Читать книгу Buying and Selling a Business - Garrett Sutton - Страница 10

Preparation and hard work can lead to personal fulfillment, a career you control and financial independence. When you’re the boss, you determine how much time you put in and how much money you take out. When success does come, it is your success. Your hours lead to your income. You are not just lining someone else’s pockets.

There is much less financial risk involved with buying an existing business than with starting one up. It is that initial period from startup to breaking even that is the most deadly for a business. An existing business must be doing something right to still be in existence. The rewards of ownership and independence are the same for a startup and for an existing business, but an existing business has a past to help guide the future. A path has been cleared for new owners to tread.

History is a valuable tool in any business. There is a level of expectation – a theoretical roadmap for the future. It is this aura of predictability that makes financing a purchase easier than financing a startup. The existing business has financial statements, assets, cash flow – in short, collateral that can be used for bank loans. And if the banks prove uninterested, many a motivated seller will help out with the financing, often with better terms than a commercial lender. An owner may even stick around after the sale to help with the often complicated, always delicate transition period.

We live in a time when small businesses are not only able to exist alongside big businesses; they are able to thrive. Technology has made access nearly seamless. Your business can reach customers on the other side of the world just as easily as the other side of the street. Fax, E-mail, Internet, video conferencing, printed material – all allow a local business to reach a global market while keeping overhead low and inventory small. These avenues may not have been explored by a company’s current owner and could be the difference between his or her getting by and your getting ahead.