The upturn in the economy provides a huge opportunity for business owners looking to sell.
As current chairman of the International Business Brokers Association and second as CEO of Transworld Business Brokers, the number one business broker in Florida. Lets discuss the journey and what was learned along the way.
Well, interestingly, I came to Florida from New Jersey when we were just starting a family. I came with the plan that I would buy a business and run it.
So I decided to visit as many business brokers as I could. I ran into Transworld, and they were just a little bit different than everybody else.
And they said: "Why don't you come on board with Transworld and if you see a good deal come across your desk you'll buy it."
I thought that was a great idea. And once I was at Transworld, I really fell in love with the business.
As a business broker you are getting to see a lot of interesting deals go by and every business represents a different opportunity.
Being a business broker is fascinating, and I really enjoyed it. When I came on board I just loved meeting with different business owners. I am a self proclaimed serial entrepreneur. I've started several businesses.
The idea of just working with several businesses a year and helping them sell was very appealing to me.
Two years into my stint as a sales agent I saw the opportunity to buy Transworld. And the owner, Don Parrish, and I literally switched seats. I bought the company from him and he stayed on for almost ten years. We built the company from seven people up to over 90 right now.
Lets discuss what I am seeing in the marketplace right now.
And for the most part, in the past, we've had companies that make money and can prove it. We always laughed that the best companies to have are ones that make money and actually can prove it.
The problem with the economy now is the population of businesses that make money has shrunk dramatically. So it has been very difficult to find good businesses to sell.
This is one area that has made business tougher and we can go into the other reasons like financing the businesses, another struggle.
It's interesting that the population of profitable businesses has decreased, which one would imagine would be the case. And then we have the demographic wave of business owners looking to retire. However, it has been mentioned that people are exiting corporate America, whether they meant to or not, and that they may represent a wave of interested buyers.
There are exiting executives and baby boomers, and all those things bode well for our industry moving forward.
There is something like $12 trillion worth of private equity going to change hands over the next five to ten years.
Then there are people who are exiting or sick and tired and who want to put their own business life into their own hands and bet on themselves. They're tired of betting on the stock market. They're tired of waiting for companies to pay them what they think they're worth, and they're willing to go out on their own. So I think that's good for our industry.
So coming out of the recession, we are seeing an up tick yet in activity.
We are seeing more deals transact, and although perhaps the values are still lower, we are definitely seeing more interest. The phone is ringing more. We're getting more hits on the website. We're signing more people up to go see businesses so, yes, the activity is up.
People are buying businesses, but they're still looking for a good bargain or a quality business, which once again is hard to find.
For twenty-five years, Marian Cook has been a trusted advisor to the hundreds of owners and executives worldwide whom she has helped to improve business performance and value. She has worked globally with firms ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. She has helped them develop and execute their strategies, realize their goals, and maximize their businesses' valuations and their transitions to new ownership.
