Okay, so I’m not exactly a dummy in most areas of my life – I’m great at Sudoku and have always been able to answer a high proportion of “Jeopardy” trivia questions. However, when it came to selling my business, I will admit that in the beginning, I knew as much about the process as I do about Mandarin Chinese. Meaning, I knew that it existed, but nothing more.

However, I’ve been buried in the sale of my business for the past year, so I’ve managed to pick up some great informational tidbits that I wish I’d known long before I found myself in this position. If you’re a small business owner, regardless of whether or not you’re planning to sell your company in the near future, here are a few things you should definitely be aware of.

• Make your business attractive from the inside out. It’s never too early to think about how your operations will look to potential buyers. Clean up your accounting systems. Do an internal audit. Improve your company culture. If your business’s policies and procedures are in tact, if your employees are productive and happy, and your profit margins are good, you’ll be an excellent prospect.
• Have a valuation performed on your company by a qualified M&A firm (not your accountant). You might be confident that your company is worth X amount of dollars, but until you have a multi-pronged valuation performed, you won’t be certain. As an accountant, I thought I knew what my company was worth but I was way off because I had never looked at the business as a buyer would. Hiring a professional M&A firm really helped me understand that.