buy a business Archives - Page 4 of 14 - Sell A Business Florida

Selling Your Business-2 Most Important Ingredients

By Scott | May 5, 2011 - 9:07 am |July 16, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, how to sell a business, Main, sell a business, sell a business florida, selling my business, small business ideas, small business owner

The Right Conditions For Selling Your Business

The sale of a business involves many terms and conditions by both the buyer and seller that must be met to consummate in a sale. Very often as you go thru the process of due diligence by both the buyer and seller, wants and needs are uncovered, and potential roadblocks to completing the sale can occur. Two important elements have a very strong impact on increasing the likelihood of a successful sale of a business.

When trying to sell your business are you working with:

An Interested-Qualified Buyer?.

An Interested business buyer
A Qualified business buyer

As a business broker based in Florida, one of my more important responsibilities when I represent a business owner selling their business is to qualify or “pre-screen” the various inquiries on the business for sale. There are many people that inquire/ask about a business for sale and probably less than 5% of those buyer prospects actually buy a business at all.

Difference Between Qualified And Interested Buyer

A Qualified buyer can mean many things, but having the adequate available cash, equity, financing, special skillset, proper personal family and life situations are important to establish.

An Interested Buyer is one that wants to buy the business. They have seen basic information on the business and based on that, if no significant negatives or unknowns surface, they want to buy the business. There will always be a lot of due diligence, verification, questions and answers, but this buyers desires to see the process move forward. If my wife and I were looking to buy a new home, and she finds a home that she likes- I am pretty much transformed into an Interested Buyer.

I may turn from looking to buy a home to working to buy this certain home. Issues may occur when doing the due diligence on buying the home but I task these as issues to overcome, not reasons to get out of the deal- If I am a truly interested buyer (and or my wife really wants the house).

Photo (c) kathleenrichardson-mauro.com/

When going through proper due diligence many discoveries and discrepancies can be uncovered. When you have a Seller that is truly interested in selling their business and you are working with an interested and qualified buyer, issues uncovered in due diligence are not “Gothcha” moments but rather are business related issues that both parties seek equitable resolution and or explanation on. Issues that surface become hurdles but not roadblocks.

Buying and selling a business is a process. When Selling your business at some point in the process you ascertain that you are working with an interested qualified buyer. From my perspective, having an interested Seller and recognizing that you are working with a truly interested qualified buyer are two important ingredients towards a successful sale of a business.

You Want to Sell Your Business Someday How to Prepare Today

By Scott | March 14, 2011 - 7:44 am |December 15, 2014 business broker florida, buy a business, entrepreneur, Main, sell a business, sell a business florida, selling my business, small business ideas, small business owner

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Every Business Needs an Exit Strategy. Do you want to Run Your Business Forever? Do you Want to Sell your business? Do you want to leave your business to your children? Do you want to sell your business to Your Employees? Do you Just want to close your doors and Move on? How do you want to exit your business ?- And when?

Recently a good friend of mine that is a successful business owner contacted me about the prospect of selling his business in a few years. He asked me to contact him regarding what he may want to be doing now to prepare his business for sale. He has a successful growing business, he has grown his number of employees from 10 to 75 over the last 18 months. He is effective at gaining new contracts and growing revenue, but like so many businessmen, he has never attempted to sell his business.

Devising An Exit Strategy For Selling Your Business

Normally during the startup of a new business the thought of an exit strategy is not even a consideration. Then small business owners get so involved with the day-today operation of their businesses that again an exit strategy is either not even thought of or possibly just put on the back burner. Taking some time to put some thought into your exit strategy can go a long way to increasing your odds of exiting your business the way you desire to.

Planning, gaining knowledge, and preparing may be the 3 most important measures you can take when considering an effective exit strategy.

If your exit strategy involves an interest in trying to successfully sell your business in several years, what sort of measures or actions should a business owner take to make this successful:

Make sure your financials are in order. Clean understandable Income Statements and Balance Sheets will add value to your business.
Systematize and document your operations and procedures. Well documented policies, procedures and practices are a sign of a well run company and probably would help your company run better, and add value. If you got hit by a truck tomorrow could someone use your documented practices to help continue run your business?
Move your business towards a business that does not rely on you. Do your customers do business with your company or do customers do business with you. When you go to sell your business are you selling a business that is dependent on you the owner or a self-sustaining business based on a solid philosophy, solid customer service and reliable employees and practices. Or when you go away, does your business go away?
Speak to your trusted advisers- let them know your intentions see if they have any input suggestions that could help move you towards this goal. Trusted advisers may include your attorney, CPA, financial advisor, business brokers.
Learn by speaking to your trusted advisers what are the most important aspects that affect your business value. How does one value your business? What is most important to business buyers?- Your Assets, your cash flow, your sales, your number of customers, your patents, trademarks, your competitive advantage. Learn what the real driving factors are behind raising the value of your business and work on them. Understand that not all businesses that attempt to sell actually do find a business buyer and sell.
Running your business and concurrently, preparing your business for sale is a viable approach towards business transition. It is not a” one or the other approach”. Preparing your business for sale does not need to get in the way of running your business, and most measures improve your business. If you make needed improvements to your business and or operations and decide not to sell your business or exit your business, you still most likely will have a better business on your hands.

For planning purposes try to learn what the potential value of your business may be. Also educate yourself on the business buying or selling marketplace. It is not always the same. Selling a business during the 90’s was different than selling a business in 2006, and is significantly different than selling a business in 2010… and different than 2015 or 2020.

If you think you want to sell your business in 5 years for $1M, attempt to understand what realistically your approximate value may be today. If your business may realistically only be worth $250,000- change your expectations, change your time frame, or maybe more importantly get to work on making necessary changes to your business.

Business Owner vs. Employee the Grass is Greener?-Business Broker Perspective

By Scott | March 2, 2011 - 9:47 am |July 16, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, how to sell a business, Main, selling my business, small business owner

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I am in the business of helping people buy and sell businesses. So many future business owners currently work for someone else. Very often the thought process is that one would enjoy their professional career if they “worked for themselves”. During my professional business career after college I have been an employee of others for about 5 years and have been a business owner with as few as 1 employee to 25 plus employees for approximately 25 years. I feel I do have some perspective from both sides of the coin.

Is It Better To Be An Employee Or A Business Owner?

I think you could talk with business owners and find that there are several that feel being employee has many benefits, and if one talks with employees you can find many that would like to be their own boss. And of course there are the group of those that are happy or satisfied being either an employee or a business owner.

But so often we are tugged by the concept that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Many prospective business buyers that I work with are ready to do something on their own. They have had very reasonable business careers working for others but are ready make the move to buy a business or start a business and no longer be an employee.

Why may an existing employee want to buy a business or start a business–

Photo (c) reachvision.org

want to do it my way
feel I can do it so much better
feel being an employee is too limited
No longer believe in the company I am working for nor my job
Want to make more money ( maybe this should be at the top of the list)

Why would a business owner consider working for someone else as a good thing. Again part of my role as a professional business broker in Florida is working with business owners looking to sell their businesses. Part of the process of what I do is the discussion regarding what one may do after selling their business. The responses I get are very dependent on ones age and the amount of money one may gain upon the sale of their business. Age is a very strong determinant.

Looking At The Long-Term Goals

But when we all get excited upon the idea of starting a new business or buying a business, its hard to “fast forward” and visualize a long term business owner that is somewhat exhausted by the demands of owing a business- and working for someone else is a pretty good option. Maybe not as good as selling your business and sitting next to a pile of cash sitting on the beach drinking frozen cocktails. But this option is not always possible. Selling your business and going to work for others may bring on the following feelings and thoughts-

Liberating- The thought of not having to carry around the strains that go with running and owning a business for many years can be very liberating
As a business owner the thought of collecting a paycheck on Friday instead of worrying about making payroll is appealing
As a business owner you get to make all the important decision. Not having to make the important decision may seem like a good thing
As a business owner you find that employees get paid 1st you get paid 2nd. At times that can be very rewarding, other times dealing with the unknown is difficult
When an employee crashes a truck your workload/cost may have just skyrocketed. As an employee this event may result in no more than idle banter in the break room.

All of us business owners and employee out there knows the list can go on and on. Want to buy a business? Want to Sell a business? Want to Start a business? The grass is not always greener on the other side, but very often we need to jump the fence and see for ourselves.

11 Steps to Business Failure in 2011

By Scott | February 11, 2011 - 9:35 am |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, how to sell a business, Main, sell a business, selling my business, small business ideas, small business owner

How To Avoid Business Failure?

Find something that is working and try to make it repetitive. Find something that is not working and try to eliminate it before it brings further undesirable results.

I have a good friend that is an attorney and we would discuss business and he accounted his success to the fact that he consistently and diligently returned phone calls. To that I say What? Something so simple as just returning a phone call made you better than your counterparts? And the answer to that is yes. Not everyone does return phone calls or emails . So you can be better than the next guy by just returning phone calls.

To me this business practice is just a given, but I find to others it is more of an “optional service” that they provide. Sometimes the difference between success and failure is not some long winded algorithm or new gee-whiz technology, it is focus on the basics and do them right and do them consistently. Currently I am a business broker based in Florida and work with small business owners in the process of buying and selling businesses. I consistently find so many of the business issues I have had as a business owner are shared by so many other business owners.

Photo (c) theidgroup.co.uk

Tips For Steering Clear Of Business Failure

Do you want to have a better business? Do you want to improve your business? Then review the below list. If you are wondering what may be the fast track to business failure then use the below as a guideline:

Dont keep good track of your numbers and dont feel the need to really understand them. That job should be for others.
Dont return emails phone calls timely
Continue to delay your involvement with Internet marketing, social marketing and website optimization
Dont pay attention to existing customers and clients
Be willing to treat customers and employees improperly, as long as you the business owner benefit, and when you do something wrong to others that benefit you- assure yourself that its “just business”.
Dont take any time to review where you are spending your advertising/marketing dollars. Assume that even though you have not been getting results from your current efforts that if you do nothing long enough results will occur… eventually.
Dont embrace technology, continue to fight it and close your mind to “new ways”.
As a business owner dont take any time planning for a business exit strategy
Minimize the value of input from employees. You are the boss and because of that fact your way is the only way.
People say “either your business grows or your business dies”- dont believe that. Believe you have enough customers right now and that is good enough.
Dont worry about any long term planning. Long term planning is really a waste of your valuable time.

Like most list, this list as well can go on and on. Want to run a better business in 2011?

Its not Who You Know its Who Knows You

By Scott | January 31, 2011 - 6:52 am |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, how to sell a business, Main, sell a business, sell a business florida, selling my business

Establishing The Right Relationships

We use various means to establish those relationships. When we make it our goal to grow our businesses by “getting out there and meeting more people”, that effort can be somewhat miss-guided. For every business person the needs are a little different. I help people buy and sell business. I strive to speak to more people that are considering buying a business.

I also prospect and market to reach small business owners that have an interest in selling their business. In some businesses the largest asset may be the production equipment, in others it may be their building they own, in my business as a business broker my largest asset along with my experiences may be my business relationships.

Actually to me the concept of Business Relationships has changed significantly over the last several years with the evolving of the internet and social media. And the definition of a business relation has become somewhat blurred.

“On Facebook I have 1800 friends”, “on Twitter 12,000 Follow Me and I follow 14,000” “On Linked-In I have 2200 Contacts”.- I actually dont have these sort of numbers but many of us know people that do. The real fact, at least for me, is that if I have to use all my fingers and toes to count my real friends I consider myself fortunate.

Photo (c) sheranescloset.com

Does Knowing People Mean That They Know You?

Do the 1800 Facebook friends know you ?, Do the 14,000 on Twitter know you?, Of the 2200 Contacts on Link-ed In , how many are going to shoot me an email when they want to Buy a Business or Sell a Business in Florida, or buy printer paper, or get my lawn service, or whatever my business offers?

As we strive to network and expand our sphere of relationships I recently got reminded of the actual goal of this effort , or rather what the end result of this effort should actually be. Very often I think thru my networking efforts, I want to meet people, when really what I want to do is have people meet me, get to know me. I know who President Obama is, I don`t really”know” President Obama. So I know of President Obama- does that help my business -no. But what if President Obama knew me or knew of me?

I know of Bill Gates-Microsoft. So what? What if Bill Gates knew of me? But from a practical standpoint, knowing the president of the small business right here on Main St is nice, but meeting him and striving to get him to know me, and when he and his friends are talking and one strikes up the all to common conversation of ” Do you know anyone who…..” can help me buy a business in Florida, this small business owner can say yes, I know this great business broker and his name is…

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