"My father, ‘Paul,’ is in a real panic over the sale of the carpet and home furnishing stores in the Pacific Northwest our family has operated for many years. He is 82, in good health physically, but fears the economy is about to turn sour and wants out of the business,” the email from “Dora” began.

“We have noticed a decline in his emotional ‘reserve’ when small problems arise in the business. He avoids dealing with them and caves in, for example, if a customer refuses to pay the balance of their bill, inventing some artificial excuse, Dad just writes the balance off.

“Now he is negotiating the sale of the business with a potential buyer and we are afraid of his feeling forced to take far less than what is fair. What do you recommend?”

Do not give in to the fire sale mentality.

“This is a common problem we are seeing more often with our country’s aging population,” Southern Florida-based wealth advisors specializing in exit planning, brother and sister Christopher and Michelle Mackin replied when I ran my reader’s question by them.

I asked them to list what business owners often do wrong when it is time to sell.

• Fail to properly prepare for the sale.
• Go about selling your business alone without assistance.
• Fail to know the number that you need from the sale.
• Advertise the sale of your business.
• Assume that all buyers are qualified.
• Fail to understand that seller’s remorse is common.