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Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

A small business making decent money is up for grabs.

Couple is retiring and was just going to close it up and leave it sit.

Screen printing business.

They did golf balls hats t shirts etc.

Employee is willing to stay and do the work.

For me I would want to expand it into screen printing on blank I phone and other phone cases.
Can be done with the equipment they have.

Sourcing blanks now.

What do you all think?

Good idea?

Can do anything on the phone case.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Hi sandy. How us the business doing in terms of profit at the moment

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Hi sandy, I do a similar kind of business and am looking to expand in the new year to other areas as its such a massive market for anyone with a bit of imagination. Obviously your not going to be able to retire off this income but its very good and very steady and the kind of business that attracts repeat custom, good luck.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Great idea with the phone cases, thats a great in demand item with so many different phones and than a new upgraded one every year , a nice unique designed phone case will always be needed, lot of potential.

My girlfriend was hand making them a couple years ago and selling then for $150-200 a case.

She purchased the cases and made unique designs on them , she had lot of orders even started a website but making something by hand can take u only so far

But definitely like the business good luck

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Good money in it. I have friends here in norcal cali that do this. They make 6 figures easily. Good investment. I fronted them the capital and 16 months later they had paid me back in full. Id say go for it

Www.Skinit.com does the phone cases as well with tv ads promoting. Theyre getting like 35.00 usd to 70 I think per case.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Actually they have made a living off this business and retiring in their late 50's.

I dont need any retirement income from it only the love of buying, selling and being creative and of course taking a risk is what I like about it.

And cell phone accessories is the hottest thing going.

I think I can take this business up another level easily.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

They made close to 100k profit last year.

They have contracts with some college and local high school teams etc.

They also are working on contracts for t shirts and hoodies for the NFL teams and were close to getting licensing so that could be big also.

I think with my cell phone idea I can double that with some creativity and better wholesaling techniques I have in mind.

LOL---- I have a sales rep I buy New Era items from who just might come in handy.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Thanks.

Just a thought at this point and saw on etsy some of the ugly cell phone cases people are actually selling for 30-40 each.

I also want to add in NFL, NBA MLB and college sports on the phones once I get an attorney and get that figured out on the licensing part of it. The owners already have some of that started so that is a good thing.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

So Sandy might eventually start Vero'ing us on Ebay! lol.... I want to be your 1st legit reseller online Sandy!

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Wow awesome stuff.

Exactly what I am looking at doing with some twist of things that are hot like black ops, minecraft, bling etc. on these types of items.

Might even move into some signs or posters of some kind as well.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Id try www.legalzoom.com for all ur legal questions and problems. The founder robert shapiro "I think thats his name" is one of the top rated american attorneys ever. Part of oj simpson case etc. Anything legal with any documents etc can be done there at 80% cheaper then an attorney in person.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I have an attorney already for all legal issues.

That site is good for papers etc but when it comes down to buying real estate, business etc you need to sit down in person with your trusted attorney.

Oh yea, he is one of those guys who got him off knowing full well he was guilty. :surrender:

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Will be making an offer end of this week once I have a clear vision of what I would do with it and if I have enough time to keep up with it.

16 hour days now might turn into 20 hour days real quick.

If you are like me you want to me involved in every part of something and with the ideas I have I can visualize this being very big someday.

Even though the employee wants to stay and do the work I would want my hands on everything from start to finish.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

customised items, eg. names things for school are big now. lunchboxes, bottles, pencil cases, bags, picture frames etc etc.....

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I see this as being your biggest problem - we ARE alike in this regard. It would be good to know the business inside and out, but at some point you HAVE TO delegate to others, or else YOU become the biggest stumbling block to your own success. I have learned this the hard way.

Also, I would want to learn what their business is doing now, so that employee could be VERY VALUABLE if they stay. The value in this purchase would be their business methods, their contracts and their way of doing business and the income that comes along with that. If you just want screen-printing ability, buy some equipment on eBay - it is cheap.

Of course, I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Agreed.

I am looking at it all. Equipment value, employee wages, expenses etc.

Going to sit down with them soon and go over their profit loss statements for the past 5 years.

Contracts and current communications with possible nfl, ncaa, mlb and nba is in the works right now which could be huge.

I am a hand on person. I will want me hands on it all.

They have done very well for a 3 person show for many years and never really went outside of their area much to market their products.

Making 100k profit year after year as they explained with any website, any outside marketing and no big time licensing contracts tells me it has larger potential.

Lots to look at and look into.

LOL Jeff you think a lot like I do.

I actually took my cell phone and took pictures of their equipment and looked up the cost of those items already.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

They do some local high schools.

So much potential with this.

Even though of fund raising side of things to get others pushing the products for me and they benefit.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

They are extremely organized which impressed me a lot.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Thats awesome Sandy!! That sounds like a dream situation to stumble upon like that with them retiring and all. I've been looking into buying some established businesses as well, curious as to how you stumbled upon them just luck of the draw or you knew them?

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I go to antique auctions a couple times a week and overheard someone saying they are going to retire from their business and do antiques etc as a hobby.

I was all ears.

When they were asked what kind of business do you have they said a screen printing business, we print logo stuff, high school items, band items, shirts, sweaters, hats etc.

After that discussion was done I asked them do you do this in your spare time etc. They said no, we do it for a living.

I asked if they are going to retire what are they going to do with the equipment? He said we are going to sell it all, equipment, licensing, products, stock, building, contacts, contracts etc.

It went from there.

We made an appointment to see it and was extremely impressed.

Offer is on the table and they are taking offers until Dec 31.

If they dont like the offers they are going to list it with a realtor as a business and with land and building.

I would like to turn it into doing screen printing on phone cases, laptop covers, fund raising at schools and go further with getting NFL, NBA, MLB licensing.

I already buy new era items from a sales rep and have spoken with him about connections etc.

Will wait and see.

Their profit-loss statements alone impressed me.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Awesome stuff, wish you the best on your potential new investment!

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Thanks.

We were told they have 6 other offers so flip a coin.

They did tell us 2 of them dont want the real estate which could go either way.

If there offer is close to what they are looking for and can keep and sell the real estate separately they will make out.

They also never really made good use of the location they have.

They dont have a retail outlet which they should.

Retail dollars in this location would bring them some decent money esp if the new owner can get the NFL etc licensing.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Got the news today.

8 total offers. None were even close to what they dream of getting.

We were the highest to what they wanted because we research the value of the property, profit and loss statement, current orders, licensing, potential etc and they told us we were not within 100k.

They plan on selling the real estate by itself now and the business separately.

I asked if I can make an offer on the business only and they said they want what we offered just for the business.

I could go up some but not 100k+.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Rarely do the offers come in for what exactly is wanted - perhaps in Q1 or Q2 but then, other business will have debt to deal with from Q4 of this year before looking into acquiring a new business

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Different for a small business as you can pretty much nail the value close.

I thought I was very close but the owners were looking to reap a ton of money beyond actual "value" and potential.

LOL They might be back because I dont think they are going to get double what most of us offered them.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Here's an idea. Start your own and take their customers muaaahhaaa :)

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

That wouldn't surprise me. Whether it is a business or someone looking to sell their 3 year old flat screen on Craigslist, many people end up grossly over-valuing what they actually have.

I can only say that I would not offer them anything above my comfort level. I have passed on deals before, although mostly for real estate, when the seller wanted too much money. One guy had even compared his house to what others had sold for in the area. Unfortunately, the houses that had sold at the higher prices were 1,600+ square feet, while his was just under 900 square feet. So, it would be like comparing apples and oranges. He refused to understand that. His house is still for sale and has been for over 3 years now.

Overpaying for something is never a good idea, in my opinion. It would be different if maybe you wanted to buy the house you grew up in and the owner didn't really want to sell and you had to offer 150% of the market value to get the deal done. But that would not really be an investment, that would be more like something you are personally passionate about, that you simply wanted to buy for yourself.

When I was younger, I never fully appreciated the house I grew up in. I thought nothing of it when my father sold it many years ago, he asked me if I wanted to live there eventually and I said NO. Now, it would be hard for me to afford it, as the last time it sold it was over $500k. Sighhh....

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

We all live and learn.

I dont need another business but knew I could expand this one big time but did not want to overpay as I already knew I could buy equipment and do some of it myself.

They are a well oiled machine and older folks not up to date with current trends so I though I could use their awesome skills, current business and equipment and location.

I wont offer any more. I went to the high end of my assessed value.

Unless they come in with some hidden sales etc I would not go any more then I already offered.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Never been sure if it was because my Da was never at home a lot because of his Naval duties but he always insisted on having a 'home' as a land base.

We all grew up to buy houses early in life as opposed to buying autos.
Has proved to be prudent.

I inherited my maternal Grandmother's house after her daughter passed away.
Some family suggested selling it. I choose to keep it.

There is a wealth of memories there that could never be replaced.
:peace:

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I have to say i have very strong same feeling about the sentence above:"There is a wealth of memories there that could never be replaced."Because my story can tell you why

We have a big house at our hometown(it locted at village),but we have appartment in a big city and we live in the city,we only come back the hometown one time each year during the chinese new year peroid.

Many people ask us to sell our house to them but we refuse .Because when we go back our house,we are very comfortable and we have very good memories here and we like the house ,the furniture,the tree,even the grass as well.We are very enjoy the time when we go home ,that feeling can not get if we live at hotel.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I agree.

Tried to buy my Grandmothers house from one of the Aunts who had control of her estate.

Instead the greedy thing sold it to a developer for a lousy 20,000 more and within a month the home was torn down.

Memories still there, pictures still there but they lived in this house for more then 50 years, raised 11 kids and 100s of grandkids and great grandkids grew up going to this house all of the time.

Greedy people plain suck.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Oh wow - torn down with everything in it..what was your aunt thinking?!? :mad2:

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

...greedy people with no family values and memories... people with no heart.
Sorry for yor family house loss.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

I'd be interested in sourcing a few items through you if you still have that contact. Pm me if possible.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Thanks.

We all have those heartless family members who put money first.

Re: Preparing to make an offer to purchase a small business
 

Hmmm

I would not give up my source to create competition for myself.

I purchase large amounts each month and would not want more competition in a category already filled with low balling sellers.