For Business Owners: Selling and Valuation Guides

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Brokers typically value lower-middle-market businesses on a multiple of SDE (smaller, owner-operated) or EBITDA (larger, more transferable). Multiples move with industry, growth, customer concentration, and how clean the books look. The most common overestimate is treating owner perks as if a buyer will keep paying them without adding them back correctly, or applying the wrong multiple to the wrong earnings definition.

Buyers and lenders expect three years of tax returns and financials, a clear add-back schedule, and documentation for any one-time expenses. A recast (normalized) income statement shows the cash flow a new owner could reasonably expect. Clean books protect your asking price; messy books invite discounts and delayed closings.

After a letter of intent, buyers verify financials, contracts, customers, employees, legal matters, and operations. Expect document requests, calls with your CPA, and follow-up questions on anything that does not reconcile. Surprises found late kill deals; surprises found early get priced or fixed.

The right time blends business readiness (clean financials, transferable operations), personal readiness (your next chapter), and market demand for your industry. Waiting one more year only helps if the business gets stronger and more transferable, not if risk or owner dependency grows.

We market with a blind profile that does not name the business. Interested buyers sign an NDA and pass financial screening before they see identifying details. Your employees, customers, and competitors should not learn you are exploring a sale until you decide they should.

Florida remains an active market for lower-middle-market acquisitions, with strong interest from individual buyers, searchers, strategics, and capital partners, especially in services, home services, and cash-flowing operating companies. Demand and multiples vary by industry and transferability; a confidential conversation is the best way to gauge where your business sits today.

SBA 7(a) is the primary loan program for many business acquisitions. Individual 7(a) loans go up to $5 million; as of July 2026, qualified borrowers can also pair 7(a) with 504 financing for up to $10 million in combined SBA-backed capital. Expect roughly 10% down on many deals, cash-flow underwriting, and a lender who wants clean seller financials. Get informal or formal pre-qualification before you make a serious offer.

Start with earnings quality, not asking price. Check customer concentration, owner dependency, recurring revenue, working capital needs, and whether the numbers reconcile to tax returns. Red flags include unexplained add-backs, declining trends without a clear fix, key-person risk, and a seller who cannot produce organized financials.

Expect an NDA, qualification, CIM review, seller meetings, letter of intent, diligence, financing, and closing, typically several months end to end. You do not need to have owned a business before, but lenders and sellers want to see relevant skills, capital, and a credible plan to run the company after close.

Seller notes and earnouts bridge valuation gaps and help financing fit. A seller note is deferred purchase price paid over time; an earnout ties part of the price to future performance. They can make a deal close when cash and senior debt alone cannot, but they also create ongoing risk for both sides, so terms, security, and metrics matter as much as headline price.