Once you have decided to buy a business, the difficult decision is over.  Well, almost.  Regardless of how you arrived at the decision to buy a business, the decision of what kind of business you buy is a separate and independent decision.  It is true, that for many deciding to buy a business and deciding what kind of business to buy are integral to each other.  However, my strong advice to any one buying a business is to look at all options available to them before deciding to purchase a certain kind of business.

Now let me go through a handful of common businesses that are frequently bought and sold that you may consider.  Let us look at one of Americas long standing business that all Americans use and love, the venerable corner gas station!  Of course who doesn’t thing a gas station is not a good business?  Every one in my family and your family uses it to buy gas and may be a six-pack of beer or lottery tickets or milk etc?  You will find that there are hundreds of gas stations for sale close to your location.  Within gas stations, there are two kinds of gas stations.  The franchise gas station, or the independent retailer.  If you buy a franchise gas station, then you get the name brand recognition and the traffic associated with it.  But with franchise gas stations, you need to purchase the gasoline from the oil company which could be a bit expensive but you don’t have to worry about environmental issues.  With an independent gas station, you can sign contracts with any supplier, but you will have more exposure with environmental issues.  Also the marketing support provided by oil companies will be a lot of help if you are new to the gas station business.  When looking for a gas station for sale keep both options in mind with their pros and cons.  But regardless of which option you choose, the decision to buy a gas station is a good one.

Now let us look at another common business to buy, restaurants!  I would wager that buying a restaurant is a slightly more risky than buying a gas station. Why do I say that?  Because, gas stations main product is gasoline and there is not a lot of differentiation.  And buying gas is a necessity and gasoline for the most part is a commodity.  But the decision to buy a restaurant is a bit different.  There are countless number and kinds of restaurants for sale not far from your location.  But the first step in choosing the restaurant is do you like the restaurant.  In fact I will go one step further.  Do you absolutely love the restaurant?  The type of food being served, the ambiance, the location, the prices etc.  Certainly you can change most of the variables except the location.  However, I would recommend that focus only on a restaurant for sale if you absolutely love it as it stands.

Whether you decide to buy a gas station or a restaurant, it is critical that you go through the recommended steps before buying any business.  You need to evaluate the financials, determine the value, suitability to your operational experience among various other factors.

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