A Fix-and-Flip Business-Buying Checklist

One alternative to starting a business from scratch is to buy an existing business and turn it around -- a method that may help you redefine your own thoughts of what a "startup" could be.

The past few years have been very profitable for entrepreneurs with an eye for turning around existing -- but underperforming -- operations, limiting their own risk while leveraging resources that already exist in the business.

Business-for-sale transactions increased in 2012, according to business brokers surveyed by BizBuySell.com, the online marketplace for buying or selling small businesses, and they expect even more businesses to change hands next year. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of survey espondents said that there was an increase in business succession in 2012 and about 57 percent forecast a continued rise next year.

10 Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Business

If you’re thinking about selling your business, think twice. Selling a business should never be a spur-of-the-moment decision, says Curtis Kroeker, group general manager for San Francisco-based BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, business-for-sale marketplaces that have an inventory of about 40,000 businesses. "You need to figure out things like if you should sell, when is the best time to sell, and what you need to consider before selling, among many other considerations."

So, should you sell your business? Here are 10 key questions to help you figure it out.

Start Now to Prepare to Sell Your Business This Year

If so, here’s some good and bad news.

First, the bad news. If you’re looking to sell right away, you probably won’t get full value, as it takes a good year of preparation to sell before you actually put your company on the market.

The good news? A lot of businesses have changed hands in the past several years, and there’s a fair amount of money sitting on the sidelines looking for good deals.

Plus, if you actually take the time to prepare your company for a sale, you’ll more than likely jump to the top of a buyers’ short list, simply because most sellers don’t do the proper “prep work” to make the sales process easy and transparent.
So how can you best set yourself up to win when you sell your company? Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction to receive the best value for your company by the end of the year.