You are simply curious
You do not need a sale date to deserve a sensible starting range. Knowing the likely value drivers now can help you make better decisions later.
A straight answer for business owners
You built the business. You deserve an honest first look at what it may be worth.
I’m Jason Taken. I created FreeBusinessAppraisers.com for owners who want a useful answer without a sales pitch, a black-box calculation, or pressure to put their company on the market.
Most owners are not looking for a lecture. They are looking for a clear place to begin.
Maybe retirement is still a few years away. Maybe a buyer called unexpectedly. Maybe you are considering a partner, planning around family, or simply wondering whether all the long days have created something valuable. You may not even be sure you want to sell—and that is completely fine.
I’m a licensed Illinois attorney, an Illinois real estate broker, and a business advisor with HedgeStone Business Advisors. I also write and review the guidance on this site. Those roles have taught me to look at a business from more than one angle: what the financials say, what the documents actually support, what property or lease issues may change the deal, and what a practical buyer is likely to question.
But an appraisal conversation should still feel like a conversation. My job is to listen, ask useful questions, explain the reasoning, and give you a range you can understand—not to bury you in terminology or pretend that one multiple knows your entire story.
Why this site exists
There should be a comfortable way to ask, “What is my business worth?”
That question can feel bigger than it sounds. It touches your income, family, employees, identity, and plans for whatever comes next. You should be able to explore it before making a commitment.
You are planning ahead
If an exit may be two or three years away, an early appraisal can show where buyer confidence is being earned—and where value may still be leaking.
Something just changed
An unsolicited offer, health concern, partner issue, or family decision can accelerate the question. A calm first look helps separate urgency from good judgment.
The appraisal conversation
We start with the business you actually run—not the business a formula imagines.
A useful preliminary appraisal begins with how the company makes money and how transferable those earnings may be. We talk about revenue, owner compensation, unusual expenses, customer concentration, recurring work, equipment, people, your day-to-day role, and anything else that could make a buyer more—or less—confident.
Then we connect those facts to an appropriate valuation lens. For many owner-operated companies that starts with seller’s discretionary earnings. For larger, management-run companies, adjusted EBITDA may be more relevant. Assets, real estate, working capital, debt, and near-term capital needs may require separate treatment.
The goal is not to manufacture one impressive number. It is to build a defensible range and explain what would move that range up or down.
A good first call sounds like this
- You tell me the story.What the company does, what changed, and what you are trying to understand.
- We make the earnings comparable.We separate normal operating costs from supportable owner adjustments—without treating every expense as an add-back.
- We talk about buyer reality.Transferability, concentration, management depth, records, property, and risk all shape the multiple.
- You leave with a next step.That may be preparing for a sale, improving a value driver, gathering better records, or doing nothing for now.
Three useful perspectives
Why my background matters to the way I look at a business.
Attorney’s lens
What can the records support?
My legal background makes me attentive to the difference between an assumption and something a document can actually establish. Contracts, ownership, leases, licenses, disputes, and deal terms can matter just as much as the headline earnings.
Real estate lens
What happens to the location?
For many businesses, value is tied to a lease, owned real estate, site quality, or a use a buyer must be able to continue. The operating company and property should be understood together without automatically treating them as the same asset.
Advisor’s lens
What would make a buyer comfortable?
A buyer does not purchase yesterday’s hard work alone. They assess the earnings, people, systems, risks, financing, and transition they will inherit. That perspective keeps the appraisal grounded in a real transaction.
Prefer to verify the background yourself?View Jason’s public Illinois attorney record, real estate broker profile, and HedgeStone Business Advisors.
No perfect books required
Bring the information you have. We can identify what is missing.
Business owners often apologize for their bookkeeping before the conversation even starts. Please do not let that stop you. Approximate revenue, owner compensation, major expenses, debt, equipment needs, customer mix, and your own weekly role are enough for an initial discussion.
If you have tax returns, profit-and-loss statements, payroll reports, or a list of proposed add-backs, those can sharpen the range. If you do not, the first useful answer may be a short list of records to gather and questions to resolve. That is still progress.
One important distinction
A practical first look is not the same as a formal appraisal.
The free appraisal offered here is a preliminary broker-style opinion of value for education, planning, and an early sale conversation. It is not a certified appraisal, legal opinion, tax valuation, fairness opinion, or a report prepared for court, estate and gift reporting, a shareholder dispute, or another purpose that requires a particular standard or credential.
My background as an attorney helps me ask careful questions, but this site and an appraisal conversation do not provide legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. If your purpose calls for a certified appraiser, valuation analyst, CPA, transaction attorney, or another specialist, I will say so plainly. The right answer includes knowing when a preliminary answer is not enough.