Entries by Apex Business Advisors

Are You Dealing With a Serious Buyer?

One of the reasons people enjoy working with us is knowing that the buyers we bring to the table are financially qualified.  We’ve done our part to make sure that we aren’t going to introduce you to people who just want to kick tires. But being financially qualified is only part of a successful transaction. […]

Case Study #21: Confidentiality Rules

Scott Miller started Miller Restoration, a firm in the property damage industry, in 2005.   He managed to sell his company after 12 years for 3.5 times earnings, but only after two failed attempts.  If we pay attention, we can benefit from his hard-earned lessons. Building to Sell Scott had always assumed that he would […]

Alternative Financing for Growing Businesses

We’ve said before how important it is to cultivate a relationship with your banker.   Such a relationship will be important not just throughout the lifespan of your business but particularly when you want to craft an exit.   That said, sometimes market conditions, or the conditions of your business, call for alternative forms of […]

Apex Success Stories #1: The Long Game

This is the first in a new series for the blog: stories from our own clients about their experiences selling with us. We hope you enjoy them! Roger was the third generation owner of a contracting business that had been operating since 1954.  He entered management of the company in 1997. In 2006 he took […]

Case Study #20: When You Had No Plans to Sell

Jim McManaman owned Solution One, an accounting and tax firm that handled business and personal accounts.   At its peak, he had six employees and had just added a fee-only financial planning practice to the company. The company was very much a “main street” business, and for Jim, apart from tax season, it was a […]

Why You Should Buy Instead of Build

There is an inordinate level of romance associated with building a business from scratch.  Shows like Shark Tank and The Profit only exacerbate the issue.   Though such shows do show the struggles that these business owners face, the very appearance on television creates aspiration: “I want to do that too.”   First-time entrepreneurs looking […]

Book Club #18: Before the Exit, by Dan Andrews

There are some books out there that can tell you the financial side of how people exited their businesses, but there’s not too much literature on the emotional process of selling.   Bo Burlingham often refers to a sale as just another “phase” of the business. Dan Andrews and his business partner experienced a seven-figure […]

Is It Time to Sell?

In a previous article, we discussed various signs that it’s the right time to sell your company.   What so many people see as ultimately mostly a financial transaction is possibly going to be one of the most emotional things they ever experience.   So, even clicking through to read an article with such a […]

Case Study #19: Happy to Take Your Call

In 2003 Jill Nelson founded Ruby Receptionists to help small businesses provide a great first impression to new potential customers by providing an answering service.   This could help the business who just needed one person to provide skeleton phone coverage or a growing firm that needed scalability over time. She’s still in charge of […]