[Don Plumley]

I have a fair amount of corporate M&A experience and have privately advised a few companies.

Businesses are generally valued at a multiple of discounted cash flows; less frequently they are valued based upon assets. If you leave the business and the cash flow dries up, there's no value. If the asset is the customer list and name (goodwill), then you could come up with some sort of valuation metric based upon the acquisition and retention cost of the customer base, discounted for lack of conversion.

Frankly, for a one person show, you would be better off finding someone to train and run the business, and have them buy it from you on an earn-out basis over a few years. For example, you could establish that after training and by providing some remote support, you would take a declining percentage of gross revenues or gross margin (not profit, too many variables) over 3 to 7 years.

Most business brokers are just real estate agents in disguise - they don't actively market the business but sign you up on an exclusive contract hoping to collect their cut. While there are exceptions, you'd be better off either a) marketing it yourself and finding an attorney to advise the transaction or b) finding a strategic buyer (competitor) with an advisor.

You have put a lot of sweat equity into your business - finding the wrong broker can waste years of your life in the time it takes to sign your name.