Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Deciding to Buy a Business 5 Chapter 1: Preparing to Buy a Business 7 Figuring Your Financial Fitness 8 Assess your financial position and goals 8 Measuring your net worth 9 Telling good debt from bad debt 10 Reducing debt 10 Buying insurance 12 Planning for the long term 12 Shrink your spending 14 Build up your cash reserves 14 Stabilize income with part time work 15 Assessing and Replacing Benefits 16 Retirement savings plans and pensions 16 Health insurance 17 Disability insurance 18 Life insurance 18 Dental, vision, and other insurance 20 Social Security taxes 20 Time off 21 Understanding Your Time and Financial Commitments to Buy 21 Stepping Toward Buying a Business 22 Enlisting Help from Top-Notch Professionals 23 Start with free/low-cost industry resources 23 Finding and interviewing reputable professionals 24 Estimating the Cost of Your Search and Business Acquisition 25 Calculating a down payment amount 25 Tallying search expenses 26 Finding funding 27 Chapter 2: Is Buying a Business for You? 29 Understanding Why to Buy a Business 30 To reduce start-up hassles and headaches 31 To lessen your risk 32 To increase profits by adding value 32 To establish cash flow 33 To capitalize on someone else''s good idea 34 To open locked doors 34 To inherit an established customer base 35 Knowing When You Shouldn''t Buy 35 You dislike inherited baggage 35 You''re going to skimp on inspections 36 You lack capital 38 You think you''ll miss out on the satisfaction of creating a business 38 Recognizing Prepurchase Prerequisites 39 Business experience and training 39 Down payment money 41 Do You Have the Right Stuff? 42 Getting started with the instructions 42 Answering the questions 43 Scoring the test 45 Analyzing your results 46 Part 2: Picking the Business That Fits Your Situation 49 Chapter 3: Determining Your Niche 51 Why You Don''t Need a New Idea to Be Successful 52 Choosing Your Business 54 Consider your category 54 Take advantage of accidental opportunities 56 Inventory your skills, interests, and job history 56 Narrow your choices 59 Go in search of fast growth 60 Take advantage of government resources 62 Chapter 4: Finding the Right Business to Buy 65 Defining Your Business-Buying Appetite 66 Generating Leads 68 Perusing publications 68 Networking with advisors 69 Knocking on doors 69 Enlisting business brokers 70 Considering a Franchise 73 Franchise advantages 74 Franchise disadvantages 75 Evaluating Multilevel Marketing (MLM) Firms 76 Being wary of pyramid schemes 77 Finding the better MLMs 78 Checking Out Work-from-Home Opportunities 79 Chapter 5: Evaluating a Business to Buy 81 Examining Owners'' and Key Employees'' Backgrounds 82 Finding Out Why the Owner Is Selling 84 Surveying the Company Culture 87 Deciding on Terms 88 Inspecting the Financial Statements 89 Interpreting the profit and loss statement 90 Reviewing the balance sheet 95 Understanding key ratios and percentages 101 Uncovering Lease Contract Terms 106 Evaluating Special Franchise Issues 106 Thoroughly review regulatory filings 107 Evaluate the franchiser''s motives 107 Interview plenty of franchisees 108 Understand what you''re buying and examine comparables 109 Check with federal and state regulators 110 Investigate the company''s credit history 110 Analyze and negotiate the franchise contract 110 Part 3: Negotiating Terms and Sealing the Deal 113 Chapter 6: Figuring Out How Much the Business is Worth 115 Exploring Valuation Methods: Multiple of Earnings and Book Value 116 Getting a Professional Appraisal 118 Tracking Businesses You''ve Explored That Have Sold 119 Tapping the Knowledge of Advisors Who Work with Similar Companies 119 Consulting Research Firms and Publications 120 Turning to Trade Publications 120 Enlisting the Services of a Business Broker 121 Chapter 7: Financing Your Deal 123 Outsourcing Financing 123 Taking advantage of seller financing 124 Banking on banks 124 Getting money from nonbanks 126 Financing Yourself: Bootstrapping 131 Chapter 8: Preparing a Purchase Offer 133 Writing a Letter of Intent or an Indication of Interest (IOI) 134 Drafting an Indication of Interest (IOI) 134 Writing a Letter of Intent (LOI) 135 Developing Purchase Offer Contingencies 135 Allocating the Purchase Price 137 Doing More Due Diligence 138 Think about income statement issues 139 Consider legal and tax concerns 140 Part 4: Managing a Smooth Transition 141 Chapter 9: Moving into Your Business 143 Getting Important Things Down on Paper 144 Considering the Business Entity 145 Sole proprietorships 145 C corporations 147 S corporations 153 Partnerships 155 Limited liability companies (LLCs) 155 Gaining Insight from Others 157 Chapter 10: Business Owner Basics 159 Minding the Details of Business Ownership 160 Buying insurance 160 Paying federal, state, and local taxes 163 Negotiating leases 163 Maintaining employee records 164 Getting licenses and permits 165 Signing the checks 165 Outsourcing: Focus on What You Do Best 166 Surveying the most commonly outsourced tasks 166 Figuring out what to outsource 168 Simplifying Your Accounting 169 Introducing some common systems 170 Choosing the system that''s right for you 177 Controlling Your Expenses 178 Looking at fixed and variable expenses 179 Understanding zero-based budgeting 181 Managing Vendor Relationships 182 Dealing with Bankers, Lawyers, and Other Outsiders 184 Bankers 184 Lawyers 186 Tax advisors 189 Consultants 189 Governments 190 Chapter 11: Handling Regulatory and Legal Issues 191 Navigating Small-Business Laws 192 Complying with Small-Business Regulations 194 Complying through licensing, registrations, and permits 194 Protecting ideas: Nondisclosures, patents, trademarks, and copyrights 202 A business prenup: Contracts with customers and suppliers 206 Laboring over Employee Costs and Laws 207 Part 5: Creating a Growth Trajectory 209 Chapter 12: Keeping and Attracting Superstar Employees 211 Motivating Top Performers to Stay 212 Revisiting the Compensation Plan 214 Reviewing the types of compensation 215 Creating a compensation plan that works for your business 216 Introducing Changes to Employee Benefits 217 Including insurance and other benefits 218 Seeing the real value in retirement plans 222 Deciding whether to share equity 224 Bringing in New Talent 228 Training: An Investment, Not an Expense 232 Parting Company: Firing an Employee 233 Designing Flexible Organization Charts 236 Valuing Employee Manuals 238 Characterizing Successful Employers 240 Flexibility: The bending of rules 241 Accountability: Where the buck doesn''t get passed 242 Follow-up: The more you do it, the less you need it 243 Chapter 13: Keeping Your Customers Loyal 245 Retaining Your Customer Base 246 Getting it right the first time 246 Continuing to offer more value 247 Remembering that company policy is meant to be bent 247 Learning from customer defections 249 Recognizing and practicing customer service 251 Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers 255 Listen, listen, listen 256 Develop a solution 257 Expanding Your Customer Base 258 Marketing defined 259 Mastering the key elements of marketing 260 Part 6: the Part of Tens 261 Chapter 14: Ten (or So) Ways to Learn from the Experiences of Others 263 Utilize Mentors 264 Network with Peers 264 Form a Board of Advisors 265 Find a Partner 266 Join a Trade Association 267 Locate a Small Business Development Center 269 Give SCORE a Try 269 Tap into Small-Business Information 270 Chapter 15: Ten Ongoing Tax Jobs 271 Keeping Track of Your Small Business Revenues and Costs 272 Separating Business from Personal Finances 272 Documenting Expenses and Income in the Event of an Audit 273 Keeping Current on Income, Employment/Payroll and Sales Taxes 274 Reducing Your Taxes by Legally Shifting Income and Expenses 276 Ensuring a Complete and Accurate Tax Return 277 Tracking Tax Information on Your Computer or Smartphone 278 Deciding When to Stash and When to Trash 278 Replacing Lost Business Records 279 Index 281.