3 Surprising Reasons to Sell Your Business Now

If you’ve been dreaming of the day you can sell your business and retire to that hammock in Waikiki, now might be the time to take the plunge.  Yep, despite the slow recovery, 2012 is shaping up to be a great year to cash out and embark on a different kind of journey, one of leisure! Here are a few reasons that the best to time sell your company might be right now:

• The global market is looking shaky. It may not seem to impact you right now, but the current European debt crisis could soon rock your business. Right now, the euro is on the verge of collapse, and as a result, experts are advising American business owners to brace themselves. No one can tell what will happen in the next few years, but the outlook for our economy isn’t good. By selling your business now, you’ll avoid the pain of dealing with vanishing customers and rising operating costs.
• Tax cuts are coming to an end. The Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire this year, and the tax rate you pay on capital gains (like when you sell your business) may increase dramatically. Compare  a few more years of profits to all the taxes you’ll have to miss the 2012 window for lower capital gains taxes.  How many more months will you need to keep your doors open to recoup the money you’ll lose by waiting until 2013 or later to sell. If you want to work less and keep more, it may be time to start shopping for a buyer.
• The baby boomers are coming. The baby boomer generation is beginning to retire… and that means that 8.4 million small business owners will soon be looking to put their companies up for sale. If you want to know what kind of impact a flood of sudden listings has on the market, just ask your real estate agent. He or she will tell you that you’d be smart to get out before the bubble bursts. Your company is probably worth more now than it will be later.

If you’ve been keeping a bucket list, now’s the perfect time to start checking things off, and step one is to sell your business. This year might not be the most profitable moment in history to sell, but looking at the market forecast for the next decade or so, 2012 might be your last chance to really maximize your return for a long time to come.

Remember that hammock waiting for you in Waikiki? Now’s your chance.

Dedicated to your business success,

– Perry Sheraw

Guest blogger Perry Sheraw is the founder and executive vice president of eBusiness Appraisals, an online business valuation company. She is a dedicated business owner advocate with a mission to ensure all business owners have access to critical information in order to make the right choices and achieve the highest possible value from their life’s work.