Avoiding Fraud When Buying a Franchise Business

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Do You Think You Do Not Need Due Diligence When Buying a Franchise?

Opening up a new franchise location can cost upwards of $250,000. This is a lot of money for a business buyer to invest in a new unproven location.

New investigative reports are now stating that the selling of new franchise locations is where the real profit is earned by franchisors, rather then as previously believed on the 5% franchise fee paid  from the sale of product. The franchise sales staff  earn a large chunk of the $30,000 plus franchise fee charged. Plus the company makes a profit on the construction costs of the new store.

Many people have the idea that our government’s registration rules exist to protects the consumer from being cheated. In truth it has made the problem worse. Read more

How to Value an Auto Body Shop

What You Need to Know to Value an Auto Body Shop

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We have developed a comprehensive questionnaire in order to help you determine the value of an auto body shop before purchasing it.

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Due Diligence Iron Works

Due Diligence Analysis: The Iron Works Story

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How much error can a buyer expect from a seller’s financial reports? A due diligence investigation will help you discover all you need to know.

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Why Don’t More People Buy Businesses?

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Why More People Do not buy a business?

Introduction

You may not believe what they say yourself, but if you have been in the business of buying businesses for a long time you’ve heard someone repeat this time worn statement.

“One in 14 buyers actually buys a business.”

The business brokerage industry throws around this number all the time.

This “1 in 14” number (or only 7% ) is based on statistics gathered from some old-time brokers. They must have actually kept track of how many buyers called their firms versus how many deals they closed. We can’t know how well they tracked this info, or where this data originated from. But, thankfully, the actual number is not the important part. For the sake of solving the problem, we just need to see that it’s low, and really could be better.

Here’s why that number stays so low…

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What Business is Right for You?

The Best Way to Find the Right Business for You

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The time to get advice is early in the game, not after you have signed a purchase agreement and suddenly find that you have only 10 days to complete all due diligence

Many people look for a good, profitable business of any type. That makes sense… or does it?

People such as this are not picky as to the type of business as long as it makes money. Using this technique it is very common to look at a hundred businesses and even then to find out – after hours and hours of research – that what you learned did not agree with what you were told. Such an approach is one way to go about it.   Read more

Crime Does Pay When Buyers Don't do Due Diligence

Crime Does Pay When Buyers Don’t Do Due Diligence

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Don’t let your business purchase lead you into becoming the victim of white-collar crimes. Find out more from our business buying experts.

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Buying a Business: Disasters When You Don’t Have Your Own Agent

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Should you allow a Dual Agent or Get your own buyer’s Agent? A Changing, More Aggressive Business Buying Market

Yesterday, I was reviewing a buyer’s signed escrow instructions.

He came to me after signing the escrow instructions and purchase contract, as his agent had said he should. His agent said he needed to hire someone to do the due diligence after he opened escrow. When I read the escrow instructions, I was shocked.

Read more to see how it turned out.

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How to start your own business & be successful

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Do you want to start a business and be successful?

In the movie and play South Pacific there is a song called “Happy Talking.” The words to that song go something like this (feel free to sing along if you know the tune):

“Happy talk, keep talkin’ happy talk,
Talk about things you’d like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?”

Surveys of successful people have shown that the love of the work has been more important than the money.

Interestingly, that usually equates into success in the work of love, which is then followed by financial success.  To find out more on how to succeed.  Read more

Buying an Auto Body Shop

Everything You Wanted To Know About Buying An Auto Body Shop

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A body shop can be a great investment, if you are the right kind of buyer. Who is the right buyer? Let’s discuss that in detail. Here is what we will cover in detail.

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5 Ways to Protect your Purchase Deposit from Theft

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Whenever you make an offer for a business and put down a deposit you are putting yourself at risk that it could be forfeited to the broker and/or seller. Here are a few things you can do to make sure that does not happen:

Business purchase deposit protection

  1.  Write LOI (Letter of Intent).  This is not a binding document, and no deposit is necessary. Then after you have agreed with the seller on the price and major terms, a formal offer can be written. At this point you can afford to pay to have the purchase contract reviewed by your attorney, or due diligence CPA, before being signed.  Read more