Buy a business

The perfect business for you is probably not officially on the market. If you are serious about acquiring a business you should strongly consider retaining a business broker to represent your interest on the buy side. How does buy-side brokering work? Buy Side Business Brokerage is when a qualified buyer decides to allow a professional find companies that meet their buying criteria. The broker and the buyer enter a contract whereby the buyer pays the commission rather than the seller. Most buy side brokerage agreements will also include a retainer fee for the business broker.

The buyer and the broker discuss the attributes the business should have. Examples of these attributes are:

1. Geographic Location

2. Price Range

3. Industry

4. Life cycle of the business

5. Buyer’s role after acquisition

Once the opportunity has been defined properly, the business broker can then seek out companies that are not yet on the market. Informing business owners that all commissions are paid by the buyer open a lot of doors. The business broker meticulously searches companies and reports back monthly to the buyer with results of the search and potential candidates.

Although retainer fees are typically not refundable, it is a recommended best practice to ask the business broker to subtract the retainer fee from the commission during closing. A good business broker will aggressively find a business for the buyer that has retained their services. In fact, finding a business for the buyer is the last thing the broker thinks about before they go to sleep and the first thing they think of when they wake up.

There is no reason to spend hours sorting through online sites for a viable business. Hire a professional business broker to go find the perfect business for you before it is officially listed on the market.

Business brokers have an extensive network of contacts, they can personally target companies that meet the buyer’s criteria and use an effective target mail marketing program that will get the attention of the decision makers.

The best way to buy a business is to hire a personal shopper. Once a month you simply review the portfolio of companies that meet your criteria. By giving the keys to a business broker with a buy-side agreement, you will unlock doors that you did not realize would open. In the long run it will save time, money and transform a frustrating experience into a very lucrative endeavor.

Natalie Tran

I stumble on an interesting update from Yahoo! Finance regarding the independent YouTube stars making over $100,000 a year.

As a recap, here is the Top 10 list:

1. Shane Dawson – $315,000. Shane has three YouTube channels – a comedy/parody channel, a vlog and “Ask Shane” series channel, and a channel containing Shane’s videos taken from his iPhone.

2. The Annoying Orange – $288,000. The Annoying Orange (my personal favourite!) is a comedy series about talking-fruit-in-a-kitchen.

3. Philip DeFranco – $181,000. Philip… Click here to continue »

Business dispute

This is a guest post by James Adams.

When disputes between partners in a business arise, they can threaten the business more than any competitor can. Even partners with the best intentions are likely to end up at each other’s throats even though they had hoped to avoid such conflict. Here you will learn how to settle disputes between business partners: 8 tips that will make the difference between peace and war.

Stop fighting: As with married couples, disputes between business partners can

… Click here to continue »

Mobile age

This is a guest post by Neil Jones.

Businesses and markets are becoming increasingly competitive with the disappearance of physical boundaries and too many players. Survival in these tough conditions is possible by staying ahead with constant innovations and adopting the latest technologies. Communication and mobile technology are two of the latest tools that businesses can use to spearhead their progress in their respective fields. In fact they hold the key to survival in a tough business world.

Mobile technology has developed so rapidly… Click here to continue »

Who moved my cheese?

Mitch Biggs  is a Featured Business & Finance Contributor to Associated Content.  This is a reprint of a published article.

Remember the quick read by Spencer Johnson on change management written ironically in a business fable format? The characters of Who Moved My Cheese were Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. Sniff and Scurry found the new cheese in station N, while Hem and Haw continued to wait for their cheese at station C lamenting about old… Click here to continue »

Retargeting

Statistically, only 2 percent of visitors who click an ad on your website will purchase anything during their first visit to the site. The majority of online business owners typically consider the other 98 percent the bleak reality of doing business on the internet. But there are ways that you can rise above the trend and get those sales pouring into your company.

In fact, using a strategy called retargeting can help some businesses boost their sales exponentially.

Retargeting is a marketing strategy that involves… Click here to continue »

Covered calls

While searching the Internet for stock investing tips, I stumbled on a site called Born To Sell. The site helps investors who are doing covered calls. Interesting – read on.

As an entrepreneur, I need to diverse myself. Right now, all I’m doing is building and investing in businesses – online businesses, that is. My short term plans are to start or invest in a business, to invest in real estates, and to do stock investing.

I took a closer look at… Click here to continue »

Business networking

From my short journey in small business ownership, I draw a conclusion that for small business, the sky is not the limit. Quite often, your premise’s rooftop is your small business limit, literally. Here’s why your local small business networks play an important role to maintain your small business success.

Did you know that most – if not all – small businesses have certain “cap” to how much they can make money? Of course, we want our small business to generate more… Click here to continue »

Franchisor

What is a franchisor? A franchisor is an individual who awards franchises in specific area’s to operate a business using an established system. The franchisor has many roles in ensuring the success of the franchise.

A franchisor’s responsibilities include:

1. Develop a system that works, is simple to follow, and profitable. A franchise system must be able to put anyone in the franchisee and operate the system without getting too technical. If a franchisee finds it is too difficult to follow the franchise system, the… Click here to continue »

Sell a business

You are thinking about selling your business. You may have uncertainty, angst, worries, trepidation, fear, unknowns, and sleeplessness nights.  I believe you are not alone.

My approach as a business broker in Florida is from a perspective of a former long term business owner.   I truly feel some of the feelings I experienced as  a business owner are very similar or the same of the business owners I work with as a business broker.  While at this stage of my professional life… Click here to continue »

Soar above difficulties

“In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

It has been proven again and again that success is likely to happen in difficult times. Many successful businesses were started in recession – Burger King, FedEx, MTV, CNN, HP and other big businesses.

Albert Einstein says that in the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity – this is actual in our situation right now. Bad economic situation worldwide has pushed business owners to the limit. Small businesses are probably those that… Click here to continue »