Increase the value of your business, step by step

Map your processes

Business process mapping means drawing, step by step, how your company sells, produces, delivers, invoices and gets paid. It shows what already works, what's missing and what only lives in your head. It's the base for everything else: you can't make independent what you haven't seen.

5 articles

• Mapping your small business's processes in one week
• The processes most small businesses are missing
• Taking inventory of everything you do in a week
• The key processes a buyer will examine
• Simple tools to map your processes

Find the bottlenecks

A business bottleneck is the point where everything waits for one person: a signature, a quote, an answer, a know-how. In most small businesses, that bottleneck is the owner, followed by one or two key employees. Finding and measuring it is the second step, because it's exactly what a buyer will look for.

6 articles

• Why buyers pay less for a business that depends on you
• When the owner is the bottleneck
• Key employee dependency: the hidden risk
• The two-week test: can your business run without you?
• The 5 dependencies that lower a small business's value
• The decisions that always come back to the owner

Fund your automation

Automation funding comes from three sources: Quebec programs, federal programs and organizations in your region. Before you buy software or hire an integrator, list the programs you qualify for and file the applications. Several programs refuse expenses made before the application is filed.

4 articles

• Automation and AI grants for Quebec businesses
• Technology tax credits: C3i, SR&ED and the others
• Building a strong grant application
• The networks and associations that help businesses automate

Build systems

To systemize your business is to replace "ask the boss" with rules, tools and clear owners. Spending limits, pricing grids, defined roles, automation of repetitive tasks and, where useful, AI installed on site. The goal: every process works even when the usual person is away.

6 articles

• Systemizing your business: where to start
• Small business automation: three processes that can pay back in six months
• Why keep AI on site in your business
• Automating without losing your employees
• Handing client relationships to your team before you sell
• The dashboard that runs the business without you

Document

To document business processes is to write down how the work really gets done, clearly enough that a competent person can do it without calling you. Not binders nobody reads: short procedures, checklists, screen recordings and an up-to-date org chart. That's what makes your systems transferable.

5 articles

• Documenting your processes without losing six months
• Writing procedures employees actually use
• Capturing the owner's know-how before they leave
• The org chart and roles a buyer wants to see
• The employee handbook as a transition tool

Transition Document

The Transition Document is the guide that lets a successor run your business without you. It brings together processes, key clients, the team, suppliers, risks and a 100-day plan. It reassures the buyer, shrinks the share of the price tied to your presence and shortens your transition.

5 articles

• The Transition Document: what it contains and why it raises the price
• The business succession plan, step by step
• The successor's first-100-days plan
• Announcing the sale to your employees and clients
• Selling to family, employees or a third party: an honest comparison

Data room

A data room is a secure space where the buyer and their advisors review everything they need to check: normalized financial statements, contracts, leases, employees, intellectual property, disputes and your Transition Document. Prepared well before the sale, it speeds up due diligence and cuts the surprises that lower the price.

5 articles

• The data room: everything a buyer will check
• Getting through due diligence without a price cut
• Normalized EBITDA: the number that sets your price
• Putting your agreements in writing before you sell
• Preparing the sale two years ahead: the timeline

Sell at the right price

To sell your business for the right price you need three things: a business that runs without you, several serious buyers at the same time, and a deal structure that addresses everyone's concerns. Vendor financing, a well-framed earn-out, retained equity or a sale to employees: well represented, you turn these tools into price.

9 articles

• What is your business worth? Understanding multiples
• The costs of selling a business in Quebec, explained
• 38,000 businesses to transfer by 2028: what it means for your price
• Creating competition between buyers
• The letter of intent: what to negotiate before signing
• Vendor financing: lending to sell for more
• The earn-out without getting trapped
• Selling your business to your employees
• Structuring a win-win deal: creative tactics