business broker florida Archives - Page 7 of 14

Number 1 Reason For Selling Your Business

By Scott | December 2, 2010 - 6:35 am |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, Main, sell a business, sell a business florida, selling my business, small business ideas, small business owner

Solid Reason For Selling Your Business

Good businesses get sold for very good reasons. Being “ready to do something else” is a good reason. A seller of a business needs to be ready to sell. Really- you only really exit your business by 2 means.

1. By your choice-your timeframe, your plan.

2. Not by your choice– closing due to business failure, business conditions, bankruptcy,Forced Sale.

Granted there may be certain undesirable business or personal events that prompts one to “be ready”. A business owner may have additional employee problems and decide that enough is enough and that is the impetus to sell ones business. New frustrating regulation, customer problems, and any one of numerous problems a business owner may face may be the “final straw” and induce a business owner to pursue the sale of the business.

But again for any business owner that has owned and managed a business for an extended period of time problems such as these come and go. Business can be going quite well and the owner may just be ready to move on. Actually selling a business while the business is doing well is a well thought out exit strategy for a business owner. And yes problems can and, do come along with the business. Problems within the business does not make a business a bad business.

A business owner may “just be Ready” to:

retire
try something new- a second career
want to move or relocate
Just be done running the business I have been running for the last 20 years

I am not aware of the existence of a Perfect Business. Even the best of business opportunities will likely contain issues and or undesirable situations. But if you truly want to own your own business and move into the role of business owner- Understand that good business are being sold by business owners that are just ready…. to move on.

7 Ways to Improve Your Business that Cost No Money

By Scott | November 17, 2010 - 12:37 pm |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, entrepreneur, Main, sell a business florida, selling my business, small business ideas, small business owner

What Can I Do To Improve My Business With Limited Or No Money

1.Look at your company from the perspective of a customer. Can you do that?, can you pretend you are a customer trying to do business with your company. You send an inquiry via email, you place a call into your company- what happens?. We all have dealt with companies that customer service seems more like “How to effectively get a customer off the phone” instead of ” I wont let you hang up the phone until I know I have completely helped you to fulfillment” IS it a pleasant experience to do business with your business?

2. Attempt to surround yourself with more beneficial synergistic strategic partners-

As a business broker I have various strategic partners that allow me to best assist my clients. These professionals include, Attorneys, Accountants, bankers and Financial people. Not so long ago I relocated to a city 5 hours away. Among other things, I needed to develop a new “team” that I could rely on that help me help my clients. I researched banks that do a lot of SBA loans to small business, migrated thru the company website, found a point of contact that I had an interest in meeting with, sent an email, and got an email back saying “going on vacation back in 2 weeks, call me then”. I proceeded to pursue a relationship with someone that would call me back., passed over this prospective strategic partner and found someone that I feel may develop into a mutually beneficial business relationship. My clients will benefit from my valued strategic partners.

3. Use the Internet more

Photo (c) highachievingwomen.biz

post a blog- how much does that cost?
post a tweet about a sale, a special or event- We’ve all heard/read that this can be a good idea- just do it.
check out a site such as Fiverr.com and see if someone can do something for you for $5. Are there other sites that facilitate low cost solutions? Can you afford to make a $5 error?
Try something you haven’t tried- a video, guest blogging, join more related forums or user groups, start a group.

4. Educate yourself– take some time out of your day to read other related blogs info on your industry or specific area of focus. Commit yourself to learn your own financials better than you presently do. Again the ROI on your time invested in this can be quite high.

5. Go to a network meeting– there are several available in most communities that are either free or cost a couple bucks. How much could you benefit from making that “right contact”.

6. Consider a Freelancer– Are there some functions/task that you currently are having performed that may be done more cost effectively thru an outside source such as a free lancer. Open your mind to it.

7. Treat all customers, prospects, employees, vendors with respect and integrity– The ROI on this no cost effort is immense

Dont ever stop trying something different. I have utilized the above items in my various business ventures throughout the years and still utilize them on a regular basis. If you are running a business, buying a business, or growing a business these low and no cost business practices will result in very good return on investment and usually all it takes to get these returns is to consider them and just do them.

Most Important Step to Starting,Running, Buying, or Selling a Business

By Scott | November 5, 2010 - 8:10 am |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, entrepreneur, how to sell a business, Main, sell a business, selling my business, small business ideas

1 Comment

You are looking to Start a Business. You are Running a Business. You are Buying a Business. You are Selling a Business. What is the most important step in any one of these ventures, And no the answer is not having unlimited deep pockets. To start, run, sell,or buy a business you need to understand that business. You need to understand not only the operational side of your business, you need to understand the financial side of your business.

I am a business broker in Florida and I help people buy and sell businesses. (and current and former business owner) This last week I completed a very busy week of helping an out of town business buyer visit several different businesses. Our intent of visiting these multiple businesses was an effort to understand the businesses. To buy a business you have to understand the business. A small business owner truly needs to understand the financial health of their business.

Running Your Business Successfully

Many, Many Many small business owners DO NOT understand the financial side of their business. Do you feel as an entrepreneur you need to understand the difference between a debit and credit or if you buy something if it should be a capital purchase or an operating expense. So many small business owners and entrepreneurs run their business using their gut as their guide, they can feel if their business is going good or bad.

Other small business owners look at their checkbook- if there is money in that things are ok. On the other side you may have a very successful business, you buy several new truck and new equipment with cash every year, you have very little money in the checkbook and “feel” you have an unsuccessful business. You could be very wrong. And yes it is also very easy to hire a CPA and or accountant and send all the monthly records to them, count on them to sort thru them and have them generate a report for you to maybe glance at and file away.

Photo (c) freelancefolder.com

Your CPA or accountant is a great place to start the learning process. The more you know, the more effective they can be to you. Your Balance sheet and your Income statement tell your companies story. You may feel your company is healthy, or improving, or getting better, or getting worse- your balances sheet or Income statement (Profit/Loss Statement) will tell you in a factual manner.

You need money for your business- you go to a banker or financial institution to get money, do you think they will listen to you tell them about your business and loan you money based on that. they will use your company financials to make that business decision. A few years ago banks I had worked with strongly considered your balances sheet to make loan decision. Now-a- days both Balance Sheets and income Statement both are a strong part of that evaluation. Why is that?. Understanding the “whys” about your business is important to your business.

In the preceding scenario a business may have a strong balance sheet due to significant assets like real estate owned or equipment owned by the company. But in current economic conditions the companies Income statement show that the business sales are down 25% and and shows losses for the last year- lending may not occur. The banks may not be all that excited about the fact that you own real estate thru your company.

The business buyer I was working with flew in town for 3 days for him and I to visit businesses. Most of the small business owners we visited had good businesses. Without divulging any confidential information, they all showed cash flow in excess of $200,000 per year. They (the respective business owners) all said they didn’t really understand the financial side of the business, but “here our our records for your review”. (after confidentiality agreements were signed) They could speak for hours about their customers, employees, procedures and ideas. Questions regarding financial information were usually answered with 1 or 2 brief sentences.

Buying A Business – The Right Way

The buyer I was working with was a very educated buyer, a President of a publicly held $40 Million company , and 30+ years of experience. He had looked thru maybe 30 businesses to narrow down visits to less than a handful. He and I both knew that to buy a business, he had to understand the business. We spent hours discussing the financials of the businesses.

You as an entrepreneur that is starting a business or running a business may someday want to sell your business. Understanding the true financial condition of your business is the 1st step to improving the financial condition of your business.

Buying a business is a very effective way to expand your customer base and Revenues. knowing how to read and understand the financial statements of others could be the difference of a business acquisition that is a success or a failure.

And when an educated buyer approaches you about buying your business, you provide the business buyer your Balance Sheet, your Income Statement, and your explanation and understanding of the true financial condition of your business may be the difference in someone buying your business at a good price or passing your business over to pursue other businesses to buy.

Running Your Business when Disaster Strikes

By Scott | October 29, 2010 - 10:57 am |July 17, 2013 business broker florida, buy a business, entrepreneur, selling my business, small business ideas

Dealing With Problems

A business owner needs to be able to deal with problem no matter the source of these problems if they wish to sustain. Disasters such as Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Cyclones, Tsunami. Mudslides, Monsoons, Terrorism, Floods, Fires occur. They always seem to affect someone else. “I really dont need to plan for a disaster because it always happens to someone else”.

I was that small business owner that was that someone else.

My business was struck by an arsonist…twice … that caused almost $1,000,000 in damages… while I was bedside in the emergency room of my 10 year old son that was injured in a bike accident… while my wife was 7 months pregnant.

There are percentages and statistics available that speak to how many businesses never survive a major fire and those numbers go from 50%-80%. We had 2 major fires withing 3 months of each other. I have not seen any numbers on those that survive 2 major fires.

I, with the help of so many managed the company thru those difficult times, ran the company for another 10 years, sold the business, the business continues to operate and I further my profession as a Business Broker.

The Impact Of A Disaster To Your Business

I would like to point out a few of my observations as I went thru this very difficult time that ultimately ended with the trial and conviction of a repeat arsonist… that ended up being a key employee.

1. You do not work thru a major disaster by yourself. I was assisted by my wife, my family, my employees, my friends, my community, my competitors. (One competitor allowed us to operate out of their facility during the middle of the night when their plant was normally un-occupied).- Others want to help, let them help.

2. You think you currently multi-task as a business owner, and then you find out what you are really capable of. Normally you are dealing with your customers, employees, vendors, facility, agencies, financial all at the same time. Now add in restoration contractors, Media, insurance agencies, fire Marshall’s, investigators,lawyers,police chief. Everything very fast,gets very busy, and you thought you had been busy before. Somehow our situation became a rather big story in the media. While dealing with the immediacy of the fire, calls were coming in from local TV, radio, Associated Press and Newspapers, and to find 5 minutes to speak with them became impossible.

I originally considered the media request s very low priority, but after getting home that nite at 10pm I had about 50 messages on my home phone of friends/acquaintances that had seen the fire on TV. These people were part of our customer base, and had me worried that our customers assumed we were out of business. I felt it was important to get the word out that the company is not done.

Business Media Coverage

I got on the phone and did a couple phone interviews with Associated Press, and scheduled time for the local TV crews to come out with cameras and interview. The focus of the TV news piece was on our intent to continue our business and continue serving our customers. After watching that report on the 6pm news, I think that report was instrumental in allowing our customers to see our intentions. I think its normal to seem overwhelming.

3. Look pass the disaster. Visualize your business not as it is during the disaster, but where it will be in one year. This can be easier said than done. may well wishers would tell me things like “that that doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” at the moment of hearing that, during a crisis, sounds somewhat hollow, but years removed from the crisis you can see some merit.

4. When you have a business and a disaster strikes, the line between business and personal becomes very blurred. We are all people first and businessmen second. Families are affected by disasters, people are affected by disasters, lives are affected by disasters- businesses get caught in the fallout of a disaster, but the importance of the business in a disaster is really a very distant second.

I am a Business Broker in Florida USA. My 8 year old son (then) is now in college, and while he once layed in the hospital for 8 weeks with tubes, and needles stuck throughout his body , he now is bigger, faster, stronger than I (andbeing a teenager, I know he will never read some of Dads boring blog stating such), My daughter that was born 2 weeks after the 2nd major fire is a healthy beautiful teenager.

I help people buy and sell businesses. Buying and selling a business is SO much more than financials and industries. It can be a life changing event. The emotional and the personal side of buying a business is very very real. I enjoy the financial analysis side of a business acquisition, but I know, I really know its the other stuff that is so much more important. I feel I understand the mechanics to a life changing event.

Negotiating from a Business Owner Business Broker Perspective

By Scott | October 19, 2010 - 9:50 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, small business ideas, small business owner

3 Comments

As a Small business owner or Entrepreneur, we find ourselves always negotiating. We negotiate with our vendors for better prices/terms. We negotiate with our spouses to spend just a few more hours at the office before we come home for dinner. I believe everyone’s views and methods of negotiation are as different as our taste in music.

Negotiating When Buying Or Selling A Business

My profession as a business broker certainly involves negotiations at most every step of the long process of buying and or selling a business. Someone “needs” to sell their business, he “needs to sell at this price”, according to all the other Business For Sale , his price is 3 x what other like businesses are asking, I find myself “negotiating or discussing” the merits of his target price. My previous position as an owner of a small business with 25 employees and handling manufacturing, transportation, multiple office locations, and distribution required constant negotiation. I used to formally review my employees on an annual basis.

They generally expected a raise. Before the meeting, I would calculate what the company could afford, set a range and meet with the employee. I never viewed this process as a meeting that allowed negotiation on wages. I viewed it as a means to allow di-directional feedback, but the wage increase was not an arbitrary number. Very often employees would ask for more, I think just because they thought that is what they were supposed to do- which is fine with me. They viewed this as a negotiation, I viewed it as something else.- This was just part of my personality or philosophy on negotiation. I had fantastic long term employees and we would later negotiate days off, holiday pay and other items, but raises were not a point of negotiation. Again, I think we all have our own unique views and ideas on negotiation.

Very often how ones negotiates may be a matter of his or hers personality. Other time “someone told me or taught me” how to negotiate and that becomes the norm. Currently as a business broker I do have to negotiate terms and conditions of me helping a business owner sell a business. The line between negotiation and discussion does become blurred and for me I think it is fine to have business negotiations and business discussion become one and the same thing.

My Negotiation Tips For You

1. I find I don`t get so caught up on the concept of negotiation and semantics. I find that we have a business decision to resolve, we have 2 parties seeking to resolve it, and the 2 parties work together to seek resolution. Put yourself in the position of having options and the process has the potential for the best results.

2. Its not always about price. I have been through the process of negotiating leases on a facilities, annual purchase orders with major suppliers, and larger purchases of capital equipment and many other “negotiable situation. Very often the person that I am trying to reach agreement with is very strong and firm upon the price they believe is needed. And in many situations I have been willing to accept the price desired by the other party, BUT I make absolute sure the other party hold true to every other term and condition within the agreement.

So my position is ok let us go with the price you desire, but it is mandated that delivery date, guarantees, support, followup and every other item involve with this matter is followed completely. At times I feel that such value can be added thru the other terms that the actual price is really a value to both parties. Or as it relates to my current profession as a business owner selling a business, I will give you a $50,000 price reduction, but I want a personal guarantee on the buyer, I want 8% interest instead of the 7% interest the buyer is offering for me to finance my business, and I want the owner to stay on as a free consultant for an extra 3 months. SO the person buying the business gets the reduced price, and the seller gets some real added value.

Photo (c) thesologuide.com

3. One more point about price. How many times have we been working thru a deal and felt the need to drive the price down to a level that the seller is willing to accept but not really happy with. Then a week later when we want this little extra help or assistance or concession and we hear “We’re already losing money on this deal and we really cant help you with that”.

4. Really a good deal is a deal that is good for both parties. Sometimes one party can leave the “negotiating table ” knowing that it is a great deal for him/her, and knowing that the other party is “taking a hit”. How does that help sustain an ongoing relationship. There are businesses that are ok with the “one and done” concept and have little regard to the effect on the other party. I think our globe is fairly small, and getting smaller and I aspire, plan and count on all business relationship being perpetual. Again the example about buying or selling a business.

If you are selling a business and you want a price that is higher than the actual business can justify, and if you provide some seller financing to the buyers, what is going to be the result of you getting this inflated price. Very likely it results in the buyers of the business, not being able to make payments to you, going into default, and you having to deal again with the business that you originally sold because you had not longer wished to be dealing with it.

5. Dont mistake negotiating with wishing or hoping. If you know the terms that you need to attain to make the deal make sense to you, be prepared to walk away from the deal. Are you making an offer and hoping /wishing the other party takes it because you know you want or “need” this product or service? Be prepared to walk away form the deal, again try to put yourself in the position of having options. If someone is wanting to buy a Towing Business and makes a bottom line offer to someone selling, it helps the potential buyer knows that there are 3 other similar towing businesses for sale in the area and is fully prepared to pursue these other options.

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