SAN FRANCISCO — Owners often ask how to prepare their dry cleaning business for an optimum-priced sale. Generally, the answer is the same as the answer to an entirely different question: “How can I improve my business?”
To optimize the value of a business, make it the best it can be. Is that an oversimplification? Yes. Is it true? Yes.
IF YOU’RE NOT SELLING, YOU’RE BUYING
Whether you are preparing your business for an arm’s length sale, for a transfer to the next generation that you hope will be as passionate about dry cleaning as you are, or you have no sale planned, you are still preparing the company for a “sale” at some value.
If you are not actively selling your business, you are actively re-buying it yourself every day. You are making a conscious or subconscious decision to continue to exchange your capital investment, time, effort and equity (whatever the current value) for ongoing ownership of your company.
Optimized value benefits you whether you sell or not because the business is more valuable as a profit generator over the long and short terms.
