After much thought, and over a decade of experience gained in the sale of several hundred companies, the answer is both simple and complex. Sell or Not to Sell Perhaps the most important and most difficult decision a business owner ever has to make is the decision to sell. Unfortunately, most business owners agonize over the many variables involved in selling without ever making the decision to sell. The result of the postponement usually is that the decision is made for them. Poor health, divorce, slumping sales, creditor demands, poor employee relations, lack of operating expansion capital are very often the symptoms of an owner who should have sold but failed to do so when the business was right for selling.
Nothing stays the same.
Over time a business changes as does the owner. Eventually the demands and needs of the business are in conflict with your perspective and skills. Something has to give. By failing to make the decision to sell the business owner allows it to be made for him. Unlike management of larger corporations who can draw upon many resources for support, information and operational advice, the management of the small private companies must wear all the hats themselves.