It’s one of life's toughest decisions: are you ready to be your own boss? The emotional and financial rewards of being self-employed can be great for those that are truly ready and willing to work hard to succeed.

First, pause and take stock of your life. You have to answer all the questions on the emotional checklist an enthusiastic “yes” before taking the plunge. Are you ready to work harder than you’re ever worked before? Are you passionate about the industry...

Finding the right business to buy is often the longest part of the process. It is a “needle in a haystack” search; it's not as simple as scrolling through one master list of every local business for sale. Professional business brokers typically represent Sellers and have a collection of businesses for sale in their local market. Most have mediocre-at-best websites, so you often must inquire directly. Additionally, there are several larger marketplace websites with thousands of existing businesses for sale; those are....

You finally found a business that caught your eye. What appealed to you? It’s different for everybody: a perfect location, it’s your dream business, a bargain priced asset sale, perhaps it has great cash flow, and other times it’s merely a great acquisition! In any case, it’s time to learn more.

Start with the broker; they’re your best source of information, as it’s their job to know everything worth knowing about the business. There are...

You’ve found the right business and hatched a plan to turbocharge it. Now it’s time to begin the process of buying it.

An experienced broker who has done this many times before will guide you through the process. Together you’ll prepare a purchase agreement, the document which details the terms and conditions of your offer to buy the business. You’ll start with one of the standard forms used to handle these types of...

After an offer has been accepted, due diligence begins. Due diligence is the deep dive into a business’s books and records that should answer all the questions buzzing around every Buyer’s head, and will confirm whether this opportunity is truly worth buying.

You’ll conduct a Documentation Review confirming the business is “as represented”. You'll verify the revenue, expenses, and earnings in...

Escrow serves a valuable role; no business purchase should be without one. The escrow company facilitates completing the transaction, ensuring all the terms and conditions of the purchase agreement have been met before allowing the sale to complete.

Escrow is definitely crunch time for Buyers, who juggle their current workload in addition to preparing to buy the business. During this 45-day period, Buyers are typically:

You’re officially in charge: now it’s all up to you! You’ve entered training and transition, that fixed window of time to benefit from your Seller’s experience. The training time varies among businesses and was agreed upon in the Offer.
Training

Learn as much as possible about the business and industry. The subjects you’ll cover depend not only on the operational requirements of the...

You’re done, the business is yours! You’ve finished one journey, only to begin another more challenging (and hopefully deeply rewarding) one. You’re now running the show, although perhaps not quite 100% comfortably. Don’t worry; that comes with time and experience.

It’s time to start executing your master plan. Maybe it’s a complete rebrand, or perhaps you’re adding new products or services. Perhaps you’re...