“I want to find a solid business where the owner wants to retire and doesn’t have any family members to take it over. I want to offer him a way out and cut a deal where I don’t have to put much down and over the next few years he’ll teach me the business.”

What a wonderful idea!

Brilliant in fact!

Guess what? You and ten thousand other people are looking for the same situation right now.

Does it exist? Of course it does, but it’s NOT common and spending your time searching for this ideal scenario is a waste of your time.

The thing about buying a business which many people don’t know is that they will ultimately buy a business they didn’t initially have in mind. Or, wind up with deal terms they hadn’t thought of originally.

Meet with sellers.

Learn how the different businesses work.

Understand what it takes to be successful in each type and determine whether or not you have the necessary skills to run the particular business.

There are of course countless other steps to the journey including valuations, negotiations, analysis, financing, due diligence and closing the deal.

Having the requisite knowledge for each of the stages is paramount to your success so make sure you arm yourself with the knowledge needed, but remember you cannot get to step two until you make it through the first one and that’s the search process.

It’s only by getting engaged in the business-buying process that you can successfully go down the road.

It’s imperative that you keep an open mind and look at a range of businesses and scenarios in order to narrow your focus.

Certainly, if you know early on the exact type you want to buy then you’re miles ahead of the crowd. Unfortunately, most people don’t and so you have to go through the selection steps to be certain you buy a business that’s absolutely right for you.