by Glen Cooper, CBI, CBA, BVAL
Buying a business is the right thing to do for some people.
In this series of five blogs/podcasts, I am discussing all of the major issues about buying a business, especially in today’s opportunity-filled market. This is part 2.
This blog/podcast is about what you, the individual buyer, might want, what you should expect to get, and how you should go about doing it, if you decide this unique and special “buying-a-business” path is for you.
Those of you who are individual buyer prospects are usually looking for a business that will employ you as owner/operator. Because you are investing your hard earned money, you want to know that it’s worth it. You want to “run your own show,” an unparalleled personal growth experience. In Maine, especially, we buy businesses that improve our lifestyle. In some cases, it’s more than lifestyle—it’s a personal mission! We intend to leave our mark.
Can you reasonably achieve these objectives with a business purchase? Can you do it now, during a recession?
Yes, you can!
In Part 1 of this series, we listed the five major benefits buyers seek when they buy a business: 1) a job, 2) an investment, 3) an opportunity for personal growth, 4) a chance to live a great lifestyle, and 5) a chance to make a mark and leave some kind of legacy.
We also discussed that buying a business offers all of that by providing its new owner with: 1) immediate cash flow, 2) a known business market position, 3) working systems, 4) trained employees, and 5) the assistance of the business seller.
Do You Have the Resources?
To buy a business, you need money, skills, energy and time.
Money is an obvious, and how much you need depends, of course, on what you plan to buy. A quick “rule of thumb” for individuals might be that the cash needed for a down payment is often about 1½ times the annual profit expected from the business.
Skills required are mostly sales skills, not accounting or even general management skills. If a buyer knows how to sell, everything else is made easier. Sales skills are toughest to teach. People management skills are more important as the business gets larger, but getting the sales right is the big deal for most businesses.
Energy is another essential. Buying a business requires as much energy as running a business. If you’re not full of enthusiasm and drive, you just won’t survive the rigors of negotiation, financing and transition.
Do You Have the Support?
To successfully buy a business, you need role models and a reservoir of personal knowledge. You also need sources of understanding and support, and the ability to take a risk.
Role models are keys to your life. Have you known a successful business owner in your family? Do you admire a business owner? If not, beware. If you spend your days dreaming of being someone’s top employee, you may not have the right model for your own future as a business owner.
You have to be dreaming of being a business owner to be one. Motivating day dreams and images are always important predictors of success in anything.
How’s your inventory of personal knowledge? And, I don’t just mean business knowledge. How well do you know yourself? How good is your knowledge of others? How well do you know how to advance your ideas? How well do you listen?
These types of questions are just as important as knowing about purchasing, pricing, and how to “brand” or position your product or service in a business.
You need to have support on the home front. Does you mother know where you are?! Your immediate family members have to “get it.” If your family history is only laced with models of employment, and not entrepreneurship, that could be a problem.
Those who are not themselves inspired by the idea of you running your own business will not understand why you are. They often think that you should just climb the corporate ladder and behave yourself in your cubicle!
Finally, can you take the investment risk of buying a business? I’m not talking about gambling in Las Vegas. That’s entertainment, not investment.
Business buyers who learn to run with their strengths are successful. Your experiences, talents, preferences and passions should all merge in your successful business purchase effort.
Go with what you know. If you have spent years in a specialty field, buy a business that uses that knowledge. If you are skilled at some unique aspect of business, buy one that needs that skill. Don’t throw past experiences away. Leverage these experiences.
Know your talents. Pay attention to what others admire about you. If you’re good at something, make sure the business you buy puts you in a position to demonstrate that talent. If you have excelled at some task in the past, make that part of the job you assign yourself in the business you buy.
Know your preferences. If you’re an introvert, you’ll need to learn to sell like an introvert, and not follow the usual extrovert model. If you’re a slow decision-maker, make sure you have a way to make quick decisions when that’s important. Don’t know what I’m writing about? If you’re not familiar with these preference “types,” there’s a good psychological test (the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - MBTI) that gives you a language to understand your preferences. You need to know about it. My favorite book on the subject is David Kiersey’s Please Understand Me, now in its revised Please Understand Me II edition and available at most large bookstores.
Get passionate about this. Do what you care about. If you can’t find a business in a field that you care about, buy a business that offers you a challenge you care about. All businesses are unique and serve unique markets. But, surprisingly, even an everyday business can offer the interesting challenge you desire.
After taking a personal inventory of your resources, background and support, and your ability to run with your strengths, you are now ready to start contacting sellers and brokers.
In the following blogs and podcasts on this subject, I will tell you 5 QUESTIONS you should to ask when you make your first contact with a business seller or business broker, how to follow a VALUATION STRATEGY that will put you in charge, and what NEGOTIATION STRATEGY you must adopt to get your best deal and keep you legally safe.
As I did in the previous blog, let me also point my readers to Richard Parker’s BizQuest blog at http://blog.bizquest.com/2009/04/buying-a-business-tips-and-updates.html. He provides many nice tips on buying and selling and I’m happy to link with him.
Tags: business opportunity buying, Buying A Business, buying a company, for sale maine business, how to buy a business, maine business brokers, maine businesses for sale, why buy a business
