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One of the great ways of expanding business is through tuck ins. A tuck in is the process of one business buying another business in the same or related field and merely tucking it in, much as the tail ends of the sheet you tuck into the end of your bed to have a full set of bedding. Really. Often the acquiring business has the benefit of maintaining the new revenue while reducing [...]

Recently peercomps.com posted a message about excess inventory - how does it influence the value of the business for sale.  This is what they said and I agree: Some of you have asked in response to our #1 FAQ about inventory, how is "excess inventory" dealt with? As mentioned in our previous post, PeerComps "values" and "multiples" include normal inventory and only excess inventory can be "added on" to a calculated value. There [...]

Obviously the quickest and easiest financing of a business purchase is to reach into the pocket and draw out the cash.  Really.  That is easy.  Most can't. Here are some other ways with many variations and combinations: Seller financing - routinely with no less than 30% down and terms of up to 10 years with an interest rate of perhaps 6 percent.  The shorter the term and higher the interest the harder to [...]

I am often asked 'is it better to start a business or buy a business?'  The answer is 'it depends.'  It seems there are two entrepreneurial types - those that would only start a business and those who would only buy a business. There is risk and anxiety in both.  They both cost money, perhaps the same.  Why you ask?  Well, the person who starts the business has some time and money to [...]

Everything we say is routine, turns out to have its own twists and turns.  This is true with selling a small business as well.  In this case, a small business is one that has perhaps $3,000,000 in annual sales.  It may not be so small to operate and certainly requires the ingenuity of the owner. From the seller's perspective a typical sale looks like this: The owner elects to have me do a [...]

Sylvia had been going great with her syndicated radio show. She had advertisers, 100 radio stations carried it. All was well until the one advertiser filed bankruptcy. Sylvia had been on top of it and had her business manager, just 45 days prior to the filing, collect $50,000 of the $100,000 then owed. She really felt good about this action and quickly replaced this advertiser with another Twelve months later the letter came [...]

Are We At the Peak of the Sellers’ Market? By Steve Raymond, The DAK Group | July 14, 2016 The past few years have been an excellent time for business owners to sell and this should continue for at least another year: interest rates are low, private equity firms and strategic buyers have cash to invest and are hungry for acquisitions that will be accretive to their businesses, and there is a lot [...]

Marco purchased his real property in Santa Fe in 1989 and paid cash. From there he operated his cabinet business and survived the various economic ups and downs, paying Marco a nice income for his spectacular work. The business was operated as a sole proprietorship and paid the taxes, insurance and utilities for the property. Now it is 2016 and Marco wants to sell the business, of course charging a new owner proper [...]

Josiah had owned and operated the retail business for fifteen years.   He had a couple of staff members who had been with him, each for a minimum of four years. Then he got sick…   This was a clothing retail store. There was lots of inventory to manage and cash sales.   It wasn’t that there were no systems. Indeed there were. The problem was that each person had their own tasks and [...]

Samantha had found just the right buyer. It really was kind of a miracle as this statewide business marketing consumables for national firms was not for just anyone. But Simon was perfect. He was living in central NM and had some experience in the industry, could work out of his house, while managing his invalid Mother. Simon had enough for the down payment and great credit for securing the loan. Why was it [...]