And the frustrating thing for people like me, who'd like to one day get out and retire, is that someone would never pay what our stuff is really worth :-(
I'm the biggest player by far in my niche, which means a competitor wouldn't be able to buy me. And if there was ever interest from someone outside the niche, they'd be trying to set a price by multiples, when that wouldn't even come close to approaching what the business is worth.
It's particularly frustrating since the business would be worth even *more* to someone with the assets to do what I do without having to pay a premium for content, etc. - the gross revenue would come a lot closer to equalling the net revenue - but people set prices based on net revenue. And no one outside the niche world would even factor in the brand loyalty/consistency of niche customers or the effect that has on year-to-year revenue.
Basically, it means that the business is worth a lot to me, but not very much to anyone else. When my accountant asked me about an exit strategy, I told him that it "I'll stop when I decide to stop and have a fire sale," since I could probably never find a buyer who'd pay more than 20-25% of my annual gross
Oh well, thank god I just do this for my contribution to society
