JUL 2026What Is My Business Actually Worth? (and Why Every Valuation Disagrees)There is no true price for a business — only a range built from SDE times a sourced industry multiple. The formula unpacked, what moves the multiple, what every estimate leaves out, and how to sanity-check any valuation you're handed, including ours.Read guide →JUL 2026How to Calculate SDE Add-Backs (The IBBA Method, Line by Line)Seller's Discretionary Earnings, the IBBA's way: the five add-back categories, the one-owner rule most worksheets get wrong, why normalization cuts both directions, and the provability test buyers and lenders actually apply.Read guide →JUL 2026How to Read a Business Valuation Multiple by IndustryA multiple is a summary statistic from real sales, not a formula: why they vary so widely by industry, what the reporting window and main-street segment note actually mean, and why the published average is a starting point, not your business's price.Read guide →JUL 2026Can You Afford to Buy This Business? SBA 7(a) DSCR ExplainedA fairly priced business can still fail to cash-flow its own purchase. What DSCR actually measures, why the SBA's minimum is size-dependent (most calculators miss this), how a seller note changes the math, and why your own draw counts against cash flow.Read guide →JUL 2026Is the Asking Price Fair? A Buyer's Guide to Checking a ListingFlip the valuation formula backward to find the multiple a listing's asking price actually implies, compare it to the published industry average, and read what it means when a listing runs well above or below that line — in either direction.Read guide →JUL 2026SDE vs. EBITDA: Which One Actually Prices Your Business SaleThe gap between SDE and EBITDA comes down to one line item — owner compensation. Why Main Street deals price on SDE and larger deals price on EBITDA, where the size convention draws the line, and why using the wrong figure moves your price the wrong way.Read guide →JUL 2026What You Actually Keep When You Sell Your BusinessSale price and cash at closing are rarely the same number. The closing-statement waterfall — commission, fees, debt payoff, a carried seller note — and why the math stops honestly before taxes, which depend on your specific allocation, entity, and state.Read guide →JUL 2026Why Your Business Isn't Worth What You Think (And How to Avoid Overvaluing It)Most owners overestimate what their business would sell for by mistaking revenue for earnings and ignoring what comparable businesses actually trade at. Here is where that gap comes from and how to close it before due diligence does it for you.Read guide →JUL 2026The One-Owner Rule: Why Adding Back Your Salary Doesn't Always WorkThe IBBA's one-owner rule limits the owner salary add-back to businesses a single working owner can run. Misapplying it inflates SDE and asking price on deals that fall apart the moment a buyer has to replace the labor.Read guide →JUL 2026Normalization Cuts Both Ways: When to Subtract Profit, Not Add It BackStandard SDE guides focus on add-backs that increase profit, but normalization also requires subtracting one-time windfalls and unsustainably high margins a buyer can't replicate. Missing that asymmetry overstates what a business actually earns.Read guide →AUG 2026Multiple Compression: Why Distressed Sales and Buyer-Heavy Markets Lower Your PricePublished industry multiples assume normal market conditions. When distressed sellers flood a market or buyers outnumber qualified deals, the multiple itself falls — even if your business hasn't changed. Here is how compression works and what it means for your asking price.Read guide →AUG 2026How Your Industry's Multiple Shifts with Economic Cycles (And When to List)Multiples for cyclical Main Street industries spike and crater with GDP growth. Selling at a local peak can add 30% or more to your proceeds compared to the 10-year average — and cycle timing often outweighs operational improvements.Read guide →AUG 2026The Hidden Cost of Seller Financing: Why Your Effective Price Drops When You Carry PaperA seller note looks like full price on paper but isn't. Default risk, cash-flow dependency, and the opportunity cost of deferred proceeds all subtract from what you actually keep — and modeling that gap before you sign prevents giving away margin for a higher nominal number.Read guide →AUG 2026Working Capital Holdback: Why 'Sale Price' Is Not the Number You Subtract Fees FromMost closing statements carve out working capital as a separate escrow adjustment, meaning the negotiated sale price is not the figure broker commissions and deal fees come out of. Understanding where working capital sits in the proceeds waterfall prevents it from being counted twice — and from inflating your net-proceeds estimate.Read guide →