the deal, the transaction. So the second is that website management and then the third component is the advertising. It's how do you drive traffic to your website and so how are you spending your marketing dollars, how are you evaluating the efficiency and the return on investment of those marketing dollars and you have to do that well. So, again, if you mess up any one of those three pillars, you're going to have problems or certainly, you'll have sell up results. Now, what I found consistently with e-commerce companies is that the problem they struggle with the most is inventory management. I've seen a number who are very good at the management of the website; they're very good maybe at marketing, such as our friend who you're talking about, who is very good at marketing but the inventory management is a problem. And so the solutions I try to come up with or what I search for are low cost, cloud-based services that connect into your accounting systems, such as QuickBooks to maybe your third party logistics companies, your 3PLs or Amazon, and connects that all onto data that then turns the lights on to make it very obvious as to what you need and what you've got. Joe:                It's fascinating that this is from a fractional CFO chief financial officer that you're looking at these three different components. Let's break them down a little bit. Inventory management, why is inventory management important? At the end of the day people that are listening, I would guarantee you the vast majority of them are just using an Excel spreadsheet. They know their SKUs and they order when they feel they need to, giving them enough lead time so that A. they get it on time, B. they can pay for it, and then they continue to run that cycle. And sometimes growth goes off the charts and they find themselves doing a little catch-up and maybe doing air shipments instead of sea shipments and things of that nature. But really to the bottom line why is inventory management so critical? Matthew:       Well, you named one of the key elements to that and the number one thing is scale. I always think of any company I go in to is let's say all right, here's where we are now. We're at x. If we want to get to 10x or 100x, what's it going to take? And a lot of the solutions that can help you go from 1x to 2x to 3x are the same ones that might be able to get you to 10x. So the idea is you not need something that you can scale into and in general, again, because there are a lot of this on out base theory and expense so you can afford it while you're at your current stage and then grow into it. So number one is scale and then the second thing, and this is the thing it gets over; oh, it can really get over what I've seen clients do this because they might be really successful from a financial perspective or they might be very savvy in terms of how they operate but what they miss out on is the fact that if you've got too much or too little of an inventory item you can either not be able to sell to customers or have found yourself wasting money on inventory that isn't going to turn over. And so in an e-commerce business probably would run a lot of them from home or certainly a small office so you're dealing with low fixed cost. And it's the cost of that inventory that if you get it wrong that you can really miss out on again, sales or overinvesting in things that don't turn. Joe:                So if they're over-investing in things that take a longer period of turning what's the drawback to that? Matthew:       Well, it's use of capital, right? So fundamentally; it's funny, I had a client about a year ago in the e-commerce space sourcing from China; all of the standard things that you have that we could talk about and they didn't have an inventory management system. And what they wanted to try to do is try to get their books in order in a way that look like nice gapped financial statements. I said guys you're missing the point here. You're not going to make a half a million-dollar poor decision because of your financial statements, you can make a half a million-dollar poor decision though because of inventory management. And if you think about how real that is, and if your sales are 100,000 and you need to build up inventory in order to sell to continue growing and you get the wrong items, that might be your one shot in order to build up the inventory to get future sales. If you make the wrong purchases you can destroy your business overnight. Joe:                So it's the availability of capital to invest in the right things, which might be that new SKU that launched and it's taken off and buying more of it, it's paying yourself too. I would imagine these businesses that are growing like crazy, Matthew when someone sells it the vast majority of time the majority of money they make actually comes the day they sell the business not as they're operating it and running it, even though they might be doing 10 million in revenue when they sell the business. I just sold one in January and we went through the numbers and it aired two or three weeks ago at the time that we're airing this podcast, and I think they did like 250 in revenue in year one, 1.3 in revenue in year two, five million in year three, and then sold it. And the vast majority; well over 50% of the money they put in their bank account came the day they sold because they were scaling so fast; just trying to keep up with that inventory management they just complain that the wires get bigger and bigger and bigger going to China. All right, so inventory management for a number of reasons. So we won't get into software at this point unless you've got some favorite software. Matthew:       No, I think my key piece of advice there is that each company is unique and you need to view yourself as being unique. So the practice that I go into and the discipline I think is absolutely important is to spend the time as an organization documenting what your current processes are as it relates to systems and other things that are going to interface with your inventory management. So document that in a memo; in a written document and make sure everyone's on board with what are the requirements of your future system, what are the things you'd like to have, and then share that with possible vendors. And the idea there is you want to make sure there is absolutely no confusion about how things operate. What's important to you and making sure that your vendors; I mean to me getting rid of a bad IT system is harder than getting rid of a bad employee so you really need to make sure you got the right system and invest that time to make sure you know specifically what you want and there is no ambiguity about what it is that you're expecting. Joe:                Why are you sharing it with a vendor if a vendor is a manufacturer? Matthew:       I'm sorry not the vendor but like an inventory management vendor. Joe:                Oh, okay. Yeah, they're going to sell you hard no matter what. So it's interesting, though, as a fractional CFO advisor that you are now at step number two or the second point here is website management. Matthew:       Yeah. Joe:                Why and how do you jump into the website and getting from that first visitor to it's in my cart and they're giving you a credit card in as few clicks as possible? Matthew:       You know, in general, I don't find myself spending a lot of time there, but it's emphasizing the importance of that. Again, it's stripping down the business to its core elements and making sure that the founders know what that is. Because if they're not managing that and they think that they're managing inventory perhaps perfectly and they're even and they're managing their advertising cost perfectly, but then customers are coming to the website and it's showing stock that doesn't exist or is complex or hard to get through the closeout checkout process if there is an efficient management of that and again one of your pillars is just failing and now you're going to have suboptimal results for your organization. So it's just making sure that the organizations honing in on that. And I may not necessarily be the one doing that or managing it, but making sure that issue is front and center for them. Joe:                Okay, front and center that they're focused on it and addressed it as one of the pillars. Matthew:       Yeah. Joe:                The third is driving traffic and I assume we're talking about the average cost to acquire a customer here. Is that something that you focus on? Matthew:       It is. Some businesses are easier than others where it becomes very obvious that they're spending a thousand dollars and they're as a result generating 2,000 dollars' worth of sales and things are going well. So I look to make sure that it's being managed again and I can help with making the nuances and making sure that they're thinking about it right in terms of what are the inputs into that calculation. So one of the things I've seen in the past; in my past is that I've seen that companies might overburden the cost structure of what they think a new customer brings. So, for instance, maybe the sales price is $100, the cost of that sale is $50, which means your gross profit is 50 and then companies might start tacking on all these other costs. So interchange costs and credit cards and maybe stocking fees and all these other things. And then they may say, well, we don't really have a gross profit of 50 we may have a gross profit of 30. Well, if you're spending advertising dollars to go chase after $30 of what you think is gross profit, what you end up doing is really shortening and hurting the long term scaling of that business because you're underspending on your advertising dollars. So I can help with that philosophy and making sure that you're identifying the right costs that you're burdening for how you view your spending. Joe:                Merchant processing is a legitimate cost that it's going to be 2% or 3% of every order, isn't that something that you want to definitely work into your numbers and analysis, whether or not you're going to spend $50 to acquire a customer or $100 to acquire a customer, especially if it's a onetime order. Matthew:       Yeah, so there's other factors to think about though, right? You may have customers who obviously love your product so much that they tell their friends, so referral, and there's ways of tracking this. Joe:                The halo effect, yeah. Matthew:       Right, exactly. Or there might be more lifetime value of that customer either its add-on services or other things that you're selling. And so the goal is to not be so narrow-focused on the single transaction that you're closing with but thinking more holistically. And again, I'm looking to; sounds ironic coming from a miser accountant, but I'm looking to help companies expand their advertising dollars not necessarily shrink them. Especially if there's a longer-term play to that profitability scheme. Joe:                All right, so we're talking in this situation the acronym folks is it's either ACoS or maybe it should be pronounced TACoS but it's more TACoS, right? It's total cost to acquire a new customer. And it's taken account into account all orders, those that came in organically versus those that can be tracked specifically to an ad spend and making sure that you're not just focused on the ad spend and then cut the cost you're going to see your total orders put out as well. So as a CFO, as somebody that comes from the pedigree that you come from, which is really stuff that makes most people's eyes bleed just focusing on these numbers when you're hired what is the first thing that you do when you go in and begin your services at an e-commerce company? Matthew:       Yeah, the first thing I'll do is I do a couple of things. One is I ask the client, well, what is it that you; you brought me here for a reason, what are those reasons and making sure I understand them. The second thing I'll do is analyze the company; so talk to other key reports; for instance to the CEO or the leader of the organization, look to see what their current systems are, see how long it takes them to close the books, get a gauge of the accuracy, the financial information. And then also what I'll do is I'll kind of take all that information and then come up with a priority list. Generally, not more than one to five items and identify okay, here's what I think is the roadmap of where we need to go and what we need to do to get there. Joe:                That's with the CEO of the company saying what their goal is in terms of revenue or exit or something like that obviously [inaudible[00:25:21.1]. Matthew:       Yeah. Joe:                Let me just pipe in there in terms of the accuracy of the financial information. I find six to seven times out of 10 that it's not accurate on the initial call. People are not even doing accrual accounting. They're doing just cash. How often do you run into that and when you hit that hurdle, how do you get over it around it and fix it? Matthew:       Yeah, I've encountered that... Joe:                And why? Let me just the question, you know a lot of folks feel like they've got a pretty good handle on their numbers. They may be doing cash accounting. They may not or they may reconcile every month, but they've got a pretty good idea and they just do some back of the napkin calculations. What's wrong with that if they feel like they're seeing top-line revenue growth; what's the problem there? Matthew:       There's a couple of things in it and it depends on the company for certain. And it depends on the stage that they're at and things like that. But in general, I think if you're going to scale, you need to really understand what's the unit cost of your inventory; so what are you purchasing it for, how much does it cost to move it into your warehouse, and understand what those parameters and dynamics are to really kind of get a good gauge of your gross margins. And I think that when you're doing that, it's understanding again; it's tying in that inventory well with what your inventory records are saying from a financial perspective and understanding what was sitting on the shelf and what's the value of what's sitting on the shelf. Again, if you're focusing on; if you got 10 product lines and five of them are selling like hotcakes and you've got two or three laggards, well those two or three laggards are really they're taking away from your ability to reinvest back to the five that are doing well so it's understanding what that is. And I'd say that from a; the challenge I have coming into a lot of companies, the first thing I see is that, like you said, a lot of them are in cash basis of accounting and the number one thing that they're missing out on is those inventory accounts and the values to really come up with a good snapshot from a financial perspective. Joe:                Can't they just use an Excel spreadsheet for that? Matthew:       Well that might get you accounts if you have historical numbers at month ends and then we've got to figure out pricing. So speaking of our friend that was exactly what I had to do is I was going back through and rolling back inventory counts from a point in time and going back to month ends and trying to get good financial information because that person is looking for an exit ultimately and to get there all this helps to put together a good, solid book of records that reflects your financials and your results that are important for future investors or future buyers. Joe:                But my CPA does that at the end of every year. Why do I have to track inventory on a monthly basis? They just [inaudible 00:28:26.1] my tax returns. Matthew:       Yeah, so let me address that. I see where you're going. Joe:                I'm having fun with this, by the way. Matthew:       Oh yeah, this is good. So, I think there's certainly a large misconception about what accountants do. And I'll put accountants in three different buckets and I think this is where you're heading with your comments. Number one is I'll call them the bookkeepers, they're the ones who are keeping track of your day to day transactions and making sure that things are going in for amounts that need to be paid to vendors and cash receipts coming from customers and keeping track of your book; your QuickBooks and your Xero account, bring them in. So that's number one. Number two is your tax guy and that is tax compliance whether it's sales tax or income taxes or personal income taxes. They're the ones doing all that stuff. And then you'll look at me and you're like, well, I'll tell you, I don't do it either of those. What I do is help to oversee the strategic part of the business and the growth of the business and the forecasting; where are we going with this, where is the future, and then also overseeing and tying in the pieces between that bookkeeper and the tax provider. So I'm like the guy who helps glue all those pieces together to make sure that they're all talking to each other, that the tax guy when he comes in and he doesn't have a whole bunch of problems with the numbers because they don't make sense. And I'm helping to tell the story of those numbers and what has happened so the owner doesn't have to do that. Joe:                The path that I see a lot of folks go down is they just have their CPA do the bookkeeping as well. And I find that that's normally done wrong and they make annual adjustments and things of that nature. Do you see that those three different people; you CFO advisory services, gluing the pieces together needs to be in place, a bookkeeper for just the accuracy of the data entry, pulling or importing the information and setting books up on an accrual basis reconcile every single month so that you have “accuracy of financial information” and then the CPA really just does tax planning advisory services in that regard and files your taxes anyway. So don't have the CPA do the bookkeeping essentially. Matthew:       That's right. Joe:                Okay. Matthew:       I am a CPA but yes, you need a CFO person who is helping with, again, keeping the accuracy of the financial information to make the life of the tax provider that much easier. Joe:                There are lots of bookkeeping firms that are started by CPAs but they don't focus on filing your taxes or tax planning. They focus on making sure that your financial information is accurate so that you can make solid decisions like focusing on inventory management, looking at TACoS and ACoS; those types of things. So without the accuracy of financial information and when you go into a company and you go okay, first hurdle, accuracy of financial information, this is not right. What do you do? Matthew:       Well, two-fold, one is what wasn't right and fix it and then number two is find out why it wasn't right and try to prevent it from happening again. And so there's certainly a continuous learning loop that you want to have to make sure that whether it's insourced or outsourced [inaudible 00:31:52.3] bookkeeping perspective is that they're understanding what it was, what happened, and learning about it and improving for the future. Joe:                I got you. We've got a list of bookkeepers that are very good at what they do. Folks, if you are listening and like yeah maybe I should stop having my CPA do the bookkeeping or my mom or my uncle or whoever is doing it for you or if you're doing you really are not doing it well. Hire a professional bookkeeper. Shoot me an e-mail, Joe@QuietLightBrokerage.com and I'll shoot you an email with the referral list. We don't get paid for referrals. We just want your books to be done right so that when you come to us with seeking an opinion on the value of your business that we can help you. If you've got a financial goal, we can tell you where you are today so you can get down that path. But if your books are wrong it doesn't really help much at all. Especially if you've got a just out of college bookkeeper that does everything a CPA tells him or her to do. That's even worse because the CPA, again, as Matthew just said, is managing towards taxes. I have a question for you with your pedigree; Priceline, KPMG, you're a CPA, the two accounting software that I continually see are QuickBooks Online or Xero, they're both pretty good in their own right but is there a third that you would recommend or should people just be looking at these two? Matthew:       I'd say it depends on their size. Joe:                Sub 20 million. Matthew:       Sub 20 million I think QuickBooks will get you most of what you need. Now, what you may end up doing is, again, inventory management as an example is QuickBooks does a terrible job of managing inventory. Joe:                Right. Matthew:       So what you'll want to do is find an inventory management system. There are dozens that are out there that has the functionality that you're looking for which, again, is going to be well-documented because you're going to describe what it is you want to do. And that hooks into QuickBooks so that way you're automating your interface between that inventory management system and QuickBooks or Xero. Joe:                That's complicated and painful. Matthew:       No, none of the above. In general, I'd say you need two to three weeks of really documenting and understanding what it is you want and where you're going. And then usually a lot of these systems, you're looking at four to eight weeks perhaps of implementation time. And a lot of that can be parsed out to the inventory management system company itself. A lot of them will bring in consultants and people who will help make sure your interfaces are working right. And then you'll want to have a testing scheme to make sure it's done correctly. Joe:                Okay, so we are nearing the end of our time and I want to say to anybody still listening good for you because this is critical information and too many people tune out when it gets to the numbers. Odds are that your business is your most valuable asset and you spend less time focused on the financials and the numbers than you do mowing your lawn every month or whatever your hobby is and you need to spend more time on this. Your business is worth more than your retirement fund, your car, your house; whatever it is savings you've got, it's probably worth more. And that's true in most of the cases that I see. And again, you're going to earn more money on the eventual exit of your business than you are when you run it on a daily basis. Services like Mathew's and fractional CFO services are critical to getting your most valuable asset on track to an eventual exit. And we all exit our businesses at some point, someday; surprise, someday I will not be an owner of Quiet Light Brokerage, right? I'm going to move on someday but maybe to the grave and I may be around that long but you never know. There are other members of the team that may step into certain roles that I play. And I've got to do everything I can along with my business partner Mark, to make sure that our financials are in great shape. You should do the same because it's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter if your business is doing half a million in revenue or five million or 25 million. Our friend in common, his first business that he sold was $7,000. He became an exitpreneur at that point. You guys have heard me talk about the book that I'm writing; Exitpreneur's Playbook. His next business was 20,000. He learned from both of those exits and then exited one at just over 200,000. His next exit was around just nine million. His goal now with Mathew's help is a hundred million dollar exit. He may get to 50, he may get to 75, but he sets his goals pretty high and he's tracking towards them. But you can't do that without knowing where you are today. And you can't do that without accurate financial information. So that's me pitching online on paying attention to the numbers. Matthew:       If I can expand on that for a minute… Joe:                Please do. Matthew:       One of the services I provide is financial due diligence for the acquirer or I'll represent the acquirer acquiring a business. And in fact, I've got like three or four of them going on right now. And I've had instances where I've gone in, done financial due diligence, looked at their books and records and seen comingling. This is one of the most terrible mistakes, commingling of personal and business expenses together or transactions that are being purchased on a personal credit card or personal expenses that are being paid out of a business bank account. All these types of things fundamentally hurt the value of the business because of the quality of the information that a prospective buyer is looking at. It makes it harder to trust the person they're buying from if they have to start digging into personal credit cards and very invasive in a different way. And there have been instances where I've made recommendations to clients to step away from a transaction because the books and records were not clean enough and the value of what they were hoping to get as the purchaser of that company afterwards was not to going to be that. So all of that discipline is really important to have it in place I'm going to say for at least a good two years before you expect to sell. And if you're not there; and even if you're able to sell, I can guarantee you you're losing money because you didn't spend the money on making sure you have the right financial information. Joe:                Music to my ears from the former controller of Priceline, folks. Matthew, thanks so much. How do people find you in terms of the fractional CFO services or what you just mentioned which is due diligence services for an acquirer of a business; LinkedIn the best approach, reaching out? Matthew:       LinkedIn is the best approach absolutely. Joe:                All right and we've got Matthew De Wald. That's D-E-W-A-L-D; Matthew De Wald. We'll also click to his LinkedIn profile account in the show notes. Matthew, thanks for your time today. I greatly appreciate it. Matthew:       Thank you. I appreciate the time, Joe. Resources: Quiet Light Podcast@quietlightbrokerage.com