Tweet

Buying An Existing Business Part III of IX

Written by: Bob Macek

Article Overview: This section of Buying An Existing Business deals with goal setting. It suggest several critical questions you should ask yourself before sitting out on your journey to being your own boss.

Buying An Existing Business Part III of IX

What is the definition of a business goal?
Your business goal should be defined as a "specific and measurable result that you want to achieve within a given time frame". Setting goals will move you forward to your objective or the desired results you want from your business.

All of your goals should be SMART, this is an acronym for:
S pecific
M easurable
A ttainable
R elevant
T imed

Visualization:
To keep your goal real and in perspective you should condition yourself to VISUALIZE the end result.

Visualize your products and services, the size of your business, your markets, the people you will hire, why will customers purchase your products, visualize your company and what your role will be?

You need to visualize your dream and that dream should be for the long term. You must look well beyond just one year. You must process a passion and unwavering faith in your vision. Such a passion is the way to persuade others to believe in you.

Ask yourself what you ultimately hope to get from your own business. Will you want to eventually sell it? Perhaps you will want to arrange for a family member to take over. Here again you should visualize what will happen in the future and write it down.

Why should you have goals? Goals provide you with a direction and help keep you focused. They allow you to translate your dreams into reality."

When you set your goals you should think of what you are attempting to accomplish. Think also of how you will feel when you achieve your goals.

Remember always write your goals down. Research has shown that only 3% of people write their goals down, and on average these people earn 10 times those who don’t have written goals.

Remember, also that your first business goal is getting a GREAT business at a GREAT price!

Here are a few suggestion for you think about:

Why do you want your own business?

What do you hope to get from your business?

What are your reasons for going into business?

What level of profit do you need to meet your financial responsibilities?

Of the many reasons one may have for owning a business—enjoyment of the daily
affairs of ownership counts most towards sustaining a balance of pleasure and profit.

Will the business you are getting into provide you a sense of joy? If you can not answer "yes" to this question, then you need to rethink your plan? If you enjoy your business and what you're doing it will be much easier to succeed than a person who is not enjoying their work.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I hope you are beginning to get a picture of what your plan will accomplish.

It is important that you understand the concepts in this section because they effect how you will plan and build your business.

Related Articles
  Buying a Business FAQs
  Buy An Existent Business or Start Up Your Own Business
  Buying a Business
  Choosing a Business
  Should you buy or start a business?

Article Tags: acronym, business goal, desired results, dreams, end result, family member, imed, objective, own business, passion, perspective, reas, setting goals, suggestion, time frame, unwavering faith, visualization



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Business Coaching Internship Review - I joined in during the first phase of the internship and at this point we are committed to doing research and development of RSC Business Group operating in Toronto. RSC Business Group already has products and services in Coaching Small businesses in Los Angeles but we didn't want to assume that the same products were wanted and needed in the Toronto market. Our goal at this point is to commit to interviewing 1000 business owners to capture this data. Through the teleconference internship I've been involved in we've been focusing on Communication Skills and on active listening which are practiced when we conduct our interviews and Coach our clients when they come on board. This is a lot harder than it sounds! Part of the internship is also creating the Toronto RSC Business Group's departments, job descriptions, Marketing and Communication plans etc that a business owner would create for their own company. This trains us in the way we would coach a company as well. The internship is phased in two parts and there is compensation plan involved as well for the clients you personally bring in. These clients are coached directly by Robert Chun as you begin but you are given a chance to learn his techniques. I haven't gone through this experience yet though. It's hard to explain Robert Chun's method of Coaching as it happens at a psychological level in his ability to listen and question the person being coached into the next steps they need to take. The Teleconferences are 2 hours long but it's very interactive. If you have a desire to explore this area of Business I'd recommend contacting Vwodek listed above and get invited to a Coaching Conference call. You can decided then if it's for you. Note: it is a commitment but the skills you walk away with whether you plan on working with RSC Business Group or not is invaluable.
Patent information - I'm also interested in Part 2. Thanks.
Re: 40 cents per dollar is spent in a franchised business - Hey Ringo, In general terms the location itself isn't even looked at until the franchise agreement is signed and the fees are paid to the franchisor. Then and only then do they start looking for a location. This is common practice and with the plethora of commercial locations that are available right now we are seeing landlords bend over backwards on negotiations to get a good tenant. That being said, the area is what the franchisor will look at on the demographics, they won't generally put a franchise in an area just because a buyer wants it there, most times the buyers have a preconceived notion of what they consider "the right spot". The franchisor has the data to support specific demographics, so that is where the help comes into play. The due diligence items I recommend looking into prior to buying are: 1. Average Expenses. 2. Average Revenues. 3. Litigation. 4. Business model. 5. Training. 6. Existing franchisees. Most of the time once you get through those things the rest is easy to get through. You need to know how much it cost, how much you can make, what is your exposure legally, is the model right, who/how are you trained and talk to as many existing franchisees as you can. You are looking for consistency. There is absolutely no way that every single franchise owner is happy with the home office, it is just impossible. You are looking for consistency, hearing the same things in general. Numbers, support, training, advertising, marketing, ongoing training, growth, industry etc... If you don't hear consistent things, most likely the model isn't working in all markets or there is something else affecting it like industry or distribution or training.
Patent Process - Interesting to hear your experiences with the patent process - what's Part 2?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Small Business Internet Marketing

How do I finance a franchise?

Listen to Your Inner Melody

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.