Prepare your business for sale.
We walk you through everything it takes to get your business ready, then connect you with the right M&A firms to sell it. Practical guidance from people who have built and sold companies for 47 years.
A free playbook and a free call.
Led by James Bell, a founder behind an eight-figure exit. About James →
building and selling companies
for return on shareholders' investment on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1998, and #3 in 1999, across two companies James co-founded
James helped take public
his last company operated across
Prepare your business as if you are selling it tomorrow.
Why it matters
The businesses that sell well are the ones run that way for years, not the ones cleaned up in a rush six months before the sale. Clean books, closed within days of month-end. A good accountant and a good lawyer. Profits put back into the business. And the owner paid a salary, like any other employee.
Most owners never get around to these things, and it quietly costs them when they sell. James did them on every company he built. It is the reason his last one passed a five-month due diligence without a single surprise.
Three steps to a sale you’re proud of.
Learn what buyers pay for, get your business into shape, and meet the right buyer when you’re ready to sell.
01 / Learn
Learn what buyers pay for
James is recording short, clear videos on what buyers actually look at, what your business is worth, and when to start getting ready. Subscribe so you catch them as they land.
Subscribe on YouTube→02 / Prepare
Download the Exit Readiness Playbook
A free, practical guide to getting your books, contracts, and operations into the shape buyers pay more for. The same steps I used on my own companies.
Get the Free Playbook→03 / Sell
Sell it for what it's worth
When you're ready, we talk it through on a free call. From there I can run the sale for you, bring the right buyers to the table, and work to get you the most the business is worth.
See how it works→
Today, at sixty-seven, I want to help owners my age, the ones who built a business that gave them a good living but have no children to take it over, get it ready and sell it for what it's worth.
James Bell
Get your business ready, then meet the right buyer.
The wrong buyer, or the right one at the wrong time, is how owners leave money behind. After 47 years of doing this, I can help you avoid both.
- 01
Get your business ready
Use the free playbook to get your books, contracts, and operations into the shape buyers pay more for. This is the part I teach you to do yourself.
- 02
Talk it through with me
A free 30-minute call. I'll give you my honest read on where you stand, where the gaps are, and whether it's even the right time to sell.
- 03
Sell it for what it's worth
When you're ready, I run the sale for you, bring the right buyers to the table, and work to get you the most the business is worth.
When you’re ready to sell, I can run the sale for you and bring the right buyers to the table. The playbook and the first call are free; from there I’m paid out of the sale, only if it closes.
Book a free 30-minute callThe Exit Readiness Playbook
Prepared by James Bell
Get ready before a buyer ever calls.
The Exit Readiness Playbook is everything I did to get my own companies ready to sell, written down. Free to download, no strings.
- The same checklist I used on my own companies
- What buyers dig into, and how to be ready for it
- How to step back so the business runs without you
- The bookkeeping habits that raise your final number
Straight answers.
The questions owners ask me most about selling a business they spent a lifetime building.
Years before you think you need to, not months. The businesses that sell well are run that way for a long time, not cleaned up in a hurry before the sale. And getting ready makes the business run better while you still own it.
Thirty free minutes about your business.
Tell me about your business and where you want to get to. I’ll give you my honest read, and there’s nothing to buy.
Or email me directly: sellmybusinessplaybook@gmail.com