Know Your Number
Replace the guess in your head with a number you can prove, line by line.
Know Your Number gives you the Gap Table course and the three tools that do the parts owners skip: your add-backs, your working-capital peg, and the proof a buyer and your CPA both accept.
$100Bought one at a time: $379.59
It shows where a buyer looks and what moves your number. It does not value your business.
Know Your Number gives you the Gap Table course and the three tools that do the parts owners skip: your add-backs, your working-capital peg, and the proof a buyer and your CPA both accept.
It shows where a buyer looks and what moves your number. It does not value your business.
From Ron’s articles in Forbes Business Council and Fast Company Executive Board.
★★★★★Home run for business owners!
“The author did an incredible job of understanding and communicating the small details that are so often overlooked by business owners. Ron Smith explains how the watch works instead of simply telling you what time it is and that distinction is crucial for any business owner looking to grow. ...”
What it is
A number you can show your work on.
Walt (a composite) had clean books and still lost six figures in diligence, because a legitimate add-back, an $18,000 truck, had no paper behind it.
At six times earnings that one missing receipt was about $108,000 of price.
He did not get smarter.
He got documented.
Know Your Number is where you find your Walt lines before a buyer does.
An afternoon, at your own pace, with the tools doing the parts owners usually skip.
★★★★★An important read for business owners
“As a small business owner, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day of building a business and lose sight of the bigger picture. The idea behind Buyer-Ready is an important reminder to think strategically about the long-term value and future of what you’re building. A timely topic for entrepreneurs and business owners alike!”
What each piece settles
Buyer-Ready, the book$24.59 aloneThe book shows what a buyer checks.
The Official Workbook$59 aloneThe workbook is where you run it on your own numbers.
The Gap Table course$149 aloneA worry is not a number. The Gap Table turns each gap from your Map into a dollar line you can work on.
Add-Back Defender$49 aloneAn add-back with no paper behind it is priced at zero. This sorts yours into the ones you can prove and the ones you can’t, yet.
Working Capital Peg$49 aloneIf you don’t set the working-capital level, the buyer sets it from their own spreadsheet.
CPA Pack$49 aloneYour accountant keeps your books correct. This asks them to make them provable, which is the job a buyer pays for.
Bought one at a time, these pieces come to $379.59. Here they are $100, and every dollar credits toward Defend Your Number if you go further within 30 days.
★★★★★A smart gift for any business owner
“I gave Buyer-Ready to a friend who was in the middle of selling his business, and he told me it was genuinely helpful throughout the process. If someone you know is thinking about an exit, or just wants to protect what they’ve built, this is an easy book to recommend.”
★★★★★Great Book
“Great book and very informative as a business owner.”
★★★★★Great Book!
“Gifted this book to a friend who owns a business and is interested in the selling process. They absolutely loved it!”
A story from the book Buyer-Ready
Gene (a composite) shook hands on $14 million. By the time the deal closed, the wire was $9.8 million. Nobody lied; every cut had a document behind it, and most of the signatures were his.
Your CPA keeps your books correct. This is a different job: making them provable to a stranger, which is what a buyer pays for.
★★★★★Great book!
“Fantastic book. The author offered knowledgeable insights into businesses and being “buyer-ready”. A book that you’d reach for over and over in different phases of your business. Would also make a great gift!”
What is inside, and what each piece sells for alone
| In the box | Alone |
|---|---|
| Buyer-Ready, the book (paperback) | $24.59 |
| The Official Workbook, lay-flat coil | $59 |
| The Gap Table course (Playbook 01 + calculator + six lesson emails) | $149 |
| Add-Back Defender | $49 |
| Working Capital Peg | $49 |
| CPA Pack | $49 |
| Total if you bought them one at a time | $379.59 |
| Your price | $100 |
That is $379.59 of tools for $100. Every line with a price is a price we actually charge for that item on its own.
$100. And every dollar credits in full toward Defend Your Number if you go further within 30 days.
If the Gap Table does not find at least one gap worth ten times what you paid, full refund within 30 days.
The Seven Steps to Buyer-Ready
Then this is a physical, not a funeral. A buyer-ready business borrows better, runs without you, and is safer for your family, none of which needs a sale.
- 1 The MapKnow Your Number
See every place a buyer would knock the price down, in about ten minutes, before you change a thing.
- 2 The Gap Table
Put a dollar figure on each of those gaps, so you are working from a number instead of a worry.
- 3 Proof
Turn the claims about your business into evidence a buyer’s diligence team cannot wave away.
- 4 Revenue
Show that the money comes back next year without you holding it up, because repeatable revenue is what gets paid for.
- 5 Independence
Take yourself out of the daily critical path, so the business is worth as much the day after you leave as the day before.
- 6 Continuity
Lock down the people, customers, and contracts so none of them can walk when ownership changes hands.
- 7 Endgame
Have the deal file, the walk-away number, and the plan ready, so the offer finds you prepared instead of the other way around.
Upgrade to Defend Your Number by November 30 and the six Playbooks come printed.
The guarantee and the credit
If the Gap Table does not find at least one gap worth ten times what you paid, full refund within 30 days.
$100. And every dollar credits in full toward Defend Your Number if you go further within 30 days.
- the book Buyer-Ready, paperback, in the mail
- the Official Workbook, lay-flat coil, in the mail
- the Gap Table course
- the Add-Back Defender
- the Working Capital Peg
- the CPA Pack
- the 30-day ten-times guarantee (at least one gap worth ten times what you paid, or a full refund), and you keep the tools
- every dollar credits toward Defend Your Number if you go further within 30 days
P.S. If you only read this line: $100 gets you the first two of the seven steps, the book and the workbook in the mail, and the tools that turn the gaps from your Map into a number you can defend. If the Gap Table does not find at least one gap worth ten times what you paid, full refund within 30 days.
Printed to order. Your digital tools open the moment you pay.
Fair questions
“I’m not planning to sell.”
Good. The owners who get the cleanest exits are the ones who were never for sale, because they prepared on their own clock instead of a buyer’s. Knowing your number is how you run the business, borrow against it, and sleep, long before any sale.
“$100 for a book and some worksheets?”
It is not the paper, it is the number. One add-back that will not hold, caught now, is worth more than this costs many times over. The paper is just where the work happens.
“My accountant handles the numbers.”
Your accountant keeps your books correct. This gets them proven, which is a different job, and it is the job a buyer pays for. Bring your CPA in with the CPA Pack; it is built for exactly that handoff.
“Can’t I just get an appraisal?”
An appraisal tells you a number on one day. This tells you the number and every gap under it that you can still fix. One is a photo. The other is a plan.
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