Today we wrap up our blog series on exits with a review of a new book released at the end of last month, Exit Rich by Michelle Seiler Tucker and Sharon Lecter. While this book is not written specifically for ecommerce businesses, it is packed full of great information. Ms. Tucker draws from her vast experience in the mergers and acquisitions industry. Ms. Lecter adds mentoring notes based on her CPA expertise, entrepreneurial ventures and her financial acumen that she has shared, beginning with co-authoring Rich Dad Poor Dad, and many other titles.
Exit Rich – Part 1
In the first part of their book, Tucker and Lecter outline their ST 6 P Method to help business owners begin to prepare to sell years in advance of their target sell date. With this method, they recommend that you assess your business for the following: People, Product, Process, Proprietary, Patrons, and Profits. They caution, “The one P that buyers will not pay for is potential. Many owners with struggling businesses say their company has potential. While buyers want a company with growth potential, they’re not going to pay a premium for it, because they’ll have to invest the time and money to possibly realize it.” Much of this chapter and the resources they direct you to on the website help you assess your business and get into a “Seller’s Mindset.”
Exit Rich – Part 2
This portion of the book dives deep into the ST 6 P Method by discussing each “P” in detail. By completing the assessments in each chapter, you will better understand your business’ current strengths or opportunities to improve. In addition, the authors provide actionable recommendations to help you make each area of your business strong and more valuable to a potential buyer.
Exit Rich – Part 3
In the section on “Selling Your Business,” Tucker and Lecter emphasize the importance of financial recordkeeping and good books in the chapter on Normalizing Your Financials. They highlight how keeping sloppy books can create challenges when it comes to tracking owner expenses and one-time expenditures. Proper identification of non-business expenses is crucial, and sellers must be able to provide evidence for add-backs during due diligence. This process can be arduous as sellers reveal their personal expenses and cash transactions. Without showing a healthy profit on tax returns, selling the business becomes nearly impossible without going through this exercise.
At bookskeep, we assist our clients in Amazon bookkeeping, specifically those considering selling in the future. We provide special financial statements that separate out add-backs. By diligently tracking expenses from the start, we can present the potential value of their business based on their financials each month, considering the multiples anticipated from the future business sale.
Alongside the financial chapter, the authors comprehensively cover all aspects of the selling process, including valuation, business packaging, confidentiality, and more.
Exit Rich – An Important Read for Ecommerce Sellers
I highly recommend this book for those ready to exit or for those wanting to ensure the maximum value when that sale day does come along. The advice is good business management, even if selling is not in the forefront of your mind at the moment. Please let me know what you think when you read it. If you have specific questions, we can dive in and learn together.
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