You have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours working to put your online fitness business for sale. Selling free weights? Resistance bands? Yoga mats? Regardless of what product you’re selling online, blood, sweat and tears have gone into creating your business – and the wonderful business it has turned out to be. Now you want to move on to your next chapter. Whether you’ve decided you don’t have adequate time to grow your business, your heart isn’t in it anymore, or you want to start a new endeavour, it might be time to put your online fitness business for sale. We are here to help! With Sports & Fitness being one of our 8 product categories, we have the expertise into understanding the ins and outs of not only how to sell your business, but how to best grow it as well. We’ll start from step one – This is a guide to how to put your online fitness business for sale from start to finish.
What to Consider When Deciding to Put Your Online Fitness Business For Sale
Deciding to sell your business is a big deal! It is not the kind of decision made on a whim and the more information you have the more you can be sure that you know what you want. Some things to consider while you decide whether or not to put your online fitness business for sale are as follows:
1) Give yourself time – Assume that it will take at least six months to organize, research and work out a deal to put your online fitness business for sale. Don’t rush the process for you might miss something important that could cost you big bucks down the line!
2) Audit and assess every aspect of your business – Knowing your business inside and out and being able to show a potential buyer that all the intricacies are organized legibly is a great way to start your journey. This also helps you see where the inefficiencies of your business lie and allows you to address them before you put your online fitness business for sale. Check to see how much of the business is automated. If the majority is, then transferring it to new management becomes a breeze, if it’s not consider automating where you can before the exit.
3) Consider the buyer’s perspective – Put yourself in the buyers’ shoes: what do you think they are looking for in a business to buy? What documents will they need access to? Buyers will want to look at the business’ standard operating procedures (SOPs), financial records and other data. Having everything available, easy to understand and ready to send is going to swiftly set up the sale process for an exit. It’s all about transparency. Being transparent about your business to the buyer is essential for a fair and valuable transfer.
4) Think about who and how you want to sell your business – Putting your online fitness business for sale can be one of the biggest financial decisions you can make. Understanding the whole process from beginning to end can be daunting. There are different avenues you can take to get to a selling destination. Do you want to do a private deal? Or would you like to use a broker? Check out our piece written by unybrands experts explaining the different kinds of buyers that you can work with.
Prepping for the Sale
Secure the Data! – Getting all your data together in a legible and organized manner is pivotal. It’s better for you and better for the buyer. When you can see all the business data laid out it’s easier to look at weak points to bolster before you present your business for sale.
Know the Numbers! – Buyers want to see the numbers; they want to know how profitable the business is and that they are investing in something that is scalable and will continue to be profitable. This will also be how you assess the value of your business to make sure you are getting the best offer for efforts.
Create SOPs! – Having all your Standard Operating Procedures detailed and recorded to create a manual for all of your daily business operations. This is one of the most helpful documents you can have for the buyer. Areas to include are product selection, keyword search, SEO optimization, how you create your content, keyword research, written product listings, etc. Anything that you think is relevant to the daily operation and success of your business is worth noting. Buyers want a fully functioning business they don’t want a job. Being able to show you have a well-oiled machine that will take minimal hands-on effort from the buyer will be instrumental in the value and sale of your business.
Timing is Everything! – Choosing when is the best time to put your online fitness business for sale will have a lot to do with your end goal. What are you using the money for? Are you paying off your mortgage? Or are you planning to retire? Selling for the right price to achieve your goal depends on the time. Valuing the sale using the valuation formula will help you figure out if your business is ready to sell to achieve your goal.
The valuation formula is made up of two factors: The average net monthly profit for at least 12 months and the sales multiple.
You must establish your net monthly profit and if it’s not quite high enough work towards an established monthly revenue target. Then you will be able to identify an ideal sell date. Once you’re six months from your ideal sell date then it’s time to prepare for your exit.
Increasing scale and sales
If you feel like your online fitness business for sale isn’t quite ready, there are a few things you can do to increase the scale. A few ways you can help scale your business are:
1) Spend some more effort on marketing
2) Create high-quality content
3) Seek out media exposure
4) Track all your efforts with data analytics to see where you could put your attention 5) Learn from your competitors
6) Access outside expertise when required
7) Network with people in the online fitness community
These are just a few ways you can bolster your business and create quick scale.
Increasing Value
Plan ahead! Giving yourself enough time to increase the value of your business before you sell will make a huge difference. Some things you can do to increase the value of your business are;
1) Improve your business cash flow
2) Increase your profitability
3) Have your books in perfect shape
4) Streamline operations
5) Differentiate your business from its peers
6) Freshen up the website
7) Pay off debts
8) Diversify your revenue
9) Lower risk associated with your business
10) Plan ahead
How Can unybrands Help?
At unybrands, we are here to answer any questions you have not only about your online fitness business for sale, but also about how you can grow your brand from what qualifications we look for in a business to how the process works. One of our team members is always happy to jump on a call and have a discussion with sellers who are curious about selling.
