Top 3 Things I Get ASked as a business broker

Full disclosure, even I didn't know this was a thing until a few years ago — and I even purchased an existing business and still didn't know that businesses were "transacted" between buyer and seller.

Problem: I propose that not many business leaders are aware of this uber-specific niche strategy for a variety of reasons but mostly because so few small businesses are 

A. Profitable 
B. Sale-able  
C. Matched with a team that can successfully market and transact the business.

It is for the above 3 reasons that most small business owners simply go out of business when they're ready to exit instead of turning their hard work into a cash payment.

Finding a qualified buyer is harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

And, for buyers, finding a profitable, sale-able business they can buy immediately is just as hard. 

So, when small business leaders are first introduced to my work as a business broker they usually ask one of the following three questions. 

1. What's my business worth?
2. Can you sell my business? 
3. So, you're telling me I can buy a business?

It's very difficult to address all three of these questions with encyclopedic comprehension in a blog post, so I'll give you a few high level pointers and encourage you to reach out to me via email if you'd like to chat more in depth about your specific circumstances.

1. What's my business worth? 

The value of your business depends on a variety of factors including but not limited to:

• your top line revenues or sales
  
• your profitability (which is not the same as sales revenues)
  
• historical consistency of your sales
  
• your size and number of employees
  
• how long the business has been around
  
• your industry

If your business owns real estate, there is a somewhat complex relationship between a real estate valuation and business valuation that can significantly affect your payout at closing.

2. Can you sell my business? 

Our team specializes in transacting small businesses in Texas that have been in business for over 3 years, have 5+ employees, and revenues greater than $500k annually.

With that said, there are 30 mission critical steps to successfully transacting a business and I cannot stress enough that it is very important to start this planning process 3-5 years before you plan to exit. Many of the strategies that must be implemented in order to maximize your businesses value do not happen overnight. 

3. So, you're telling me I can buy a business — like a car? 

Yes, is the short answer, although it's not quite as easy as pulling up the local "used business listings" and filtering search results for your wants and needs BUT, the concept is similar.

I usually get this question from tenured business leaders working in Corporate America. They're educated, skilled, loyal and sick to death of working for someone else! They are literally dying for freedom of time, money, and purpose. 

If these folks knew that they could leverage SBA funding to buy a profitable small business and replace their current earnings for 10% down on $500k-$1M loan, and call all the freaking shots and still make it to the kids basketball game on time, we'd see a lot more of these transactions especially right now as Baby Boomers are exiting small business for retirement in droves!

As a matter of fact, I shared a few resources with a business buyer prospect the other day that you might also find helpful:

Read: Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Start Up Game

Listen To: The Deal Board Podcast

Sign Up: for my newsletter so you can get VIP access to small business deals before they go public!

If any of these questions have ever crossed your mind and you want to learn more about what opportunities you qualify for, let's chat! 

If time and money were of no consequence, what kind of small business would you love to buy and own?