Talking personal finances with anyone, let alone someone you don’t know very well, can be an intensely uncomfortable experience.

Conversations about how much money you have, how much money you make, what you can and can’t afford – these are typically considered off limits in normal day to day interaction.

When you enter the business marketplace with the intent of buying a business, you will be confronted with these seemingly intrusive questions basically from the start, and that can make the process of finding a business somewhat uncomfortable if you aren’t ready to talk about your money.

Who’s asking about my money?

The first person who will be asking about your financial situation is your own business broker – but you will also likely have to disclose financial statements to sellers, their brokers and the property manager or landlord of the business location.

Why do I need to be ready to talk money? Why can’t I just look at businesses I know I can afford?

While you might feel that it isn’t anyone’s business how much money you have for the purchase of a business, it is critically important that your own broker in particular knows how much you are working with. One of the major mistakes that buyers make is misjudging how much capital they will actually need to buy, and then run, a business. For example, if you have $100,000 available to buy a business, you probably shouldn’t be looking at businesses that are listed in the $150,000’s with the hopes of negotiating down. You need to remember that in addition to the purchase price, you will need to have funds available for licensing and permitting, for purchasing additional inventory, for securing the commercial lease and for keeping yourself afloat long enough to get the business turning a profit with you at the helm. If you use every last cent of your available cash to write the check at closing, then you have set yourself up for immediate failure.

What should I do instead?

Be very open and honest with your business broker from the start, and then listen to their advice about what businesses you can and can’t afford. A good broker doesn’t want to see you fail because the success of the small business community is a broker’s bread and butter. Don’t be offended when your broker says “you can’t afford that” because they want you to succeed – not shoot yourself in the foot.

What about a deal with seller financing? Doesn’t that mean I can buy any business?

Definitely not. Many buyers come to the market expecting to put very little money down and have a seller finance the rest – but that isn’t how seller financing actually works. You typically need to put at least 50% down – if not more – for a seller to take your offer seriously. If seller financing is involved, a seller is also going to want to see that you have the right amount of cash to keep the business running and profitable long enough for you to pay them back, so you will need to reserve some of your capital for simply running the business.

Why does the landlord need to see financial information? The money the business makes is what will pay the rent, right?

Landlords and property managers want to see that you have the money to pay the rent, even if the business isn’t doing well. From the landlord’s perspective, they already have a lease with the current owners that guarantees them full payment of the remainder of the lease, so if you come to the table with anything less – they have no motivation whatsoever to approve you to rent the space.

The message here is if you really want to buy a business, you will have to get used to the idea that people are going to want to know how much money you are working with, and then they will want to see proof of that number. You will also need to get used to the idea that there will be some businesses that are simply out of your range, and that the person you have hired to help you through the business buying process (your broker) will need to be able to be honest with you about what those businesses are – without you getting offended.

Have you looked at businesses but can’t figure out how much capital you would need? Do you have more questions about what kinds of financial information you would need to disclose? Ask us! Please leave a comment or question here, and we would be happy to help.

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com
5111 Ocean Boulevard, Suite E
Siesta Key, FL 34242

www.InfinityBusinessBrokers.com

If you think you might be ready to take the entrepreneurial leap, but don’t have a genius start-up idea you can work on in your garage – you don’t need one! Existing businesses get bought and sold everyday, some 500,000+ a year (a number that is on the rise as baby boomer owners enter retirement and list their businesses for sale). These existing businesses can instantly turn you into an entrepreneur, no start-up required. 

If you’ve always wanted to be your own boss and think buying an existing business might be for you – the process is fairly straightforward. 

Here’s step three: It’s time to make some choices.

Don’t panic. You don’t have to sign your life away – and you don’t even have to make a final decision at this stage. Once you’ve seen the initial packages for the businesses you found in step two you’ll have some time to consider what they’ve sent you. Using the information you have you can decide if you’d like to proceed with exploring a business or two that you are still very interested in.

This is the point where conference calls between you and the business seller can be extremely helpful. Talking with the current owner can give you insights into the things that don’t necessarily end up on paper. A caveat here. You must prepare questions – good questions – ahead of time. Your business broker will (and should) help you with coming up with great questions to ask. You shouldn’t go into a conference call with a seller blind and ask basic questions that had already been answered by the package you were given. This colossal waste of time for everyone involved might turn a seller off and they could refuse to proceed any further with you. Remember that a business is someone’s baby, so they aren’t likely to hand over the keys to someone who they feel isn’t up to the job.

After your initial call with a seller you can ask for more information, but you aren’t likely to get much more than you already have unless there’s an offer on the table. Making an initial offer can seem daunting – but here’s an important point to remember. Absolutely no money changes hands until after you’ve been given ample time to research the business during a process called due diligence. Due diligence starts after an offer has been initially agreed upon by both parties, and a typical due diligence period is a couple of weeks – plenty of time to review things like contracts, tax returns, inventory lists and the like. Once due diligence is over you can buy the business for the price in your accepted offer, renegotiate the price based on things you found or walk away completely.

During the due diligence process the business is pulled from the market temporarily so you don’t have to worry about other buyers swooping in and buying the business from under you. There can be, however, better offers or backup offers on a business you are considering – so you’ll need to go into the process ready to make a move and decide in a timely fashion whether or not this business is for you.

Don’t forget that you can absolutely walk away at any time if you begin to feel like you wish you hadn’t made your initial offer – so don’t be afraid of this very important step.

Ready to take the third step towards business ownership? Do you have questions about what an initial offer looks like? Would you like to know more about the due diligence process? Ask us! Please leave us questions and comments, we would be happy to help.

Want to read “Buying A Business? Step 1: What’s Right For You?” (click here!)

Want to read step two? Click here for “Buying A Business? Step 2: Search For Businesses”

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com
5111 Ocean Boulevard, Suite E
Siesta Key, FL 34242

www.InfinityBusinessBrokers.com

If you think you might be ready to take the entrepreneurial leap, but don’t have a genius start-up idea you can work on in your garage – you don’t need one! Existing businesses get bought and sold everyday, some 500,000+ a year (a number that is on the rise as baby boomer owners enter retirement and list their businesses for sale). These existing businesses can instantly turn you into an entrepreneur, no start-up required. 

If you’ve always wanted to be your own boss and think buying an existing business might be for you – the process is fairly straightforward. 

Here’s step two: Find businesses that fit with the goals you established in step one.

Once you know what you’re looking for, the search itself becomes relatively easy. You can peruse business listings on your own (click here to do that now) and your business broker will also find you listings to consider that might fit with what you’re looking for.

Here’s a very important part of your search. You must, must, must give your broker feedback on the listings they’ve sent you. If you love a business, tell them. If you hate one, tell them that too. It’s not going to hurt your broker’s feelings if you don’t love every single listing they share with you. The only way a broker can curate a list of businesses that will get you to your end goal of business ownership is if they know what you want. You should not only give a simple thumbs up or down to a potential business – tell them why as well. Did you like the location but weren’t a fan of the current inventory? Does a business you really don’t like have a couple of features that you would love to see in your future business? The more specific and detailed you can be, the better. Nothing is more counterproductive during a business search than flipping through 10 listings and just saying “no thanks” with no feedback.

Once you’ve found a few listings that seem intriguing you can then sign the nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for those business listings so you can find out exactly where and what they are. If you’re unfamiliar with this type of NDA – here’s the short version. They’re a major part of the business purchase process because an existing business needs its for-sale status to remain confidential. The only people who should know the name and location of a business for sale are the seller, the business brokers involved and any prospective buyers who have signed the NDA. That’s it. This need-to-know list will protect the business from catastrophes like an entire staff quitting en-masse when they find out the business is for sale.

A note here. You can’t change the NDA. It’s an industry standard document. If you refuse to sign it, no one is going to work with you. Period. What you provide for the NDA (your legal name, physical address) pales in comparison to the proprietary and confidential information you will be privy to once it’s signed – so it’s a more than fair arrangement.

Once the NDA is signed you will be sent some cursory information. Typically that information will include the name and physical location of the business, some cursory financial information and details about things like staff/vehicles/equipment. We need to put a caveat on listing packages here. Like any industry there are great business brokers, terrible business brokers and everything in between. When you first start receiving listing packages it will become blatantly obvious who is doing their job. Some brokers put together comprehensive packages that give you a great understanding of the business you are considering. Some brokers send you two over-copied and blurry images of tax returns. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do when you are given terrible cursory information other than ask for more. Your broker will be able to help you decipher cryptic tax returns and the like, and will also (hopefully) be able to get more information from the seller’s broker. Know going in that a terrible listing package is not a reflection of the business itself. It’s a reflection of the broker who listed it. 

Ready to take the second step towards business ownership? Do you have questions about the NDA? Would you like to see an example of the comprehensive business packages we create for our listings? Ask us! Please leave us questions and comments, we would be happy to help.

Want to read “Buying A Business? Step 1: What’s Right For You?” (click here!)

Want to read “Buying A Business? Step 3: Make Some Choices” (click here!)

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com
5111 Ocean Boulevard, Suite E
Siesta Key, FL 34242

www.InfinityBusinessBrokers.com