Partner Network · Member Firm
Murphy Business Sales - Raleigh
Business brokerage and exit planning for owner-operated companies across the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Don Emmett is a Certified Business Intermediary and Certified Exit Planner who has brokered since 2007, after 30+ years as an owner-operator himself.
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
CBI, CeXP — 30+ years as an owner-operator
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“Before I was struggling with deal flow within my criteria. Now after working with BizNexus, I know I'm covered.”
Owner briefings
Written by Don
Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Customer Who Had to Approve the Sale: A Deal Lesson
A large customer contract that cannot be assigned without the customer's consent gives that customer a say in your sale. Read every major co…
Don Emmett · Nov 2, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Five Dates That Should Shape When You Sell Your Business
The right time to sell a small business is shaped by a handful of dates already on your calendar: when you want to be done, when the lease r…
Don Emmett · Oct 30, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
When a Private Equity Group Wants Your Small Business: What an Add-On Buyer Is After
When a private equity group calls about a small business, it is usually buying an add-on: a company to attach to one it already owns in your…
Don Emmett · Oct 28, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Where Today's Small-Business Buyers Come From, and What They Want From Yours
Many buyers for a business with $500K to $10M in revenue are individuals leaving corporate careers, financed by a bank, alongside competitor…
Don Emmett · Oct 26, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Mistakes Owners Make While the Business Is for Sale
The costliest owner mistakes often come after the decision to sell: easing off on sales, letting monthly results slip, cutting spending a bu…
Don Emmett · Oct 23, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What a Buyer Checks About Your Customers Before the Deal Closes
A buyer checks your customers in five ways: three years of sales by customer, how much revenue rides on the top few accounts, whether those …
Don Emmett · Oct 21, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Asset Sale or Stock Sale: What You Are Actually Selling
Most small business sales are asset sales: the buyer purchases the equipment, inventory, name, customer relationships and goodwill, while th…
Don Emmett · Oct 19, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What You Give Up When You Sign a Letter of Intent
A letter of intent is mostly non-binding, but signing one still costs the seller something real: exclusivity. Once you agree to stop talking…
Don Emmett · Oct 16, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Why Are You Selling? What a Buyer Hears in Your Answer
Every buyer asks why you are selling, and they listen for whether the answer matches the numbers. Buyers assume the seller knows something t…
Don Emmett · Oct 14, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What a Buyer Finds on Your Balance Sheet: Cleaning It Up Before You Sell
Before you sell, clean up the balance sheet: take personal assets and owner loans out of the company, collect or write off old receivables, …
Don Emmett · Oct 12, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
How Many Jobs Do You Do? What Your Role Means for Your Sale Price
Seller's discretionary earnings assume one person can step into the owner's role. When the owner is also the top salesperson, the estimator …
Don Emmett · Oct 9, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What to Gather Before Your First Valuation Conversation
Before a first business valuation conversation, gather three years of tax returns and financial statements, a documented list of add-backs, …
Don Emmett · Oct 7, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Inventory Count That Nearly Reset the Price: A Deal Lesson
In a distribution business sale, inventory is often the largest asset after the business itself, and disagreements over how it is counted an…
Don Emmett · Oct 5, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Sell While You Still Want to Run It: Momentum, Exhaustion, and Timing Your Exit
The best time to sell a small business is usually while you still have the energy to run it well. Owners who wait until they are worn out te…
Don Emmett · Oct 2, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Why a Competitor and an Individual Buyer Put Different Prices on the Same Business
An individual buyer values a small business on the cash flow it proves, because a lender has to underwrite it. A competitor values what your…
Don Emmett · Sep 30, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Why Buyers Want the Unglamorous Business You Built
Buyers of smaller businesses increasingly favor unglamorous, essential companies: distribution, trades, maintenance and route-based services…
Don Emmett · Sep 28, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Five Mistakes Owners Make When the Buyer Is Family or a Key Employee
Selling to family or a key employee works when it is run like a real sale. The five common mistakes: assuming the successor wants the busine…
Don Emmett · Sep 25, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What the Buyer's Bank Checks Before Your Deal Can Close
In most smaller business sales the buyer's lender runs its own diligence, and the deal cannot close until the bank is satisfied. It verifies…
Don Emmett · Sep 23, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Why Almost Every Small Business Sale Includes Seller Financing
In most small-business sales the seller carries part of the price as a note, and it is not a sign of a weak deal. Seller financing bridges v…
Don Emmett · Sep 21, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
How to Create Competition for Your Business Without the Whole Town Knowing
Selling to the first buyer who knocks usually leaves money on the table. You do not need a public auction to do better - a controlled, confi…
Don Emmett · Sep 18, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
How a Buyer Actually Decides to Buy a Smaller Business
In smaller deals the buyer decides in the first hour and audits that decision for months. How to prepare for the walkthrough, read a quiet s…
Don Emmett · Sep 16, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Part of Getting Ready to Sell That Is Not About the Business
A fair number of deals slow down for reasons that have nothing to do with the company. Your net number after tax, what you do next, family a…
Don Emmett · Sep 11, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Difference Between a 2x Business and a 3.5x Business
Smaller businesses sell on a multiple of SDE, and the range runs from a little under two to around three and a half. On $600,000 of SDE that…
Don Emmett · Sep 9, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Deal That Almost Died Over the Lease: A Deal Lesson
A composite from a smaller Triangle deal: price agreed, lender approved, diligence clean, and then six weeks of near-collapse over a lease w…
Don Emmett · Sep 7, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
What Buyers in the Triangle Are Paying Up For, and What They Are Not
Owners ask what the market is doing and mean the headlines. The market that matters for a smaller business in the Triangle is a few dozen sp…
Don Emmett · Sep 4, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Five Things Owners Do for Good Reasons That Cost Them in a Sale
Most of what hurts an owner at closing was a sensible decision at the time. Five of them, why they made sense when you made them, and what e…
Don Emmett · Sep 2, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Can You Prove It? What Diligence Looks Like in a Smaller Deal
In smaller transactions, diligence is one question asked fifty different ways: can you prove it? Tax returns, add-back documentation, the le…
Don Emmett · Aug 31, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Where the Money Comes From When You Sell a Small Business
In smaller transactions the purchase price is assembled from four or five sources, and only one of them is a wire on closing day. How SBA fi…
Don Emmett · Aug 28, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Who Gets to See Your Numbers, and When
Information is the only real leverage a seller has, and most owners give it away for free. How a controlled process stages disclosure, quali…
Don Emmett · Aug 26, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Every Question a Buyer Asks Is About the Same Thing
Diligence feels adversarial until you hear what the buyer is actually asking. Why buyers probe, why they price what they cannot verify, and …
Don Emmett · Aug 24, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
The Year Before You Sell: A Working Checklist
A practical 12-month checklist for owners preparing to sell - books, valuation, owner dependency, paperwork, and the deal team - in the orde…
Don Emmett · Aug 21, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Who Actually Buys a Business Like Yours? Three Buyer Types, Three Different Prices
Individual operators, strategic acquirers, and financial buyers value the same business differently. What each buyer type pays for, and how …
Don Emmett · Aug 19, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
Meet Murphy Business Sales - Raleigh - A BizNexus Partner Network Firm
Murphy Business Sales - Raleigh is a BizNexus Partner Network firm led by Don Emmett, CBI, CeXP - a business owner for 30+ years before beco…
Don Emmett · Aug 17, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
SDE: The Number Buyers Actually Pay For
For most owner-operated businesses, the price conversation starts with seller's discretionary earnings. What SDE is, what belongs in it, and…
Don Emmett · Aug 17, 2026Murphy Raleigh · Owner briefing
When Should You Start Preparing to Sell? (Earlier Than You Think)
Most owners start preparing to sell when they've decided to sell. That's two years late. What to fix first, and why the best preparation loo…
Don Emmett · Aug 17, 2026Free resource
Owner Readiness Assessment
Thirteen questions, about three minutes. A straight readiness read and the specific gaps that move your number.
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Deal flow and developing trends in the lower middle market — written for practitioners, not spectators.