As a business owner, you have one opportunity to sell your business.  Often, your business sale is the primary means of funding your retirement. This is a life event you do not want to take lightly.  In this article, Eric Gall shares eleven helpful tips to help prepare your business for sale.  Some are easy to complete, while others may take time and investment to implement.

Here are eleven helpful tips:

1. Start preparing your business for sale well in advance
2. Get your business in good financial health
3. Keep clean books
4. Develop a strong management team
5. Diversify your customers, products, or services
6. Identify and document processes, methods, and tools
7. Invest in marketing and branding
8. Hire a business broker
9. Set a fair price from the start
10. Be prepared to negotiate
11. Provide buyers the necessary information on your business
    

Whether you implement all eleven tips or just a few, the hope is these tips will help make your business more attractive to buyers and increase its value and the size of your retirement fund.