On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:03:26 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

I really didn't think these guys were serious but turns out they are.
A big furrin company wants to buy my business. It aint much of a
business but it is mine and it allows me to have lots of freedom to go
sailing when I want (although I rarely do). Just knowing I really can
take off if I want is a real safety valve.
Now this company only wants to buy my biz IF I WORK FER EM
TOO.............."meh". Being an employee sucks and I have not been
such for over 16 yrs. Am not sure I could do it, sit at work wishing
I could get on my boat and leave but knowing I can't do that until
retirement, GAWD, suicide time it'd be so depressing. I rarely take
that much time off and when I do I work on stuff I take with me. In
Summer, I go wander round the mountain in Wyoming and think, write
techie stuff and solve techie probs. Would an employer understand that
mode of operation?
Would it be THAT diff working for someone else? Yeah, they'd pay me
much better than I pay myself and would pay a lot for the business but
what would I do with that much more money and no freedom? I'd rather
work for less and be more free (to a point). Both myself and my wife
are cheap people, I'd rather drive an old truck with 330,000 miles
than make payments, our house costs less than anybody else I know, we
have no debt and I would not buy a bigger boat even if I had the money
(I'd build one though)
I even think they'd keep my business where it is and just give me more
people and cool toys to do stuff but I'd be workin for the man.
Working for someone else'd violate my personal philosophy of
independence and I'd feel like a hypocrite (but think of the money and
having someone else to do all the **** stuff).
Yup, it's tempting to finally have someone willing to finance the
stuff I want to do at work. OTOH, I don't wanna sell my soul.
Sooooo, have someone to pay for my fun work stuff or be a free man?

You need to come clean with the prospective buyers and they need to
share their vision of the company and your role.

See if you can come to a place that's comfortable. There's no harm in
walking the path to see what's possible. As for sailing and Wyoming,
I think most entrepreneurs understand the need for space to consider
what's necessary or possible in a business, especially in tech.

Liquidity is its own freedom. Get as much $ with the sale as possible
so you have the option to leave. They'll want to retain some of that
value so you've got an incentive to remain and that's okay if you've
gotten enough up front.

A balancing act for sure but, with the right understanding you could
improve your financial stability and gain some personal freedom by
making someone else responsible for the bottom line.