One thing President Trump and other politicians have in common is the bashing of large tech companies. It used to be bashing Walmart. Yes, Walmart took over a lot of small to mid-sized towns. Yes, some small businesses (perhaps many) didn’t survive. But the politicians made it seem like these small retailers were thriving businesses with very high paid employees.
After talking to owners of and/or looking at information on thousands of businesses I can say,
“Overall, there aren’t that many good businesses.”
There are a lot of companies providing the owner a well-paying job and nice lifestyle, but these don’t have much value. Value comes from profit over and above owner salary. There are even more businesses with overworked owners whose salary is just adequate.
When I’m asked how businesses are valued my initial response is, “I don’t know anything about your company and in general, it’s a function of profit. The more profit, the higher the value.” So where is all of this going? To these three points:
- If you own a thriving business (solid profits after your fair market salary) realize you have one of the ~20-25% (the top quartile). Keep it there, grow it, get yourself out of the day-to-day, and if you have a dominant customer, diversify ASAP.
- If you’re a business buyer, realize it’s like the old “needle in a haystack,” so keep searching because it can take a long time. Not only do you have to find a business in the top quartile, the owner needs to be motivated to sell (for a fair price), and it has to match your skills.
- If your business is barely getting by, it’s a struggle to pay bills, you can’t save any money, etc. realize it will be tough to sell. And, by all means, remove from your head thoughts like, “We’ve been in business for 15 years so there’s value to the name.” As per above, the value comes from profits.
We all think what we have is great – better than cold beer (or lemonade) on a hot summer day. But that’s not what matters. What matters is what others think including banks, buyers, appraisers, etc.
“Strive not to be a success but to be of value.” Albert Einstein
