You’ve just found your calling.  Whether it’s your first entrepreneurial endeavor or you’ve lost count, you’re just barely getting started and are debating which business structure would suit your new company best.  And if you haven’t already, you should probably start thinking now about selling your business.  Seems counter-intuitive, but a Small Business Trends article explains why you should “think about selling your business – from the moment you open your doors.”

The point that author Peter Renton makes is that many small businesses aren’t as valuable on the market as they could be because they are too reliant on their owners (and of course, the owners are setting themselves up in the bad position here).  Renton articulates that branding your company with your face and name attached to it could put you on thin ice.  ”Your customers may be more attached to you than your product or service. Any savvy business buyer will be wary of that.”

Moreover, your company needs to be able to survive without you.  Because you will need to leave it to someone else while on vacation or perhaps coping with a death in the family, and because buyers will avoid getting stuck with a company that is so needy.  Renton explains that “if you are making decent money but are working 80 hours a week in order to create that income then your business is worth substantially less than someone who can create the same income in 20 hours a week.”

I did more research on how to build value in your company [link removed, as website no longer exists], and found an extensive list on IPA’s BusinessToday.  The piece is a bit overwhelming but chock full of solid information.  Most importantly, the bulk of this list consists of things to know during your company’s early stages and throughout its lifetime.  The last five items are ways to decrease value – I fell into the trap of skipping the subtitle and thinking the article took a wrong turn.

Obviously, there are exceptions in that some businesses are truly built on a single person and what he/she has to offer.  It’s clear that those companies don’t have much to stand on if and when it comes time to sell, but there are plenty of other steps that should be taken to ensure the highest possible value for any company.