Thirteen questions. About three minutes. You get a straight readiness read and the specific gaps that move your number.

• What a buyer's accountant would say about your books - before one does.
• Whether the business runs without you, and how much that is worth.
• The two or three things to fix now, while you still have the time to fix them.

Most owners find out how ready they are from a buyer, in diligence, under a deadline. This is the same set of questions, asked two years earlier by someone on your side. Answer them as they are today, not as you'd like them to be - the read is only useful if it's honest.

It isn't a valuation and it doesn't ask for one. Nothing here commits you to anything. Your answers go to Jeff Elder at IBEX, International Business Exchange and nowhere else.