What if you could build your business so it not only pays you today, but is also worth a life-changing check when you are ready to walk away? Most books about entrepreneurship tell feel-good stories. Most books about mergers and acquisitions are written for Wall Street. Legacy Deals does both. It gives you the true, unpolished journey of a blue-collar entrepreneur and a practical playbook for building and eventually selling a business the right way. Bill Bromley started as a kid knocking on doors in a new neighborhood, hustling candy bars, flyers, lawn care, and $5 haircuts in his parents' garage. He went on to build companies in construction, landscaping, advertising, distribution, hospitality, and more, winning big, losing big, and rebuilding from scratch. Today, as principal of Investment Business Brokers, he sits across the table from founders selling the companies they've spent decades building and guides them through one of the most important deals of their lives. This book gives you a front-row seat to that entire arc. Inside Legacy Deals, you'll discover: The real story of entrepreneurship - The early hustles, the expansion years, the California highs and hard consequences, the redemption in the green industry, the cigar lounge gamble, and the move to Texas that reset everything. How businesses become truly valuable - The specific levers that drive valuation: recurring revenue, customer concentration, leadership depth, systems, margins, and more, illustrated with real deals Bill has worked on, from janitorial companies to pool services to trades. The human side of M&A - What actually happens in the room when a founder stares at the signature line and asks, "Am I doing the right thing?" How identity, fear, family, and legacy shape decisions far more than spreadsheets do. Where deals are really won (or lost) - Why the outcome of your exit is decided years before you list the business, and how to prepare your books, team, contracts, and even your own mindset so buyers see a machine, not a personality-driven hustle. You'll also get founder-friendly tools you can use immediately: The Exit Readiness Checklist (p.96) to assess how sellable your business is today and what to fix next. A clear glossary of key deal terms so you're never lost when bankers, buyers, or lawyers start talking their language. Straight talk on timing, risk, and negotiation from someone who has been both the owner signing the loan and the advisor engineering the exit. Legacy Deals is for you if: You're building your first or next business and want to design it to be sellable from day one. You already own a small or mid-sized company and wonder what it's really worth and how to make it worth more. You're a seasoned entrepreneur who's been through the wringer and wants your next chapter to be smarter, cleaner, and more intentional. Or you simply love real stories about deals, second chances, and what actually happens when businesses change hands. This isn't a get-rich-quick book or an academic finance manual. It's a field guide from someone who has mowed lawns at dawn, loaded trucks at night, signed on the dotted line with everything on the line, and now helps other founders do it better. Whether your exit is twenty years away or twenty months from now, the moves you make today determine the legacy you'll leave and the deal you'll get.