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I'd bet that anyone running a business would enjoy it a bit more if they didn't need to have clients. Yeah sure, the bottom line wouldn't look as healthy, but just think about how much time you'd save in delivering client work, having weekly calls and the dreaded monthly reports. But, until the time that someone invents a business model that brings in money without customers, we're stuck with them. And, no matter how much they disrupt our lives, the last thing on earth that w

On the 21st September 2021 I achieved financial freedom. I sold my business, and the upfront payment hit my bank account. At 37 years old, I had the ability to never work another day, and live a very comfortable life. Sound like heaven? It certainly did for 18 year old me. I remember looking through holiday brochures (remember those?) when I was younger and picking where I would go if I managed to sell a business one day. The majority of my life was focussed on achieving that

Surely that blog title is going to win me some decent SEO results. But it's not just about the organic traffic potential. That title sums up the last 8 years of my career, starting as an employee in 2017, becoming a freelancer and transitioning to an agency owner. Then, selling my business in 2021 and effectively becoming an employee again within the company that I had run for 4 years. And finally, back to the world of self-employment again with FounderON. I would like to thi

During the 4 years that I ran my business, I 'took money' 3 times. None of the times did I need to take the money, but each time I did for a specific reason. Reducing your equity in your own business should never be taken lightly. But often it's possible to make your remaining equity worth significantly more than the full equity you started with. Rather than give my advice on what you should do, I'm going to tell you about each of the 3 times I took the money, and why. I hope

It was something I dreamed about for so many years. Decades in fact. How it would feel to have built a business, sold it and then have the ability to pick and choose what I did. If anything. It was what kept me going during those challenging times that you face as a founder. Getting paid less than many of your team, not able to turn off your brain, feeling like you're going too fast yet not fast enough. And on 21st September 2021, that dream became a reality for me. I had bui

Many business owners dream of having a big exit one day. I was no different From as early an age as I can remember, I always wanted to start a business and sell it. I didn't give much thought to what that would actually entail, or even what the business would do. My dream was to build a business that someone found valuable enough to buy. In September 2021, I was lucky enough to have that happen to my business. You can read all about that day here . As you'll see from the blog

As a solo-founder I found it incredibly lonely at times running a business. But along my journey I found a handful of mentors that either helped me avoid mistakes, or take opportunities that I'd have never seen. Not only at the start when I was naive and new to entrepreneurship. But also when we were accelerating at our fastest, to make sure we didn't leave anything on the table. At the time it felt a bit like it was a weakness to ask for help. But of course in hindsight, it

A 7-figure business. You can't move on social media these days for people claiming to earn 7-figures, or have an 8-figure business. I'm as guilty as anyone. I reckon you can read most of the blogs on this site and see me reference my own 7-figure exit. But what does 7-figures actually mean? And why won't people just give actual numbers? Well, this blog will attempt to answer all of your questions. Why won't people give actual numbers? This question has two answers really. You

There are hundreds of articles out there explaining how the M&A process works when you come to sell your business. I have two problems with them. They're too late. There are lots of things you need to prepare well in advance of actually starting the M&A process. They're boring. If you're a founder about to embark on the process, you don't care about the mechanics, you just want to know how its going to impact you. That's what FounderON is here for. Answering the question of h

I thought I'd try an SEO friendly blog title for once, after I had an alert to tell me my best ranking blog so far on Google was ranking 20th for the phrase "my darkest moment" (read the infamous blog here ). So, hopefully you've found this blog from the 1st search position on Google because you want to learn about selling your business. My goal with this blog mini-series it to be relevant to you, whatever stage of the journey you're at. From aspiring founders that haven't ye

When you first start a business it’s possible to think that growth comes easy. The initial traction, the mountains of enthusiasm, the founders’ little black book ready to be tapped up. Many start up businesses will likely record triple digit growth in their first few years. After all, 100% growth of a £100k previous year isn’t too big a leap. But, consistent, relentless growth. Now that’s hard. When you manage to take a breathe for a minute to celebrate hitting £1m turnover f

People say that money can't buy you happiness. Is that true or not? The only way to really know is to put it to the test. So two years ago I sold the business that I'd built, got some money, and below I will give my thoughts on whether I'm happier, sadder, or 'don't know'. I should say, I was pretty happy already. I loved running the business that I went on to sell. I have a mega wife and kids and a brill family. Not trying to show off. I just think it's relevant. Oh, but I a

For the sake of this article I'm going to assume it's earnout. The concept of an earnout is great. Someone buys your business and pays you some money for it. Plus, they then offer to pay you some more money if the business keeps growing. And in general the person buying your business will have bigger clients, bigger budgets, bigger infrastructure so additional growth should be easy. Where the concept fails slightly, is that it's difficult to motivate someone with money after

I'm guessing I'm not alone with this, but if I'm being honest I gave very little thought to the earnout in the run up to selling my business. Everything I did or thought about for the 5 months prior to signing day was about getting to signing day (read about it here ). For anyone not aware of what an earnout is, it's a mechanism often used when selling a business to allow the founder and shareholders of the business that's being acquired to realise some of the ongoing upside,

Pretty much since I knew what money was, I would day dream about the prospect of starting a business one day and selling it. The day dreams were rarely about the actual running of the company, but very much about the bit at the end, when the money arrives! Safe to say the things that I fantasised about buying changed a little throughout the years, but it really started taking up head space during the actual acquisition of my business (see here ) when the dream started inching

Despite having many attempts at 'doing business' before Molzi (see here ), the reality was that I started out on my first proper entrepreneurial journey with no real clue about how to do it, but a solid confidence that I would somehow make it work. During my four year adventure starting and running Molzi I learned a huge amount. Below would be my top 10 things, purely because, well, everyone loves a top 10. 1. It's OK not to be a billionaire. For many people reading the title

Well the time has come, six years and one month after starting up Molzi in my spare bedroom, it's time for me to say goodbye. Three years ago I would have been devastated to think about this day. One year ago I'd have been terrified. But now, my overriding feeling is excitement, and that's why I know the time is right. A sad day as I say goodbye to Molzi. Can you believe I'm not a trained graphic designer? Back before Molzi was acquired, it was fair to say that it was my baby

As I looked around a restaurant I was at with my family last week, something odd struck me. Despite the picturesque surroundings, and the fact that almost all other diners were also families, I couldn’t see anyone who wasn’t using their phone. Maybe it was actually me that was odd for not using mine I thought. What could I be missing out on? That thought alone caused me to reach for my phone to check it, even though I wasn’t sure what I was checking for. And then I remembered

Signing week had finally arrived, and this was the first time during the process that I felt truly confident that it was all going to happen. Although there still seemed like a huge amount to get done before signing on the dotted line, it was the first time that all parties were talking about when it happens rather than if . Photos had been taken, press releases signed off and plans made for starting to integrate the businesses post-signing. The actual completion was planned

It was time to sell As Molzi turned 4 years old, my mind was set on selling the business. A combination of things driving it, but mainly that I was exhausted, I felt like I had reached the limit of where I could add value, and… I wanted the money! Up to this point we had received 12 approaches to buy Molzi. Some had been from large global agency groups, some had been large US Amazon agencies and some had been from private equity backed roll ups. So far the faithful gut feel w