You’ve made the plunge, you’re buying a business – welcome to the fantastically tough but fantastically rewarding world of entrepreneurship. You may just be starting your search, or the closing table is next week – but wherever you are in the process of buying a business there is a very big change in your life that is approaching at light speed. Life as a small business owner.

Many new buyers (and sometimes veteran buyers too) have a roads-paved-with-gold attitude when it comes to what happens after the closing table. They have visions of happiness in their newfound investment, visions of getting the keys and starting in a brand-new and wonderful life.

Life as a business owner can be very wonderful, but it’s also very hard – especially in the first few weeks.

A buyer who wants the smoothest transition possible into entrepreneurship needs to remember two all-important things.

There will be an extremely steep learning curve.

Regardless of your experience in the industry, any new business is going to come with a very steep learning curve. Why? Unlike an employee at a new job who only really needs to learn their own responsibilities when they get hired, a new owner has to learn EVERYTHING. Not only do you have to learn the day-to-day logistics and operational procedures, you need to learn how to do payroll, how to pay taxes, how to make a schedule that won’t cause a mutiny, how to order new inventory, how to get licenses and permits, how to acquire new customers, how to keep your customer base happy through the transition of ownership, how to pay the rent and deal with your new landlord – the list goes on and on.

This steep learning curve should in no way freak you out or dissuade you from small business ownership, instead it should help you mentally prepare for a tough few weeks ahead. Once you get the hang of things it will obviously get a lot easier. Just don’t set yourself up for failure by thinking it will be a walk in the park.

Your new business isn’t perfect.

You may come out of the due diligence phase thinking your new business is perfect every way. Reality, however, will rear her ugly head in the first few weeks or months of ownership and turn your perfect little business into what it really is – a business. There is no such thing as a perfect business. They all have flaws. They all have skeletons in the closet. The only thing you can know for sure as a new small business owner is you are going to find something (or many things) that make you unhappy. There are two ways to react to imperfections. One is to completely freak out and try to sue everyone who was a part of the business sale, then lock the doors and walk away. That is not, of course, the productive solution.

The other, and far better way to react is to take a deep breath and figure out a way to solve your problem. Owning a small business means having to constantly be ready to deal with issues – so treat the unearthing of skeletons as the first real test of your entrepreneurial grit.

Entrepreneurship is hard, but it is also a great way to earn a living. Think of the transitional time ahead of you as a challenge to be conquered and not a mythical field of roses.

Have more questions about the path to business ownership? Are you curious about what businesses would meet your goals for life as an entrepreneur? Ask us! Please leave questions or comments here and we would be happy to help.

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com
12995 South Cleveland Avenue, Suite 249
Fort Myers, FL 33907

www.InfinityBusinessBrokers.com