Cashing in on Your Business

08 Jul Cashing in on Your Business

by Ruy Garcia-Zamor and Teresa Sanders

Imagine you’re at the settlement table getting ready to receive a check for beaucoup bucks for the sale of the business you started seven years ago!  Won’t it be great to take some time to travel before launching your next big idea?  While feeling exhilarated, a pleasant wave of nostalgia breaks over you as you remember how you got here.

Seven short years ago you were lucky enough to meet a great Intellectual Property Attorney and Accountant that helped set the building blocks for your success.  Who would think how much pay back you would get from incorporating, implementing precise accounting systems, obtaining federal registrations for your brands, and using copyright and design patent applications to protect your products?

Looking back, you realized the experience you gained working as a purchasing agent for Crabtree & Evelyn for many years which led to your epiphany!  Your highly developed sense of style and knowledge of consumer taste could launch an internet and catalog business selling trend setting collectibles similar to Lladro porcelains, Hummel and Goebel figurines and David Winter Cottages.  To make the collectibles even more desirable you developed themes built around iconic American cities during the 1960s and developed collections representing classic Americana.  Your attorney worked with you to obtain federal trademark registrations for your company name, product lines, and individual collection names.  Afterwards the creative collectibles were protected using a combination of copyright and design patents to prevent knock-offs by third parties.  In a few instances your attorney even used trademark protection to protect the shape of some of the collectibles.

Equally valuable were the formation of the corporation and the accounting and financial systems that were put in place from the outset.  By partnering with your accountant/bookkeeper you were able to focus on growing the business while ensuring you did not have to worry about any bookkeeping, accounting, payroll and tax return issues.  Having years of meticulously kept books enabled buyers to see the tremendous growth of sales and profitability over the years and demonstrating how well you kept the costs and overhead under control.  Over the years many potential financial crises occurred whether it was a government entity mistakenly requiring additional documentation or a bank requiring last minute documentation to secure financing.  In each instance the crisis was quickly resolved by your accountant/bookkeeper seemingly by magic without having to do anything yourself.  Occasionally you had to wonder if they had a magic wand in their briefcase!

It is not surprising that when you were ready to sell your company and embark on a brand new adventure, the buyers were quick to recognize the value of your business. However, it was surprising how much they were willing to pay for the business!  While you had always looked at your intellectual property protections as part of facilitating ongoing business you did not realize how each of the protections had become a valuable asset commanding a significant dollar value.  Additionally, having carefully protected your brands and products provided additional surety to the buyers that they would be able to replicate your success.  Through receiving thoughtful advice from your accountant you had ensured the business had enough working capital to reinvest in the business success over the years.  This wasn’t lost on the buyers who needed adequate working capital after the sale to support operations.

With your hard earned wealth in hand you are ready to start on the next chapter – new horizons and endless possibilities!

If you have any questions regarding business entity formation, branding, trademarks, patent planning or other intellectual property matters, please contact Garcia-Zamor Intellectual Property Law, LLC. Ruy Garcia-Zamor has been helping individuals and businesses with their intellectual property needs for over nineteen years.

If you have any questions regarding accounting and/or bookkeeping please contact TBooks. Teresa Sanders has been helping individuals and business with their bookkeeping and accounting needs for over twenty years.