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Step by Step Procedure to Buy a Business

Bill Henthorn asked:

There are two questions you should ask yourself before purchasing any business. Why do I want to buy a business and what kind of business would fit in with your personal experience. The “why” is in many cases more important than the “what” when answering these two questions? You need to know why you want to own a business and are you ready both financially and emotionally. After you answer this question you can look into what kind of business you think you should own.

Why do you want a business?

Why you want to take on the responsibility of a business is important. Owning and running a business is a challenge to do successfully. If you want to be your own boss that is OK as long as you realize that your future earnings will be in your hands and not those who run the business where you are working now. You must have sufficient money to get the business up and running and still pay your monthly bills that you currently have. You cannot count on taking any money out of the business for several months to a year. Your own business does mean some freedom, but it also means you are the owner seven days a week and with little time off. You also need to figure if the business you are thinking of getting into is one that you can run without many extra people or is it one where you will need help. This is important for several reasons. More people means the business has to generate more income. There are also rules that need to be complied with as far as employees are concerned. Let’s assume you are financially and emotionally ready to take this big step. What kind of a business are you going to buy?

Which type of business would be a match?

The type of business depends on your interest and knowledge. If you have an area of expertise, then this area should be looked into very seriously. Are you a people person, then a business with a retail or business-to-business element would make sense. People businesses need a front person to capture the clientele. If this is your forte, then this business area should be looked into with a serious intent. One of the ways to find out which types of businesses are available is to look into a business broker and see what they have listed. Another way to find a business that may not be listed is to ask bankers you know or other business owners. Accountants could be another source of businesses that are not listed for sale. Business brokers list most of the businesses for sale in the market online. Listings by private owners and Business Brokers online are available at the Buy a Business Section of Acquireo.com.If you do not have the patience to browse each of them by state or category,Search the business you are looking for with a keyword or location

With these two questions answered or at least a tentative decision made, the buyer needs to look at each business that meets the criteria that has been set. Formal meetings that allow for full disclosure of the business’s situation both current and future are an important step in finding out more about the business. How the business has done in the past is useful for predicting the future. This meeting is also the time to find out if there are any problems coming up or like building code changes or possible lawsuits. Are there any obligations, which will be assumed that can be brought forward in time as to payment? Are key employees going to stay with the business and if not can they be easily replaced. Is there a way to quickly add to the business or change some of its functions to add to the sales? Are the prices being charged at a fair level? The real reason for these meetings is to exchange information. Win-win deals can only be made when both parties are equally informed.

Buying a business outside of your experience or knowledge

If the business is one where you will need training to learn the business, make sure you have a timely agreement with the old owner for their help for a period of time. You would also be well advised to have the owner introduce you to the important clients that have made the company successful. This introduction could be the difference in keeping the client and losing them to a competitor.

Learn as much as you can about the competition. These are the people who can move in on a new owner. Make sure they have not suddenly developed a product that is superior to what you will be selling. Also find out if you can who they sell to and why the old owner could not make any headway with the competitor’s clients.

Price negotiation

With the exchange of information out of the way, the hardest part of any purchase comes into play. The price that the business will sell for is usually a negotiated sum. There are many ways to come up with the selling price. The owner will have a price in mind and you will have an offering price you will start the bargaining with. Another price can be obtained from a third party who is certified to set prices for businesses that are put up for sell. The certified brokers have passed a series of tests that qualify them to come up with an unbiased value for the business being sold. This price is fair to both the buyer and the seller, because it is arrived at by standard business evaluation principles. This expert price is the result of hard work and careful analysis of the business both current and future prospects.

Terms of the deal

Once a price is set, the terms of the deal can be negotiated. There is always a cash price and a price, which involves terms. Most owners are willing to carry back some of the purchase price in order to expedite the sale. This is an area that usually can be dealt with by reasonable bargaining and private negotiating.

Banks can be a source of funds for some buyers if they have assets and very good credit. Sometimes a person can arrange for private financing among friends of relatives. The seller is always a potential lender for the buyer if they have a big enough deposit. Some times the seller’s asking price is too high, but the buyers counter offer can be “I will meet your price, but you will need to give me very good terms”. This is all part of the buy-sell negotiating. Simple rules should be in play during the negotiating. Remember the seller wants to sell and if you make reasonable counteroffers, there is a good chance that one of them will be accepted. Do not try to win by just being stubborn. Compromise is the way to make the sell happen for the buyer and the seller.

Conclusions

Keep the old owner on your side, as you never know when you may need them for something that comes up after you have made the purchase. The problem may have happened to them in the past and they may know the perfect solution.

The final advice for buying a business, is do your homework and do not believe that all will just go smoothly during the first year. There will be problems, and since you are the owner, you will have to resolve them in a timely manner. If you have to employ others, treat them with respect and if they know the business, ask them what they would do if they were in your shoes. Knowledge is power and respect will help you gain the employees willingness to share with you.

Firm and fair are the traits of a good employer.

How to Sell Used Computers

Lesley Lyon asked:

Many people sell their used computers for a variety of reasons. Some sell their used computer instead of throwing them as a trash get some money from them, while others sell their used computers to buy new computers with the latest features and technology. Not only individuals sell their used computers, but also large numbers of organizations or firms sell their used computers. They do so because the computer systems may require maintenance and repairs, after some time due to the decrease in performance seen in the computers after some years. Instead of spending more money on the maintenance and repairs they sell and gain money, as there is a great demand for used computers. Such companies easily sell their used computers online through auctions or exchange for new computers with less effort in no time.

Used computers are bought by either students who do not have good savings or earnings or they are bought by educational institutions like the schools and universities. Some parents buy used computers for their children just for browsing the Internet and to play games. For this purpose, a used computer is more than sufficient than spending huge amounts on a new computer. These target segments however require used computers in a good working condition as well as for a lesser price. Most of the used computers are sold in the online market, as it attracts all sorts of buyers. There are many numbers of online classifieds or auctions or online dealers who sell used computers. Selling used computers are a better option than throwing them as trash or keeping them in a corner occupying space and collecting dust.

The first and important step is to improve the appearance of the used computer by wiping it clean free of dust and dirt. Any buyer would get impressed by the way the computer looks, looks make the first impression. The selling price of a clean used computer is always better than the one, which is full of dirt and dust.

All the software manual, operating system and other supporting discs that came with the computer should be in tact. This will add more value, when selling the used computer and also will make the buyer consider the person who is selling the used computer as a trusted seller.

The most important thing to do before selling a used computer is to erase all the personal details or information from the hard disk or drive. Instead of just putting them in the trash folder it is very important to purge all the personal data from the computer’s memory, even invisible backup files can cause danger. A tech savvy person’s help can be got if the seller does not know how to do it. If not done it may lead to accessing the bank accounts, or emails by any unknown person leading to identity theft. For that when there is a remedy. Unused scanners, printers can also be bundled with the sale of the used computer. A buyer may sometime value it. The benefits or features of the computer can be highlighted for better sales.

Sport Management

John Nilson asked:

Abstract

In this article the problem of sport management is discussed. Firstly, a brief definition to the notion of Sport management is given followed by an excurse to history. Than the background and origin of sport management is discussed the second part of the article is dedicated to the current situation and prospects of sport management. A special attention is paid to the educational sphere and career opportunities that potential employees may have in the field of sport management. Finally, the article is concluded by prospects of sport management.

Introduction

Sport management existed for quite a long period of time and it always accompanied sport as its essential part. Naturally, it had different forms and differed from the notion of sport management as it is defined nowadays but such activity is known from ancient times. At least ancient Greeks practiced such an activity and probably they may be called one of the founders of sport management. This fact proves the importance of sport and sport management for people of all times. It was and it remains to be as important for people as their health sine sport provides health for people and sport management provides effectiveness of sport for all its participants. Nowadays sport management becomes more and more important because as many other things in the modern world sport is business and consequently it needs effective management that, in its turn, demands the preparation of well-qualified specialists in this domain. At the same time sport management is not only business. As sport so sport management are social phenomena for it involves not only professionals, for whom sport is their main source of earnings and actually it is their life, but also there is a huge category of amateurs, for whom sport is just a hobby but they still need sport management to practice sport as effectively as possible. So, taking into consideration the role of sport and sport management in the modern world, I would like to discuss this phenomenon in my article and focus my attention on the notion of sport management itself, its history, and prospects for all those who either on their way or already work in this field.

The Notion and Role of Sport Management

First of all, it is necessary to start with the definition of sport management. In order to understand any phenomenon, we have to know what is implied by its definition and interpret it correspondingly. Speaking about sport management, it is possible to say that there may be different interpretation of this notion but the main point of all definitions remains practically the same, in other words it may change its form but its content, its basic principles remain the same.

On analyzing different points of view on sport management, it is possible to make a general conclusion and give certain conclusion what it actually is. On doing this, I would prefer to define sport management as follows: “Sport management is a goal-oriented social process within a sport enterprise using pragmatic self-determined goals involving the selection of appropriate strategies and provisions for directing the work of the sport enterprise, and the control of performance in an effort to meet the objectives of the organization.” (Parkhouse 1996:47). Such a definition provides probably the best description of sport management and its main characteristics which permit to understand the essence of this phenomenon.

Naturally, there may be different view on sport management but it is obvious that any sport organization have to have its goals to achieve. The latter may be done only with the help of sport management that can organize all the staff of the sport enterprise and mobilize all its forces for achievement its goals. At the same time, simply to organize the work of a sport organization is not enough. It is necessary to control the fulfillment of the main tasks each department or even each person within the organization has to do.

But such a definition helps to realize what sport management is at large. At the same time it is necessary to take into consideration the position of those people who work in this field and for all those people who are currently working or are going to work in this sphere sport management is not just a profession it is rather a set of different professions, basically of administrative character which provide a person’s ability to fulfill his or her duties as a sport manager.

Obviously, management remains management even in such a specific domain as sport, particularly if we speak about professional sport which nowadays is more than sport. It is a great business and it is enough to have a look at such monstrous sport associations in North America as NHL, or NBA, for instance, it will be evident what kind of business it is and how profitable it may be, naturally on the condition if the management is effective, well planned and the execution of the main tasks is thoroughly controlled. At the same time we should remember that sport or any sport organization is more than a commercial enterprise it is also a social phenomenon since very often sport plays very important role in the life of certain groups of people or even whole countries. For instance, in the ancient world, namely in Greece, any wars were forbidden during the period of the Olympic games. So the organization of the Olympic games played a significant peacemaking and consolidating role in the ancient Greek society.

Unfortunately, nowadays we can hardly find an example like this but still sport remains very important for any human society and proper organization of sport events as well as effective functioning of numerous sport enterprises remains extremely significant for people in any country in the world.

Sport Management: Education and Career Opportunities

Taking into consideration the role sport and consequently sport management play in the modern world, we can presuppose that sport organizations need a great number of well-qualified specialists that could be provided only by professional education of such specialists on the highest level. The current situation actually proves that the growing demand engenders the growing offer of sport management education which matches the basic demands to specialists in this field. But it is necessary to point out that such a trend has appeared recently, within the last fifty-sixty years.

Tag: earnings

Step by Step Procedure to Buy a Business

How to Sell Used Computers

Sport Management

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