Buying a Biz Is Hard. Here’s How to Do It Right…

Biz Buyers,

If there were a "10 Commandments" of business buying, this would be #1:

Know Thyself. Why? Because everything — and we mean everything — in business buying starts with you knowing you. Without clarity, even the best strategies fall apart:

• Analyzing deals? Pointless if you don’t know what to look for.
  
  
• Negotiating a great contract? Won’t work if you’re not aligned with the business.
  
  
• Creative financing? Not if you don’t have the right goals or strategy.

Business-buying can be a life-changing way to:

• Build wealth.
• Take control of your own financial outcome.
• Create a legacy for your family.

But it can also be a nightmare — financially, mentally, and emotionally — if you choose the wrong path. Here’s the biggest mistake aspiring buyers make:

They start with the wrong question: “What business should I buy?”

When the right question is: “What business is right for ME, and how can I take action now, in my current situation?”

Finding the answer to that starts by tackling these 4 challenges…

Challenge 1: Don’t Marry the Wrong Business

The first step? Figuring out what business you’re actually built for. This is a step many buyers skip — and it’s why their deals are more likely to fail.

Here’s what you need to figure out above all else:

1. What’s your Zone of Genius? Are you great at sales? Operations? Marketing? Your genius is your superpower — leverage it.
   
   
2. What size fits you? The skills required to manage a $200K one-person operation are VERY different from those needed to run a $5M business with 15 employees.
   
   
3. What’s your deal box? Set clear parameters for what you will and won’t buy. This includes revenue range, geography, industry, and deal size.

Start with self-awareness. Be brutally honest with yourself. Know your strengths and what you want out of a deal before you dive into analysis. When you know what you’re looking for, there’s a better chance we can help you actually find it.

Challenge 2: Analyze Deals Without Drowning

Once you’ve nailed the focus, it’s time to dive into numbers. Here’s the harsh reality: Most aspiring buyers drown in data when they start analyzing deals. It’s overwhelming, especially if you’ve never done it before.

But great buyers keep it simple. They ask:

1. What’s the seller’s story? Are they retiring? Burned out? Dealing with health issues? Why are they motivated to sell? Motivated sellers can spell leverage. Other times they can spell problems.
   
   
2. What’s the financial story? Work with experts to dive into the books and surface any risks or trends. Look for green flags like steady and growing profits with healthy margins and opportunities for improvement.
   
   
3. What’s the operational story? Are systems and processes in place, or are you inheriting chaos? What do the employees or customers think?

The key here is clarity. Don’t just focus on what the numbers say — understand why they say it. Common mistakes buyers make during analysis include:

• Getting caught up in vanity metrics and not what’s really important
  
  
• Missing red flags and deal-breakers that others could’ve helped them spot

A business you buy should make sense today — not just in some hypothetical future. Every business tells a story. Your job is to learn how to read between the lines and see if the story adds up.

Challenge 3: Get What You Really Want (Without Being a Jerk)

If analysis is the science of business buying, negotiation is the art — and this is where most buyers freeze.

• They’re not even sure what to ask for.
• They don’t want to offend the seller.
• They don’t know how to push without breaking the deal.
• They get caught up in winning something versus winning the right thing.

And we get it — the stakes are high. The seller knows the business better than you do. And you’re trying to get a great deal without scaring them off.

But negotiation doesn’t have to be scary. In fact, if you know the right tactics, negotiation it’s where great buyers structure great deals…

Here are 6 tactics that’ll help build your skillset in the meantime:

1. See things from the balcony

This is something Codie learned from her old boss. We get too caught up in the day-to-day — the battle, not the war. Remove yourself from all the chaos and see everything from on high.

2. Dive to the bottom of the iceberg

Most problems are like icebergs. What we see is see the tip poking above the surface. Dive to the CORE problem beneath, or you'll sink like the Titanic.

3. Do your homework

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Do you understand the history of those that you negotiate against? Because it is likely to repeat itself.

4. Build a golden bridge

Write their victory speech. Show how what you want is actually a win for them. "Surround them on three sides, leaving one side open, to show them a way to life. Show them a way to life so that they will not be in the mood to fight to the death." –Sun Tzu

5. The Emotion Canyon

We hate awkward silences. We'll say anything to fill the void.. even reveal key information. So when things go quiet, embrace it. Don't fire off that angry email. Don't let 1 impulsive moment ruin the gentle work of closing a deal. Keep a canyon between emotion & reaction. It’s not he who wants it less that wins. It’s often he who appears to need it less. Be willing to walk away, and watch the tables turn.

6. Respect costs you nothing

…But it means everything to your opponent. Call out their strengths. Acknowledge their position. Empathize with them. You might just get a yes.

Challenge 4: Finance a Deal Without Sinking the Ship

Now for the elephant in the room: financing. This is where many aspiring buyers hit a wall because they think:

• “I don’t have the money to buy a business.”
• “All debt is bad.”
• “I don’t even know where to start.”

Here’s the truth: There are so many ways to fund a deal — it’s on you to learn about their risks, their benefits, and the step-by-step for each of them.

Here’s how to think about it:

• Learn strategies to be smart with debt. Options like SBA loans, seller financing, and personal capital all have pros and cons.
  
  
• Understand risk. Debt amplifies growth — but it also amplifies mistakes. Be careful.
  
  
• Structure with safety. Protect yourself with a deal structure that minimizes downside risk.

The key here? Partner with the right experts. Your accountant, attorney, or mentor can make or break your financing strategy.

The information contained here is educational, may not be typical, and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience and the profitability of any business. Individual results may vary.