A Look at the Benefits
We can all remember the days as a kid where we wanted to be a cowboy or an astronaut when we grew up (I still think being a cowboy would be kind of cool). Then the year after that, maybe you’d have the desire to be a pro hockey player or an movie star. Eventually, we’d all grow up and some of us would go to college while others entered the work force. With that, our childhood dreams evolved as well. For some of us, they evolved into running their own company, the desire to work for yourself as opposed to working for someone else. Now, a lot of you here are already in the driver’s seat cruising down that path, you own your own business and somewhere along the line the thought of buying an existing business has strolled through your mind. If you’ve ever found yourself in that position, you’ve probably asked yourself questions like “Is it right for me? If so, where do I start?” There are a lot of things to think about and the choices you make can greatly impact the outcome. In a series of upcoming articles, I’m going to touch up on some details of buying a business.
You Don’t Exactly Need a DeLorean…
Alright, so you may not be able to tell the future (…yet. Great business idea here, folks.), but there are ways around that, which can prove equally as beneficial. When you’re looking to purchase an existing business that is up and running smoothly, you get the chance to know what you’re getting into before you actually get into it. The opportunity to look at all of a company’s bookwork allows you learn a lot about the company besides just the numbers. The more organized the bookwork is, the better the chance that the company itself is well organized and properly structured. Just like buying vegetables at the supermarket, you get to look for what you want without having to spend the time growing it and not knowing how it will turn out.
Go fish…
Even if you don’t fancy yourself a gambler, you can’t argue that you minimize your risk by purchasing an existing business. With the business, you also purchase an existing track record and a stable system already in place as the building, equipment and staff are all operational. Not having to worry too much about current sustainability allows you to focus on growth. We all know that starting a business from scratch involves a great amount of risk and a lot of businesses fail in their early years. Someone else has already done the leg work for you by creating a stable business foundation and going through the stress of starting a business and developing it into prosperity, thus giving you a much better probability of success.
Then there are the high rollers that play the high risk-high reward game. In the way that investors buy a rundown house and flip it for a profit, business investors to the same with companies. A business in the dumps is a great opportunity to take over a company for a deflated price and rebuild it into profitability. With little equity invested, this road can lead to a very big payoff, but it takes experience, a keen eye and a lot of guts. It’s not really something you can bluff your way through.
Sorry Kermit, it IS easy being green…
When creating a business from the ground up, it’s really rare that a positive cash flow occurs out of the gates. However, by taking over an already proven business, you assume the cash flow it’s already generating. Even with financing payments, an established business will have a client base in place allowing a near instant positive cash flow.
If you’re looking for a turn-key operation, purchasing an business presents an opportunity where the key has already been turned.
A sweet slice of the Pie…
Market competition can be a business maker or breaker. In a highly competitive industry, starting a new business is incredibly difficult because of the fight for market share. Existing companies have an already established market share and unless you bring something revolutionary to the table, you’re not going to make a profit off the hop. For example, Company A, B, C and D each have an equal market share of 25%. By acquiring Company B, nothing changes, you still have an equal share. However, by starting Company E, a 20% market share is what remains. Now that’s a stretch considering that a new company entering the scene probably won’t enter with a 20% market share without taking the time to develop a brand and generate a customer base.
It’s common knowledge that owning your own business presents a unique opportunity with countless ways to achieve your goals. Of course things are rarely as easy as they seem, there are some avenues that alleviate difficulty when it comes to business ownership. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying every time, but more often than not, once the transition of ownership is complete, buying a business is an excellent way to simplify the road to business ownership. The beauty of purchasing a business that’s up and running is that with it, you get the stability of a moving locomotive, and that momentum can bode very well in your favor. It’s a great way to minimize your risk, because no one wants to end up in a train wreck!
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There’s not a career choice out there that doesn’t allow you to advance by pitching your most marketable asset, which just happens to be… yourself. You’ll never end up in a situation where you can say to somebody “I can’t do that, because I don’t have the resources or tools that I need” without looking like a total fool to anybody who is worth their salt. You have yourself. The rest is just stuff and comes just as easily as you being, if you know how to get what you want in life. And let’s face it, if you can’t market yourself as a valuable asset, you’re not worth the time to anybody worth selling yourself to anyhow.
There’s a phrase you’ve all probably heard that reads “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Oh so right, yet oh so misinterpreted. You ‘re not going to get anywhere in your chosen field if you don’t know your stuff, but one of the most forward thinking things you can do is make sure others know who you are, what you do, and how well you do it. Never underestimate the power of a positive reputation (or a negative one, for that matter). The bigger your network, the bigger your potential to secure resources, find talented people, receive referrals and recommendations, and the list goes on.
I’m not one to devalue good, honest, hard work. It’s not likely you’ll often find loyal, determined teammates who will value your dreams as much as you do, and you’ll not go a step in any direction unless you’re willing to work your ass off and make those dreams come true on your own. With that said, when tapping into a powerful network, the question is no longer “How in the world…” It becomes “Who in the world…” which can be an infinitely more powerful question to have the opportunity to ask yourself when the chips are down and you’re faced with issues beyond your means.
Keep reading…
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Monica O’Brien is a guest writer from Twenty Set, a blog about personal and professional development for millennials.
One of my friends graduated in June 2007 and was headhunted for a startup after posting his resume on CareerBuilder. He was 20 years-old and had a choice: do the startup or take the other, much safer offer at a larger company. He chose the startup and joined a team of nine employees who built robots for large firms - in the CEO’s father’s basement.
What I failed to mention is how I met my friend - we’ve been coworkers for the past four months. The startup company was doing great business by building the top robots in the industry - but went bankrupt five months after my friend started due to lawsuits from the CEO’s old company.
But my friend survived his first affair with a startup, and you can too - because startups aren’t that risky. Here are three reasons why…
Keep reading…
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A recent graduate of Harvard University, Lauren currently works full-time as a Marketing Associate in the Consumer Products Division at L’Oreal USA. Having spent 4 years as a Social Anthropology major (no, she didn’t study bones and fossils; it’s the study of people and cultures) and a lifetime as someone with entrepreneurial tendencies (at age 7, Lauren was selling her parents possessions, unbeknownst to them, for $1 a piece out in front of her driveway), Lauren decided it was time to put her knowledge of people, her ability to quickly build a rapport with others and her knack for business to good use.
We’ve all been there…
Maybe you forgot to set your clock. Maybe you set it, but you weren’t paying close enough attention and that wretched little dot was in the PM position. Maybe it actually went off… and in your sleepy stupor, desperate and wincing, all you could think about was clicking it back off.
Being late – particularly, being late AND looking like you’re late because you just woke up – is one of the worst impressions you can make with customers, clients, interviewers, and the like. If you’re armed with some quick tricks of the trade, oversleeping doesn’t necessarily mean you actually have to BE late or look like you just got out of bed…
Taking the following actions will get you out of the door in 15 minutes (or less) and, more importantly, could save you from personal and professional embarrassment.
Keep reading…
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None of us are ignorant here, and I think it’s safe to say that we all realize how stale the YGG blog and forum have been lately. Extended periods of time between posts, not much commentary, little interaction from site owners, and so on.
Firstly, thank you to all of you who have stuck around long enough to be reading this post.
Secondly, as I’m sure most of you already know I’ve taken over as Technical Director over here at YGG. I’m sure even more of you have heard rumors floating around about some new features and maybe even a new design that we’ve got in the works. If you’re anything like the majority of the folks we’ve spoken with, you’re more than excited to hear about them. I know I am!
These factors have contributed to our decision to unveil some details to our readers as to what we’re working on, and why the hell we’re so quiet right now. We can’t give away too much right now, but you can expect to see more posts like this one in the following months with more sneak peeks and surprises.
Keep reading…
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My son is currently eight months old, he is growing very quickly and he is very healthy little man. But I was sitting here tonight and I thought “Boy, I sure have learned a lot from him!” So, I decided to write down the four business qualities and lessons that he has reinforced in me over the past few months. They are very important lessons and his impression of these qualities are priceless to me.
Sharing them with you is very important to me. And yes that is a picture of my son up top, his name is Caden Andrew Nowak! I hope you enjoy; creating this article meant a lot to me!
1. Forget the bad things!
Have you ever noticed when babies hurt themselves, or get disciplined they are sad for a very short while? But not 2 minutes later they are happy and playing again. They have an uncanny knack for forgetting the bad thing that just happened and moving on to good things.
Us grownups seem to take failure very hard, dwelling on it for days and sometimes longer. Why don’t we just take it as a lesson learned, use the experience as a positive and move on or try and do it better next time?
2. Determination
My son is very determined when he wants something, he will spend hours sometime devising a plan to get where he wants (usually where he shouldn’t!) with a single focus. It rarely matters how long it takes or what’s in his way he will keep going.
Why do we quit when the going gets tough, or stop trying when it gets hard? Hardly anything is worth working for if it isn’t hard to achieve! So when the going gets tough, just think of what a baby would do, and get going!
3. Creativity
There is no imposed limits to babies, they haven’t had societies limits imposed on them yet. They believe and think anything is possible. They live day in and day out creating things and imagining the impossible. Look at home many things people have said were impossible, flight for example.
Maybe a little more creativity could help you in your professional life, I know it could help me in mine. Take those limits off your brain and set it loose for awhile, I think you will be amazed at what you come up with!
4. Loyalty
Babies are loyal to their parents while they are young, they completely believe in their parents as their sole provider and teacher. They look at their parents as hero’s and wouldn’t give them up for anything. They stick by their parents.
Being loyal to your customers, business associates, partners and family is a quality that seems to be disappearing today. Yet I believe it is one of the best traits you can have. I would not work with anyone that wasn’t loyal.
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