Mommy’s Company: When You’re Selling a Business…

Every entrepreneur encounters the crossroads. The moment when you look at your business, your brainchild and have to ask yourself the question, “Is it time to move on?”

I did that recently and decided that the answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

For those of you who have no idea who I am, I’m the mom behind BusinessMom.net, the social networking site for entrepreneur moms. I sold BusinessMom recently, but definitely clung to my seminal venture as a mother, Mommy’s Company.com.

My online magazine for entrepreneur moms launched in 2006 and has been an incredible journey. The highs (being mentioned on ABC) and the lows (hard drive crashing) helped me become the business person I am today. But what do you do when life is calling you to a new path?

I live in southern California and work as a screenwriter for television. Recently my career has taken off and I’m working hard to keep up with writing obligations. Staying up until 1 o’clock in the morning to update my website and finish scripts was only exciting for about two weeks. What is a mom supposed to do?

My first option was so sell my portion of the website to my business partner, Brianna. When I mentioned this, she admitted that she’d been thinking of selling too!

Selling the Biz Lesson One: Be Honest to Your Partner, You Never Know Where THey Stand

Brianna was just as ready to sell as I was. What a surprise!
Because Mommy’s Company has been successful because of moms, we decided that instead of going with a private deal with a sales company that targets mothers, we’d put the website up on eBay. Risky? Yes. Fun? Oh yes.

The first steps we took was putting up an alternative design of the website on www.mommyscompany.net so that the new owner could see their options.

Selling the Biz Lesson Two: Appeal to As Many People As Possible

While the Wordpress format might be neat to us, someone else may prefer the standard html website. After both websites were up it was time for promotions! The first place to promote anything with a venture is through a a press release. I have always used PRWeb.com with fantastic results. The average release costs $40 but it well worth it! There are websites that submit releases for free, but in this case, you get what you pay for.
I’ll be writing about the steps Brianna and I are taking as kind of a Real Life: Selling the Biz chronicle of events. Stay tuned!

Check out the auctions! Bidding ends Friday, October 5th!

eBAY Auction