One NZ exit planning specialist estimates around 80% of businesses never sell. Xero's research found about 75% of owners plan to sell to fund retirement.
Those two numbers are kinda whack together. Quite sad really.
Take a $2m business at a 15% net margin. $300k a year in the owner's pocket, great living. Ask a buyer what it's worth and the answer's often close to zero. A buyer wants certainty it keeps running without you, and your P&L doesn't give them that.
That certainty gets built over years. Start with one question a buyer would ask first. What happens to revenue the month you leave? Write your honest answer down. Then pick one client or one process and take yourself out of it this quarter.
If a buyer looked at your business next month… what's the first thing they'd question?
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