Selling your business can be a cumbersome task. Where do you even start?

Most business owners are experienced at running a business, often very successfully. However, selling a business is usually not something most business owners have a great deal of experience with, especially if this is their first sale.

Most business owners know about valuation and exit scenarios and have heard stories from others about their experiences selling their business – both positive and negative. But there are so many terms, details, possible scenarios, and implications involved in any merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction that it’s next to impossible for most business owners to be experts in this area.

Rather than getting caught up in all sorts of lingo and potential details, it’s best to understand that any sort of M&A transaction is a nebulous process – the value of the deal is as acceptable as whatever both parties involved agree it is. Instead focus on a couple of key areas that you, as the business owner, can control.