As a CFO, one of the most common questions I get is how a business owner can grow or increase the value of their business.

While you should always be looking for ways to increase value, this is really important if you are being acquired by another business, preparing financial statements, or if you have an employee stock ownership plan in litigation or divorces (among other things).

Here are some great ways to increase value:

1. Patent/trademark an aspect of your company that is unique
2. Build and document operational systems that are repeatable 
3. Make yourself replaceable (to be enticing to potential buyers)

You do these things and five to 10 times more EBITDA(Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) is possible.