If youd like to be set for life as the owner of a multi-million dollar business -- sitting back and collecting a six-figure salary while other people (who have several years of business experience) run everything for you - then this article will show you how.
Listen to this: I've bought over 200 businesses in the past 40 years. In the first 25 of those years, I got owner financing. I got bank financing. I had vendor financing. I did all sorts of things. But, what happened was, I didnt realize there was investor financing. I actually discovered this on complete accident because I needed financing to buy a business in Mexico.
You see, nobody was going to finance anything in Mexico. Even today, they wont. So, I had to go back to the investors we had and talk to them. I didnt even realize they would do something like this. So I just sort of lucked into this.
And now, for the last 25 years, we have never gone to the bank other than for a line of credit. We dont ask for owner financing. We pay 100% cash on the deal which means the seller gives us a better price than a small cash price. We dont have to qualify. We dont have to give our financial statements. We dont have to do anything. In fact, the average seller will tell you they dont care who you are or what you are if you give them all cash. So what happens is, if you bring an investor in, as opposed to all the other types of financing, its a lot easier way to go.
The other thing with an investor is most of them will ride with you for four or five years. In other words, if you show them what their share of the profits are going to be for four or five years, many of these investors do not ask you to pay a return every month or every quarter, which means you have all the cash available in the business for a four or five year period to expand it. Its really a fantastic way to go, but I want to tell you for the first 25 years, it never dawned on me because I didnt know how to find investors.
But now, that's what I use almost exclusively. And I find it's not only cheaper (almost free), but it allows me to buy more businesses and have less work. Reason why is because investors will only put up money for businesses worth a million dollars or more, with an experienced management team already in place. Which means, if you show up, you're almost in the way. The management team you're paying doesn't want you there mucking things up. They would rather you be out playing golf or something.
It's a great way -- the only way -- to do business. If you want to pull your hair out buying sandwich franchises and "mom and pop" donut shops, that's your choice. But I'm here to tell you from 40 years of experience buying businesses, it's actually faster, easier and cheaper to buy large, multi-million dollar businesses, where your only real "job" is to cash the checks. |
