Buyer FAQs

Why own a business?

• Owning a business offers control of the business' culture, practices, and policies to a degree rarely offered by simply being an employee.
• Owning a business also allows you to recruit and place talent within your business where it can be most utilized.
• Owning a business allows you to choose your own working hours. This can allow you to schedule your commute around rush-hour traffic, run errands while the bank and post office are still open, work through holidays when you'd rather finish a project at the office and take off time elsewhere for yourself or your family.
• Owning a business offers a distinct advantage over hourly or salaried jobs in that your profits are proportional to your successes. If your business is growing, likely so is your compensation.

Why buy an existing business?

• If a business still exists and is viable enough to be worth buying, that business has proven its success in the marketplace. This eliminates much of the uncertainty surrounding starting your own business, which contributes to the comparatively high failure rate of new businesses.
• An existing business already has customers, facilities, employees, and supply and distribution lines that give the business momentum to keep moving forward while you learn how to run and grow the business.
• Sellers of existing businesses will often teach new owners how to effectively run the business and expand into new markets and services. This mentorship opportunity is usually absent when starting your own business and can lead to time and money lost while learning lessons the hard way.

Is buying a business expensive?

• Yes, and this is a good thing for you.
• Brokerage services like ANA Brokers provide a list of businesses for sale to choose from.
• Banks, investors, and other entities with large amounts of cash are well aware of the tendency of businesses to make more money than they cost. This makes financing more cheaply and easily obtained for purchasing and growing existing businesses than for starting a business from scratch, and enables the overwhelming majority of small business growth in the United States.

Which business should I buy?

• Much like vehicles, businesses come in all shapes and sizes, handle differently, and were designed and built with different audiences in mind.
• We recommend buying a business that excites you, whether through an appreciation of the innovative way the business solves needs in the marketplace, a vision of how the business could grow and prosper under your guidance, or just a respect for the dedicated and industrious work ethic that grew the business to its current size.
• Being excited by your business is the best way to be successful at it. If you've ever had a job that you didn't enjoy, you likely already know that the reverse is also true.

How do I buy a business after I've found one?

• Essentially, you should acquire all business property and assets from the owner, who will be willing to transfer them to you if he or she feels that doing so is a good deal. Also, you'll probably want to make sure that you know about any possible defects, caveats, or other liabilities associated with the property and assets, which will involve not only seller disclosure but also third-party review to catch anything the seller may have missed.

Why use a broker?

• We've navigated the buying process before. A lot. ANA Brokers knows what's being sold, who's selling it, what price they would likely accept, and can be very helpful at finding the kind of business you'll enjoy owning. We know what to look for, what to watch out for, and how to purchase a business with minimal delays so you can get on with owning your own business.

Will I need an accountant or an attorney?

• Accountants and attorneys are good at what they do, and can make your life a lot easier. We use both on occasion and have been happy with the results, but keep in mind that their role when buying a business is limited. Both tend to come in at the end of the process to tie up loose ends and check for things the buyer and seller might have missed. Most of the legwork in buying a business is done before this point, usually by brokers. Whether or not to include accountants and attorneys varies from purchase to purchase, and ANA Brokers will be happy to have this discussion with you when the time comes.