After two episodes of the new format of the show, fate intervened. First, the winter fiasco in Texas knocked Jerod’s power out, and then the next week his wife gave birth to their second child. So, congratulations to Jerod and Heather!

I decided to carry on with a return to the old interview format for one week only.

In this episode, I have a great chat with John Warrilow about some of the key concepts from his new book, The Art of Selling Your Business. I’ve interviewed John before about designing your business to be an attractive acquisition target with a recurring revenue model, and this time we’re exploring how to prepare for an actual exit.

We begin with a question that many don’t really spend time considering: Why do you want to sell? Getting a little philosophical about the reasons for selling your business can spare you a lot of second-guessing later.

After that, we discuss the danger of timing your exit, the “5-20” rule for potential businesses that will want to acquire your business, how to deal with earnouts and attempts to “retrade” the deal, how to nudge the purchase price up, and much more.

John shares a lot of value in this interview, and answers some common questions that everyone who sells a business needs to understand. Let’s jump right in.