buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

Hi guys, after doing some soul searching my husband and i are thinking of buying a business once we arrive in Oz, neither of us want to go back to the kind of life we have here, and are worrying what we will do when we get there, i personally have looked into being my own boss over here for some time, but never quite got around it (as you do!)

are there any tips and tricks that people can share, eg. the "must do" and "must not do" we are looking around for the right kind of business at the moment but it would be nice to be prepared when "the one" finally comes along.

Do you recommend a financial advisor etc? and are there any general kind of rules about owning a business in Oz (eg. we are 139 des area sponsored visa holders)

any advice would be really appreciated.
thanks
vb2

Re: buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

A financial advisor but preferably an accountant should be employed to scrutinize the figures.

If it's a shop / cafe / restaurant, visit the place a couple of times as a paying customer and take it all in ... staff / stock / volume of trade etc etc.

It's all about location baby ... LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION.

:)

Good luck

Re: buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

hiya thanks for the info.
i know its about location, so bloody difficult to know what is a good location though, we had that problem here when we were planning to buy outside of our area let alone in another country! - shame there isnt a little magic book out there that has all the info to hand!!
hey maybe thats what i will do lol!!! write a book!!

anyway i will certainly hire an accountant, think we have one of the forum somewhere i remember reading a thread about them offering their services - hummmmm the mind is working overtime yet again.

regards
vb2

Re: buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

In WA we have a Government dept that runs courses and offers free advice
May be similar in other states, see link below

http://www.sbdc.com.au/body.asp

Re: buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

Hi there,

My Hubby and I are also thinking about doing something similar. What kind fo thing are you interested in getting into? There are lots and lots of franchises available if you are looking at getting into retail or similar, but that is not something we are interested in at all. We want to do something that wouldn't require weekend work (aside from usual stressy "own business stuff") - so in a business-to-business capacity, probably quite sales based.

My dad recently retired and sold his food import/export business via an agent who deal with "small businesses" and it seems that these kind of companies are quite useful for getting to hear about businesses that would be manageable for a husband and wife team employing only a few staff or none at all (depending on conditions of your visa). They are in Perth, if you are interested in me finding out the name of the company who brokers these deals then let me know. I know that for example, part of the price they paid included having my dad do a 6 month handover period where he worked for them full time for a small period of time, then worked for them as a consultant a few times a month for the rest of the 6 months. Is this the kind fo thing you were thinking about?

Michelle

Re: buying a business - any tips and tricks?
 

hi, thanks, any info you could forward on would be great, my husband comes from a sales background also, i have always wanted a little boutique or shop to run, the choices are endless. We are planning to move to brisbane and have been checking out local businesses for sale, its knowing which is a good investment and which one is not, but i guess an accountant can help with that. good luck with your venture

regards

vb2