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A business plan is a living document that should serve several purposes for your business. When you are buying a small business, a business plan will assist you in obtaining business purchase financing by showing lenders and investors how you plan to repay their loan by running a profitable company.

A problem owners encounter when offering a California business for sale is that not all so-called buyers are qualified to make the purchase. It's frustrating and costly to waste time showing non-qualified buyers the business. Here are ways to identify time wasters so the focus is on real buyers.

Lee Petsas, a Southern California business broker addresses how he handles potential business buyers when they request information on a business for sale listing. He gives his strategies and tips for handling and directing business buyer inquiries.

Peter Siegel, MBA Founder of BizBen and the BizBen ProBuy, ProSell Programs discusses interpreting reported earnings from sellers through tax returns, financial statements and other means when buying a small to mid-sized California small business.

Owners often ask agents to sell business offerings for them. It's usually more difficult than selling houses when working to find a buyer for a business, to satisfy contingencies and close escrow. Business sales intermediaries either agents or brokers may want large fees, but often are worth it.

To be successful in buying a small business you must be able to look objectively at the company and determine whether or not it is a business that will be able to grow into the future. The key to long term survival is when a business is able to change and grow along with the needs of their consumer.

Determining the right time to sell a private business is as much an art as a science, because there are so many factors at play and each business is unique. The timing of a business sale is critical. Christina Lazuric, CBI, Orange County Business Broker discusses this topic on this BizBen Blog post.

Each day, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 62. Around this age, Americans, many of which are small business owners, start to think about their exit strategy from the workforce. For a small business owner, the process can be complex and their decision to retire has an impact on many others.

When seeking large SBA business acquisition financing loans, it helps to review seller's add backs (cash flow analysis) as a source of funding to service the debt. Peter Siegel, MBA - SBALoanAdvisors.com Founder covers this specific topic for business buyers, owner/sellers, agents, business brokers.

After investing years of time and talent into a company, many small business owners want to feel like they are leaving their business in good hands and for that reason, some sellers opt to sell their business to an employee. Let's talk about the pros and cons to taking this route.

To understand the pros and cons of diverting funds from your retirement funds towards the purchase of a business, it is first necessary to brush up on some investment basics. Before approaching the issue of using retirement funds to buy a business, let's take a quick look at stocks and bonds.

Don't confuse a business opportunity with a going business for sale. In the broadest sense, an existing business being offered on the market is sometimes called a business opportunity. But for a buyer's purposes, seeking to invest in a business to own and operate, there are important differences.

Using an earn out can benefit both buyer & seller of a business purchase. A recent question by a buyer in the BizBen ProBuy Program about the best way to structure a business earn out prompted me to ask a panel of BizBen Resources how they would deal with the buyers question on earn out structures.

Despite precautions, business owners often face lawsuits, even when innocent. Litigation, even if won, means losses in money, time, and resources, leading to uncertainty and negative publicity

At What Point Do You Show Key Marketing Info And Materials To Buyers? Robb Hartman, Business Broker at BizBen discusses this topic with others on this BizBen Discussion.

Should small business owners/sellers or brokers/agents give potential buyers direct access to past company tax returns and financials (profit & loss statements) either before or pre the due diligence process? Multiple ProIntermediaries and ProAdvisors discuss this topic on this BizBen Discussion.

Every day I speak to business brokers, business owner/sellers and I hear some pretty amazing stories about potential buyers of small businesses. I tend to ask them what buyer traits do you listen for to see of a potential buyer is serious? What traits or buyer actions are "deal killers"?

Can business buyers actually get full representation from a broker? With 70% of all California brokers not cooperating with each other it may be a good idea to have someone on your side representing your interests. Is buyer representation a reality? ProIntermediaries discuss this topic on BizBen.

There can be many reasons why Brokers take awhile to get back to potential Buyer & to other Brokers and Agents if they are cooperating on the listing. Broker's reasons include: unprofessionalism, too busy, the listing is no longer available, the buyer doesn't sound viable, etc. We discuss them all.

Should I Sell My Business During The Holidays Or Wait Till After The New Year? Business Broker Joe Ranieri and others chime in on this BizBen Discussion about selling a business during the Holiday Season.

Every business broker knows that a listing taken is not a listing sold, in fact the ratio of listed vs. sold could be discouraging if you really thought about it. Joe Ranieri (Orange County Business Broker) discusses what you should do if you finally have to close the doors and call it quits.

Yes, there are ways to find businesses with growth potential that can be purchased with modest investments. But before offering any ideas about finding cheap businesses, it's important to review some of the risks involved. Peter Siegel (BizBen ProBuy Program) discusses this topic with others.

When seeking SBA loan financing many potential business buyers have wrong information about the process of securing the best financing to buy a business. Peter Siegel, MBA a business purchase financing expert delves into the myths regarding SBA financing and business purchase financing.

Overpricing is the number one mistake sellers and their brokers make when putting businesses on the market. Even profitable, well-managed businesses can get buried under a bad number. Brian Loring (Los Angeles County Business Broker) discusses "the tangible trap" and how to avoid it when selling.

Just had a discussion with a owner/seller about non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements when selling a business. Here was her question: "I am selling my business and I have heard I should have potential buyers sign a NDA. What items of information should I have on my NDA?"

Buying a business with a partner/partners, family members can make one think twice about ever doing it twice! However in this BizBen Discussion Post I chat with others about identifying roles, defining goals, attorney visits, and other relating issues.

We all understand the idea of paying too much for a small business. But is there such a thing as not paying enough? That seems like an odd notion, but I'm familiar with situations in which a buyer acquired a small business for a figure substantially under what probably was market value.

What qualities should you look for in a escrow and bulk sale service when buying/selling a business? I often get asked this question by other brokers and business sellers. See what I tell others and what other BizBen Advisors have to say on this topic in this Discussion.