I’ve been writing about random things that pop into my head on this website for a little over 7 years now. So I suppose it is natural to have a little 7-year itch.
As summer rolled around I was feeling little to no motivation. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was a world to explore. So I did a bunch of 100+ km bike rides with big climbs, played some guitar, did a bit of travel, and more or less let me inner laziness rein free. I did absolutely nothing productive and it was glorious.
So now what? Perhaps it was just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, but in early fall it seemed like anybody and everybody was selling their blog. From long-time personal finance blogger superstars to recent upstarts, they were all handing over the virtual keys.
So… what the hell… why not explore the possibilities?
Selling a blog
It turns out selling a blog is a lot easier than I thought. There are a ton of individuals and businesses interested in acquiring websites with an established audience.
I reached out to some people… a few who had sold their blogs, a blog broker, a couple of medium to large media companies. And over the course of 2-3 months, I had 4 solid offers.
Prices for a website vary, but typically in the range of 3x – 4x annual revenue or profit, depending on who you ask. It can be more or less. For a generic personal finance site with rapid growth (e.g. ILikeBigBucks.com) it can be more. For a site centered around an individual (e.g. MyNameIsJeremyAndThisIsMyPersonalFinanceBlog.com) it can be less.
Last year (2018) Go Curry Cracker made about $75,000 in taxable profit (see GCC Business Review.) Based on that, the 4 offers I received were in the 2.5x – 4x range.
All but one of the offers required that I stay around for a while / continue writing in order to have a smooth transition. Two of the offers would have paid me for my time to do so. 2 of the offers also had performance incentive bonuses, whereby if traffic/revenue grew I would get additional payouts up into 6-figures.
Why Sell?
This is actually a hard question to answer. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, but I was also curious and feeling unmotivated and lazy.
So I did some light brainstorming…
Reasons to sell:
– time to do the next thing
– not interested in doing stuff that needs to be done to drive growth (SEO, etc…)
– push to go do something new
– no blog revenue means more opportunity to do Roth conversions and cap gain harvesting
– add some $ to the portfolio just because
Reasons to keep:
– I love helping people and interacting with all of you GCC readers
– It’s fun and flexible and has nice cash flow
– motivates me to think deeper about interesting money topics
– Why not?
I also went back and reread my old post, Everyone Should Blog, because if everybody should do it…
Ultimately, I figured my main motivation for exploring the idea was best explained by a popular Saturday Morning Breakfast Serial comic.
Maybe blogging was one of those lives that I needed to let die so I could go live the next one.
Taxes on Selling a Business / Installment Sale
As a tax curious individual, I spent some time exploring how a sale might affect our taxes.
I basically do everything on this site with a 2-year old laptop and a 3-year old iPhone, so there are no assets to transfer. Thus, ~100% of the sale price would be a capital gain.
As you know capital gains have generously low tax rates, but large lump sums are never tax efficient.
With a $200k – $300k capital gain added to income for the year, we would end up paying 15% on all of it ($30k – $45k.)
But there is an alternative.
With 2 of the larger offers, I proposed an installment sale. In essence, payments would be divided over 2-3 tax years. Instead of $300k in 1 year, we might get $100k for 3 years, plus interest, for example.
This would allow us to have more of the capital gains fall into the 0% tax rate. I estimated we could get between 75% and 95% taxed at 0%, saving up to $40k in taxes +/-.
And the final answer is…
The whole exploration process was really interesting, and there was a lot of creative thinking, but ultimately the results were underwhelming.
Trading this site for $ made no fundamental difference in our overall financial situation.
Continuing to write for a site I didn’t own seemed like a job. If I’m going to write, why not just continue as I have been?
I’m not yet sure what my next life will be, so there is no rush to make a leap. The things I thought about focusing on (biking, guitar, travel) I’ve already included in my normal life.
But, interestingly enough, In the process of doing all of the due diligence and background work I (re)realized a few things…
- I can just focus on the stuff I enjoy and let the chips fall where they may.
- External metrics like growth, traffic, revenue, while interesting, are completely irrelevant.
- I like writing and thinking and learning
… and since I took a few months off (recharge!), I suddenly started feeling curious and motivated again.
Now, I’ve been writing up a storm, increased my backlog of interesting topics to write about, and fixed/improved a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff that were bothering me.
I also contracted an SEO guy and a perf guy, and found myself excited to learn things that I previously wrote off as dull. I’m even exploring adding some contract writers (Is that YOU?! Email me!)
And wouldn’t you know it, I’ve been having a great time through it all.
How blogs are valued and sold, and how business sales are taxed, were all interesting things to learn. But I think I’ll keep my baby.
Thank you!
Thanks for reading and all of your support over the years!
Stay tuned for my upcoming course on blogging! (kidding!)
* Post title inspired by a favorite book from yesteryear, Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!
I am very glad you’re going to keep blogging. Thank you for all of the helpful information over the years and the time and effort it takes to provide!!
Bernie
Thank you Bernie, much appreciated!
Please keep the blog. I like it and learn so much. It’s my fav blog and inspires me so much. Please don’t leave us.
I love Terry Brooks! He was the first fantasy author I read as a kid.
Same.
I originally titled this post Magic Blog for Sale, but figured that was a bit much.
Nah, not too much at all. If they can make a movie titled, “Magic Mike,” then certainly you can use the word magic for the title of a blog post.
And as for the 7 year inch, it’s funny you should mention that. I was just thinking about that the other day. After 7 years of just about anything, it can become stale. However, if you can power through it, then a pot of gold is usually waiting for you at the end of the 7 year rainbow. 😉 I’ve learned to take it easy and enjoy the ride.
I just hope you’ll have your juice flowing again because it definitely shows that for the past year or maybe two you’ve clearly been writing for the clicks so that collect advertising dollars. The quality has obviously plummeted like a stone in water.
Right now you’re surely selling this FIRE dream but nothing of substance in your articles anymore. Maybe you should focus to grow forum. Wouldn’t dollars continue flowing to your account at the same rate?
OTOH, you can continue churning short silly articles with catchy titles and I might click sometimes ;-P.
Thanks. I guess.
Haha. Every time I decide to read comments on the internet I end up regretting it. The negativity is so predictably boring. For the record, your blog has continued to be high quality over the last few years.
I haven’t seen any new negativity in a long time, that’s for sure.
The weirdest thing for me is, if you don’t enjoy it why are you reading it?
Right?!?
Exactly. If whatever you are doing isn’t fun, then what the point?
I only do what excites or interests me. It’s like Warren Buffet says, if the answer isn’t a hell yeah!, then why bother?
I blog for the joy and pleasure it brings me. My niche is all about rejecting buying new cars to become FI. Once you find your passion and do it, you are happy everyday. And like Elle Woods says in Legally Blood, “endorphins make you happy.” And in my book, happy people don’t have time to leave negative comments because t heir too busy continuing to live their life.
Just my 2 cents.
Ouch… that wasn’t a very nice comment.
I am forever grateful for finding GCC thanks to that Yahoo article I clicked on about 4 years ago. It forever changed my thinking and launched me into save for FIRE mode and 1 year ago I left my full time job! Jeremy, I think you are brilliant and inspiring and I always enjoy reading your blog posts! So thank you!!
Congratulations Shane! Living the dream!
Thank you
So glad you’re going to be around a while longer. Bob and I both still keep up with you and read your blog regularly.
Take the time off occasionally so that it never feels like a job (God forbid) or something you feel obligated to do. The Bob’s and your other fans still have use for you. 😉.
I’m writing this while on the train in Switzerland thanks to your travel inspiration and encouragement.
The pics are great!
It seems like many who sell, end up regretting it. Those of us FI bloggers don’t need the money and all loved it enough at one point to write regularly. Who knows what the future holds but selling is permanent where getting other writers, etc can always be changed. Good luck on the path either way GCC and thanks for sharing
Thanks man
I appreciate the Terry Brooks reference – and I’m also glad you included the (not) in your title! Thrilled to hear you’ll be here for awhile longer. I appreciated the explanation of your thought process and learning about the sale and how it works. It would seem weird to sell but then continue writing for “your” blog for awhile to transition out. I bet that would feel awkward, and think it would make me feel trapped. Anyway, I’m glad you got reinvigorated by the learning and will continue writing – I’ll keep reading.
I recently watched the sword of shannara on netflix… I can’t say it was good, but there was definitely some nostalgia there.
I think that transition could feel weird, but at the same time it would take things off my plate so maybe less time commitment overall.
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I talked to a couple of companies earlier this year and came to the same conclusion. I’ll keep blogging until I don’t want to do it anymore. Then it would be the right time for me to sell. For now, I’m happy to blog. If I find something better to do, I might consider selling. Also, 2-4x really isn’t that much. The money isn’t going to change my life. If someone offers 10x…
>2-4x really isn’t that much. The money isn’t going to change my life.
Right?
Thanks for keeping it going. You provide a valuable service.
Thank you Myles. Any topic requests?
Glad to hear you’re not selling. I went through the same should-I-sell process a couple years ago and it didn’t make sense to me, either. My site was netting about $3k/mo at the time and most sites were selling for closer to 20-25x monthly profits back then, so I would have been lucky to get around $75k. Once I deducted for the broker commission (normally 15%) and taxes, my 25x would be more like 18x. And then I would lose out on maxing my i401k (plus employer contributions) and IRA.
Fast forward 2+ years and now my site is making $6k+/mo and sites, like you said, are selling for more like 35-40x. Instead of $75k, my site is worth over $200k, plus I’ve made more than $75k since I originally thought about selling. During that time, I went from posting four times a week to once a week. Now it takes me about 10 hours per month to maintain and add new content. It’s just enough to provide me with something fun to tinker with, yet not feel like I have a job.
I do enjoy the tinkering and thinking about financial topics.
Congrats, sounds like you found a great balance.
Great article – another fun example of how you like to ‘draw back the curtains’ and give insight into a world we may otherwise never know about.
I guess blogging is like other social media and ‘influencing’ where there is a lot of money to be made if you have the right audience
The behind the scenes stuff is really interesting (to me.) Glad you liked it!
Thanks for sharing the numbers and your decision making process. I am glad you are not selling.
If you stopped writing, but kept the site, would you keep getting traffic and earning money?
Perhaps this may result in less money, but you would still keep ownership, and have the optionality in case your inspiration comes back in a year or two.
In terms of selling, wouldn’t it make sense to just get the money up front? I am wondering if there is a way for the seller to not pay you, or default on their obligations to you if you choose the installment method. I think about risks, and the sellers may be more reputable than I think of course.
> If you stopped writing, but kept the site, would you keep getting traffic and earning money?
I’m not really sure. Most likely it would, just at a lower level as traffic steadily declined.
For an installment sale, this was with long established corporations with a few extra zeros in their budgets.
This would have been a great April Fool’s Day post. Fortunately, you’ll have plenty of time to brainstorm something else by then. Glad you’re staying the course!
I’m retiring from retirement. April fools!
Long time reader, first time commenter….. I am not following why the blog would have any value after you have sold it and there is no motivation for you to keep writing? Why would anyone check it it once you have left?
It’s probably a combination of old and new readers. With a professional team behind it, there is a lot of potential. For example, what if everything I wrote here was syndicated on yahoo finance and some of it appeared in USA today
I’m glad you decided not to sell your blog because YOU ARE THE VOICE OF THE BLOG!!!! Once the voice leaves, so does everyone else and I can’t understand why the purchasers of ANY blog haven’t yet figured that out LOL
I think that is the reason for the transition period where I would still write as other voices were added. Ideally the resulting choir is a joy to the ears
Thank you for keeping the blog your own. You have a unique voice which no one can replicate. You make financial information easy to understand and apply, especially for people looking for an alternative to corporate America. You also voice how it is possible to retire early. I enjoyed your post about how much you would have to earn in a job to maintain a $75,000 lifestyle. You are so right. Working increases costs dramatically. My husband and I “retired” a few years ago and now travel, hike, bike, and spend time with family and friends. I look forward to your next post, whatever it may be about.
I think this is the nicest comment I’ve ever received on this blog, thank you
“Stay tuned for my upcoming course on blogging! (kidding!)” that killed me
:)
It does seem like a popular direction for bloggers to go in. Buy my course on SEO, blogging, or affiliate marketing! Normally $495 but today only $95!
So glad you have decided to keep writing. I almost never post but just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your writing and how interesting I find your way of thinking about money. I am actually retired (not retired early, just retired). I always wanted ideas like this when I was younger, and stumbled on some, but information wasn’t as easy to find as it is now. I kind of stumbled into a workable system through trial and error. Now everything is so much better thought out. So I love all this stuff. There must be lots of others like me who are reading your blog. So quit if you need to to meet your needs and goals, but you are making a contribution that will be missed if you do.
Ditto that, so much good information for me to pass on to my kids
The next generation will be retiring in their 20s!
Your comment is very touching, thank you :D
I remember when I first started trying to figure out early retirement… about 20 years ago, there were a few people doing it but it was definitely harder to put together a plan.
I love your blog, and I enjoy seeing how your big life decisions are impacted as your son grows. The personal makes the mathematical so much more meaningful. Your ACA analysis helped me understand how important it is to know your AGI, and to stand back from the CLIFF.
Thank you Susan, glad to be of service :)
Parenting pretty much drives everything now. Kids are amazing.
Interesting. I’m familiar with many business valuations but not blogs, so this was fascinating. My husband and both derive value from your blog. Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned and teaching us!
This was all new to me, like going down the rabbit hole. There is a whole world of people buying and selling blogs out there
So glad you are keeping the blog, Jeremy! I just turned another new friend on to it today.
muchas gracias
I’m really glad you decided to keep writing, friend. While I never begrudge anyone to sell their blog if it’s the right thing to do for themselves, I’ve never really seen the transition to a new owner go that well. It also kind of makes sense: we read blogs because we like the author and his work, not because of the format of the site or the name of the url. Take away the author and what’s left?
Sell for cash and start another the day after. ‘Go Vindaloo Papadum’ dedicated not to wealth accumulation but to maintaining financial health & fitness. Including how to stay financially flexible for whatever financial weather.
I could definitely go for some vindaloo papadum right about now
If you do decide to sell at some point in the future, be careful with the installment payments. I’ve sold a few sites in the past and I have used an installment approach twice to help out with taxes, but I only spread it out over two years. Twelve months after the sale I had been paid everything. Of course, it could have lowered taxes to spread it out more, but there’s security in getting the money. I have a friend who is dealing with a bad situation right now. People who bought a site from him two years ago have run it into the ground and they don’t have the money to pay the $90,000+ that they still owe him. If you do spread it out, I’d suggest getting a personal guarantee signed to give you a bit more leverage if needed.
Yeah that would suck.
I wouldn’t go the installment plan route with an individual. Both of these conversations were with corporations that you would know.
Glad you didn’t sell out.
I always wondered what pro golfers do when they retire. Do they golf? Or do they go to an office and fill out TPS reports…
> Glad you didn’t sell out
You can tell people you knew me before I was cool. Which is pretty much any time
I’ll trade you a Kin phone and a collector’s edition Zune for it! ;-)
That is both cruel and hilarious
I am also glad that you are going to keep this going for a while longer. It has been a great resource for me for planning for my own family’s future and for seeing what’s possible.
If you are looking for writing topics, when to take SSI is one I would like to read since I’m going to hit that point in life sooner than you will.
I’ll add it to the list. But check out everything Kitces has written on SS.
Thanks for the pointer.
I have read 3 or 4 of the Social Security articles from Michael’s site.
I guess I was looking for the easy to understand type of analysis that you are so good at writing.
I’m so glad you’re sticking around.
FYI – Last spring, I was reading a lot of FIRE blogs as a laid off corporate professional looking for ‘permission’ to not go back to a 9-to-5 gig. In one of your posts, you mentioned the possibility of buying a website in the future and linked to Empire Flippers. This sent me down a rabbit hole of a previously unknown-to-me world. Fast forward to today and my husband and I own a recently-purchased niche site we’ve been running for about six weeks and are starting another niche site from the ground up. We’re earning side hustle money at this point but are excited about our plans for growth. More importantly, we are both loving it and learning lots of new things daily. So thank you – you’re impacting lives every day.
Nice, congrats!
ps: I think that might have been a different blog?
No. Really? I distinctly remember it being your blog and something you might do if you wanted passive income when moving back to the states. Alas, I’ve spent the better part of the last hour looking for that blog post and coming up empty. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ah, well – you still deserve the credit for all of your influential content!
I too went through this process last year for a blog I’ve run for about 8 years. I’m over it (the topic was once thrilling and is now of no interest to me) but it still brings in monthly income as it has a lot of evergreen content and great SEO. If I put more effort into it or didn’t mind bowing lower to the money gods I could greatly increase the income it produces. And then I could sell it for even more money…
In the end I came to similar conclusions as you did. I wasn’t putting much effort in and was making income every month. In the end, I decided to ride the blog into the sunset as it is.
Just a few pretend numbers for ya: let’s say I make $10K/year now. If I sold, the maximum offer would likely be $40k (2-4x income as you mentioned). I’d have to put in effort to sell the thing – clean it up, compile facts and figures, look for a buyer, help with the transition. Or I could continue to do minor updates to the site and make $10K a year for the next few years. Or maybe make even more if I got motivated to put a bit of thought into optimizing the ads. I decided $10k/year for an unknown timeframe is better than $20-$40K now. It’s the holy grail of “make money while you sleep”. And who knows, I still might find a buyer in 4 years after getting that $10k/yr too!
I got bored of that topic but I still enjoy blogging so I started new ones that allow me to explore my interests and still play around with writing and photography and SEO and all that. And maybe make a bit of money too. :)
Hobbies that accidentally make money are better than hobbies that don’t (and leave you with a garage full of rusting wood-working equipment.)
:)
Travel, biking, guitar…. I mean what else is there really?
Love the blog, love your brain.
Heh, thanks
I’d rather get one or two posts a year from a blog that you control rather than one or more a week from someone who has bought your “Go Curry Cracker” theme. I don’t think your blog can really be separated from you. Your personality is too much a part of your blog.
Glad to hear you are keeping the blog and you will continue to write. Your topics and posts have been very helpful in understanding the ACA, Roth conversions, tax optimization etc. Your blog is a great resource and I always look forward to your next post!
Seven years is a long time to do any one thing, I can see why you got a little wanderlust. Glad you’re staying in the game because we’re moving into the withdrawal phase and I need to keep re-reading most of your tax posts :)
Glad you decided not to sell. I enjoy the similarities and differences between your website and some others. Married or divorced, kids or no kids, in the US or abroad. I can always find something to make me think about something in a new way if nothing else. Thanks
Financial Independence is the detachment from other people money – their money can no longer enslave you.
Financial Freedom is the freedom from money itself – money have very little or no role in the true meaning of your life.
If you have crossed the FI barrier, FF mile marker is what you are searching for and it is straight ahead.
Good luck!
Uh, no.
Thanks for shedding the light on this subject and glad you’re not sold! Love your contents and the joke about blogging course at the end was on point! :))
Thanks for doing the blog all these years. You inspired me with the math back in 2013 and I’ve been a dedicated reader ever since.
More than anything, I love your lifestyle posts. So inspiring and thought provoking. I hope you continue but I understand when it’s time to move on, we’ll still have the GCC vault.
Thank you, Nate.
Do you have a favorite post?
Yes! This post sold me on the dream:
https://www.gocurrycracker.com/our-1400-1-bedroom-apartment-in-taipei-taiwan/
I love to cook and I thought it was the most beautiful apartment kitchen I’d ever seen. I want to have an apartment like that someday :)
I also love the post on bread making and any pictures of dinner parties.
That was a good apartment. If it had multiple bedrooms we would probably still be there.
I’ll have to slip some more dinner party pics into future posts. It’s a regular thing.
Have you read “Before the Exit” by the guys who host the “Tropical MBA” podcast? Very useful for thinking through the sale of a business, especially an online business like a blog here’s the non-affiliate Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Before-Exit-Thought-Experiments-Entrepreneurs-ebook/dp/B07BN2KD1J
Short read, only takes an hour but lots of useful thought experiments and valuable insights.
My FI “retirement” kicks off next summer. If you want sweaty newcomer writing, hit me up to contract! :)
Great job not selling Jeremy!
Your blog along with others had been a true source of inspiration as I slogged it out my last couple years of corporate life, while also influencing me to start my own blog once starting FI.
We all love the hero’s journey as without the troughs there can’t be the highs. When your muse returns you’ll be back stronger than before as that’s how the cycles work.
Hang in there and thanks for keeping the dream alive!
Long time reader here….Glad you didn’t sell!
Really glad you didn’t sell. FWIW you are the best and most interesting blogger in this world we share. Thanks for your great stuff.
Wow. Thank you!