The question of buying a business vs. starting one from scratch has come up often and is highly debated. The answer, like many answers in life, is that it depends on your personal situation. However, my personal opinion is that the majority of people would probably find success easier if they focus on buying a business.
Buying a business puts money in your pocket faster
There are situations in which it may be “better” for you to start a business. One of the main reasons is that it often requires less up front money to start a business rather than buying a business.
You could start a maid service with just a few hundred dollars spent on cleaning supplies and creating a website. Buying an existing maid service will probably cost tens of thousands of dollars.
But, if you buy the right company, it should start cash flowing from day 1 which helps you pay living expenses immediately. With a start-up, it may take you weeks or months to gradually build the business and start making money.
I think the way to think about this is to determine how easy it will be to get the money to buy a business and how soon will you need that company to generate money to put in your pocket.
Buying a business is easy peasy
The other thing to consider is how easy each path is for you. When buying a business, everything should be in place and ready to go. They should have products/services, existing customers, a marketing plan, and employees if necessary.
Buying a business can provide a ready-made customer base, established processes and systems, and potentially profitable revenue streams. You should be able to slide right in and take over relatively easily.
If you start a business you will have to create all of that from scratch over time. This is certainly possible if you have the knowledge and skills to do that.
I have bought businesses and created them from scratch, so I have built the knowledge and skills to do that. The upside is if you start from scratch, you get to create it the way you want it to run. You can pick a name, how you want to market it, develop a reputation, and control how the company develops.
Getting the word out with social media
One thing I will say is because of the internet and social media, it is much easier to start a business and start providing your products and services than ever.
Back in the “old days”, people had to pay for an expensive ad in the Yellow Pages (you Millenials may want to Google Yellow Pages) and then run radio, newspaper, or TV ads to reach people.
Now, you can get a website and advertise on social media and start getting calls from customers tomorrow. The time to generate revenue has been greatly reduced.
Go deeper
Hey, you may think social media is the work of the devil or teenagers but you can not deny that it works and helps your business. If you are going to buy a business you need to know the social media game.
When I had a maid company I used social media a bunch to get my company name out there. You don’t need to become an “influencer” (whatever that means) but you do need to know how to market the business you are buying.
If you want to learn more you should read One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days and learn how to crush social media.
Click on the book image to learn more.
Final thoughts on buying a business vs starting one
As with many issues on Biz Buyer Central, there is not a clear-cut answer to the buying a business vs. starting a business question. It really comes down to having access to money to buy a business vs. using a smaller amount of money to start a company.
Do you need the cash flow now, or can you wait to build it up over time? Do you have the skills to create a business and put all of the parts together, or do you need to buy something in which everything has been done?
Taking everything into consideration, I think buying a business has the edge over starting one. But ultimately, do what is best for your situation.
Now get out there and change your world!
