When selling a business, speak to finance experts

AS A business owner looking to retire on the revenue generated from the sale of your business, the best advice I can give you is to figure out the amount of money you'll need to fund your retirement and then calculate the value of your business.

Depending on the type of business, a valuation would be calculated as a multiple of either earnings or revenue. Generally, a real estate agency is valued on the strength of the rent roll as it offers predictable annuity income.

At present, rent rolls attract a multiple of three to five times gross commission with the multiple determined by several risk considerations including landlord concentrations, renter demographics and location.

Goodwill can also come into play when valuing a real estate agency and could be a percentage of commissions earned from realty sales. But this is a higher risk component of the valuation because it's unpredictable and generally more dependent on uncontrollable market factors as well as reliance on the exiting vendor.

The valuation calculation ascribed to real estate commissions can be handled in a few different ways and because of its relative complexity, I'd highly suggest speaking to a financial adviser or qualified accountant to take you through it. A professional adviser can calculate both your business's worth and your retirement needs and then offer advice on the best strategy for you.

It's worth mentioning that banks will often lend about 60 per cent of the valuation of a real estate business so that you as the seller could leverage the business to part-fund the acquisition price. That will help you with your retirement planning and cash flow during this transition. Good luck.

I RUN a beauty business and need to take some time off for an operation about two months and have enlisted a replacement over this time. I'm unsure how much money I should pay her, though. She will be taking on extra responsibility, but I suspect a few of my clients will go elsewhere during this period, and I don't have that much to spare. Any advice?

THE easiest way to go about this is to jump on a job search website and take a look at what kind of wages are being offered in your industry and based on where you live. If you want to retain clients and have reassurance that your replacement will give your customers the service they deserve, it's a smart idea to compensate her in accordance with industry and area standards.

If you are very concerned that your clients might go elsewhere during the duration of your leave, I'd suggest keeping in regular contact with them both before and during your time away. Explain your situation and give them confidence that your replacement is going to offer the same level of service that you do.

If your recovery enables you to use phone and email, call clients after their appointments, ask for their feedback, and keep them up-to-date on when they can expect you back at work.

It also might be worth offering your replacement some sort of incentive to keep the clients coming in. If she knows she's earning a commission based on customer retention, she might just make that extra bit of effort.

Mark Bouris is executive chairman of wealth management company Yellow Brick Road. His advice here is intended as guidance only.

Email questions for Mark Bouris to Larissa Ham at lham@fairfaxmedia.com.au