Harley Stibbard, the 411th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, lives and breathes business – he’s both a small business owner and a business broker.

Harley has spent his career in the fitness industry, as both a trainer and manager. Wanting to take the next step in his life, he decided to look around for a gym to purchase. It ended up taking longer than expected – two years – in part because of some bad experiences with business brokers, who misled him about several potential deals.

That inspired Harley to join Vision Brokers & Advisers as a business broker, so he could give others the service he wished he’d encountered.

Harley works with businesses across all industries, typically with an annual turnover of around $1 million.

As Harley explained, a business that’s listed for sale will be valued on a range of metrics besides its financials. 

For example, all things being equal, a business with a broad customer base will command a higher sale price than one earning significant parts of its revenue from a small number of customers – because losing just one of those customers would lead to a significant reduction in revenue. And a business with a long lease will generally be considered more valuable than one with a short lease, because it has greater security of tenure.

Many of Harley’s clients are owners who have devoted large parts of their lives to their business and want to cash out. Unfortunately, some of them approach a broker only after they’ve lost interest in the business and watched it decline. Harley says owners achieve better results if they prepare to sell their business several years ahead of time, so it’s in great shape when listed for sale.

Harley still owns his gym (although others manage it), which means, just like his clients, he needs to be across everything, from strategy and finance to marketing and staffing. He’s also investigating buying a second gym – which is what you do when you live and breathe business.