Mustachians Business Owners

Ask yourself the question: why would someone sell his business if it’s running well? I don’t know if solariums are still a good business or not, but I think you can still find them in every bigger city.

If the business is running well and you are able to check the numbers, you would have to pay the current owner a good amount of money dependent on discounted future cash flows.

Me neither, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad business. We are usually very limited in our way of thinking due to our own bubble and assume that other people share the same visions and ideas.
In the end you have to see what sells. And most of us in this forum are definitely not sales people (no offense)

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The number one reason at the moment is people retaiering. A friend of mine has been asked multiple time to buy a physiotherapy studio which is profitable because the owner want to have a slow transition before retirement (still work as employee few year, been sure the studio continue good and the retire). He already worked there on the past.

The father of another friend sold his really profitable business to buy a house and a boat on the Caribbean and retire early.

20 years ago coop sold his profitable little shop on my village because they wanted to focus on bigger shop inside shopping mall. A guy took the space and open another shop, he do not have big numbers but it is profitable and offer a service for the old ladies who want to walk to the shop instead take the bus.

I think it is possible to find opportunities where the owner lost is will to fight, is gonna retire or it was doing it for passion and never focused on the money. So the business model is finding something who is not in negative numbers and the task to grow the cash flow will be yours. Easy? For sure not. Impossible? Absolutely not!

I found this link on the topic which offer also a list of website “autoscout” style:

Maybe it can be helpful for someone :wink:

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If your friend already worked in the studio, he has some inside knowledge at least. Which is a good starting point. Still, he should check all the numbers and consider things like personal relationships from the current owner to his clients as well (e.g. will those people still come here after owner has retired). Plus - does your friend know all the numbers and has enough knowledge to judge if buying the studio is a good investment?

You’re describing the other side of the coin here. Your fathers friend sold his business and is now retired in the Caribbean. You want to buy a profitable business. I guess a good starting point would be to check with the father for how much he sold his business. The new owner had to pay a certain price (most probably related to discounted future cash flows), maybe even take a credit to pay for it.

I agree with what you said. It’s definitely not impossible to find such businesses. Just like I said earlier: you need to educate well enough to be able to judge if the business is good and if you can grow it. Plus have good connections to a bank if you need a credit for buying the business.

Thanks for the link!

Codie Sanchez at Contrarian Thinking collected a list of “Boring, Unsexy businesses” to own for a small business owner:

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Thanks for sharing @Julianek

The blogpost you shared gives some ideas about boring businesses. I think one of the main issues with most of the businesses mentioned in the post: most of them are labor-intensive. Which is a problem in Switzerland, because there’s high demand for labor intensive jobs and they are also paid well.

Still, some ideas are interesting. I’m also currently looking at this topic in more depth. Scalability and marketing are important factors in this game. Would be great to have a chat - if you’re up for it.

Nice thread!

Regarding solariums: I’ve read somewhere that it’s a nice way to launder money… so beware of that. I don’t think they can be profitable now…

Regarding Seller Machines: Since we have an almost monopoly, it should be easy to disrupt I think. Also it’s the one with less costs and with a lot of possibilitites, if you can find a place that will lend you some space and electricity for your machines. You can fill them yourself in the beginning. You can travel to Japan to learn what kind of machine you can use here, but beware that most of the people here doesn’t like those machines if not in cases where it’s the only choice OR it’s a kind of novelty machine (fry-maker, donut maker , pizza maker)

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Wish we had a dedicated subforum/category for small business owners on this great forum where we could share ideas and experiences running a business.

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I am also keeping my eyes open. The idea is to find something profitable with the potential to reduce labor/increase automation and gain reach through marketing.

I recently wondered how/if all the boutique eyewear stores are profitable. There are so many of them despite Fielmann et al.

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That’s because eyeglasses are supercheap. Lenses are expensive as long as you buy branded lenses. Making lenses should be cheap for simple lenses though.

on the boring business idea, I was thinking of (probably) starting or (maybe) buying a digital marketing agency focusing primarily on local SEO. After talking to some potential customers I think I can get 5-10 customers quickly and do this as a side hustle (~4-8 hrs/week). Probably get sales of 1500chf/month.

Buying has more overhead but also more potential and certainly employees whereas starting would be a 1-person show for the next 12 months. Undecided if this is worth the effort. Ideally if I could, I’d hire a real good part time operator or even better a student/intern.