Real Life Money
5–7 Year Exit Strategy

Build. Franchise.
Sell.

A realistic plan to grow Real Life Money from a Bristol side business into a scalable, systemised operation — and sell for £100,000+ within seven years.

£100k+
Target exit valuation
5–7
Years to exit
3
Phases
£30k+
Annual revenue target by exit
The core challenge
Right now, the business is you
A buyer won't pay £100k for a personal brand that walks out the door when you leave. The entire plan is about making Real Life Money work independently of Leo Dennis — through systemised delivery, licensed facilitators, and digital assets.
Why it's achievable
The model is already proven
You have pilot data, real testimonials, a working curriculum and a repeatable delivery format. Most businesses fail at the proof stage. You've passed it. The next challenge is replication — which is a solvable problem.
What a buyer pays for
Revenue, systems, and brand
Buyers of small service businesses typically pay 1-3× annual revenue. At £30k annual revenue with clean systems, licensed facilitators and recurring school contracts, a 3× multiple gives you £90k+. Add digital product revenue and the brand, and £100k is very reachable.
1
Phase One · Year 1–2

Build and prove
the Bristol model

📍 Bristol only · Solo delivery · Systemise everything
🏫
School pipeline — your biggest lever
  • Secure 3–5 Bristol school contracts for the academic year. Your headteacher's network is the fastest route.
  • Build a repeatable school pitch deck, onboarding process and post-course report.
  • Each school course = £1,200–£2,000. Three per term = meaningful recurring revenue.
  • Document everything — a school partner SLA template, pricing structure, delivery checklist.
📚
Build the curriculum as a product
  • Write up every session as a formal facilitator guide — scripts, timings, activities, Q&A prompts.
  • Create a complete "course in a box" — slides, card games, worksheets, PDF notes, all branded.
  • This is the asset you will eventually license. Make it so good that someone else could deliver it.
  • Version control everything — this becomes your intellectual property and the core of any sale.
💻
Digital products and online presence
  • Launch the paid £20 PDF guide and the free lead magnet version.
  • Build the social media following (the 7-week plan is the start of this).
  • Explore recording the course as an online version — even a rough version creates a digital asset.
  • Email list target: 500 subscribers by end of Year 1. These are recurring potential buyers.
📊
Track and document everything
  • Keep clean accounts from day one — income by stream, costs, margin per course type.
  • Collect and store all survey data, testimonials, confidence shift numbers.
  • Build a simple CRM — a spreadsheet tracking every lead, every school, every attendee.
  • A buyer will do due diligence. Clean records = higher confidence = higher multiple.
Phase 1 target
Bristol model proven. Systems documented.
Revenue consistent and growing.
£18–25k
annual revenue by end Year 2
⚠️
Key risk: burnout
You're a full-time teacher building a side business. Phase 1 is the hardest phase physically. Limit yourself to a maximum of two evening courses per month alongside school contracts. The business needs to be sustainable or it won't reach Phase 2.
2
Phase Two · Year 2–4

Systemise and expand
the franchise model

🌍 Bristol + 2–3 new cities · Licensed facilitators · Passive revenue
🤝
The facilitator licensing model
  • Recruit 1–2 licensed facilitators per new city — ideally ex-financial advisers or finance-literate teachers who want a side income.
  • They deliver Real Life Money courses using your curriculum and brand. You train them, they pay a licence fee or revenue share.
  • Model: facilitator keeps 60–70% of course revenue, Real Life Money takes 30–40%. On a £900 course, that's £270–360 to you per course delivered without your time.
  • Target cities Year 3: one nearby — Cardiff, Bath, or Exeter. Year 4: Birmingham or Manchester.
📋
Build the franchise infrastructure
  • Facilitator training programme — a formal 1-2 day onboarding, assessed delivery, certification.
  • Brand guidelines, delivery standards, quality control process.
  • A simple CRM or booking system that works across all cities.
  • Legal: a proper licence agreement written by a solicitor. This protects the IP and defines the relationship clearly. Budget ~£500-1,000 for this.
🌐
Online course launch
  • Record the full investing course as an online version — Teachable or Kajabi. Price at £49–£79.
  • This decouples revenue entirely from delivery hours — the holy grail of scalable income.
  • Your social media following (building from Year 1) becomes your distribution channel.
  • Even 10 sales per month at £59 = £7,080/year of near-passive revenue that adds directly to valuation.
🏢
Corporate and school contracts at scale
  • Target multi-academy trusts — one contract can cover 5–10 schools. This is where school revenue gets interesting.
  • Build an employer wellbeing offering with a formal brochure, pricing structure and client case studies.
  • Recurring annual contracts with schools or trusts are far more valuable to a buyer than one-off courses. Aim for 3-year agreements.
  • Consider a white-label version for financial wellbeing platforms who want to license your content.
Phase 2 target
2–3 cities. 3–5 facilitators. Online course live.
Revenue no longer solely dependent on you.
£35–55k
annual revenue by end Year 4
⚠️
Key risk: quality control
Your reputation is built on your delivery quality. A bad facilitator in Cardiff damages the Real Life Money brand everywhere. Invest properly in training, assessment and a probation period before any facilitator goes live. One negative review from a licensed delivery is harder to recover from than a slow growth month.
3
Phase Three · Year 4–7

Prepare the business
for sale

🎯 Exit ready · Clean books · Business runs without you
📈
Make yourself unnecessary
  • Gradually hand Bristol course delivery to a local facilitator. You become the trainer and brand, not the deliverer.
  • Build a small operations layer — a part-time coordinator who handles bookings, facilitator comms and admin.
  • The business should be able to run for 3 months without you actively doing anything.
  • Document every process — a full operations manual. This is what a buyer is paying for.
📑
Three years of clean accounts
  • Use an accountant from Year 1 onwards. This is non-negotiable — buyers want audited or at least professionally prepared accounts.
  • Separate business and personal finances completely. Business bank account, business expenses only.
  • Track recurring vs one-off revenue separately. Recurring revenue (school contracts, online course) is worth more to a buyer than sporadic course income.
  • Aim for 3 consecutive years of revenue growth before going to market.
🔒
Protect and formalise the IP
  • Trademark the Real Life Money name if you haven't already — a registered trademark adds tangible value.
  • All curriculum materials formally copyrighted and owned by the business, not by you personally.
  • Facilitator agreements, school contracts, and employer agreements all formally documented with proper terms.
  • Get a solicitor to review all contracts before exit — buyers will want everything watertight.
🎯
Find the right buyer
  • Strategic buyer: a financial wellbeing company (like Planned Future or FinWELL) who wants to acquire your curriculum, brand and facilitator network. Often pays a premium.
  • Individual buyer: someone who wants to run and grow an established education business. Likely a teacher, ex-adviser, or education entrepreneur.
  • Private equity: unlikely at your scale, but possible if revenues hit £50k+ consistently.
  • List on Businesses For Sale, Daltons Business, or use a broker for SME sales (typically 5-10% of sale price).
Exit target
Business runs without you. 3 years clean accounts.
Recurring revenue. Multiple cities. IP protected.
£100k+
sale price target
How the valuation works

How you get to £100k+

Small service businesses typically sell for 1–3× annual revenue, or 3–5× EBITDA (profit before interest, tax, depreciation). Here's the maths.

Conservative scenario
£30k annual revenue · 3× multiple
Bristol school contracts (£12k), 2 facilitator cities (£8k licence fees), online course (£4k), evening courses (£4k), 1:1 sessions (£2k). Clean accounts, documented systems, but still relatively early stage.
£90,000
Realistic target scenario
£38k annual revenue · 3× multiple + brand premium
Multi-academy trust contracts (£15k), 4 facilitator cities (£14k), online course growing (£6k), digital products (£3k). 3 years clean accounts. Trademark registered. Operations manual complete.
£114,000–£130,000
What adds premium value
The things that push the multiple higher
  • ✓Multi-year school/trust contracts (recurring, predictable)
  • ✓Online course revenue (passive, scalable)
  • ✓Registered trademark on Real Life Money
  • ✓5,000+ social media followers (distribution asset)
  • ✓Business runs without founder involvement
  • ✓Press coverage and brand recognition
What reduces value
The things to fix before going to market
  • ✗Revenue entirely dependent on your personal delivery
  • ✗No formal contracts — everything done on trust
  • ✗Mixed personal and business finances
  • ✗Inconsistent revenue — feast and famine months
  • ✗No operations documentation
  • ✗IP not formally protected or assigned to the business
Year by year

The full schedule

What to focus on each year — one or two primary goals per year, not everything at once.

Year Primary focus Key milestones Revenue target Exit readiness
Year 1Phase 1 Fill Bristol courses consistently. Land first school contract. 3 school contracts · 500 email subscribers · £20 PDF guide live · Clean business accounts opened · First press feature £12–18k 10% — product exists, not yet systematised
Year 2Phase 1 Systemise everything. Write the facilitator guide. Build the "course in a box". Facilitator guide complete · 5 school contracts · First employer annual contract · Online course recorded (rough version) · Trademark application submitted £18–25k 30% — systems documented, IP protected
Year 3Phase 2 Launch in first new city. Recruit and train first facilitator. City 2 live (Cardiff/Bath) · 2 active facilitators · Online course properly launched · 1,500 social followers · First multi-academy trust contract £25–35k 50% — model replicating without you
Year 4Phase 2 Third city. Passive revenue growing. Reduce personal delivery hours. City 3 live · 4–5 facilitators · Online course generating £500+/month · 3,000 social followers · Operations manual written £35–50k 65% — meaningful passive revenue stream
Year 5Phase 3 Exit preparation begins. Make yourself operationally unnecessary. Bristol delivery handed to facilitator · Part-time coordinator hired · Solicitor reviews all contracts · First buyer conversations (informal) · 3 years clean accounts available £40–55k 80% — business runs without founder
Year 6–7Phase 3 Go to market. Find the right buyer. Negotiate and exit. Business listed for sale · Due diligence complete · Handover plan agreed · Sale completed · Ongoing consultancy period (6–12 months typical) £45–60k ✓ Exit ready
Exit options

Three ways to sell

🏢
Strategic acquisition
A financial wellbeing company (Planned Future, FinWELL, or similar) acquires Real Life Money to expand their curriculum, gain your school relationships, and absorb your facilitator network. They likely pay a premium because they're buying market access, not just revenue.
£100–150k likely
👤
Individual buyer
An ex-financial adviser, teacher, or education entrepreneur who wants a proven, systemised business to run and grow. Listed on Businesses For Sale or Daltons. Cleanest exit — handover period, then done. Price based purely on revenue multiple.
£90–120k likely
🔄
Partial sale / investor
Sell 50% to a partner or investor in Year 4–5 to fund expansion, then sell the remaining stake at a higher valuation in Year 6–7. Gives you capital to grow faster while reducing personal risk. More complex but potentially higher total return.
£130k+ total possible
One final honest note
£100k in 5–7 years is achievable but not guaranteed. The biggest variables are the school pipeline (your highest-margin channel), the quality of your first facilitators (make or break for expansion), and whether you can tolerate the grind of building this alongside full-time teaching. If you get the school contracts and one or two cities working, the valuation takes care of itself. Focus on those two things above everything else.

Real Life Money — 5–7 Year Exit Strategy · Review annually and adjust based on actual results