How do you know when to sell your business and at what price?

When deciding to sell your business, start by identifying potential buyers early. Plan your exit from the beginning by asking: who might want to buy this company in a few years? This shapes everything you do toward making that sale. Once you've identified target buyers, structure your company to be attractive to them—focus on creating recurring revenue streams, as institutions will multiply your annual recurring revenue by 10 or 20 times to value your company, giving you a much higher valuation based on relatively smaller revenue. On pricing, aim to structure the deal so it works for both parties—if it only works for you, it won't last, but if it only works for them, you're wasting your time. The key is understanding that most business owners dream of selling their company but fail because they don't structure it correctly from the start. Implement the right processes and procedures to obtain the highest valuation possible. Finally, recognize that what you're really selling is the business without you attached to it. Remove yourself as a key dependency so the buyer isn't taking on the risk that the company only works because you're running it—otherwise you'll stay tied to the deal and won't be able to truly move on.