Questions about selling my business

Hello everyone!


I would like to get some information on selling my business. Can't disclose much details at this point, because I'm not sure whether I should sell my business or not, but would like to ask you guys about it.


So I'm the owner of a translation group, consisting of freelance translators mostly. I started off as a freelance translator, then gradually formed a team of translators and today I have a successful business, that is totally a one man show- wholly solely operated by me.


My marketing tactics have been pretty ordinary(and infact, from the stone age LOL), I usually contact clients directly through email and ask them if they are interested in translations- I also mention the key websites(some big names) that we've translated so far. Interested clients contact me, and they further contribute to my business by letting their colleagues know about us. I don't have any affiliate program, just nothing at all- just these simple marketing tactics


Oh and yes, so far I have marketed the services I offer in one industry only!


Coming to the income now. Working as a completely one man show and starting from late 2005, I've earned around US$ 1 million so far in revenues with a very high profit margin, inspite of the fact that we charge quite less than what most translation companies charge, with portfolio and testimonials like us.


Just to re-iterate, all my clients have come from email marketing that I do once/twice in every 7-8 months, and from word of mouth publicity. Actually this is the best I can do working as sole trader, only because my health doesn't allow me to take more tension by expanding the business further. Still, working non stop since 4-5 years has deteriorated my health and that's why I'm thinking about selling all my business to someone who can give me the right price for my business- also keeping in mind the huge potential my business has with an impressive portfolio and customer satisfaction record.



So can you give me an idea about the price I should expect for my business? I didn't had a website for a long time and whether you believe it or not, I only developed a website last year just to give my business a name- which has been running successfully only on the basis of my name so far Most of my old time clients still prefer to contact me at my personal emails, so I guess I would need to surrender my personal emails and passwords to the buyer...am I right?


To me, this looks really complicated Please let me know how would I proceed if I finally make up my mind to sell my business. What price should I expect?


Thanks,
anaconda82


BTW, sorry for this excruciatingly long post I have posted this in other forums and also posting it here to know the opinions of more people. At the same time, if it's not right to post similar threads in different forums, mods please feel free to delete this thread.

 

I think I have posted this thread in an off topic section. Initially I thought there are also business discussions but most of the topics here are non-business related. So can mods please move this thread to a right section where I can get advice from experts?


Many thanks in anticipation.