This article highlights the pivotal role of advisors in guiding business owners’ ventures and encourages them to advocate for entrepreneurs to adopt an investor-centric perspective. By encouraging business owners to view their ventures through the eyes of outside investors, advisors facilitate objectivity, long-term value creation and the identification of strengths and weaknesses. Access to capital (if desired), strategic alignment and accountability are also benefits, ultimately positioning businesses for sustained growth and resilience. Ready for Next's “See Your Business Through the Eyes of an Investor” assessment tool is a practical step for owners to gain insights into their ventures' investor appeal, underscoring the advisor's role in helping an owner succeed.

Human capital is a crucial driver of business value. By advocating leadership and culture as pivotal contributors to transferable enterprise value, professionals can benefit their business owner clients. Understanding the impact of leadership and culture on business value is imperative in client discussions, where emphasizing the potential positive or negative influences on their business's worth is essential. Learn more in this article.

Listen to Sean Hutchinson interview private equity investor Kyle Madden of KLH Capital LP. We find out what a private equity firm looks for in a business, what could potentially be a deal breaker and tackle two myths about private equity.

Ready for Next contributor, Julie Keyes, CEPA, has published the second edition of Poised for Exit - A Woman Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business Transition. The materials and resources have been updated to help owners even more.

Learn more about Poised for Exit with this article.

Successful business transitions take intention, communication and planning. This is especially true for family businesses with added complicating factors. First to second generation transitions happen only 30% of the time, second to third only 12% and making it to the fourth and beyond is only successful for 3% for families.

How do I beat the family transition odds? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

What if at your last innovation or strategy session the million dollar idea wasn’t said out loud? People are less likely to speak up and share their ideas if the environment doesn’t promote psychological safety.

The statistics for owners who successfully transition out of their businesses are alarming and can be paralyzing. There are steps you can take today to put you in the driver's seat and improve your odds no matter how near or far you plan to transition.

How do I beat the transition odds? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

A value gap is the difference between what your business is worth and what you will need to fund the next phase in your life. Understanding if you have one and what steps you can take to close or bridge the gap are important. How do I know if I have a value gap? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you. We are here to help.

RFN Academy contributor Felicia Johnson exposes the three biggest diversity and inclusion myths.

Some people might be hesitant to explore diversity and inclusion because they believe acknowledging difference is a divisive act that creates rifts and inequality when in fact, the very opposite is true. individuals are wanting more connection within their workplace.

Read this blog to dispel these myths and how diversity and inclusion can build value in your compnay.

Each business has risks they need to navigate and mitigate. The real question is which may impact the enterprise value of your business.

How do I know how risk is affecting my value drivers? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

What makes your business money, may not be what drives value in it. Enterprise value comes from specific drivers and knowing your company's is important.

How do I know my value drivers? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

There are people and professionals who can help you build value in your business, even if they don't work for or in your business. Your commercial banker is one of those people who can play a role in your value building initiatives.

How do I develop a value building relationship with my commercial banker? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

Metrics and tracking progress are important to understand if you are better or worse than you have been. Tracking is one thing, but developing the scoreboard to track the things that matter is also important.

How do I develop a value tracking scoreboard with good key performance indicators? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

Business owners often keep reinvesting their own capital into their business. However, sometimes it makes solid financial and business sense to use debt. How do I know when to use debt to grow?

If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

Creating a value building culture requires several steps, including how to prioritize the value opportunity to focus on. There are things to consider. This is part 1 of How do I decide which value opportunity to prioritize?

If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

This video picks up where part 1 left off. Sean and Bob dive deeper into how to determine which value opportunity to prioritize. Value opportunities each have pros and cons in terms of the best order to tackle them.

How do I decide which value opportunity to prioritize - part 2. If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

Key personnel are just that: key. Making sure they transition with the business to the new owner will help with the ongoing performance of the company. The important part is keeping the key people through the transition.

How do I create an incentive prior to sale to keep my key personnel? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.

The difference between price and value is an important distinction. It requires outside expertise and an owner taking a clear look at their business.

How do I understand the difference between value and price? No matter if you are just curious about the price or value of your business or thinking of selling it soon, the answer to this question is important to you.

Being to dependent on a client or two can kill value in your business. It is important for you to know about your client mix and any dependence within your client base.

How do I determine if I have client concentration? If you are a business owner, the answer to this question is important to you.