Is purchasing a business opportunity right for you?

Here at iOB Business, we are passionate about business and helping individuals just like you, launch their own Digital Agency without any technical skills. Having gone through the steep learning curve and invested in our own technology platforms and infrastructure, we can certainly appreciate what it takes to operate a technology business.

That got us thinking about this weeks blog in terms of the hundreds of people that enquire with us each month and whether purchasing a business opportunity could be right for you.

Starting with self reflection
Before anyone embarks on the journey of entrepreneurship, we believe it is important to ask yourself some key questions about why you want to start a new business.

• Is it because you want to be in control?
• Maybe you want to earn more?
• Or the fact that you want some flexibility?

There are literally thousands of reasons why people decide to start a new business and we can’t possibly cover them in this blog.

However, as someone considering starting a new business, it is critical that you take some time out to reflect on your own experiences, skills set and motivation. After all, this will underpin whichever business you decide to launch, whether it’s a Digital Agency or something completely unrelated.

One of the best traits to have as a business owner is self awareness. You need to recognise your strengths and weaknesses. For example, are you a good communicator? Do you excel at managing and organising your tasks? Do you know how to delegate effectively? These are all crucial questions that help you lay the foundation for future success.

A lot has been discussed recently about the global economic consequences of the Coronavirus. It is an unprecedented situation and as a result, Governments, businesses and individuals are still trying to fathom a realistic way forward. However, as a budding entrepreneur you should also rely on your own judgment rather than letting others frame your outlook.

For example, lots of businesses are now exploring how they can move their businesses forward and be less reliant on traditional marketing methods or approaches. Hence why we have seen an uptake in Partner activity across our Network as well as an upsurge in usage for social media and advertising channels such as Facebook and Google Adwords.

The truth is, there is never an ideal time to start a business where everything has magically fallen into place. Indeed, some of the biggest companies and businesses have actually been launched in some of the most volatile periods of our history.

This brings us on to another element we wanted to briefly touch on this week, namely, sacrifices. While most people dream of starting a new business, how badly do they actually want to achieve success. Listening to successful business speakers such as Tony Robbins or Gary Vaynerchuk makes you appreciate exactly why being a successful business owner often involves you sacrificing time, interests and leisure activities in order to achieve your dreams.

Going solo
It is certainly true that you can launch a business without the need for a third party such as ourselves and there are many examples of this in the business world. However, when you start a new business there are always lots of challenges and considerations, some of which only become apparent once you have actually launched. For example:

• What should you sell?
• Where can you source your products or will you create your services internally?
• What kind of website do you need?
• Who will write the copy?
• How do you market your business?
• What price point makes you competitive?
• How do you collect payment?
• What level of support do you need to provide?

The list is truly endless.

Whether you are a seasoned business professional or you are investigating starting a business for the very first time, you need to be aware of minimising your risks and mistakes. When you are employed in a company, if you make an error, it’s unlikely to cause a material loss to your employer as you are one component of a wider company structure/decision making process. In comparison, when you are the business owner, if you make an error it could have consequences for your business in the form of a monetary loss or impact your brand/reputation.

It is important to assess the advantages and disadvantages of going solo and starting your business from scratch. However, for most people, the most viable and risk averse option is certainly purchasing a business opportunity for the reasons detailed below.

Purchasing a business opportunity
Now, we want to be clear that purchasing a business opportunity is not the right option for everyone. For example, a business opportunity often involves partnering with a company like us and leveraging our technology, training, resources and infrastructure to speed up the launch of your business. However, if you want to launch a highly specialised business or something that has a very specific audience or niche, then you may not even have the option of purchasing a business opportunity.

One of the biggest advantages of a ready made business opportunity is the speed and expertise that you are buying into. When you partner with a company, you get the advantage of utilising their experience and infrastructure for your business. This reduces the chances of making a mistake as well as giving you the time to focus on revenue generating activities that can help your business grow.

Some of the questions we highlighted earlier in our blog post are already answered by the company you partner with so therefore you can focus on your core activities instead of trying to establish a brand, sales channels and support structure.

It is worth noting that before you invest in any business opportunity, it is crucial that you do your due diligence and research. For example, always ask for a demonstration of the product, service or business opportunity and make sure you are satisfied that all your questions or concerns have been answered.

Summary
As we have seen throughout this blog, there are a number of considerations you need to account for before you can confidently say whether purchasing a business opportunity is right for you. From our perspective, we would like to congratulate you on taking the first tentative steps to launching a business by reading our blog and stay tuned for more business related blog posts in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, to find out more about how you can launch your own Digital Agency and provide technology solutions to local business, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.