Three years ago Dan Faggella appeared on the EJ Podcast and proceeded to blow our minds about what you can do with email segmentation.
Dan explained how he rapidly grew a successful martial arts teaching business online by becoming a master at sending the right emails to the right people.
During that interview, Dan mentioned that the purpose of growing his online business was to eventually sell it, so he could raise funds to start his dream business in emerging AI technology.
I’m excited to tell you that Dan followed through on his goal and recently sold his business for one million dollars.
It’s Hard To Sell A Business Based On You
Dan’s martial arts teaching business, called Science Of Skill, was built on his personal brand as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teacher.
Like most ‘expert based’ online information businesses, his personal brand is what initially built the company.
Dan’s face was in all the teaching videos, he wrote all the articles, appeared in all the podcast interviews and all the marketing was based on his knowledge.
To sell a business structured like this is difficult since any new owner will be wary of taking over a business when the current owner is no longer involved.
Dan was well aware of this issue, so in preparation to sell, he started making some important changes.
In this interview, you will hear Dan explain how he slowly brought on other experts to teach courses, so the revenue came from products not just featuring him.
He also began to introduce other writers on to his email list, including other experts and people on his internal team. Over time he gauged the impact of these changes and was able to reduce his own contributions to the point where he was no longer required to write emails to keep the business going.
Growth Independent Of You
It’s also important when preparing a business for sale that the new owners feel confident about future sales.
Again with a personal brand powered business, if sales are driven by you appearing on live webinars, or writing emails, or seeking partnerships based on your relationships, it’s hard to keep that going when you leave the business.
Dan also explained how he made sure the traffic and sales engine of his business was accessible without him being involved, primarily driven by paid email marketing campaigns.
All of this preparation took a lot longer than Dan anticipated — he didn’t think it would be three years between his two interviews on the EJ Podcast — but in the end, the hard work paid off.
Dan was able to sell his business for one million dollars, walking away knowing that the new owners had an asset that would continue to return revenue without his involvement. In the interview, Dan also explains how this deal went down, including how he worked with a broker to find potential buyers.
If you’re currently running a business you plan to one day sell, especially if your business is based on your personal brand, this podcast interview lays out the steps you need to start taking now, so you can earn that big payday in the future.
Enjoy the episode,
Yaro
EJPodcast.com
Relevant Links
- Dan’s First EJ Interview
- Science of Skill
- Techemergence
- Dan’s article on how AI will be impacting marketing
- CLV Boost
- Dan’s blog on how he built his “digital publishing” business
- Udemy
- Lynda.com
- Mailchimp
- Infusionsoft
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