The EXITPreneur’s Playbook, Joe Valley

Entrepreneurial Tips you'll learn today on The Sales Podcast...

• He used to focus on the money
• Now he focuses on how many people he can help
• Now he makes more money
• Self-employed since 1997
• Was a media buyer back then 

We present good information and let people make a decision."

• In 2005 he launched his first online business
• Came out the other end tired and woke up and just decided to sell his business
• His advisor told him to hold on for another six months because the market was turning around in his opinion
• He put together some SOPs and sold in 2010, took a year off, and joined the Quiet Light Brokerage then (a team of two)
• Last year they did $250 million in transactions
• Grown 55% a year on average the last four years
• They represent the sellers
• They don't "sell."
• Considers himself an educator
• When you're desperate you can't give it away
• He was a typical entrepreneur
• He ran his business and got sick of it and wanted to move onto the next venture, but he wasn't prepared for it
• Most entrepreneurs don't have accounting in place
• Most entrepreneurs don't have accrual accounting
• He didn't outsource his accounting
• Outsource your e-commerce accounting
• Set a goal to sell and reverse engineer your business
• You need to know your exit goal in dollars to know if it's a pipedream or a reality
• Buyers are looking for four things
  • Risk
    • Is it a single-channel vs. multi-channel?
    • Is it a young business?
    • Buy a bigger business with more history
  • Growth 
  • Transferability
  • Documentation
• Gets 300-400 leads a month
• The valuation call is free
• Buying with an SBA loan is fantastic
• But SBA loans are tough for online businesses since they might be too young or they co-mingled their finances
• You need to qualify as a business and a buyer for an SBA loan
• E-Commerce Lending in Florida is a great SBA broker/lender
• His median transaction size was $1.8 million and 90% were all-cash
• SBA deals are usually more stable and more likely to close, but they take longer
• It's emotional
• It's hard to find a buy-side broker
• He has to help the buyer as much as the seller
• He creates a detailed P&L
• He asks all of the tough questions upfront
• There are lots of reasons to sell a business
• Entrepreneurs get shiny-object syndrome and want to move on
• In the vast majority of businesses, the bulk of the money is made when the business is sold, i.e., when Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos "sold" by going public
• Most people don't take a lot of money out in the early years
• In 2021, about 30% of buyers were FBA Aggregators—Fulfilled By Amazon
• This is new in the last five years, Thrace.io is the biggest
• The other 70% are private equity firms (20%) and smaller entities buying for themselves (50%)
• "Acquisition Entrepreneurship" - "Buy Then Build"
• You should like what you're doing
• There will be tough periods so it helps to have a passion
• Training and Transition period
• Hold back 20% to keep the seller around
• 2013 he closed 23 transactions that were sold by what he'd call kids today
• We're in a different world now
• People know what an online business is today
• Transaction size has grown 10-fold
• 3.7 offers per listing
• But it's not as crazy as real estate
• Younger businesses are growing quickly
• This is not a passive investment
• You're buying a job
• Most transactions are done remotely, without meeting in person
• He does best when he focuses on one thing
• His one thing is M&A, so he doesn't mess with crypto

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• J. Hunter: Crypto Gaming
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• Erik Voorhees: Bitcoin Explained
• He has never had his entire team of 15 in one place
• He has never met his business partner's spouse in the decade they've been partners
• The book is a playbook for the seller
• If you're buying an online business, get his book and, "Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game"

Sales Growth Tools Mentioned In The Sales Podcast

• Get a free download of "The EXITPreneur's Playbook"
• Get his book, "The EXITPreneur's Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success"