Starting a home – based business can be challenging, but once your business is up and running the rewards are well worth the initial effort. Owning and operating a home – based business can bring you years of career fulfillment, if that is what you desire from it. There may come a time, though, when you no longer want to own or operate your home – based business.
Perhaps you want to retire. Maybe you have taken the business as far as you want to take it and feel like it is time to try something new. You may even want to return to the world of traditional work because an attractive position has been offered to you. Whatever your reason is for wanting to stop working at your home – based business, it is time to decide whether to close the business or sell it.
If you want to sell your business, you will have to figure out what price to sell it for. A business valuation is the process by which you can determine how much your home – based business is worth to a potential buyer. Factors to consider include relationships with existing clients and vendors and whether any of those relationships would be likely to continue with a new owner, as well as the depreciated value of any assets that the business owns. That is a very simplified explanation of what can be a very complex assessment, but if you are going to sell your business you will have to educate yourself about how to assign a value to your particular business.
If you would prefer to close your business rather than transfer it to a new owner, you will have to make sure that you take all necessary steps to close it properly. Things like dissolving the business entity, notifying clients, fulfilling contractual obligations, preparing final accountings, and taking care of any final tax liabilities are among the list of things that will be on your plate in addition to selling or disposing of assets and doing any final work for your clients.
Whether you are selling or closing your home – based business, you may want to consult with an accountant and an attorney. Those professionals can help you to make sure that you do not miss any steps of the process. After all, the whole point of selling or closing your home – based business is to move on.
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