Recurring Revenue - The Holy Grail

In the spirit of “truth while it’s fresh,” one of my core values for this podcast, today I’m sharing a truth that has been on a low simmer for two years but that I’ve never quite shared publicly. I’m taking you behind the scenes of my explorations around potentially selling the Pivot side of my business—and why I chose not to (for now, unless you know of any $5 million to 10 million buyers around! ;)

🌟3 Key Takeaways:

• I think about three types of knowledge workers: builders, maintainers, and optimizers. Builders love to create new things, Maintainers like to continue and grow what exists, and Optimizers look at what exists and improve it. Knowing which one you are can help you decide what to do with your business, or how to delegate aspects of current projects
• Your business will be more desirable to buyers if you focus on building recurring revenue, eliminating key person risk, diversifying your client base, and documenting process that becomes part of your unique IP.
• It may be counterintuitive, but treating your business like you are planning to sell it gives you a chance to fall back in love with it. 

📝Permission: Explore what exiting your business could look like, even if you don’t do anything with that information.

✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: What is one strategic area for improvement that would make your business more sale-able, even if it’s to yourself? For example: diversifying your client base, reducing key person risk by delegating more, and shifting client payments to recurring revenue. 

📘Books Mentioned:

• Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business 
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
• Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You
• The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry
• The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top
• Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top
• Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game
• Exit Rich: The 6 P Method to Sell Your Business for Huge Profit
• Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
• Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, 10th-Anniversary Edition

🔗Resources Mentioned: 

• Podcasts: They Got Acquired Podcast, Built to Sell Radio
• Newsletter: TGA Newsletter
• Article: A Spotlight on Tech’s Invisible Start-ups, Andrew Wilkinson on Medium
• Business Investors: Tiny

🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 

• 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant
• 001: All-in On Heart-Based Business
• 051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier
• 115: Successfully Taking Over as CEO from a Founder (MBS) with Shannon Minifie
• 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander
• Pivot: 276: Behind the Free Time Pivot 
• SPARKED: On Putting Yourself in the Path of Pivot
• Diary of a CEO: Moment 48 - 3 Core Principles For A Better Life: Mark Manson

💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 

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