Selling a business on YouTube doesn’t always seem possible. But it can be! I just did it and today I want to share what I learned about how to craft a business that could be sellable one day and the steps to take so that it can grow beyond yourself and be tangible and viable to someone else.

Creator Spotlight

is an immigration lawyer who started with us when he had just over 1,000 subscribers. He was posting a lot of videos with not a lot of growth. But now, he is posting a video every 1-2 months and has almost 33K subs and growing. How is he growing faster by posting less???

Before coming to us, he thought to grow on YouTube a creator needed production value and SEO. But after working with us, he learned that it’s all about optimizing for human connection. He became incredibly clear about who he was talking to and why. This really came through in his content, which has allowed his channel to explode.

Write Down Your Number

I read this book, Built to Sell, years ago and one of the things the other tells his readers to do is to write down a number that you would sell your business for. What amount of money would be worth selling the business and providing for your family? Then, put that number in a drawer and when/if the opportunity comes up, stick to that number. So many people get an offer and then think, “Yeah but, if I keep working for 5 more years I could double that.” And then they work more and think the same thing and it never ends. Or, they keep working and then the evaluation goes down. So that’s my advice to you. First, read . Second, go right down that number and stick in your drawer.

Team-Centered

A few years back I realized my business had a problem. It was too “Tim-Centered” and not enough “Team-Centered.” As long as the business was revolving around me, we were limited in how many people we could help and how quickly we could help them. I was the bottleneck. So we started making some changes. I had to let go of some of the control and not be the only face of the company. Doing so was not always easy but it was necessary and it brought us to where we are today.

Reproducible

Your business has to have reproducible systems that consistently get the same results. The value of your business can not be completely wrapped up in your head. You must be able to train other people to do the same things that you do and get the same results – or even better. You need systems for everything. Not just how to do the basics, but your business needs Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for everything. Think about McDonalds. You can go to any McDonalds in the world and get the same McDonalds hamburger. That’s because they have created processes that anyone can follow.

To do this, you have to think through your unspoken processes. When you edit a video, why do you cut here and not there? The first step is to identify the processes in your head and get it down on paper so that other people can follow it as well. It’s not just what you do but why you do it. (And it’s why you do it the way that you do it, as .)

But these SOPs do not need to be so rigid that there’s no room for personalization. When you are working with people, you need to make sure that each person’s experience is somewhat tailored to meet their needs. Our SOPs are always trumped by our Core Values: People first, results-driven and mission-oriented. If the SOP calls for one thing, but in this one situation it would be more “people first” do it another way, you need to have the flexibility to allow that as well.

So start working on these SOPs now. – Even for the creative things that don’t feel like they can be “checklist-able.”

Solve a Problem for Another Company

If you expect another business to ever buy yours, your business will need to be able to solve a problem for another company. And this problem needs to be a big problem. A big problem that they can’t fix themselves and that you have proven that you can fix without any doubt.

Profitable

It is not super attractive to take on a business that isn’t profitable. You might be able to sell it, but not for nearly as much as if it is generating money. The fact that your company would automatically generate some cash flow for them is only a good thing. However to prove this, having your financials in order is required. Don’t skimp on this.

Mitigate your Biggest Risk

You want to do this anyway, of course, for your sake. But, your tolerance for risk may be higher than a potential buyers. A SWOT analysis would be helpful to go through, even if you don’t feel like there’s a specific risk.

Power Tip

The trim feature has been updated! With this feature, you can trim out something in the beginning, middle or end of your video. It was there before, but it didn’t always work well. But now, it is working great and is a great tool for trimming off something in a livestream, adjusting your hook or removing a part in your video where your audience retention drops off.

Have comments, reactions, questions about all of this or just want to say hi? for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. Until then…

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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