Brad Ruth, Ohio Business Advisor

09/17/2026

You've been trading services with another business for years. No money changes hands. It's off the books. You think it's a hidden asset. I can't get you paid for it.

Here's my advice: shut it down. Put everything on the books. Start now if you're 1-2 years away from selling. I can't value what doesn't show up in the tax returns. I can't explain it to a buyer. I can't get a lender to underwrite it.

What I can do is help you build a year or two of legitimate books that show what's really happening. Then we can talk about the past and what you're doing now.

The books have to be clean. That's non-negotiable.

09/14/2026

A former employee starts a competing business right before your sale closes.

Suddenly your buyer is nervous. Your revenue looks fragile. Your deal is wobbling.

Here's what I tell sellers: this is exactly why non-competes, customer diversification, and documented relationships matter.

If a deal survives this, great. If it wobbles, it's revealing something that was always true: your business was more fragile than you thought.

The best defense is built long before. Company-owned relationships. Signed agreements. No single point of failure.

If you don't have a diversified customer base where no one customer or group of customers is the majority of your business, you've got a problem. And a smart buyer will find it.

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

We had a buyer a couple years back who violated an NDA.

Started talking to people in the industry about the deal. Word got out. The seller found out. Trust evaporated.

We sent a warning letter. Threatened legal consequences. But the real consequence was this: I will never work with that buyer again.

Loose lips sink ships.

If you're a buyer and you violate confidentiality, you're not just breaking a contract. You're telling the seller you can't be trusted. And in a deal where you're asking someone to hand over their life's work, trust is everything.

If you're a seller and someone violates your NDA, don't hesitate. Have your attorney send a letter. Make it clear there are consequences.

Your business information is your leverage. Protect it.

09/10/2026

When I started as a broker 10 years ago, I took every listing that came through the door.

I had 14 listings at one point. My phone wasn't ringing. Buyers weren't coming. Because they weren't quality businesses.

The lesson I learned the hard way: don't take a listing unless you know you can sell it.

Fewer listings. Better quality. Actual sales.

That's the whole game.

What's one thing you'd tell your younger self about your business?

09/09/2026

Look at the trades industry in 2031.

The hardest to find, most expensive business you can buy will look like this:

Licensed, trained crew in HVAC, electrical, or plumbing. Big enough to have a GM or ops lead. Runs without the owner. Trained, credentialed, retained workforce with in-house apprenticeship. Recurring contracted revenue, not just projects. Clean, documented systems. Company-owned customer relationships.

In a secondary metro that hasn't been rolled up yet.

Here's the thing: that business is expensive to buy finished. But it's cheap to build.

A buyer who acquires a decent owner-dependent business right now and spends the next few years installing management, building a crew, adding service contracts, and documenting systems is manufacturing exactly the scarce asset the market will pay a premium for.

That's the arbitrage.

For sellers: the owners who start now reducing owner dependency, formalizing a crew, and adding recurring revenue will command premium multiples when scarcity peaks. The ones who wait and stay indispensable will be selling into the tired inventory pile.

09/03/2026

You've been taking a $40k salary for 10 years while your business makes $500k. You think that's a hidden asset. Your buyer thinks it's a red flag.

Here's the reality: deferring your own comp doesn't destroy value, but it hides it. And when it comes time to sell, you can't just tell a lender "the business runs on free labor." They won't buy it. Literally.

The fix is honest recast earnings. Add back your deferred comp. Normalize it to a fair market wage (usually $60-80k for main street businesses). Document it so tightly that your buyer and their lender can trust it.

Done right, this usually reveals value the P&L was hiding all along. Done as wishful thinking, it collapses in due diligence.

The whole game is the credible, sourced, reconciled number.

09/02/2026

"We have a backer."

Three words that kill more deals than anything else.

Here's what I've learned: a "backer" can mean a lot of different things. A committed fund with capital already raised. An independent sponsor who hasn't raised a dime yet. A wealthy individual who said "maybe." A passive equity partner who's just along for the ride.

The problem? Most sellers don't know which one they're dealing with until it's too late.

Before you tie up your business under LOI, ask the buyer one question: Is the capital committed or discretionary?

If they can't answer that clearly, you already know what you need to know.

08/31/2026

The Unsellable Business Problem

You know what kills me? A business owner who's been grinding for 15 years, built something real, and then finds out it's not sellable.

I see it constantly. 70-80% of the businesses listed on BizBuySell aren't actually sellable. They look good on paper. The owner thinks they're worth something. But a real buyer walks through the door and sees all the risk.

Owner-dependent. No systems. Customer concentration. Off-the-books cash. Deferred comp that doesn't reconcile. The hard truth: you can't fix these things in 90 days before a sale. You fix them 2-3 years before.

If you're thinking about selling in the next few years, stop waiting. Start now.

What's the biggest risk hiding in your business right now?

08/27/2026

You know what kills me? A business owner who's been grinding for 15 years, built something real, and then finds out it's not sellable.

I see it constantly. 70-80% of the businesses listed on BizBuySell aren't actually sellable. They look good on paper. The owner thinks they're worth something. But a real buyer walks through the door and sees all the risk.

Owner-dependent. No systems. Customer concentration. Off-the-books cash. Deferred comp that doesn't reconcile.

The hard truth: you can't fix these things in 90 days before a sale. You fix them 2-3 years before.

If you're thinking about selling in the next few years, stop waiting. Start now.

What's the biggest risk hiding in your business right now?