Joe Saul Sehy is the host of Stacking Benjamins, a popular personal finance podcast on which he has interviewed everyone from Jean Chatzky to David Bach.

Sehy’s journey to becoming a podcasting sensation was a little unusual: he started as a financial advisor, building a firm with $65 million in assets under management. Then, on his 40^th birthday, Sehy received a letter from a friend which was the trigger that made him want to sell his business. His friend’s letter became a catalyst for him to switch careers and become a professional podcaster. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Sehy describes the sale of his financial planning practice and you’ll learn:

• How to use employee systems to “you-proof” your business.
• How to hire people inclined to follow systems (rather than renegades who want to re-invent your business).
• How to sell a franchise.
• The one thing Sehy wished he had done, which he estimates could have boosted the value of his business by 15–25%.
• What to do with your money after you sell your business.
• Why the 4% rule of investing may be too conservative for most entrepreneurs.

Doug Chapiewsky built CenterPoint Solutions Inc. into an Inc. 500 company with $5 million in revenue and more than $3 million in EBITDA before he sold it to Israeli-based Nice Systems. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Chapiewsky describes how to:

• scrutinize the various currencies used by acquirers (cash vs. stock vs. options).
• dress up your company to sell it.
• use an office manager to increase the perception—and ultimately the value—of your company.
• stimulate an unsolicited offer for your business.
• structure your employment agreement to keep control of your employees after you sell.

Manny Fernandez started HomeBuyingCenter.com in 2007, just as the real estate market started to wobble in the United States. As it turned out, his timing was perfect as his site helped underwater homeowners unload their real estate.

In fact, Fernandez was generating so many opportunities for one real estate brokerage, that he received an unsolicited offer from them to purchase his business. He took their offer and parlayed it into a competing offer that helped provide the competitive tension to get a deal done – proving once again, it often takes two offers to maximize the value of your business.

Of course you want an all-cash offer at a beefy multiple with no strings attached, but what do you really need from the sale of your company?

That’s a question Dr. Frank Gibson thought a lot about. He had a successful healthcare business but had stumbled on a new opportunity in a related field. He wanted to sell his company to fund the new idea and, at the same time, needed to retain the rights to some intellectual capital in his old business.