Archive for April, 2007

Buy an Exiting Business or Start a New One?

Monday, April 30th, 2007

The skills and personality traits necessary to start a new small business and make it successful are much different from the skills necessary to take over an existing business and grow it . A small business start up needs an entrepreneur who has a vision and is passionate about his/her idea. The entrepreneur will work in a chaotic environment where idea generation and learning are the real engine for growth. This is a high risk transitional period when the entrepreneur should expect a high rate of failure and when failure should be used as a learning opportunity.

Most people are not very comfortable living in this chaotic environment since most people fear uncertainty. This explains why few people have the entrepreneurial personality necessary to create very successful companies from scratch.

Buying an existing business requires a completely different mindset. Management capabilities, organization skills and hard work are paramount. The owner needs to control the key parameters that make the company successful. This is more of a consolidation period and less of an experimentation period. The business owner can use the past results to predict the near future and make decisions concerning managing the company.

Before deciding whether you should start a new company or buy an existing one, you should dig deeply into your own personality to understand what your personality traits are. In what category of people, from the categories described above, do you fit the most?

For more information please visit our Toronto Business Broker website.

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How to Value a Small Business?

Monday, April 30th, 2007

The most frequently used method in valuing a small business is Seller Discretionary Income (SDI) multiple. The SDI for the business is calculated by using the income statement and correcting it by adding back to the profit figure all perks and benefits that the owner receives from the business. Then, a multiple (generally between 1 and 2.5) is multiplied by the SDI to arrive to an approximate value. Please keep in mind that this method only gives an approximation of the asking price the seller can require for their business. The market will ultimately determine the real price as a result of supply and demand interactions. For more precise information about how to price a business for sale, please visit How to sell your business?

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Business for Sale Listings

Monday, April 30th, 2007

Business buyers are constantly looking for new business for sale listings. Some spend long hours looking in different newspapers and magazines. Others rely mostly on networking, asking everybody they know about business opportunities on the market. Accountants and lawyers are also considered a source of information about new businesses for sale.

While these sources will certainly produce results over the long term, the process is very time consuming. The Internet emerged in recent years as a growing source of business for sale listings. Many new websites appeared in the last 10 years and some have gained high popularity. Some sites are international and have a decent number of listings, especially in large cities in North America. An excellent way to see these listings is to search for the term “business for sale” in Google and to visit these sites one by one. Most of these sites provide a geographical business search. Another effective way of searching for listings in your area is to search for “business for sale” + “your area”. This search will also provide websites for top business brokers in the region, who can also assist in finding business listings that match your preferences.

Please Check this business for sale Ontario web site for profitable business listings in Ontario, Canada.

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