Kyle Atwood
HedgeStone Advisors
A practical, step-by-step guide covering when to sell, how to prepare, what a broker actually does, and what happens between an accepted offer and closing — backed by a network of over 50,000 buyers and 150+ years of combined brokering experience. Written by Kyle Atwood, a business broker at HedgeStone Advisors.
If you own a business in Ohio generating roughly $500K to $10M in annual revenue and you're thinking about an exit sometime in the next six months to three years, this guide is for you. It covers the full arc — when to start thinking about a sale, how to prepare, how a broker actually earns their fee, how buyers evaluate a deal, and what happens between an accepted offer and money in the bank.
Every section is written from the perspective of someone doing this work day to day in Ohio's market — manufacturing, distribution, home services, healthcare, and trades businesses — not generic advice pulled from a national template.
Every deal is different, but nearly every successful sale moves through these stages.
Before anything else, you need an honest number grounded in your actual financials and comparable Ohio transactions — not a rule-of-thumb multiple pulled off the internet. This becomes the foundation every other decision is built on.
Clean financials, documented processes, and resolved legal or ownership loose ends. This is where most deals are won or lost before a buyer ever appears.
Your employees, customers, and competitors typically shouldn't know the business is for sale until you're ready. A proper process protects that confidentiality while still reaching serious buyers nationally.
Tire-kickers waste your time and risk your confidentiality. Buyers need to be screened for financial capability and real intent before they see sensitive information.
Price is one term among many. Structure, terms, contingencies, and what happens to your employees and your name all get worked out here.
Due diligence, financing, legal review, and a transition plan that protects the business — and your reputation — after the sale.
Before you spend 6–12 months on a sale process, it helps to start with a real number — using the same approach brokers use to price businesses like yours, with access to buyers who are already looking.
Get My Free Valuation →These patterns show up again and again. Most are avoidable with a little planning.
Industry multiples are a starting point for a conversation, not a valuation. Buyers price on your actual cash flow and risk profile.
Premature disclosure can spook key staff or give competitors an opening — before you even have a signed deal.
Without competing interest, you have no leverage. A single buyer knows it, even if they never say so.
A rushed sale, or one driven by owner fatigue, almost always leaves value on the table. Planning ahead changes the outcome.
Deals fall apart in the details — legal, tax, and negotiation missteps routinely cost owners far more than a broker's fee.
Messy books slow down diligence, erode buyer confidence, and can shrink your final price.
There's no wrong answer — pick what fits today and see a sensible next step.
That's exactly the right time to start understanding your options. A free valuation costs nothing and gives you a real number to plan around, whenever you're ready.
Get My Free ValuationIt depends on your cash flow, industry, growth trends, customer concentration, and more. A free valuation gives you a real, defensible number instead of a guess — with no obligation.
There's no single test, but a few signals matter most: your cash flow has been stable or growing for a few years, the business can run without you in the room every day, and you have a general sense of what you'd do next. If that doesn't describe you yet, that's normal — the "Where Are You in the Process?" section above is built for exactly that, and a conversation now costs nothing.
The biggest levers are usually the simplest: clean up your financial statements so they hold up under scrutiny, reduce how much the business depends on you personally by documenting processes and delegating key relationships, and avoid having any one customer make up too large a share of revenue. None of this requires selling soon — starting early is what actually moves the number.
A good broker runs the whole process for you: pricing the business correctly, marketing it confidentially, screening out buyers who aren't serious, negotiating on your behalf, and keeping the deal moving through diligence to close. Owners who try to sell alone are often still working full-time in their business while also trying to run a sale process — a broker lets you do both without dropping either one. Most brokers, including me, are only paid when the deal actually closes, so the incentive is fully aligned with getting you the best outcome.
The largest cost is broker commission, plus legal fees and, for larger deals, optional quality-of-earnings review. Most fees other than retainers are contingent on closing — which is why there are zero upfront fees to get started here.
Not through me. Marketing is done confidentially — buyers sign NDAs and are screened before they ever see your company's identity or financials.
Most business sales take 6–12 months from listing to close, depending on the size and complexity of the business and how prepared it is going in.
No. Many owners start with a valuation just to understand their options, years before they actually plan to sell.
Kyle Atwood is a business broker with HedgeStone Advisors, working with Ohio business owners to prepare, price, and confidentially sell privately held companies. He works hands-on with each seller from the initial valuation through closing — backed by HedgeStone's network of over 50,000 qualified buyers and a team with 150+ years of combined brokering experience.
No obligation, no pressure — just an honest look at where your business stands today, backed by a network of 50,000+ buyers ready to compete for the right business.