It’s unfortunate that some owners need to get to the point of listing their business for sale in order to get themselves back above the water. But it’s interesting to me when a larger company buys up all of the smaller companies to make one large super power of a company in the process.
The mother-in-law works for a man who not too long ago bought the company from the original owner. It wasn’t a money related issue, the original owner was just getting too old and wished to retire so he sold it off for a pretty penny and now the new owner has full control of everything going on. I once asked him how he knew that this person was getting ready to sell and he said he’d gone through some reasource where they list businesses for sale for free to interested parties. What the original owner was unaware of is the fact that this man, while he may have the money, has no real knowledge of how to go about running his own business. This is something I find completely absurd and every single employee is paying for it.
I think if anyone is interested in selling their business, but keeping the employee’s on in the process, they should seriously consider doing some kind of a background check on the person they’re selling to. Most of the time, the reason one would start up their own business is based on the fact that they have their own passions and want to run that passion their own way, following their own rules. This is more than likely the reason why so many more people are working for themselves, and from home at that. Why, whether money is or isn’t an issue, would you want to hand your business over to someone who doesn’t share the same passion as you? Your ‘baby’ so to speak will be dragged through the mudd and most clients/customers, knowing your name, will associate your name with that dragging to then discredit you.
There’s a company out there named GlobalBX, they run a large database of businesses being listed for sale, for free! You can use the site to sell your business, buy a business or just browse the business broker directory. They take away the trouble of having to advertise your business for sale in newspapers and magazines. You can use their website for free just to get your name out there and watch the offers come rolling in. You should check it out if you’re interested in selling your business.