Searching Mid-Career
When to start an EtA (Entrepreneurship through Acquisition) search in your career can be a vexing and very personal question. Should you do it now, or wait? And if you wait, will "life" get in…
Searching as a Veteran
Military veterans have recognized that search is one of the ways they can utilize their leadership skills and fulfill their dreams to be an entrepreneur. The Post-911 GI Bill, plus the Yellow Ribbon Program, significantly…
Searching as a Woman
In the past couple of years, the number of searchers who are women has grown rapidly. Many are finding search as an attractive alternative to attaining independence and autonomy either right after getting their MBA,…
Searching as a Couple
Husband-and-wife teams searching for, purchasing and then running a business, is a special variation on selecting a partner for a search. Searching with a partner (See Blog Post: Searching with a Partner, or not!) is…
Your significant other
The support you receive during your search will come not just from your investors, other searchers, personal friends, and advisors, but also from the "significant other" in your life, whether that be your spouse if…
Wearing the coat
Being a CEO early in your career is the most significant benefit of the search process. However, the reality of taking over the reins of an established business may not live up to your imagined…
Compensation
During your search, and once you are operating the business you have purchased, you should be "reasonably" compensated for your efforts. Certainly, not at the highest level of your friends in other careers, but enough…
Cost of searching
One of the key decisions in buying a business is how to pay your bills while you are searching for it. You will have search expenses, living expenses and perhaps some substantial personal debt to…
Blog Purpose and Objectives
Having "searched" for my own business to purchase over 30 years ago and as an investor in and mentor for many searchers, I am regularly asked for my opinion and advice. I decided to…
Selecting your search name
Many searchers inadvertently turn-off potential sellers by choosing a name for their search firm that fails the test of being “seller friendly”. The code words that make your firm impressive to investors are often the…