Do You Have What It Takes To Buy A Right Business For Yourself

It takes a lot of effort and hard work to develop a business from scratch, that’s why most entrepreneurs like to invest in already running businesses and why not?!, considering you will have already established customer base, stable cash inflows from sales, the whole business framework is laid out, everything is coordinated, all of this points toward a successful business that means it has market, customers and now all it demands is a smart Entrepreneur/Manager with skills to take it to the next level.

So why not?! Sounds like a good idea, right, it is. But the thing is do you have what it takes?!, well maybe, maybe not, how about you check it out! I am going to provide you a checklist of five essential things you need to have.

Let’s get to it!

Ideal Match

Right business is like a good marriage that lasts forever, you give your hundred percent to it and you see it grows, it makes your days, it makes your life, everything moves in the right direction. So before buying a business you need to match your skills, expertise, experience, with the business, how much they match, the more it matches, makes sense, you know about, the more it will be easy for you to manage it effectively, to nurture it.

Before starting your own business, be sure about your strengths, weaknesses, mediocre abilities, lifestyle, know what you good at, where you sucks, do you have that relationships developing chemistry, if you don’t know about yourself, forget about running a successful business. So once you are done with the ideal match it’s time to go for worth calculation.

Worth Calculation

This is the next important skill, capacity you need to have. Do you have the skills, know-how to calculate the exact (around that exact precise value) worth, value of the business you are buying. Do you know how to identify the exact strengths, weaknesses of that business (of course the seller won’t tell you about the weaknesses, it’s your job). Similarly the financial performance, assets, liabilities, overall situation.

You need to be really good at evaluating the business you are buying, any imprecise evaluation , erroneous calculations; flawed judgments would lead you to buy more than you can deal with effectively, not to mention you might end up losing all your investment, getting bankrupt.

And if you don’t know how to do that, how to calculate the right value, position, situation of the business you want to buy, go to the consultants, to the gurus who do this job for living.

Branding

Can you do that?!, do you know how to brand and when to brand effectively ?! Because most of the time all it takes is bad reputation to make things hard, life tough for you as a businessman. Because once you buy that business, it is more likely that it is a mediocre business or why would anybody sell something that is doing great, thus you need to have those skills to make it happen, to reposition your business, your brand in a way that attract new customers, new clients and retain the old ones.

Change Management

Well when you go for fixing reputation (bad customer service, limited product offerings, high prices but no increase value etc) obviously you have to change things around. Not just that but to apply your expertise, ideas you need to be good at bringing in change, managing and maintaining it effectively.

Most of the time, it is very difficult for new owner to work with his/her employees, managers, teams on changing things around, to work on things your way. 

In a nutshell you need to be good at change management, I mean really good!

How Much Do You Know?!

In terms of changes in technology, the risks and opportunities it may bring, like what it would render obsolete in connection to your business (like its equipment, machines, product/service) and how well can you manage it. 

How effectively can you use the present technology to cut costs, increase satisfaction, increase profitability, develop and maintain relationships with your clients, customers so on and so forth.

Similarly know-how about legal aspects, standard procedures and policies, competitors, target market, customer dealing so on and so forth. The more you know the better and easy it will be for you to manage your business effectively.

That's it, speak your mind, shoot me with your suggestions, ideas, anything that would make buying the right business easier ;)

You may also like to read: "Small Business Competitive Strategy Focus"