Joanna Oakey is a commercial lawyer and deal maker with a passion for business, who has worked with hundreds of businesses during her 2 decades in the industry, as they are acquiring and exiting. Joanna is the host of The Deal Room (Australia’s top legal podcast on SME mergers and acquisitions). She is the Managing Director of Aspect Legal, a commercial legal firm that specialises in helping growing businesses acquire, consolidate for growth by building a fortress around their assets, and eventually exit in a way that draws the optimal value they deserve out of their business.
Published Articles
Why the Smarter Deal Structure can Sometimes Make a Sale Feel...
A few months ago I had a seller come to me with what, on the face of it, should have been a straightforward business sale. The deal didn’t blow up and it just quietly became harder than it ever needed to be. Turnover was under $2 million. Solid margins... Read More » 3 min read
Engineering a Higher 4x Profit Valuation with the Acquisition...
After 14 years running his engineering consultancy, David (name changed for privacy) received the call most business owners dream of: an unsolicited offer to buy his company. The price? Four times profit, already a decent return. But David wasn’t ready to... Read More » 2 min read
Why the Right Deal Team Matters: A Case Study in Smart Colla...
Sometimes, a deal looks simple on paper — but what happens behind the scenes tells a very different story. This recent sale of a family retail business is a case in point. At first glance, it ticked all the boxes: motivated seller, committed buyer, healthy... Read More » 2 min read
2024's Biggest Deal Breakers: What Really Killed SME Deals Last...
While we saw many business sales make it across the finish line in 2024, we also watched several promising ones fall apart. On review, one truth stands out: deals rarely died because of price alone. While market conditions and financing issues play their... Read More » 3 min read
Unlocking New Avenues of Growth Through Business Acquisition...
In the world of business + growth, sometimes you need more than just a solid marketing plan and a strong coffee to grow your empire. This is where acquisitions come into play—a bit like finding a ready-made veggie patch instead of planting all your... Read More » 2 min read
Building to Sell: 5 Ways to Increase Business Value Before...
A buyer’s due diligence will focus on how well value can be transferred to a new owner and any risks involved in the transferring of that value. Unfortunately, it is often the case that by the time a business owner thinks about exiting, the horse has... Read More » 3 min read
Why Every Small Business Owner Should Understand “Earnouts...
Many business exits are based on the seller being connected to a business for a period after completion through what’s called an ‘earnout’. Earnouts usually operate on the basis that a payment is made to the seller at completion, and then... Read More » 4 min read
5 Critical Steps for Maximising the Sale of your Business
Often when a business owner decides to think about exit, the horse has already bolted – it’s too late to put in place key elements that would have maximised the value of their business. As the seller, there are three major considerations for a... Read More » 4 min read
Three Strategies to Combat “Quiet Quitting”
While the Australian economy is in the midst of a tightened labour market, inflation and a skills shortage, the emergence of ‘quiet quitting’ as a trend is not surprising. There are various opinions on whether this is in fact a trend employers... Read More » 3 min read
