The best time to sell any business is when the business has shown a proven track record for profitability for at least 3 previous years with the year-to-date numbers showing comparable or better performance than the previous three. Anyone who understands business cycles knows that even though this is desirable that all too often even excellent businesses will show peaks and valleys in their performance. It is difficult to always have your best year every year. Sometimes business owners need to sell because of health problems or other life curcumstances that dictate they put their attention elsewhere. In these cases the best time to sell is before the business deteriorates because of inability of the owner to give proper attention. Trying to sell a business that is not showing reasonable profitability is difficult if not impossible. Generally the absolute best time to sell any business is when things are going so well you don't want or need to sell.