Eight steps to build a business that can survive and thrive without you

John Warrillow is a successful author and the creator of The Value Builder System™. He has also started and exited four businesses, selling one to a listed company, and has conducted radio interviews with hundreds of entrepreneurs. He has helped many business owners get their businesses ‘sale ready’.

In his book, Built to Sell, he states:

Have an “options strategy”, as opposed to an “exit strategy”. The idea is to have as many choices in the future as possible. When you follow an options strategy, you build systems and a management team around you so that if a buyer comes along, or if you decide it’s the right time to get out, you have a sellable business.

To ensure that you build a ‘sellable business’, John has provided an 8-step roadmap for creating a business that is less reliant on you, the business owner.

• Step 1 – Develop a Standard Service Offering (SSO) – focus on one thing
• Step 2 – Develop positive cash flows – get ‘cash positive’
• Step 3 – Hire a sales team – get others to sell for you
• Step 4 – Commit fully to your SSO – stop accepting non-standard projects
• Step 5 – Retain the key manager – launch a long-term incentive plan for your managers
• Step 6 – Find a suitable broker
• Step 7 – Tell the team – especially your management team
• Step 8 – Convert the offer(s) into a binding deal

By following these steps, you put yourself on the path to simplifying your business by managing out the complexity, enabling you to build the value of your business and improve its profits. All of these things not only make your business a more pleasurable place to work for you and your team, but they also make it ready to sell should you decide to.

There is obviously a lot more to each of these steps, and they are expanded upon in the Business Breakthrough report linked to this blog, with even more detail in John’s book, Built to Sell.