So we were asked to sell the business.

Like all good tales, it starts with a line to catch your interest. It contains a journey of sorts. And as all tales must, ends in a revelation of self discovery.

Now lets begin…

About a month ago, I had my first meeting with a new client. A sizable, well known business, which I cannot name for obvious reasons.

They were very nicely directed to Spoiltchild by way of a very good recommendation from a previous client.

When they came it was not quite the meeting I was expecting. After the usual introductions I “Pitch” Spoiltchild. Who we are, how we work, previous samples etc. They in turn explain who they are, the direction they are going and the immediate work needed. So far so normal. Then they begin to expand on their plans for the future, possibly expanding on their design and development end of things and asked would I lead it. They wanted to buy Spoiltchild Design. A bit out of the blue as you can see.

I will step in here and inject a bit of honesty about the situation. In reality I believe they were only interested in me and not the business. Though I am sure the award nominations would look good on their books. They were not aware of the many irons we currently have in the fire so starting out they were probably looking for something that I and Spoiltchild are no longer.

However, they were still open to the idea and the new possibilities it would mean for them.

We were very open to the idea of a nice lump sum, a steady income, access to a sales force of almost 40 and an established back office support. You can see why we might be interested.

(With a baby almost due there is a little extra pressure.)

They were in a rush to get something set up, but after 3 years building the business I was not about to rush into anything that I was not 100% sure of.

The tricky bit was when it came to deciding a price. And this is where we got the most value out of the proceedings. I was reluctant to give a price until I had thought fully about it. Originally I had a price in mind and I thought it sounded pretty good. It would make nice inroads to finally buying a house. But I thought about it and realised, hang on, if you add that, and this, we are worth more then that. Each and every time I though about what the business was worth to me, it went up.

It was time for some serious financial advice. This is not as easy to find as you might think. Many accountants do not have experience in this area. I did eventually find a good one by the name of Gail McEvoy of the Drogheda Tax Clinic through a mutual business contact.

The offer of being bought made me sit down and take stock of everything. Where we are, where we have been and very important when selling, where we think we will go. It was great but there was a problem.

Great in that I had for the first time in ages, a full handle of the business, where we are now and a good solid plan for the future. I developed a detailed spreadsheet covering the next 18 months. Every little incoming and outgoing we have now and a really conservative estimate of what we hope to earn.

The future looked Orange. The NOW however does not look so good. Donât get me wrong, we are currently covering all costs but we are operating at a reduced capacity in bootstrapping mode. Which basically means that all money coming in now is going out to fund the development of Weddings By Adam, Toddle, Sheepstealer Clothing and a few other things.

So according to our current books we are not worth much. However according to the passion I have for what we are building and my belief in what we can achieve we will be worth A LOT!

So back to the experts. Gail brought in a brilliant woman, another business advisor with specific experience in this area and a history working with Enterprise Ireland.

She had some interesting things to say about Enterprise Ireland and Banks approach to business but that is for another post.

What was interesting was, this woman did not want to meet with me originally. Her response was along the lines of âNot another feckinâ web design company. They donât make money!â. After seeing what we are working on though she became a lot more interested and agreed to meet.

To price a business you can look at the current books, past growth, current plans and projection for the next 3-5 years. A buy out might consist of 50% up front, 50% in two years if projections are met and perhaps a % of all future earnings. There are a million other details but they come after these numbers.

Or you can simplify it. You are worth what someone is willing to pay!

Looking at the books and future plans actually written down in paper invigorated me. I had been feeling a little worn out lately. There has been a fair amount of struggle and hardship. A baby coming along forces you to evaluate things in a different way. However seeing everything that we achieved and all that could be achieved in black and white spurred me on.. I couldnât sell for what we are, according to the bookâs worth. I had to sell for what I believed we are worth. Otherwise I am sure that in 2-3 years time I would be kicking myself.

I knew it was going to be more money then the company were willing to pay.

I gave them a price of â¬1.5 million.

They said no.

I feel great!

We are going places and we are steering.

The big discovery was seeing the business through anothers eyes. It seems that Spoiltchild is not a Web Design company. Which surprised me! But you know what, she is right. And it makes us a whole lot more valuable.