It is not working and I am tired

This is the page nobody wants to be reading. If you are on it, the single most useful thing to know is that the value of what you have built falls fastest in the months after you give up on it, not before. Asking early costs nothing and keeps options open that close later.

I want out but I do not know what it is worth

Small businesses are usually valued on profit rather than turnover, and on a multiple of that profit that varies by what you do. The multiple is lower than owners expect and higher than buyers first offer.

Before the multiple, the profit itself gets adjusted. Anything the business pays for that is really yours comes out. Anything you do for free that a buyer would have to pay someone to do gets deducted, and that single adjustment removes a lot of value from owner operated businesses. One off costs and one off windfalls get stripped out.

Then the multiple moves on how dependent the business is on you personally, how sticky the customers are, whether income is contracted or has to be won again every month, and how concentrated the customer list is. A business where one customer is half the revenue is worth noticeably less than the same business with fifty.

If what you have is mainly assets, stock or a property lease rather than profit, it may be worth more sold in pieces than as a going concern. We can introduce you to people who value businesses like yours and will tell you the honest number rather than the flattering one.

Can I sell a business that is losing money?

Yes. It happens regularly and there are buyers who look specifically for them, because a loss making business with real customers is cheaper than building one.

What you are selling changes. Not future profit, because there is none, but the parts that are worth something on their own. The customer list and contracts. The brand and the online presence. The staff and what they know. The equipment. A lease in a good location. Stock. Sometimes accumulated tax losses, depending on the rules where you are.

Speed matters more here than in any other kind of sale. Losses compound, and every month of delay reduces what is left and weakens your position. The other thing that matters is being straight about the numbers, because a buyer who finds a surprise during checks walks away or cuts the price hard.

There is a line you need to be aware of. If the business cannot pay what it owes, directors take on duties to the people owed money, and decisions made after that point can come back on you personally. If you are anywhere near that, speak to an insolvency practitioner now rather than later. We can put you in touch with one.

I am bored of it, not broke. Can I step back?

Yes, and this is a far better position than most people on this page are in. You have something that works and the only problem is that you do not want to run it. That is a solvable problem and it does not require selling.

The usual routes are putting a manager in and moving to overseeing rather than doing, which costs you some profit and buys back your time. Selling most of it but keeping a minority stake and the income that comes with it. Selling to your own staff, often over time out of the profits, which is slower but keeps the business intact and the customers happy. Or licensing or franchising it, which is covered separately on this site.

The work that makes any of these possible is the same: getting the business to run without you. Written processes, someone other than you holding the customer relationships, and numbers that are legible to an outsider. That work also raises what the business is worth if you later sell it, so it is not wasted either way.

Start it while you still have the energy, because it is much harder to do from a standing start once you have stopped caring.

Could someone else run it and pay me?

That is licensing or franchising, and which one fits depends on how much control you want to keep.

Licensing is lighter. You let someone use your brand, your product or your method and they pay you a fee or a share. They run their own business their own way. It is quicker to set up and cheaper to police, and you have less say in how your name gets used.

Franchising is heavier. They run your business your way, to your standards, using your systems, and you support and supervise them. It can be worth far more, and in several countries it is a regulated arrangement with required disclosure before anyone signs. Getting that wrong has consequences.

Either way, the thing that decides whether it is possible is whether what you do can be written down and taught to someone who is not you. If the business is your personal skill and reputation, licensing the brand is difficult and you may be looking at a different route.

We can connect you with firms who set these up and will tell you honestly whether yours is a candidate.

What happens if I just close it?

You can close a business properly, and doing it properly matters, because the wrong route can follow you personally.

If the business can pay everything it owes, closing is relatively simple. You settle debts, deal with any assets left, tell the tax authority, file what is outstanding and apply to have the company struck off or wound up voluntarily. There are notice periods and anyone owed money can object, which is why paying people first is not optional.

If the business cannot pay what it owes, that is a different process and it needs a licensed insolvency practitioner. Trying to quietly dissolve a company that owes money can be reversed, and directors can be held personally responsible for decisions taken once they knew or should have known the position was hopeless.

Also worth checking before you decide: personal guarantees you signed, which survive the company closing; a commercial lease, which may run for years whatever happens to the business; and employees, who have rights and notice that must be dealt with properly.

If there is any doubt about whether the business can pay its debts, get that checked first. We can introduce you to someone licensed to tell you.

Last reviewed 2026-09-17. This page explains how things usually work so you know what to ask. It is not immigration, legal, tax or financial advice, and nothing on it is a recommendation. TRADhEiR makes introductions to independent firms. We are not a firm of solicitors, we are not registered with the Immigration Advice Authority, and we hold no financial services permissions. The firm you choose does the work and is accountable for it. This site uses cookieless analytics that counts visits but does not identify you or follow you anywhere else.