Are You Ready
to Sell Your
Small Business?

--> Build the value.
--> Find the right buyer.
--> Create your Rare Life.

• Discover more

But first, a question ...

What does a Rare Life mean to you?

You've worked hard to build your small business. You're the only person who fully understands the sacrifices you've made to create something of value that provides for yourself and your family.So what comes next?That question is at the heart of the Rare Life Small Business Coaching Program. It's not enough to say, "I want to sell my small business." That's a push statement. It identifies what you want to move away from. But what do you want to move toward? What is your pull statement?To know this, you must discover what a Rare Life means to you. Sure, you could go on running your business, living exactly as you are today. But you are ready for something different. Something new. A life with more meaning. A life that is more focused, more intentional, more grounded in what matters most to you.Not everyone gets to live such a life. But today you get to choose that life for yourself. You can choose to build the value of your business and find a buyer who will continue what you started.However, at the very beginning of this process you must do the work to discover your what's next ...To create the vision for your future ...

To discover and pursue what a Rare Life means to you.

Get your PREScore

Your life-changing journey begins when you take the assessment to get your no-cost Personal Readiness to Exit Score.

75% of owners regret the decision to sell their business one year after they exit.WHY?The truth is, most small business owners fail to consider the practical and emotional factors that can lead to disappointment after an exit.The Personal Readiness to Exit (PRE) Score questionnaire is designed to help you evaluate your preparedness to exit your business and ensure you leave your company with no regrets.

• Get your no-cost PREScore

How the Rare Life Coaching Program Works:

1. Get Your Score
Answer questions about your business to get your PREScore. Your personalized score will show the areas that need your attention in order to boost the value of your small business.2. Meet Your Coach
Book a one-on-one session with your coach to discuss your PREScore report and look deeper at your level of preparedness.3. Create Your Plan
With your Rare Life Coach by your side, you’ll create a plan to turn your most valuable asset — your small business — into a powerful tool to help you create a new life for yourself and your family.4. Work Your Plan
Establish a schedule of assignments, routine check-ins, and group mentoring sessions to keep you motivated and accountable as you pursue the work of transforming your small business.5. Identify & Pursue Your Rare Life
Your life will be different after you sell your small business. Your coach will help you do the hard work beforehand of realizing what a Rare Life means to you and making it your new reality.

• Get your no-cost PREScore

Ready to sell your small business and pursue your Rare Life?

You've worked hard building your company. Now it's time to stop thinking like the owner of a business and start thinking like an investor in an asset that can help you live your Rare Life.

• Get your no-cost PREScore

• Get The Book: "4 Degrees of Delegation"

Rare Life Small Business Coaching is a service of Rare Life Media, LLC @2022

A note from rare life's Stephen V. Smith

This is my story.

Does it sound like yours?

Before starting my own small business with my wife, I worked for a community newspaper — owned and operated by a husband and wife team. I watched them build their small business, grow its value, and sell it a few years after I left to start my own company.That added fuel to the flame that was already burning inside me. I wanted that for myself, for my family. But how? How could I take our small agency — an operation centered around my writing and photography — and grow its value to the point that it would be attractive to a buyer?That question was an undercurrent to my life. I regularly listened to podcast interviews with others who had sold their businesses. I read books on the subject. I studied articles online and in magazines.A major market shift in 2010 narrowed the focus of our business and led to considerable growth. This was followed by a health crisis in 2015 that put me in the hospital for several weeks and forced a change in our structure that led to even more growth.In 2019, the time had come. We identified a company who would be the ideal strategic acquirer. I thought I was ready to sell my small business.But I wasn't ready ...Growth wasn't the problem. The company my wife and I started in a small bedroom of a tiny rental house two decades earlier now had 30 employees across 6 states, serving clients throughout the country.Potential wasn't the problem. In fact, we couldn't grow fast enough to keep up with the rapidly expanding markets we served. With billions of government dollars flowing into those markets (broadband infrastructure), our ideal clients needed help and there was no end to the potential.The problem was me. My mindset wasn't ready. I had not prepared myself mentally and emotionally for the changes that would come with selling my business.AND THAT'S WHERE A NEW JOURNEY STARTED FOR ME.In 2020 we closed the sale to a strategic acquirer on the other side of the country — in the midst of a pandemic, with none of the parties ever being in the same room.I stayed on full-time a couple of years to help integrate the operations. My mind, however, was already exploring "what's next?" The answer was vague at first, but it became increasingly clear that my heart had a new mission: "help those small business owners who are where you were a few years ago."With the launch of Rare Life Media, my wife and I began offering marketing and communications services to small businesses. Springing from that is Rare Life Small Business Coaching, a consultancy aimed at helping small business owners get their businesses ready to sell by discovering and pursuing what a Rare Life means to them.——
Do you find yourself in this story? Do you have a dream of selling the small business you've worked so hard to build, but don't know where to begin?--> Get your free Personal Readiness to Exit Score.
--> Connect with me on LinkedIn.
--> Subscribe to the Build A Rare Business, the newsletter that helps small business owners escape the trap of overwhelmed and overworked, to discover and pursue what a rare life means to them.

“Stephen is a strategic thinker with the ability to uncover operating inefficiencies and lead an owner or team through implementing improvements. He approaches coaching with a level of humanity that helps the small business owner discover as much about themselves and the future they want to build as they do the company they lead.” — JW

Thank You!

Valuable resources, insights, and inspiration are headed to your inbox. I look forward to helping you grow the value of your business while you discover and pursue what a Rare Life means to you.---
Stephen V. Smith
Rare Life Small Business Coaching