Hi,
I'm new on this forum, I hope I'm asking in the right place. A few years ago I set up an online business, selling software products I developed, as a secondary activity to earn something on the side (I'm a PAYE employee too). Since I like to keep things simple, I just registered as a sole trader, got a trading name, an accountant and everything went smoothly.
Fast forward to today, the business is doing better than I thought. It generates a decent income (which increases all the time, and would definitely get a boost with some good marketing), compared to the time required to manage it (a couple of hours a week). Most of the time is spent answering pre-sale and simple first level support questions, and there are occasional custom projects, which generate extra revenue on top of the sales. Running costs are also very low: apart from hosting and accountant, there are no other expenses.
Due to personal circumstances, I was now thinking of selling the business, and I was wondering if that could be doable, and how, since there is no legal entity (e.g. Ltd) behind it. The first thing that came to my mind was to get a valuation, my main concern is that being a sole trader could make things more difficult.
Some answers to questions I got asked elsewhere
Any opinion and suggestion is always welcome. Thanks in advance for all of them.
I'm new on this forum, I hope I'm asking in the right place. A few years ago I set up an online business, selling software products I developed, as a secondary activity to earn something on the side (I'm a PAYE employee too). Since I like to keep things simple, I just registered as a sole trader, got a trading name, an accountant and everything went smoothly.
Fast forward to today, the business is doing better than I thought. It generates a decent income (which increases all the time, and would definitely get a boost with some good marketing), compared to the time required to manage it (a couple of hours a week). Most of the time is spent answering pre-sale and simple first level support questions, and there are occasional custom projects, which generate extra revenue on top of the sales. Running costs are also very low: apart from hosting and accountant, there are no other expenses.
Due to personal circumstances, I was now thinking of selling the business, and I was wondering if that could be doable, and how, since there is no legal entity (e.g. Ltd) behind it. The first thing that came to my mind was to get a valuation, my main concern is that being a sole trader could make things more difficult.
Some answers to questions I got asked elsewhere
- The business is not strictly dependent on me, personally. Anyone with good technical skills could take over the products and improve them, and/or provide support to the customers.
- I don't have a personal relationship with customers (i.e. customers won't leave the business if I'm no longer there). They expect a quality service, but they will be happy to get it from a "successor".
Any opinion and suggestion is always welcome. Thanks in advance for all of them.