All Forum Posts by: Charlie MacPherson

Why no gurus in this space?

Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach, teach gym.

In other words, people who really know this stuff are busy making money doing it.

Have you thought about an auction?

There's a company in MA that does that. Maybe there's one near you.

They list, publicize and run the auction.  You can set a reserve price and if the bids don't get that high, the auction closes, I *think* with no fees, but I could be wrong on that.

If successful, you pay only the auctioneer's commission.

That's out of the box, but at least worth investigating.

See if your local library has access to Data Axle.  That's a database of businesses that you can set your criteria, search and download.

Your filters should be:
- Your service area by zip code, map selection, town name, etc.
- Contact Title: Owner, CEO, President, etc.  Or whomever you think is the right contact person's title.
- Gross sales: I'd suggest looking for accounts that are not too big for you, so maybe gross sales under $10M - but season to taste.

Then download all of the fields you need - contact name, business name, address, etc.  Build your mailing list.  Send out postcards, call and door knock.  Doing that B2B is a lot easier than B2C.

Good luck!

Be sure you have an attorney representing you so things don't go sideways.

I always carried when I was showing investors the never-ending supply of abandoned foreclosures.  No telling who or what we'd find inside.

I carry a Smith & Wesson Airweight .38+P.  Small, light and a good pocket-carry, and with a neoprene holster it doesn't print.

Not a fun gun to shoot as it's so lightweight.  Put 10 rounds through it at the range and you'll kinda wish you hadn't.  But for close quarters, it's hard to beat.

When I was a Realtor showing rehabbers every dang abandoned, frozen foreclosure in January (10 degrees colder inside than outside after a good overnight cold-soak), I never knew who or what was inside.

Smith & Wesson .38 Airweight loaded with +P rounds.

NOT a fun gun to shoot.  With the light weight it kicked like an angry, drunken mule.  But I could pocket carry with a neoprene pocket holster and it didn't print at all.

You put 10 rounds through it and you kinda wish you hadn't.  Unless you like throbbing hands.

Very light, very concealable.  Just hope you don't have to shoot it.

I'm a business broker, representing a $7M towing company.  They are the 800 lb gorilla in their local market.

I have several interested buyers, but SBA has an upper limit of $5M.

If you can pull together $7M in funding and I can present a buyer with a strong personal financial statement and collateral, this might be something to put in your lending portfolio!

Contact me if you have any interest.

Business Broker here (but not in CA).

Have you considered an SBA loan?  The SBA 7A (10% down, 10 year term, generally about Prime + 2%) can be used to finance the entire project up to $5M.  An SBA 504 (10% down, generally Prime -2% and 25 year term) can be used for the real estate portion.

I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but it's at least an option.

PS - look for an SBA lender that's in their Preferred Lending Program (a PLP lender), which shaves ~60 days of the time to close and one that sells their paper on the secondary market, just like a mortgage.

Those who keep the loan in-house often add overlays, which are additional requirements over and above SBA's

This isn't for everybody, but for the person willing to put in the work, you can be looking at a mid 6-figure income after your first year.

We help business owners to sell their companies. That's anything from a corner convenience store to large distribution company. Some of our sales include:

• Precast concrete company
• Restaurants
• Convenience stores
• Airport
• A furniture-leveling device company
• Reptile wholesaler
• Motels
• Home healthcare company
• Assisted living facilities
• Gas stations
• Marine storage and repair
• Farm equipment company
• Trash hauler
• High-end architectural woodworking company

We will train the right person. Nobody comes to us knowing all about business brokering!

Here's the hard part:

This position is a 1099 (independent contractor) role and is 100% commission. No salary, no benefits.

There's a lot of driving involved. We cover all of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont from this office. Burlington, VT is a good 5 hours from Augusta and that's a hotbed of potential listings.

You can expect that it will be ~9 months before your first paycheck. But when that paycheck hits, it's usually mid 5 figures to mid 6 figures and you should see several of those per year.

Here's the good part:

Even with the startup period, earning $200,000 in your first year is a reasonable expectation.

$400,000 per year within the next 2 years is also a reasonable target.

We pay ALL marketing expenses - cell phone, business cards, mailings, advertising, appointment setters, websites, Google, etc.

You're only responsible for your vehicle costs.

The right candidate:

Might have gray hair and more wrinkles than you want to count. Don't worry if you're not a recent grad.

Can make a financial plan to get through the startup phase.

Is highly self-motivated.

Has a college degree, preferably in a business-related discipline.

Can read the basics of a tax return and P&L - but we will train!

Can work from our well-appointed Augusta office when not out on the road at appointments.

Interested? Visit www.InbarGroup.com, then send a resume and follow up with a phone call!

I run the Augusta, Maine office of Inbar Group, Inc - Business Brokers and M&A Services. Our HQ is in NYC with other offices in NJ, PA (Philly & Pittsburgh), MA, CT and DC.

I'm looking to semi-retire as I'm 69 years old, so I'm looking for a new person or two to come on board to service some (negotiable) parts of northern New England.

Normally, a new broker should expect about 9 months to the first commission check, but my plan for the Maine / NH / VT broker is to hand them about some of my active listings to give them a jump start in the business.

The successful candidate will have meaningful business experience. You should be able to read at least the highlights of a tax return, P&L and Balance Sheet. You should be mid-level proficient with Word & Excel.

Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs are all good candidates. Realtors *might* be, but while business brokering looks like real estate brokering from 1,000 feet away, it's a very different practice.

However, I don't expect any candidate to have business brokering experience, so we will train you from the ground up.

As a former Realtor, I spent a lot of time un-learning real estate as terms, processes, duties and procedures are all quite different.

The position is 100% commission, so you'll need a plan to get you through start up.

However, unlike being a Realtor, Inbar Group pays all marketing expenses. That includes thousands of postcards mailed to prospects each month, an outbound telemarketer whose job it is to fill your calendar with appointments and an admin person that is shared by our office.

BTW, the telemarketer is incentivized with a bonus whenever we close a sale, so she's motivated to send you on good, qualified appointments. Again, that costs you nothing.

If you're relatively close to Augusta, we have a space for you at my office (12 Shuman Ave, #10). We will consider opening another office for you as well. Otherwise you can work from home - and we'll provide a company cell phone too.

The only expense you have to cover is your vehicle and related expenses.

One key to success is to go out to meet the seller face-to-face, so plan on driving quite a bit. But if your trip results in a $1,000,000 listing and a $50,000 commission, is that worth driving for a few hours?

We charge sellers 10% of the sale price at closing and you'll make about 50% of that.

A big advantage for business sellers in dealing with us is that we charge sellers nothing up front and no other fees aside of the 10% commission at closing. I have heard of one competitor charging a $7,000 listing fee and another that sells the seller on a flashy analysis and PDF book - for $30,000 up front.

We have no fee unless we're successful.

We sell almost any kind of business. Examples include local convenience stores, restaurants, trash haulers, motels, precast concrete companies, medical facilities, etc. We especially like distribution and manufacturing.  

We refuse adult-related and marijuana-related businesses.

We've sold some really unique businesses too. For example, a company that makes elevator counter-weights. One that is a reptile wholesaler. A machine shop that makes caps for perfume bottles and one that makes furniture-leveling devices. I've even sold the company (FBO) that operates the Maine State Airport in Augusta!

Take a look at our website and you'll see what we have on the market right now. www.InbarGroup.com.

This is a very good time to get into the business as there is a glut of retiring baby boomers. They've spent decades building their businesses and many have never really thought about an exit plan. When we show them the way to retire with a pile of money, many are all too happy to sign a 12-month exclusive listing agreement with us.

This can be a very, very lucrative opportunity with real life earnings in the mid to high 6-figures.

Interested? Give me a call on my cell at 207-352-1000 or email [email protected] and let's chat.