Last month I had the opportunity to speak with a couple of public service groups. One of the topics of my presentations was the benefits associated with buying an existing profitable business. I began the presentation by recapping a recent article that I read which pointed out that 23% of new businesses don’t make it past the first birthday and more than half will fail to make it through three years.
The reasons for this are numerous. Bad management, poor business concept, insufficient operating capital, weak customer base, strong competition, or even just plain bad luck can individually or collectively contribute to a business’ failure.
Owners of a new business need to juggle a multitude of details such as product and service positioning, branding, marketing, employee hiring and training, site selection, etc. Even when all the stars are aligned and correct decisions are made, it can be months or…
