Exit Strategy: A Practical Guide to Selling Your Business

by Graham Watkins

There are over 11 million privately owned companies in the US employing over half the workforce and, while most business owners have spent years learning how to run and grow the business, virtually none have any idea about how to sell up until the time comes. Like death, we don't think about leaving and yet, with some simple planning, selling up can become both profitable and more enjoyable. Written by someone who has owned, built up a successful company and sold it, this book explains, in plain terms, how to sell a business. Planning, preparation, employing intermediaries, finding a quality buyer, negotiating a good price and avoiding potential traps are all explained with the candour you would expect from someone that has learnt the hard way. Graham Watkins does not pretend to be one of those so-called 'experts' who have never owned a company. He has watched the professionals at work and speaks from experience gained as he successfully and profitably sold his business.

Genres: Business

220 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2006

About the author

Hi. I'm Graham Watkins and I have spent the last few years researching welsh legends and myths. It has been a wonderful project and great fun as I explored rugged mountains, mysterious castles, enchanting waterfalls and golden beaches to discover the tales that have been handed down from generation to generation. Wales is a land of mystery and being a Celtic race the Welsh are fantastic story tellers.

Earlier in my life, I was a ships engineer and travelled across the world. When I got married I had a choice; return to sea or stay home with my new bride. I stayed and went into sales. In 1989 I started my own company and it prospered.

I sold the business in 2003 and, with my wife, ran away to a rambling farmhouse high in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. I learnt a lot selling the business and decided to write a book called 'Exit Strategy' explaining how I did it. That's how I started writing. Today, I am a writer, hobby farmer and explorer. It's all been great fun and the story isn't over yet. My latest book 'Birth of a Salesman' has just been published and there are more to follow. Watch out for 'Blood and Dragons - The History of Carmarthenshire and the Gower.'

My current project 'The Iron Masters', is a historical novel, my first, chronicling the life of Nye Vaughn, a farm boy who becomes the most powerful arms manufacturer in the world. His cannons enabled Nelson to win the Battle of Trafalgar and cleared the field of French infantry at Waterloo.

Reviews

[Todd Benschneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good topic, good storytelling but seemed like a long book built from a minmal level of experience, but there are so few books on the topic, it is wirth a read

[Eoghan Gill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very basic.