Become Exit Ready — Member Introduction
The calls that shaped how I think about selling a business are not the deals that closed well. They are the follow-up calls.
I'm Eric Erickson. I help business owners get a real valuation, see their company through a buyer's eyes, and decide on their own terms whether it is time to sell. This page is the short version of who I am and how I got here.
I grew up in Spokane, left on a mission at 19, and built a career I was supposed to want.
I grew up in Spokane, Washington, in the LDS church. When I turned 19 I did what young men in my faith do. I left home for two years and served a mission in Brazil. I came back speaking Portuguese, enrolled at Brigham Young University to study chemical engineering, and on the first day of my intro engineering class I sat down next to a woman from Texas. We got married while I was still in school. By the time I graduated in 2001, I was already a father.
My first job was at Fluor Corporation as a process engineer. A year later I moved to Honeywell, where I spent the next 13 years. Process engineer. Pricing analyst. Operations execution lead. Production manager. Senior materials manager leading a 22-person team, sitting on the site leadership team, managing monthly sales of $3.5 million out of a single production area. I earned an MBA from Gonzaga in 2.5 years while working full time. I earned a Six Sigma Greenbelt. I drove $4.4 million in inventory reduction and got a corporate award for it. I was good at the work. The career advanced the way careers are supposed to advance. But when I hit 40, I looked at the next 20 years and could not make myself want them.
The moment that changed everything was not dramatic. It was a phone number on a sticky note. A friend had built a buy-and-hold rental portfolio. I had written his number down, meaning to call. The note sat on my desk for two weeks. One morning I looked at it and thought: if I cannot find the time to make one phone call, I will never build anything outside of this job.
I left Honeywell to build real assets, not a bigger résumé.
I got my real estate license with Keller Williams in 2016. Over the next six years I helped more than 200 families buy and sell homes in Tucson. I sourced, marketed, and resold more than 40 land deals across four states. I found five investors, built a portfolio of 13 income-producing rental properties, and self-managed all of them. This was the chapter where I learned what it felt like to own something that produced cash flow without me having to be in a meeting to make it happen.
Then the Fed started raising rates. My investors went to the sidelines. The math on the rental portfolio stopped working the way the math used to work, and I was not willing to stand still. A friend from Portland who had bought a second home in Tucson happened to be a business broker. I had heard the phrase. I did not fully know what it meant. I asked. I liked the answer.
The dry cleaner taught me what I now teach every seller.
When I bought a dry cleaning business, I joined a coaching group called the Entrepreneurs Organization Accelerator to help me run it. I had to drive up to Phoenix for the in-person sessions, but I liked the structure. I liked being around other owners who were fighting the same fights. What I took from that group was something I now consider non-negotiable: the importance of a clean monthly profit and loss statement. Our group was required to review and share P&Ls every month. It was powerful to watch people's beliefs fade against the hard truth of the numbers. You could see what needed to improve, what was working, what was not, and what to fix first. The first one was hard to put together. By month three it was easy. And one of the best ideas we still use at the dry cleaners came out of that small group — a Wacky Wednesday promotion that another member had seen in her market. It had nothing to do with my industry. That is the point. Cross-pollination from people outside your world is one of the most valuable things a coaching group offers.
A colleague at the firm had a dry cleaner he could not sell — Twin Peaks Cleaners. He said if he were younger he would just buy it himself. I asked him to walk through the logic, took notes, sent a quick email out to the buyer pool, and accidentally copied my wife. She came home that night and asked why we were not buying it. I did not have a good answer. So we bought it. Two and a half years later, Twin Peaks runs without me. I spend two to three hours a week on it. I did the exact work I now tell every seller they need to do. I built a business that does not depend on the owner being there every day. I sat on the buyer's side of a real transaction and lived through the transition firsthand.
In November 2022 I joined a firm that had closed over 800 transactions. I was not starting from scratch.
In November 2022 I joined Tucson Business Investments, a firm that had been operating in Tucson for over 40 years. More than 800 closed transactions sat behind it. I had a training ground, a deal history to learn from, and colleagues who had seen everything. I built my own national brand on top of that foundation — Viking Owner Exit — because the work does not stop at Arizona's borders. Direct. Clear. No performance. You get a number. You get the truth. You decide what to do with it.
The calls that shaped how I think about selling a business are not the deals that closed well. They are the follow-up calls.
The widow
I dial a number six months after an owner told me they were not ready. A spouse answers. They tell me the owner passed away. I have had that call at least three times. One widow did not know what she was going to do. There was no plan. No valuation on file. No buyer waiting. That is what happens when an owner runs out of time before they get organized.
The daughter
A daughter called me after her mother died and asked if I could help sell the business. The daughter was a lawyer. She knew nothing about how the company worked. What made it harder was that her mother had already had a buyer six months earlier and had walked away from the deal. I went back to those buyers. They came back with half the original price. The business had continued without leadership or attention in the months between. Half was what the market would bear.
The disconnected numbers
I have also dialed numbers that are now disconnected. Called businesses that no longer exist. Owners who wound things down quietly, or simply ran out of time before they ever got organized.
Start before you have to. Because some owners do not get to start at all.
I do not list your business and hope a buyer shows up.
Most brokers do exactly that. They list, they wait, and the buyer who shows up controls the negotiation. Buyers do not determine value by looking at a listing. Buyers determine value by comparing options. If your business is only seen by one buyer at a time, that buyer sets the terms, the price, and the timeline.
My approach is different. I call it the Structured Exit Valuation Process. First, I show you what your business is actually worth based on how buyers evaluate companies like yours — cash flow, owner involvement, customer concentration, and risk — not revenue or hearsay. Once you see your business through a buyer's lens, you understand your real value in today's market. Second, instead of waiting for one buyer, I generate multiple interested buyers at the same time. When buyers know they are not the only ones looking, negotiations improve — price and terms get better, and you gain leverage. Third, I work on a flat advisory fee rather than a percentage of the sale price. You keep more of the outcome and you still get professional guidance.
A few of the owners I have walked through this process.
- Amy and Justin — sold their contracting business after running it 20+ years. Multiple offers in 90 days. No earnout wait.
- Larry and Lois — sold their landscaping company in 4 months.
- Jacki and Mary — sold their catering company in 3 months for double what they thought it was worth.
- Derek — full-price offer in 4 months. Operations never interrupted.
- Anna and Ray — sold their import business in 3 months. Transition handled.
- Michael — sold his printing business to an employee in 2 months. No complex math.
- Fred — sold his specialty plumbing business to another plumber relocating to his state.
- Tom — went from overwhelmed to being home with his kids at night in 5 months, without losing his original investment.
- Ms. Chin — went from working full time in her retail shop to having time with her grandkids in 6 months, without giving away the store.
Before you list, answer three questions.
- 1
Is the business profitable?
Not revenue — actual profit on the books.
- 2
Are the profits provable?
Clean financials, tax returns, and adjustments an owner can defend.
- 3
Can the business run without the owner?
Systems, people, and processes that do not depend on you being there every day.
If any one of those breaks, the deal usually breaks.
Ready when you are. Two ways to take the next step.
Get a real valuation for $250.
A clear, market-based number based on how buyers actually evaluate a business like yours. No listing agreement. No commitment to sell. Just the truth on paper so you can plan with it.
Get My Valuation — $250Ready to list. Let us build the exit plan.
If you already know you want to sell, this is the next step. We will use the Structured Exit Valuation Process to position your business for multiple qualified buyers and a 7-figure outcome within 180 days — on a flat advisory fee, not a broker commission.
Start My Exit PlanIf you would rather talk it through first, book the free 15-minute sellability check. I will tell you on the call where you stand.
Book a 15-minute sellability check →