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  • - Every now and then I get a friend or a family member

  • saying that they're interested in buying

  • some type of a business.

  • So this wouldn't be about starting a business,

  • but there might be an existing business.

  • Maybe it's a convenience store

  • or maybe it's some type of health care practice

  • or whatever it might be, and they say,

  • hey, I'm going to buy this from the existing owner

  • and I think it's going to be a great business.

  • And they'll often say it generates this much money

  • and I only have to put this much in

  • and it feels risk free.

  • And what I tend to tell them,

  • and I don't wanna be one of these naysayer people,

  • I say, possibly.

  • But what you always have to think about

  • is why are they selling it?

  • And sometimes there's a good reason why they're selling it.

  • Maybe they're retiring and they don't have

  • someone to pass the business onto

  • and they see in you kind of the person that they would

  • love to see running that business going forward.

  • That could be a very legitimate thing.

  • But oftentimes, there might be situations

  • where they might be pumping up some of the numbers,

  • they might be showing you business

  • in the busy season or on the busy day.

  • And so I wouldn't take, especially if it's a small business

  • that doesn't have auditing,

  • that doesn't have really strict accounting practices.

  • I would observe the business for a very long period of time

  • and I would take your own data

  • as to whether the numbers you're hearing about are real.

  • And I also wouldn't discount how much effort

  • and work the existing owner is putting into it

  • and what happens to the business

  • if they're no longer there.

  • If all of that works out

  • and if it really does make sense,

  • then, yeah, you might be onto something.

- Every now and then I get a friend or a family member

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