There are plenty of people who can tell you they sell businesses.
The better question is:
What do they actually bring to the transaction?
If you’re a business owner in Tampa or St. Petersburg, your business may represent decades of work, your retirement, your family’s financial security and a significant percentage of your net worth.
You should be selective about who represents you.
Here are seven reasons Michael Shea and Transworld Business Advisors deserve serious consideration.
1. A Track Record You Can Measure
The first thing I tell business owners to look at when selecting a broker is simple:
Look at the deals.
Michael Shea has been in business brokerage since 2005. His current biography reports more than $1 billion in sold business volume and more than 450 transactions.
That is important because there is a massive difference between having a business listed and having a business successfully sold.
Experience isn’t about having a fancy website.
Experience is knowing what happens after the buyer signs the Letter of Intent.
2. Transworld Gives Tampa Sellers a Larger Buyer Reach
Local knowledge is important.
But local knowledge alone isn’t enough.
Suppose you’re selling a successful Tampa service company.
Your ideal buyer might be another Tampa operator.
But they might also be:
- An entrepreneur relocating to Florida
- An existing company expanding into Tampa
- A strategic buyer
- An investor
- A buyer from another state
- An existing Transworld buyer
Transworld’s network gives a local Tampa transaction the ability to reach beyond the immediate Tampa Bay market. The company describes its organization as a broad international network of business brokerage offices.
That combination of local knowledge + broader reach is powerful.
3. Michael Shea Is an Exit Advisor, Not Just a Listing Agent
This is where my CEPA designation becomes important.
A business sale isn’t simply a transaction.
It’s an exit.
And the transaction should fit into the owner’s larger financial and personal plan.
Sometimes the right answer is to sell now.
Sometimes it is to wait.
Sometimes it is to fix the financials.
Sometimes it is to reduce owner dependence.
Sometimes it is to improve recurring revenue.
Sometimes it is to address customer concentration.
Sometimes it is simply to understand the business’s current value.
I wrote about this in my article “Multiples Don’t Matter,” where I explain why owners should focus on the gap between their current business value and the value they need to accomplish their goals.
That is exit planning.
4. We Focus on What Buyers Actually See
Business owners can become emotionally attached to their businesses.
That’s natural.
You’ve spent years building the company.
But buyers don’t value the business based upon how hard you worked.
They look at risk and return.
They want to know:
- What does the business earn?
- How dependable is that earnings stream?
- How dependent is the company on the owner?
- Are the financial statements credible?
- How concentrated is the customer base?
- Are contracts transferable?
- What happens if the owner leaves?
- Is there a management team?
- Can the buyer obtain financing?
- What risks could reduce future cash flow?
My job is to help an owner see the business the way a buyer will see it.
That can be uncomfortable.
But it can also be extremely valuable.
5. We Don’t Ignore the Difficult Parts
A broker can make a business sale sound easy.
I don’t think that’s particularly helpful.
There will be due diligence.
There will be questions about financial statements.
There will be negotiations.
There may be financing issues.
There may be lease issues.
There may be employee questions.
There may be working capital questions.
There may be problems nobody anticipated when the business was listed.
My recent articles have addressed many of these real-world transaction issues, including buyer qualification, valuation and the risks that can derail a deal.
The job isn’t to pretend those problems don’t exist.
The job is to identify them early enough to solve them.
6. You Can See How I Think Before You Hire Me
One advantage business owners have today is that they can research their broker before making a phone call.
I’ve been writing about business brokerage for years.
I’ve also been producing YouTube videos for more than 15 years, discussing deals, valuation, market conditions and lessons learned from the business brokerage business.
My YouTube channel is intentionally straightforward.
No big production.
No scripted corporate messaging.
Just business brokerage, as I see it.
Watch Michael Shea’s YouTube Channel
You can also read my articles on LinkedIn, where I regularly discuss business sales, exit planning and what’s happening in the market.
In other words, you can get a pretty good idea of how I think before you ever hire me.
7. Tampa and St. Petersburg Are Markets Worth Understanding
The Tampa Bay business market is not static.
Industries change.
Interest rates change.
SBA lending changes.
Buyer expectations change.
Labor markets change.
Consumer behavior changes.
Technology changes.
AI is changing how businesses operate.
That means a business owner thinking about an exit should not simply ask:
“What is my business worth today?”
A better question is:
“What could make my business more valuable and less risky before I sell it?”
That’s where the relationship between owner and broker can become much more valuable than a simple listing agreement.
Why Michael Shea and Transworld?
For me, it comes down to three things:
Experience.
More than two decades in the business and hundreds of completed transactions.
Resources.
The local knowledge of Tampa Bay combined with the broader Transworld organization.
Straight talk.
I’m going to tell you what I think — even when it isn’t necessarily what you want to hear.
If you’re thinking about selling a Tampa or St. Petersburg business, you owe it to yourself to interview several brokers.
Ask them how many businesses they’ve sold.
Ask them what types of businesses they sell.
Ask them how they value companies.
Ask them how they qualify buyers.
Ask them how they handle confidentiality.
Ask them how they deal with financing.
And ask them what they think you should fix before you go to market.
Then make your decision.
Michael Shea represents the Tampa Florida Transworld office. In business since 2005, he has established a reputation as a trusted business broker across Florida’s key markets- from Tampa to Orlando, Melbourne, and more. Over the past two decades, Michael and his team have closed over $1 Billion in sold business volume and presided over more than 476 transactions. His credentials include the IBBA Certified Business Intermediary®, and most recently, the prestigious Certified Exit Planning Advisor® (CEPA) credential. He is also a Florida Licensed Real Estate Broker and Business Brokers of Florida Board Certified Intermediary . Shea is a member of the VRMA and a recognized expert in property management and vacation rental management business sales