Need new business cards? Check out this MOO business card review to learn whether this popular business card service is the right one for you.
If you’re due for a new order of business cards, or are just starting a new business and are looking to get your very first, fresh set of cards to start representing you and your business, MOO business cards are one of the most well-known business card services available today.
The business world might live largely online now, but your business card still serves as a useful tool you can use to represent yourself to those you meet and communicate with.
MOO is known as one of the most stylish and modern business card services available, so if you’re in need of new business cards, read the MOO business card review below to get an idea if MOO printing, designs, and other options are a fit for what you’re looking for.
MOO business cards: Pros and cons
Here’s a 10,000-foot view of the pros and cons of MOO’s business card service:
Pros:
Moo business card templates are some of the most stylish business card templates available online
Alternate card designs free of charge
Beautiful shipping construction
Easy-to-use ordering interface
Transparent pricing without annoying upsells
Cons
Higher price compared to other business card services
Few design options
MOO printing isn’t the most reliable: Errors are reported by some customers
MOO’s business card service is one of the easiest to use as it boasts a simple and straightforward interface that lets you customize options and complete your order within just a few short pages.
However, MOO printing can sometimes be unreliable. Customers sometimes report small printing errors such as uneven margins and their design options are limited. They’re also just a bit pricier compared to other business card services, though MOO printing quality is some of the best in the industry.
If MOO’s business card service sounds like a fit for you, read on to learn what it’s like to order your business cards with MOO as well as details on pricing, ordering, and quality.
Designing your card
When you start off designing your business cards, you’ll run through a few basic options with an easy one-click interface.
First, you’ll pick your size:
Then, choose your finish (customers report the Matte finish being super high quality. If you’re not sure what to pick, go with that):
Next, you’ll choose your quantity, which offers a convenient pricing overview both on a per-card and package basis (this might change based on what options you select later on down the process, but it’s a helpful ballpark):
Once you pick your quantity, the summary section will populate automatically for you to review:
Provided everything looks good, select continue to move on to designing your card (don’t worry, anything you select on this screen can be changed later if you need).
Next, you’ll be sent to a page to pick your preferred design style.
Keep in mind, you can choose to upload a design of your own if you prefer, but for this tutorial, we’ll be going with a MOO business card template from their own library as most will go that route (it’s far easier to execute, and MOO has some great, simple designs).
Choose your design, like this one, then select next:
Once you’ve selected your design, it’s time to input your information into your card.
The interface is pretty straightforward: just click on a relevant section to edit it and edit any other option such as font or other type options in the dark grey menu above it:
Once this is complete, you’re ready to move on to your final review and checkout.
So, let’s get into MOO’s pricing and shipping options to see what our final total ends up being.
Pricing
MOO’s pricing is higher than the average business card service, but they have one big pro when compared to a lot of other services like VistaPrint: they’re transparent and don’t bombard you with upsells.
It’s a part of the business card business model, so expect them with MOO as well, but you won’t feel like you’re being attacked as can often be the case with other business card service checkout processes.
This is what the next page looks like, which offers a quick summary of our order so far:
We’ve selected to get 200 business cards as that’s a pretty standard order. However, you can order as few as 50 or 100 if you don’t quite need that many to drop the price down.
Keep in mind that while MOO’s 50 business card order is $19.99, which would reduce this order total considerably, it’s still more than comparable services like GotPrint ($8.30 for 100 cards) and VistaPrint ($16.99 for 100 cards).
Once you review your cart and hit checkout, you’ll select your shipping option:
Shipping prices are pretty standard, with Economy, Express, and Express AM options being available.
How long does it take to get MOO business cards?
In this case, we were able to get Economy shipping, which added just $9.75 to our order and brought our total to $79.74 (same total as seen in the previous image, as that already had the basic shipping method calculated in).
We received the order within the week, so the MOO printing and shipping process is relatively fast.
Now, let’s finish by talking a bit about quality.
Quality
So, the order’s come in and it’s time to take a look! How’s the quality?
MOO business card orders come in some of the prettiest packaging that exists. You can tell MOO puts a great amount of care into thinking about the experience of opening your order.
Our order looked great and matched what we had ordered online (as is often the case reported by customers).
However, many times customers have reported that their order was missing an element they originally included in their design or some design element was incorrect, such as an uneven outer margin.
Some customers report MOO offering a free reprint of their order to get it right, however, which is a big relief and largely fixes the hassle.
Is matte or glossy better for business cards?
MOO is known for its beautiful matte finish, with many customers reporting the finish being the highest quality in the industry.
On the other hand, MOO’s glossy coat is high quality, but highly reflective (even when not placed against a light source), which you may or may not like.
For that reason, we’d suggest choosing MOO’s matte finish if you’re unsure of which to pick.
Did this MOO business card review help?
Have a better idea of whether MOO business cards are a good fit for you now?
Business cards might seem like a small detail, but those small details can make a big impression when you’re meeting a key business contact for the first time, so you should take some time to find not only a sharp design that communicates what you’re offering but a business card service you believe you can count on to deliver quality.
And check out some more of our helpful reviews to help get your business off the group:
Oren Fletcher, a 25 year-old car detailing business owner from Ontario, Canada was an up and coming entrepreneur. His car detailing shop, Fletcher’s Detailing, was the go-to spot in Cornwall, Ontario and showed no signs of slowing down. To keep up with the influx of customers, he decided to apply for merchant cash advance Canada to help with expanding the company.
Oren, as many young entrepreneurs do, started his company at his family home. He turned his mother’s two-car garage into a home-based business, but in recent months due to hundred of cars needing detailing, he needed to expand, hire a receptionist, train new employees, and purchase inventory. Although business was on the up and up, as fast as money was coming in, it was quickly going out to take care of overhead costs causing Oren to just break even at the end of each month. He needed working capital to put him ahead.
After seeing a news segment on TV about the growing popularity of the alternative lending industry in Canada, Oren decided to contact Excel Capital Management. After quickly learning about the alternative financing solutions offered at Excel, he sent over 4 months of recent bank and credit card processing statements to one of their funding specialists just to see what he qualified for. Within hours, Excel was able to offer a $150,000 Merchant Cash Advance. Oren quickly took the offer and was funded the very next day. Within weeks he was able to hire a contractor to start work on a new location, hire a receptionist, and train new employees on different car detailing techniques!
*All Case Studies are based on real businesses Excel Capital Management has funded. The names of our clients and their businesses have been changed to protect their privacy.*
Wondering how to do a 1031 exchange with real estate? Read on to find out more about what a 1031 exchange is, specific rules to keep in mind, and the different types of exchanges.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
Table of Contents
How to do a 1031 exchange
4 Types of 1031 exchanges
What qualifies as a 1031 exchange
And what qualifies as like-kind property
What Is a 1031 Exchange?
A 1031 exchange, sometimes referred to as a “Like-kind” exchange, is a method of exchanging properties where you defer capital gains taxes on the sale of an investment property, so long as you purchase another like-kind property using the profit from the sale.
The Benefits of a 1031 Exchange
Why might you want to use a 1031 exchange to sell your investment property?
A 1031 exchange, originating from IRS Code Section 1031, gives you the ability to shift investment properties without incurring tax penalties, which has several additional benefits baked into that.
Let’s say market prices are picking up, as they have been for some time now, and you’re worried about another potential bubble.
Using the 1031 exchange system, you could shift your investment from your current properties to other more stable high-priced real estate to weather the increased risk until the market cools down.
In that case, you’re not just avoiding tax penalties, the 1031 exchange system allowed you to potentially save big time by shifting your investment to more secure real estate, the same way that a stock investor might move some of their money from live stocks over to the S&P or back again.
How to Do a 1031 Exchange
First, how do you do a 1031 exchange?
There are a few rules you need to follow to be able to take advantage of the 1031 exchange rule:
The properties must only be real estate and not personal or intangible property
Of a similar value, with the new property needing to have the same or larger value and loan amount than the original.
And must be like-kind
We’ll explain more what like-kind is later, but for now, let’s talk about the different types of 1031 real estate exchanges.
4 Types of 1031 Exchanges
There are several different kinds of 1031 or “like-kind” exchanges, the most common being:
Construction (or improvement) exchange
Simultaneous exchange
Delayed exchange, and
Reverse exchange
Below is a quick summary of each of these common types of like-kind exchanges:
1. Construction or improvement exchange
A construction or improvement exchange gives you the ability to make improvements on the new replacement property using the equity from the sale/exchange.
Keep in mind that there are a few rules you need to follow to qualify for a construction exchange:
The entire equity from the exchange/sale must be spent on improvements OR as down payment by the 180th day of the sales process.
You, as the taxpayer, must receive “substantially the same property” which you identified by the 45th day of the process.
The replacement property must be of equal or greater value when it is finally deeded back to the taxpayer, and these improvements must be completed before the title can be transferred back from the intermediary to the taxpayer.
2. Simultaneous exchange
A simultaneous exchange means that both the original property sold and the replacement property close on the exact same day.
This is a bit of a delicate one, as the exchange must happen to such exactness that even a delay in wiring funds can disqualify the transaction and immediately apply the tax dues.
There are several different ways a simultaneous exchange can be done, only one of these is required for the exchange to qualify as a simultaneous exchange:
Deed swap: You and the other party perform an exchange of deeds.
Third part exchange: A third party facilitates the simultaneous exchange.
Qualified intermediary: Another version sees an intermediary who oversees the exchange.
3. Delayed exchange
In this type of exchange, the relinquishing of the original property you owned and the acquisition of the new property is “delayed”, hence the name.
In this type of exchange, you’re responsible for securing a buyer and executing the sale in its entirety. Once that’s done, hire a qualified intermediary to begin to initiate the sale and hold the proceeds from the sale in a trust until you acquire a new like-kind property.
This is, by far, the most common type of 1031 exchange performed by investors. That’s likely because the window of time you get by using this kind of exchange gives investors a lot of flexibility that you don’t get from other types of exchanges.
4. Reverse exchange
A reverse exchange, sometimes called a forward exchange, is essentially the opposite of the previous delayed exchange: you buy the replacement property first then sell the relinquished property after.
To use this type of exchange, the purchase of the new property must be done with all cash. So, decide which of your properties is the one you’re going to relinquish (within 45 days) while that new property is “parked” until the exchange is complete.
Additionally, you have a 180-day period to sell the relinquished property, otherwise, the exchange is canceled and you’re responsible for the tax dues.
What Qualifies for a 1031 Exchange? 1031 Exchange Rules Explained
So, now that you know more about how a 1031 exchange works, how do you know what qualifies for a 1031 exchange so that you can take advantage of it?
Below are the 7 guidelines you have to follow to qualify for a 1031 exchange of any kind:
Must be like-kind property
Has to be investment or business property
Must be greater or equal value
Can’t receive “Boot”
Must be same taxpayer (referring to the person who sells the relinquished property and the person who purchases the new property)
You have a 45-day window to identify the replacement property (except in the case of simultaneous exchanges)
And a 180 day purchase window
Let’s break down each of these guidelines in a bit more detail:
1. What qualifies as like-kind property
Arguably the most important guideline as it’s the one that requires the most explaining is the like-kind property rule.
To qualify as a 1031 exchange, the property being purchased must be “like-kind” the relinquished property you’re selling.
What that means is both properties must be “of the same nature or character, even if they differ in grade or quality,” according to the official IRS website.
That means both properties must be used for the same purpose, which means virtually any two properties will qualify as like-kind as long as they’re commercial/business (no personal property).
This stretches pretty far, as even an office building and rental property qualify as like-kind property.
The replacement property can even be multiple properties, believe it or not. So, if the relinquished property is a rental building and the replacements are two commercial buildings, that also qualifies.
2. Investment or business property: Can you use a 1031 exchange to purchase a primary residence?
We touched on this above, but a 1031 exchange only applies to investment or business property.
According to the IRS, “Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Section 1031 now applies only to exchanges of real property and not to exchanges of personal or intangible property.”
In other words, you can’t use any 1031 exchange method for personal property.
For example:
If you want to sell a personal residence for a property for a restaurant you’re launching, you can’t use a 1031 exchange
Or, if you want to sell a rental property you own to purchase a personal residence, you can’t use a 1031 exchange
3. Must be greater or equal value
To qualify for 100% tax deference, the net market value of the property you’re purchasing must be of equal or greater value than the one you’re relinquishing for sale.
Keep in mind that this applies to both the value of the property as a whole and the mortgage. So, if you’re selling a property worth $1.2 million and the mortgage was $750,000, the value of the new replacement property must be at least $1.2 million and the mortgage $750,000 or higher.
One important point to note here is that fees apply toward that valuation, such as inspection fees and broker fees, so make sure to include them in your calculation.
4. Can’t receive “Boot”
“Boot” refers to the difference between the relinquished property you’re selling and the replacement property you’re buying.
To be clear, a sale can still qualify as a 1031 exchange if the property is of lesser value (i.e. you’re receiving Boot). However, you’ll have to pay capital gains tax on that difference.
For example: If you sell a property for $500,000, but purchase a replacement property in exchange for $450,000, you would need to pay capital gains tax immediately on the $50,000.
5. Same taxpayer
To qualify for a 1031 exchange, the original property and the new one you’re purchasing must both be under the same name.
That means if you’re the one selling the property, your name must have been on the relinquished property as well as on the purchase of the new property, they can’t be two different people.
6. 45-Day identification window
From the moment you close on the sale of your original property, you have a 45-day window to select 3 potential like-kind exchange candidate properties.
You don’t need to come to a decision yet. However within this relatively short window, you must have narrowed down to your top 3 candidates.
This can be tricky because you ultimately must choose one of these three properties and can’t change your mind without incurring capital gains.
How many properties can I identify with a 1031 exchange? (The 200% Rule exception)
There is, however, an exception to this.
If you’re having trouble identifying your top 3 candidates, the “200% Rule” states that you can choose 4 or more candidates. However, that’s only so long as the total value of those properties does not exceed 200% of the property you sold.
7. 180-Day purchase window
Lastly, as part of the 1031 exchange process, you have a 180-day window to complete the entire exchange process.
You must complete the exchange in full from, identifying the exchange property and finalizing the purchase, by the end of the 180-day window. This window begins once the original property is sold or the due date of the income tax on the year it was sold, whichever comes first.
1031 Exchange: A useful tool for real estate investors
The 1031 exchange rule is a useful tool that real estate investors can use to gain additional flexibility when buying and selling property.
Whether you’re wanting to:
Shift your investment to a developing area
Your current investments aren’t working out
Or any other reason
A 1031 exchange could be exactly what you need to improve your investment forecast, in addition to the tax deferment.
There are several rules you must follow to take advantage of a 1031 exchange. However, most are relatively simple and easy to qualify for.
So, if you plan to utilize the 1031 exchange rule, make sure to choose your new property wisely and plan the process well in advance. For instance, make sure the sale occurs before or at the same time as the income tax is due for that year. Otherwise, you’re narrowing your already tight 180-day window down further.
Keep in mind: this is a complex rule that has many intricacies. So, take the time to really study it in detail to make sure you’re taking all the right steps.
And if you’re looking for funding for your next big deal, Excel Capital has helped thousands of business owners obtain the capital they need.
See what you can be approved for by clicking below:
Get the capital your business needs– fast. Apply for a small business loan with Excel Capital: Apply Now
Are you a business owner wondering how to stay ahead of constant changes in the SEO arena when you have enough to deal with running your business? SEMrush helped us improve our marketing with a collection of useful tracking and reporting tools. Learn more below.
As someone without prior digital marketing experience, when I was just starting out marketing my business, SEO seemed like a very long uphill climb. Like Everest high.
Add to that the fact that we’re in an extremely competitive space– business loans– which has an average competition score of .93. We had a lot of hurdles to cross to gain visibility.
Many of our competitors have been cranking out content for years, and a lot aren’t half bad at it. So, I knew looking at what they were doing would be the best place to start.
My only problem was… we had no idea how to do that or where to start.
SEMrush’s Domain Overview Search helped us get clarity about our competition
After doing a little digging around, I decided to give SEMrush a try after seeing it recommended so many times on various guides.
The first report I started using– and still the main one we use– was and is the Domain Overview Search report.
We’re primarily a small business lender, so I started by pulling data comparing our biggest competitors in the small business lending space to find out what topics and keywords they were ranking for:
Running the Organic Search Positions report on each of our biggest competitors helped identify other terms both big and small.
That not only helped show us what terms we should be targeting but told us more about their own keyword strategy as a whole– what’s working for them and where they’re falling:
We created pages for our major keywords early, but with little to no domain authority, we weren’t seeing much results.
However, what really worked well for us was targeting some of the less competitive keywords in our niche, terms we were able to identify and rank for with the Domain Overview Search report:
SEMrush’s Organic Research Tool told us what was working (and what wasn’t)
Once we had a good collection of content up and we were working on our on-page and off-page SEO, we used the Organic Research Tool to regularly monitor our rankings:
The report not only showed us how our rankings were improving day-by-day but both our visibility and changes in our traffic for each individual term.
Another really useful tool we’ve used this report for is to pay attention to what SERP features we have.
With snippets becoming such an important part of SEO, we’re constantly trying to snag new snippets for various terms– and this report helps tell us when we were successful.
We also used the Position Changes report on a daily basis to see how rankings were fluctuating. The report is especially useful for finding out when a page is newly ranked:
Between these reports, we had pretty much all the information we needed to know what was working and what wasn’t and make changes accordingly.
And don’t forget to set up the Position Tracking Tool, which is useful for setting up automatic updates on your focus keywords to go out to you on a daily basis.
It’s especially nice if you’re too busy to remember to check your reports daily, which is bound to happen especially for other business owners:
And their Site Audit and Sensor Helped us stay on top of issues
Chances are if you’ve never done a site audit, your website has a ton of on-page and/or performance issues that are affecting your visibility and ranking.
In addition to creating great content and monitoring how that content was doing, we used the Site Audit tool to help us take care of issues plaguing the site, which we were quickly able to minimize and keep down:
We then use the Sensor tool to keep on top of any potential Google updates in relation to our industry so we can know the moment an algorithm update might have gone live that could affect our rankings:
Backlink Audit tool helped us avoid a major ranking hit
Another tool we’ve used to similar benefit is the Backlink Audit tool. It’s helped us identify toxic domains that are linking to us that could set off a red flag to Google.
When we notice a problematic link, we can easily handle it right then and there in the Audit tab within a matter of seconds:
Earlier in the year, we had a big hit to the site caused by some bad links that affected our rankings that were acquired via a negative SEO attack on our site by what appeared to be one of our competitors.
At first, we weren’t sure what was causing it and were worried we’d just been hit by an algorithm update or something.
However, with this tool, we were able to identify several bad links that had just been directed at us and disavow the links that were causing the issue, fixing it right then and there.
One Year Later: Major results with SEMrush
Just over a year from the moment we started our big push, the site’s rankings have taken off thanks in part to the SEMrush tools we utilized and traffic is climbing at an accelerated pace.
This is what our charts look like from December of 2018 to December of 2019, one year later:
And the number of keywords we rank for has exploded (and our number of top three and #4-10 place rankings):
SEMrush’s slew of comprehensive reports and tools not only helped us create a plan of attack by running effective research on our competitors that informed our keyword strategy, but it also gave us the tools to monitor that growth on every level and remove– and avoid– issues that could potentially affect our ability to rank.
The end result has been big gains for us in a short window of time with a concrete impact on our bottom line (and continued growth even now).
If you’re a business owner who doesn’t know much– if anything– about SEO, I can’t recommend the SEMrush tools more for crafting your keyword strategy, helping you rank, and making sure you stay there.
How to value a business: How much is your business worth?
Whether it’s to acquire funding via a small business loan or investors or sell the business, properly valuing your business is an important step that needs to be done right.
The more accurately you can appraise the value of your business, the more funding you’ll be able to generate and the greater chance you’ll have of securing a buyer.
A business valuation is the process of determining how much your business is worth.
There are several specific methods that are typically used to calculate a business’s true worth, but these are the 3 main overarching valuation methods which all specific methods fit under:
3 Methods to Value a Business:
Income-based: Calculates valued based primarily on income metrics such as revenue and profit. This includes the Discounted Cash Flow method which takes into consideration projected future cash flow value at present compared to risk as well as Capitalization of Earnings, which is a combination of revenue, profit, and cash flow projections.
Asset-based: Calculates value based on a business’s assets.
Market-based: Calculates value based on the sale of similar businesses within your same industry.
It’s also important for entrepreneurs in the market to buy or invest in to be aware of how business valuations work, so they know how to properly value a business which they’re considering purchasing or making an investment in.
No matter where you fall in the process, you should invest the necessary time to better understand how business valuations work.
That’s why the purpose of this guide is to break down how business valuations work, methods for doing so, and tips to help make the process smoother for all parties involved.
Table of contents
Preparing to value your business
3 Primary methods for calculating the value of your business
How to value your business example
Tips to make the most of your business valuation
First, let’s talk about some important tips for preparing for your valuation:
Preparing to value your business
Before we dive into the major business valuation methods, there are some important steps you should take to prepare for your business valuation.
Appraising the value of your business is a big step no matter what point in the business growth timeline you’re at, so investing a bit of time to prepare beforehand can help make sure things go off without a hitch.
Here are 4 things you should do before valuing your business:
1. Learn about business valuations
Since you’re reading this, you’re probably already at this step.
However, it’s important to mention that because business valuations can be complex and are directly tied to the success and/or ultimate monetary value of your business, you should take some time to learn about business valuations.
Learn about the different valuation methods, what type of business should use which method, why, and all the various details you should take into consideration when valuing the business.
For example, two of the most important terms you should look into are Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA).
SDE and EBITDA are both arguably the two most common types of business valuation methods (which fit into one of the major valuation method buckets we’ll talk about later), though they’re similar in nature.
Both are essentially methods for calculating a business’s pure net profits, SDE generally being used for small businesses under $500,000 in value and EBITDA for businesses above that.
2. Research your industry
Business valuation methods take more into account than a business’s performance and well-being, they look at the industry as a whole as well.
For that reason, take some time to research the industry the business is in– if you don’t already do that regularly– to understand its current state and direction.
Financial information for most public companies is easily enough found online and a great way to get an idea of the state of the industry. However, you can also search out potential business sales listings on sites like AngelList for any that might exist within the industry as another great resource.
3. Get your finances in order
This one might sound like an obvious step in retrospect, but it’s often overlooked until it’s too late.
If you’re the business owner, chances are, there are things you can do to measurably improve your company’s financial situation within a matter of a few months to a year.
Take time to review critical reports such as your profit & loss and balance sheet to get an idea of where you can make improvements.
Also, make sure you have certain financial documents in order which will be necessary for the valuation process:
Profit & loss statement
Tax filings
Licenses and other proprietary documents
Other basic business finance reports
We’ll go more into considering a professional appraiser later, but it’s important to mention at this point that a professional business appraiser will run a full financial audit of your company, so while they will cost you they’ll take care of this step entirely (and with accuracy you can count on).
4. Review your assets
Similar to the previous point, you’ll also want to review your assets.
This is important for all financial calculations, but most notably for asset-based valuation methods.
Start by making a list of all your business assets (which essentially includes anything that adds value to your business), including both:
Tangible, and
Intangible assets
Within these two groups exist all kinds of different business assets, including:
Tangible assets:
Physical assets such as property/real estate, your production machines, and delivery vehicles
Inventory
Cash
Investments
Intangible assets:
Intellectual property such as patents and trademarks
Subscriber list
Brand reputation
Similarly, don’t forget to take stock of all your liabilities, which can include:
Business loans
Accounts payable, and
Expenses
3 Methods for valuing your business
Now that you’ve taken steps to prepare for your business valuation, whether you’ll be doing it yourself or hiring a professional, it’s time to break down the 3 overarching business valuation methods.
Each method below calculates the value of your business differently. Some methods are used more often than others, however, each is useful to know as they all have a place depending on the industry and other factors.
As a final note, if you’re doing the valuation yourself, work to make it as unbiased and accurate as possible. Inflating your numbers will only hurt you in the long run, from giving you an incorrect picture of your business health to turning away potential buyers.
Also, resist the urge to mesh methods together. Each method’s calculation can be run separately, but attempting to mesh them together is bound to result in skewed results.
These are the 3 approaches to business valuation:
1. Income-driven method
The income method for business valuation uses metrics such as profit and revenue (typically, future projections of those metrics), as the basis for valuation.
There are 2 primary methods used within the income approach bucket:
Capitalization of earnings method
This method takes into account factors such as a business’s cash flow to calculate its future profitability. This method is best for established businesses with stable profit.
Discounted cash flow method
This method, which calculates the value of a business based on its future cash flow projection, is ideal for new businesses with high growth potential.
2. Asset-driven method
Asset-driven methods use, as it sounds, a business’s assets to calculate its value. These are especially good for real estate and investment-based businesses.
Again, there are several different methods within this approach as well, including the Adjusted Net Asset method, which adds up a business’s assets and subtracts its liabilities to find its value.
To use an asset-driven method, you need to have an idea of what monetary value you can place on your assets. If you’re not sure, instead of running a guesstimate, do some research to make sure those estimates are as accurate as possible.
3. Market-driven method
The final business valuation method is the market-based approach.
This approach primarily takes into account the purchases of comparable businesses in your industry as a marker of its value.
This can be a useful method if you’re looking for a quick ballpark estimate as if you know of another similar business in your industry that recently sold, chances are your business will sell for a similar value.
This method is especially useful if your industry is experiencing rapid growth (such as tech) as there are likely examples you can reference in your industry.
Make sure to gather data on all comparable businesses and don’t just settle on the data from one. The more data you can provide to a potential seller, the more solid you’ll make your case for pricing your business at what you decide it to be.
How to properly value your business: Example
While there are many different ways to calculate the value of a business, for the sake of the example, we’re going to use the most common method, the SDE method used often for businesses of <$500,000 in value, for our example.
Adrianna owns a local family restaurant originally started by her parents when she was a child called Luiz’s Hot Spot. She’s interested in getting a valuation for the business so she can put the restaurant up for sale.
First, Adrianna starts by gathering the basic financial numbers we touched on above for the business:
Annual SDE: $95,000
Annual revenue: $475,000
Assets:
Real estate: $175,000
Equipment and furnishings: $35,000
Inventory: $100,000
Liabilities: $50,000
Next, Adrianna will use these numbers to calculate the average value for her business.
Calculating SDE
Using bizbuysell.com’s latest statistics, the restaurant industry as a whole has an average multiplier of 1.98.
To roughly calculate the value of her business, then, Adrianna takes her $95,000 calculated SDE, found with this equation:
Net earnings (before taxes) + Personal earnings + Non-essential expenses for the year (one-time, non-repeating expenses– doesn’t include COGS) – Liabilities = Your SDE
Then runs her SDE through this equation: Business’s SDE x Multiplier, using the multiplier of 1.98 to get her estimated business value:
Keep in mind that this calculation, in particular liabilities and intangible assets, includes things we didn’t cover here such as future prospects, local economy projections, and other elements.
What other factors affect the value of Adrianna’s business?
In addition to the abovementioned factors, there are other factors that can affect the true value of Adrianna’s restaurant that aren’t included in this rough SDE estimate.
There are a whole collection of additional elements that must be factored in to get an accurate value for the business, including:
How eligible is she for financing?
How loyal are her customers?
When will key employees retire?
Supplier relationships may change
Several factors influence the final number, including the fact that Luiz’s is a family-owned restaurant and a change in ownership will be specifically impactful to such a long-held local establishment. In addition, the trend away from individually owned restaurants, local business growth, and community response.
Keep in mind that the above example is only a rough estimation and shouldn’t be used in exactness to run your own valuation.
Rather, use it to get an idea of what a real business valuation might look like to help you prepare for your valuation.
4 Tips to make the most of your business valuation
Preparing for and executing a business valuation is a big event.
You not only want to make sure that you’re properly prepared, but that you do everything you can to make the most of the valuation throughout the process– and give yourself the greatest odds of success at acquiring funds or an eventual purchase.
Here are some additional tips to help you make the most of your business evaluation.
1. Be realistic (and take emotion out of the equation)
One of the most common mistakes of business owners during the valuation process is to overprice their own business due to bias.
As the owner, you know how much effort you’ve invested in growing your business. This enormous effort can skew your perception of the value of your business, making you overvalue your business.
This is all the more reason why one of the accepted evaluation methods is so important, because it takes that emotional aspect out of the equation.
2. Consider giving your marketing and public appearance a facelift
One of the simplest things you can do to improve your chance of selling the business, and at a desirable price, is to give your marketing and overall public appearance a facelift before putting it up for sale.
The way the public views your business inevitably plays a big part in the process of acquiring a buyer as they will see your business first the way everyone else does.
Taking a bit of time to update your marketing campaigns, branding, advertising, even simple things that might be a bit out of date such as your business cards, signage outside your business, and your facility itself will go a long way toward securing a buyer.
3. Get key employees on board
It’s common for key employees to stay in place after selling. After all, it’s easier for the buyer to keep an already well-oiled team in place rather than hire and train their own.
For that reason, it’s important to make sure you can secure those key employees now and get them on board with the eventual sale and transition.
When you decide to reveal this information is up to you, perhaps you decide not to reveal anything until a prospective buyer is in place, but it’s something you’ll want to do sooner than later to reduce surprises. That way, you can communicate who from the team the buyer can count on staying when the transition occurs.
Secure not only letters of intent from those key employees but also any vital vendors as well. The more you can guarantee your potential buyer that these key elements will remain in place, the more you’ll reassure them of the return on purchasing your business.
4. Consider hiring a professional appraiser
At this point, it might be obvious that appraising your business yourself is risky at the very least.
Between the natural bias that business owners experience and tendency to overvalue when it’s their own business and the complexity of business evaluation methods, appraising the value of your business may be in better hands with a professional.
A professional appraiser can be costly, up to several thousand dollars for a full appraisal, but they’ll run a full audit on your financials to make sure that your valuation is accurate.
In addition to this, having a record of a professional valuation will give credibility to your valuation that is indisputable during negotiations.
A personal valuation is definitely faster and saves you money, but not only may that valuation be incorrect, a buyer is more likely to negotiate the price down without evidence of a professional appraisal.
It’s your business– get the most from it
Valuing your business is a big step in any entrepreneur’s career, whether it’s your first or fifth and your business is worth $200,000 or $2 million (or more).
You not only want to make sure you’re properly valuing your business but that you make that valuation and sales process as smooth as possible and put yourself in a position to maximize your return from that sale or to acquire the maximum amount of funding for the business.
Use the above tips to prepare for your valuation, consider which method might be best for you, apply the additional tips for making the most of the process, and consider hiring a professional appraiser.
It’s your business. You worked hard to grow it into what it is today, so don’t skimp on the details. Get the most you possibly can from your time and hard work.
