Relocating Your Business and Your Life for Business Owners

Small business Owners may face the prospects of relocating their business.  Sometimes moving a business may be a matter of moving your 1 person internet business, or may involve moving your brick and mortar, 25 employee business.  But usually when you are relocating your business you are also  relocating your life.    Ten years ago my family and I moved 1500 miles away from my business.  Subsequently I ran that business for 7 years remotely with the significant help of a qualified management staff and eventually sold that business.  My current status as a Dad and as a business broker in Florida has me and my family involved with another relocation.

Reasons For Relocating Your Business

People move for various reasons, and many aspects surrounding the decision and process relocating your business are surprisingly shared with share the decision process of buying or selling a business.  I have said in the past that there are many reasons one may want to sell their business or exit their business, but all those reasons can get reduce to 2 overall reasons. (reasons that your chose, or reasons that “choose you”)  You may choose to sell your business or circumstances make that choice for you (health, death, divorce, bankruptcy etc).  When you look to relocate yourself or your business, it may be a personal choice or situations around you may force/require such a move.

And like buying or selling a business you have a significant effect on your personal life, when you are relocating your business, your business activities, or your job, you are also relocating your life. A decision to move or relocate usually involves family, friends, significant others involvement. A decision to buy a business, sell a business, start a business directly affect your significant others.  You are not just relocating your business activities you are relocating the life that you are experiencing and significantly affecting the lives of those closest to you.

Relocating Your Business

Photo (c) multicube.com

I have always felt the decision to buy or sell a business can be a harder part than the actual implementation.  “Measure twice, cut once”.    In my previous business that I had owned we made several acquisitions.  I had spent many hours evaluating the accreted cash flow of an acquisition, how to afford the capital outlay, what assets we would keep or dispose of, what involvement if any we would have with the seller of the business after the sale, how we would integrate our billing, servicing, and support of the additional customer base that would come along with the acquisition.  

At some point the decision is made and now it becomes a matter of implementing the mechanics of integrating the acquisition. I believe the implementation was the easier part of the process.    If the decision to acquire was thought out the integration should be a fairly known process. Ten years ago when we made a decision to move our family 1500 away from our business and running it remotely, a tremendous amount of  thought and time  went into the decision, and the move worked out well for the business and my family.

About 2 years ago we contemplated moving due to a combination of personal reasons, and my business activities also entered into the decision.  The decision was more based on personal preference and family goals (my daughters education and school)  than business.   Approximately 1 1/2 year ago we made the decision to move 300 miles away to Northern Florida, from the Southwest barrier island we currently live on.  Subsequently, we have sold our home, found a new home, and the movers are loading up our life belongings in 3 weeks. 1 1/2 years ago I started preparing for the move as it relates to my  business activities.  Here  are some of the highlights and:

6 Measures to Take When Relocating Your Business

1. Plannin– yes the process of an effective move or relocation does share similarities with the process of effectively buying or selling a business.  Planning is so important in both matters.  When buying or selling a business I have always felt that if you are looking to buy a business or sell  a business or start a business in a year you should start planning yesterday.  Like Selling or buying a business, moving or relocating has so many moving parts and is a very involved process.  Dont really know how you can do too much planning for either.

2. Have that very important discussion and or  discussion regarding the pending move with your significant other early on.  Sort thru the personal, emotional, and logistics up front.  If it is a “voluntary” move make sure you both are on the same page.  If it is a move that is being brought upon you, make sure that is known to your significant other, as you should share a common goal to make the best of it.

3. Try to pre-emptively build develop or expand a client base prior to your move.  To me this was one of the more important steps I made in preparing.   Over a year ago I would travel about every other month to prospect, network and begin developing a presence in the new area.  As I developed clients I started travelling to the new area monthly and currently I go there every 2-3 weeks. I chose this route over moving to a new area and starting at square one to build a client base.  I now am moving into a new area  working with business owners looking to sell their Florida  businesses in this new location.  It is a smaller but developing existing client base.

4.  Make sure your email can follow you–  Back in the old day (and yeah my teenage kids eyes gloss over when I begin a statement in this way), but back in the old day, when you move you go to the Post office to have your mail forwarded or notify them of a change of address.  While that is still one of the items on the moving to do list, moving your digital address for your business can be  so much more important.  I have several emails, and one of my main emails is tied to the local cable provider in the area.  Make sure your email is portable, if not get a portable email address and start using it prior to the move.

5. Update Modify your website.  Does your website reflect your new contact information, your new business locations, your new geographic area of focus, if that has changed.

6. Out with the old and in with the new.  When relocating this is a good time to review old records to see what can be securely disposed of.  Why move all these records only to throw them out at the new location.  Storage and space is a valuable commodity no  matter where one is located.  Using the space around your efficiently is enhanced when unnded paperwork files are gotten rid of.  And it makes organizing at the new location that much easier.

Along with all the above business matters, we had to sell a house (in Florida, not so easy now adays), find a new house, find new location to operate business from, register for school for daughter, hire professional movers, help pack, etc. When you are relocating your business or your business profession you are also relocating your life. When buying or selling a business so many people think about the finanical and business side of the process.  But Buying or selling a business, like moving, has as much to do about the personal, family matters and lifestyle as it has to do about the business itself. Again, if you are thinking about buying or selling a business, or relocating your business next year, start planning yesterday.

Buying Selling a Business- Businesses For Sale Florida

Florida Business For Sale Activity (May 18,2011)

I am a Florida Business broker working with business owners selling their Florida  business, and business owners looking for acquisitions.  Prospective business buyers I work with are located in Florida, US., and Business buyers in Europe and throughout the world.

As a  member of Business Brokers of Florida, which is the largest state Association of Business Brokers in the United States we have access to significant data regarding businesses being bought and sold .   Thousands of businesses for sale are represented by over 1000 business brokers that are members of this Association.  These business brokers list their respective businesses for sale and prospective business buyers on a centralized listing site and buyers and sellers of businesses are brought together. Several thousand businesses for sale are listed, modified, and advertised thru this website.

Valuable information regarding Florida business for Sales and Florida Businesses Sold help me as a Business Broker Professional keep track of the ebb and flow of the Florida Business Acquisition Market.  Understanding a business to assist in selling that business requires an understanding of the numbers behind  that business.  An understanding the marketplace in which this business may be sold is furthered by a review of the data surrounding businesses being bought and sold in Florida. The below are a few statistics, totals, and items of note surrounding the business acquisition and sales market in the State of Florida.

  1. Florida Business for sale Priced over $1,000,000- 298
  2. Florida Business Sold for over $1,000,000 in last year= 37
  3. Businesses Currently  For Sale in Florida through Business brokers of Florida –  3253
  4. Restaurants For Sale through Business Brokers of Florida – 663
  5. Businesses For Sale in Florida with Revenue of less than $500,000- 2315
  6. Businesses Sold in Florida through Business Brokers of Florida over last year (365) Days – 878
  7. Businesses Sold in Florida through Business Brokers of Florida over last month –  59
  8. Businesses For Sale in Florida requiring a Down payment of less than $50,000 -536

 

Along with the above statistical information a few  I include specifics of note

Highlighted Industry:     Lawn Landscape Business For Sale in Florida

  • Number of Lawn Services Sold in Florida in last 2 years -100
  • Number of Lawn Services Currently For Sale in Florida- 81

Currently I represent a Lawn Service business that we have an accepted contract on and are going thru the due diligence process. A Lawn service business can provide a very reasonable Owner benefit, and  entry  into the field can be made with a fairly minimal investment.  Looking to Buy a business in Florida?

For more info or questions regarding the Florida Business Acquisition Market or Florida Businesses for sale please contact

Scott M Messinger

Scott@Sellabusinessflorida.com

239.770.2421

How to Sell Your Business-Two Most Important Ingredients

How to Sell Your Business-Two Most Important Ingredients

How to Sell your business very often  involves many many moving parts and finding the right Buyer for your business can be a very involved process.  Do you use a business broker to sell your business?  Do you try to sell your  business yourself?  These are just a couple of the initial questions a business owner must answer to begin the process of selling ones business.  When selling a business it is easy to think that I will sell my business to “the first person to comes along with enough money to pay my asking price” .

The Right Conditions For Selling Your Business

The sale of a business involves many terms and conditions by both the buyer and seller that must be met to consummate in a sale.  Very often as you go thru the process of due diligence by both the buyer and seller, wants and needs are uncovered, and potential roadblocks to completing the sale can occur. Two important elements have a very strong impact on increasing the likelihood of a successful sale of a business.

When trying to sell your business are you working with:

An Interested-Qualified Buyer?.

  • An Interested business buyer
  • A Qualified business buyer

As a business broker based in Anderson South Carolina, one of my more important responsibilities  when I represent a business owner selling their business is to qualify or “pre-screen” the various inquiries on the business for sale.  There are many people that inquire/ask about a business for sale and probably less than 5% of those buyer prospects actually buy a business at all.

Difference Between Qualified And Interested Buyer

A Qualified buyer can mean many things, but having the adequate available cash, equity, financing, special skillset, proper personal family and life situations are important to establish.

An Interested Buyer is one that wants to buy the business.  They have seen basic information on the business and based on that, if no significant negatives or unknowns surface, they want to buy the business.  There will always be a lot of due diligence, verification, questions and answers, but this buyers desires to see the process move forward.  If my wife and I were looking to buy a new home, and she finds a home that she likes- I am pretty much transformed into an Interested Buyer.

I may turn from looking to buy a home to working to buy this certain home.  Issues may occur when doing the due diligence on buying the home but I task these as issues to overcome, not reasons to get out of the deal- If I am a truly interested buyer (and or my wife really wants the house).

When going through proper due diligence many discoveries and discrepancies can be uncovered.  When you have a Seller that is truly interested in selling their business and you are working with an interested and qualified buyer, issues uncovered in due diligence are not “Gothcha” moments but rather are business related issues that both parties seek equitable resolution and or explanation on. Issues that surface become hurdles but not roadblocks.

Buying and selling a business is a process.  When Selling your business at some point in the process you ascertain that you are working with an interested qualified buyer.  From my perspective, having an interested Seller and recognizing that you are working with a truly interested qualified buyer are two important ingredients towards a successful sale of a business.  Looking to Buy a Business in South Carolina or looking to sell your South Carolina business?

Scott Messinger

South Carolina Business Broker

Scott@GatewayBusinessAdvisors.com

Business Owner vs. Employee the Grass is Greener?-Business Broker Perspective

I am in the business of helping people buy and sell businesses.  So many future business owners currently work for someone else.  Very often the thought process is that one would enjoy their professional career if they “worked for themselves”.  During my professional business career after college I have been an employee of others for about 5 years and have been a business owner with as few as 1 employee to  25 plus employees for approximately 25 years. I feel I do have some perspective from both sides of the coin.

Is It Better To Be An Employee Or A Business Owner?

I think you could talk with business owners and find that there are several that feel being employee has many benefits, and if one talks with employees you can find many that would like to be their own boss.  And of course there are the group of those that are happy or satisfied being either an employee or a business owner.

But so often we are tugged by the concept that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  Many prospective business buyers that I work with are ready to do something on their own.  They have had very reasonable business careers working for others but are ready make the move to buy a business or start a business and no longer be an employee.

Why may an existing employee want to buy a business or start a business

Business Owner

Photo (c) reachvision.org

  • want to do it my way
  • feel I can do it so much better
  • feel being an employee is too limited
  • No longer believe in the company I am working for nor my job
  • Want to make more money ( maybe this should be at the top of the list)

Why would a business owner consider working for someone else as a good thing.  Again part of my role as a professional business broker in Florida is working with business owners looking to sell their businesses.  Part of the process of what I do is the discussion regarding  what one may do after selling their business.  The responses I get are very dependent on ones age and the amount of money one may gain upon the sale of their business.  Age is a very strong determinant.

Looking At The Long-Term Goals

But when we all get excited upon the idea of starting a new business or buying a business, its hard to “fast forward” and visualize a long term business owner that is somewhat exhausted by the demands of owing a business- and working for someone else is a pretty good option. Maybe not as good as selling your business and sitting next to a pile of cash sitting on the beach drinking frozen cocktails. But this option is not always possible.   Selling your business and going to work for others may bring on the following feelings and thoughts-

  • Liberating- The thought of not having to carry  around the strains that go with running and owning a business for many years can be very liberating
  • As a business owner the thought of collecting a paycheck on Friday instead of worrying about making payroll is appealing
  • As a business owner you get to make all the important decision.  Not having to make the important decision may seem like a good thing
  • As a business owner you find that employees get paid 1st you get paid 2nd.  At times that can be very rewarding, other times dealing with the unknown is difficult
  • When an employee crashes a truck your workload/cost may have just skyrocketed.  As an employee this event may result in no more than idle banter in the break room.

All of us business owners and employee out there knows the list can go on and on.  Want to buy a business?  Want to Sell a business?  Want to Start a business?  The grass is not always greener on the other side, but very often we need to jump the fence and see for ourselves.

11 Steps to Business Failure in 2011

The Internet is a fantastic source of knowledge and information.  How to be a better person, how to make more money, how to make body parts bigger/smaller/ better?  And there are many list available on how to be more successful.   We all aspire to be better.   I had started and owned a business for 20 years and had years of triple digit sales growth and solid double digit sale growth.    Even while  running and growing a business one tries to determine what you are doing right and wrong.

How To Avoid Business Failure?

Find something that is working and try to make it repetitive.  Find something that is not working and try to eliminate it before it brings further undesirable results.

I have a good friend that is an attorney and we would discuss business and he accounted his success to the fact that he consistently and diligently returned phone calls.  To that I say What?  Something so simple as just returning a phone call made you better than your counterparts?  And the answer to that is yes. Not everyone does return phone calls or emails .  So you can be better than the next guy by just returning phone calls.

To me this business practice is just a given, but I find to others it is more of an “optional service” that they provide.  Sometimes the difference between success and failure is not some long winded algorithm or new gee-whiz technology, it is focus on the basics and do them right and do them consistently.  Currently I am  a business broker based in Florida and work with small business owners in the process of buying and selling businesses.  I consistently find so many of the business issues I have had as a business owner are shared by so many other business owners.

Avoid Business Failure

Photo (c) theidgroup.co.uk

Tips For Steering Clear Of Business Failure

Do you want to have a better business?  Do you want to improve your business?  Then review the below list.  If you are wondering what may be the fast track to business failure then use the below as a guideline:

  1. Dont keep good track of your numbers and dont feel the need to really understand them.  That job should be for others.
  2. Dont return emails phone calls timely
  3. Continue to delay your involvement with Internet marketing, social marketing and  website optimization
  4. Dont  pay attention to existing customers and clients
  5. Be willing to treat customers and employees improperly, as long as you the business owner benefit, and when you do something wrong to others that benefit you- assure yourself that its “just business”.
  6. Dont take any time to review where you are spending your advertising/marketing dollars.  Assume that even though you have not been getting results from your current efforts that if you do nothing long enough results will occur… eventually.
  7. Dont embrace technology, continue to fight it and close your mind to “new ways”.
  8. As a business owner dont take any time planning for a business exit strategy
  9. Minimize the value of input from employees.  You are the boss and because of that fact your way is the only way.
  10. People say “either your business grows or your business dies”- dont believe that. Believe you have enough customers right now and that is good enough.
  11. Dont worry about any long term planning. Long term planning is really a waste of your valuable time.

Like most list, this list as well can go on and on.  Want to run a better business in 2011?