Think your business is too small to sell? Think again. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or running a tight-knit team, the truth is: selling your business could be a reality for you too.
Yet for many freedom-focused founders, the question lingers in the background: Is my business even sellable? Or is it just a glorified job with a logo?
Selling Your Business: 5 Things To Consider Beforehand
If you’ve built something real—something that runs, even partly, without you—this article will show you how to package it for a profitable exit. Because the size of your business doesn’t define its value. What does? Structure, strategy, and transferability.
These are the 5 things you need to consider if you want to sell your small (or solo) business:
- Is this a business… Or just a job?
- Who would buy a small business like yours?
- Is it a dealbreaker to not have a team or systems?
- Is it a red flag when you only have a few clients?
- What could you get for your business?
Let’s break this down for the real world. Not the billion-dollar exit stories, but the six-figure, life-changing ones most business owners never hear about.
1. Is This Even a Business… Or Just Your Job?
Here’s where it starts. If your business revolves entirely around you, what you know, and what you do, it might not be a business. It might be a highly demanding job you gave yourself.
There’s no shame in that. In fact, it’s how most entrepreneurs start. But if you want to sell one day, that model becomes the bottleneck.
A sellable business is one that can run without you, or at least be taught to someone else. It has systems, repeatable delivery methods, and ideally, someone else doing the doing.
Action Tip: Start by documenting and delegating one piece of your work this month. Maybe it’s onboarding. Maybe it’s delivery. Maybe it’s sales emails. But if you want to sell later, you need to start making yourself optional now.
2. Who Would Even Buy A Small Business Like Yours?
This is where most solo and small business owners get stuck. They assume the only people buying businesses are private equity firms chasing $10M valuations.
False.
In the real world, many buyers prefer smaller, streamlined businesses. They want an established, proven concept with cash flow, but without corporate complexity.
Here are four types of buyers actually buying businesses under $2M in revenue:
- Employees who want to become owners and already understand the inner workings.
- Clients who see your service as vital and want to bring it in-house.
- Lifestyle acquirers who want time, flexibility, and a business they can operate solo.
- Roll-up buyers looking to consolidate niche businesses into a larger offering.
I’ve worked with clients who sold their personal jewelry brand to a stylist-turned-influencer. Another exited their agency to a long-time freelancer on the team. Another got approached by a competitor who wanted access to their team and client list.
There is a buyer out there, it just may not be who you expect.
Action Tip: Think about who benefits most from buying what you’ve built. Is it someone who wants your client base? Your systems? Your IP? That’s your buyer pool.
3. Is It a Dealbreaker To Not Have a Team or Systems?
No team? No problem—if you’re willing to prepare.
Here’s the deal: lack of systems or staff doesn’t make your business unsellable, but it does lower its value and limits your buyer options. Buyers want to know they’re inheriting something that works without having to rebuild it from scratch.
If you’re a solopreneur, focus on these two things:
- Documenting your processes: Create a Google Doc, Loom video, or a simple Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Doesn’t need to be fancy, just transferable to someone else.
- Training someone to take over a repeatable task: This proves the business is teachable, and that’s what buyers look for.
Even if it’s just a Virtual Assistant (VA) who handles your invoicing, that’s a step toward transferability. And here’s a secret: many buyers will expect to get trained. Your job is to make that as smooth as possible.
Action Tip: Choose 3 repeatable processes you use in your business: how you onboard, how you deliver, how you sell,… Record a quick walkthrough of each. That becomes a teachable asset.
4. You Only Have a Few Clients. Is This a Red Flag?
Yes… and no.
Having a few high-ticket clients isn’t a problem if those clients are under contract, have long-term relationships, or the revenue is reliable. The red flag isn’t the number of clients, it’s concentration risk.
Translation: If losing one client means your business tanks, that’s risky to a buyer.
But here’s the good news: you can fix this before you go to market to sell your business.
Strategies include:
- Securing long-term contracts or retainers
- Diversifying client industries or regions
- Adding a second revenue stream (like digital products)
- Creating a waitlist, which signals demand
Action Tip: Run a quick audit. What percentage of your revenue comes from your top one or two clients? If it’s over 60%, focus on diversifying. That alone could increase your business’s value.
5. But What Would You Even Get for It?
This is the heart of the fear. You’re wondering: If I’m not a million-dollar business, is this even worth selling?
The truth: many small businesses don’t sell for millions. But that doesn’t mean they’re not worth selling.
Here’s what a realistic exit can look like:
- A $250K cash payout
- A (partially) seller-financed deal (like getting paid over time)
- A down payment plus royalties, if you’re selling content or IP
- A deal that clears your debt and gives you breathing room
- A handoff that lets you walk away clean, with someone else running your legacy
I’ve seen businesses sell for the same amount their owner would have earned in two years. But without having to work those two years.
Even a $150K payout can fund your next venture, pay off personal debt, or buy you a year of freedom to reset.
Action Tip: If you’re not yet profitable enough to sell at a number that excites you, focus on increasing monthly cash flow and documenting assets like your email list, course library, or lead gen systems. Buyers pay for what works and what they can scale.
Checklist: Is Your Business Too Small To Sell?
Here’s a quick checklist to help you self-assess. If you answer yes to even a couple, you’re more ready than you think:
- Does your business generate consistent revenue?
- Is there something unique about what you’ve built: your offer, audience, or process?
- Could someone else learn to run it, even with your help at first?
- Do you have repeat customers, long-term clients, or subscription revenue?
- Do you have documented systems, templates, or processes that make delivery easier?
If so, you’re not “too small.” You’re just in the early stages of packaging what you’ve built for someone else to own.
And that’s what exiting is for most small business owners: passing the baton.
You Don’t Need To Be Perfect. You Need To Be Prepared.
The mistake I see too often? Owners assume no one would buy what they’ve built, so they never even explore the possibility of selling their business.
Meanwhile, thousands of small businesses are sold every day. What do they have in common?
- Clear documentation
- Repeatable delivery
- Systems
- Transferable value
When selling your business, it doesn’t have to be big. It has to be buyable. And buyability starts now, not tomorrow.
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