Myles Ross, MBA

10/22/2026

Before you negotiate the price, understand the people and the business.

Tuesday's acquisition perspective covers the seller's transition role, key employees, and expectations behind the terms.

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Before you negotiate the price, understand the people and the business. An acquisition involves more than an agreement on a number. The seller may be thinking about employees, the transition period, and the role they will have after closing. The buyer needs to understand how those expectations fit t...

10/22/2026

If your prices changed tomorrow, why would customers stay?

Our Monday perspective explores pricing power, customer loyalty, and what makes business value transferable to a future owner.

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If your prices changed tomorrow, why would customers stay? That question can reveal something useful about the strength of a business. Deal Studio’s latest seller article explores pricing power: the room a business has to adjust prices because customers recognize value in what it provides. For an ...

09/24/2026

What Financial Records Should I Have Ready Before Selling My Business?

One of the first questions business owners ask when they begin thinking about a sale is:

“What financial information will a buyer want to see?”

The short answer: enough information to understand how the business actually performs.

A prospective buyer—and eventually the buyer’s lender, CPA, and other advisors—will typically want to review several years of financial information. Depending on the business and transaction, that may include:

• Business tax returns
• Profit and loss statements
• Balance sheets
• Year-to-date financial statements
• Payroll information
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable
• Inventory records, when applicable
• Debt and other business obligations
• Documentation supporting legitimate owner adjustments or discretionary expenses

But having the documents is only part of the equation.

Consistency matters.

When tax returns, internal financial statements, and the owner’s explanation of the business tell different stories, buyers naturally begin asking more questions. Those questions can slow due diligence, complicate financing, and create uncertainty around value.

This is one reason preparing to sell should begin well before the business goes to market.

Clean, organized financial records can help an owner:

✓ Understand the business’s true earnings
✓ Identify and document legitimate adjustments to earnings
✓ Support the valuation process
✓ Prepare for buyer due diligence
✓ Address potential issues before they become deal problems

A business does not have to be perfect before it can be sold. But its financial story should be organized, supportable, and understandable.

For owners considering a transition, one of the most valuable first steps is often not finding a buyer.

It is getting the business ready for one.

For additional information about buying or selling a business and to locate a qualified business broker, visit the California Association of Business Brokers (CABB):
https://cabb.org/

REI Business Advisors, Inc.
Relationship Driven • Value Focused • Kingdom Minded

09/24/2026

What I Want People to Remember About Me and My Business

After years in business, leadership, ministry, education, and community service, I have come to believe that the most important measure of our work is not simply what we accomplish.

It is how we serve people while accomplishing it.

I approach business from three perspectives: scholar, practitioner, and leader.

As a scholar, I believe we should never stop learning. Good decisions require more than opinions. They require disciplined thinking, sound information, and the humility to keep asking questions.

As a practitioner, I know theory eventually has to meet reality. Businesses are not spreadsheets. Behind every valuation, transaction, succession plan, or acquisition are people—their families, employees, livelihoods, sacrifices, and years of work.

And as a leader, I believe our responsibility extends beyond ourselves. Leadership means helping others see possibilities, make informed decisions, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

That philosophy is at the heart of why I founded REI Business Advisors.

We help business owners, buyers, and their professional advisors navigate important transitions. Sometimes that means preparing a company for sale. Sometimes it means helping a buyer become transaction-ready. Sometimes it means determining that the best decision is not to do a deal yet.

The transaction matters. But the relationship comes first.

I don't want REI Business Advisors to be remembered simply for businesses sold, valuations completed, or transactions closed.

I want us to be remembered for how we treated people, the value we helped them recognize, and the stewardship we brought to decisions that could affect generations.

That is also why our tagline isn't merely marketing. It reflects how I believe business should be practiced:

Relationship Driven • Value Focused • Kingdom Minded

Relationship Driven means people are never merely transactions.

Value Focused means understanding what has truly been built—and helping protect and strengthen it.

Kingdom Minded means recognizing that our work should ultimately serve a purpose greater than ourselves.

My encouragement to other leaders and business owners is simple:

Build something worth remembering—not merely because of what you achieved, but because of how you served people along the way.

09/10/2026

Your financial statements are not just accounting records. They help tell the story of your business. A business owner may know exactly why revenue changed, why a particular expense increased, or why profitability looks different from one year to another. A prospective buyer does not have that histo...

09/03/2026

Are your financial records supporting your business—or holding you back?

Accurate, up-to-date books do more than keep you organized. They give you the financial clarity you need to understand your business, manage cash flow, and make informed decisions.

Ross Accounting and Advisory Services provides reliable bookkeeping support for small businesses, so you can spend less time worrying about the books and more time running your business.

Intuit QuickBooks ProAdvisor

📧 [email protected]
📞 714-200-3761

Let’s keep your books—and your business—in the black.

08/31/2026

Not Every Buyer Is Buying for the Same Reason

When a business owner thinks about selling, it is easy to think of “the buyer” as though every prospective purchaser is looking for the same thing.

They aren't.

An individual buyer may be looking to replace a career with business ownership. A strategic buyer may see opportunities that come from combining two companies. An investment-oriented buyer may evaluate the business primarily through its financial performance, management structure, and future growth potential.

Those differences matter.

They can affect how a buyer views value, what risks concern them, how they expect to finance the transaction, and what they may want from the seller after closing.

This is also why I believe preparing a business for sale should begin before choosing a buyer—or even before deciding to sell. A well-prepared owner has a clearer understanding of what the business offers and is in a better position to evaluate not simply who is willing to make an offer, but whether that buyer and the proposed transaction are the right fit.

This week's article, “Understanding the Different Types of Business Buyers,” takes a closer look at the different buyers a business owner may encounter and why understanding their motivations can make a difference.

https://reibusinessadvisors.com/understanding-the-different-types-of-business-buyers/

At REI Business Advisors, we believe a successful transition is about more than finding someone willing to buy. It is about understanding value, preparing carefully, and structuring a transaction that makes sense for the owner and the future of the business.

What would matter most to you when deciding whether a prospective buyer was the right buyer for your business?

08/28/2026

Pride Keeps Us Small

I recently met with a new referral partner who shared an experience that stayed with me.

When business slowed down, she reached out to her referral network and asked for help.

Her network responded.

The result was one of her best quarters—and she is still benefiting from the relationships and opportunities that followed.

There are two lessons in her story.

The first is that true relationships want to see you succeed. A real network is not merely a collection of names, connections, and business cards. It is a community of people who know one another, trust one another, and are willing to help when the need arises.

The second lesson is about humility.

She had to be willing to admit that business was down and that she needed help. In business, that can feel almost antithetical to everything we are taught. We are expected to project confidence, appear successful, and demonstrate that we have everything under control.

But sometimes that appearance becomes a prison.

Pride tells us to remain silent.
Pride tells us that asking for help is a sign of weakness.
Pride tells us to struggle alone rather than risk being seen as vulnerable.

And pride keeps us small.

Humility does not diminish leadership. It gives other people permission to contribute to our success. Asking for help is not surrendering responsibility—it is recognizing that none of us was meant to build alone.

The strength of a network is not measured only by how many referrals we give when times are good. It is also revealed by whether we can be honest with one another when times are difficult.

Perhaps the question is not simply, “Do I have a strong network?”

Perhaps it is, “Have I built relationships strong enough—and have I remained humble enough—to ask for help when I need it?”

When was the last time you allowed your network to help you?

08/23/2026

I am amazed by the way we can work today and by all the things we are now capable of doing.

We have tools that would have seemed miraculous to our ancestors. We can communicate instantly, access nearly unlimited knowledge, accomplish meaningful work from almost anywhere, and enjoy more leisure than generations before us could have imagined.

Yet, despite all this progress, we remain a destructive and violent people.

Our technological development has outpaced our moral development. We know how to create prosperity, but we have not learned how to extend opportunity and well-being to everyone without fear, greed, domination, and tribalism getting in the way.

We can connect nearly everyone on Earth, but connection does not automatically produce compassion. Technology simply amplifies what is already within us—our generosity and creativity, but also our resentment, deception, and capacity for violence.

Still, I do not believe the pursuit of peace is futile.

Perhaps peace and prosperity for all will never arrive as one final worldwide achievement. Maybe they are built locally and repeatedly—in our families, communities, institutions, businesses, ministries, and individual relationships.

Every fair transaction, every reconciled conflict, every person protected, every leader mentored, and every struggling person helped represents a small piece of that greater peace.

I may not be able to resolve all of humanity’s contradictions, but I can faithfully govern the portion of the world God has placed within my reach.

But I do know where peace begins.

Peace begins where the will of God is known through the Word of God—and where His Word is faithfully lived out.

08/23/2026

REIBusinessAdvisors.com