What makes one business better than another for you when you are buying a business? Some of the considerations are obvious. Others are not.  As you explore the business landscape, keep these 12 markers for choosing a business in view.

You have a good sense of the size and type of business you want to buy and how such a business will help you accomplish what you want in life. You’re ready to make your vision a reality.

The time has arrived. You are now ready to take your business to market! You know what you want from your business and in your life and are making those a reality.

With the help of experienced professsionals—our team of small business experts—you have:

• addressed the actions that add value;
• determined the most probable selling price;
• completed the structuring and tax planning to minimize taxes when we sell;
• addressed risk mitigation, insurance and future financial and investment issues;
• joined a peer counseling group and are building a better business and a richer life.
  

It is time to put together a marketing package and plan, ensuring confidentiality is maintained and that all materials are accurate. So while our professionals have expertise in marketing, it is your responsibility as the business owner to review their work in detail.

So what are buyers looking for in a business?

Whether it’s their first purchase of a business or their 10th, buyers are looking for an ongoing income.

Not surprisingly then, they’ll be attracted by businesses with a proven track record of consistent financial performance with solid, growing revenue and earnings.

The evidence is out there: more women in Canada now own businesses and more women in Canada are now engaged in starting businesses.  The count varies according to who reports what and where.*

But what our brokerage can report firsthand is that more women today are selling businesses and buying businesses:

• The percentage of women clients selling businesses is around 20 percent, and
• The percentage of women clients buying businesses is around 30 percent.
• Other members of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) have also experienced an increasing percentage of business sales and purchases by women.

I was pointed recently to an online article in Entrepreneur on why women entrepreneurs should consider buying a business. The article was accompanied by a large infographic “Women and Acquisitions” that showed dramatically how only 3 percent of women were involved as buyers and 7.5 percent of women were involved on the buy-side or sell-side of an acquisition.  And of those selling their business 50 percent were involved in female-based niches i.e. home décor, baby and mama. That the infographic was based on a three-year study of women participation in buying or selling online businesses appeared in smaller type.

Most of the people who come to us to buy a business are first-time buyers. And likewise, most of the business owners who contact us about selling their business have never gone through the process before. Buying or selling, there’s a lot for them to absorb. And while we do our best to guide them each step of the way, the subject matter can be a bit daunting for those unused to the terms that come up as we help them get to their goal line.

We’ve pulled together the following "dictionary" with commonly used terms applied in buying or selling a business. And as a further reference, we’ve tied most of them back to blogs posts where they appear in context.

As a buyer, you are excited about the opportunity to purchase a business and confident you have enough money for its purchase. But do you have enough money to keep it “working?” If you plan to grow the business, do you have enough working capital to fund its growth? Growing businesses require more working capital than shrinking businesses as receivables are growing.