Buy a Business or Buy a Job?
Not everyone has the same goals when buying a business. In fact, many are quite happy to buy themselves a job. If we see total owner benefit (owner’s salary + discretionary earnings) of $75-100k and a workload of 40-60 hours per week, you will indeed be your own boss, but you’re the boss of your job, not of your business.
But that’s not a bad thing!
There’s nothing wrong with buying a job. There are various reasons why people might choose to do so.
- Passion: they are crazy about manufacturing, or cookies, or manufacturing cookies, just to give some examples. They love the idea of working in something they care about. Many people have spent decades of their lives in the workforce not doing anything even close to this. Don’t underestimate this as a motivation.
- Want autonomy: After years of being a version of Milton on Office Space, they are tired of being told that it would be great if they could um, yeah, come in on Saturday. The allure of being your own boss often outshines all the caution in the world about, “You’ll have to stay up late,” or “Guess who doesn’t get paid if payroll is short?”
- Dislike their current gig/industry: this can often be a complement to the passion for something else. Often “anything but this” is not only perfectly valid, but a great way to transition into something new.
Buying a job can pay the bills and even pay down the bank loan if you needed one in order to buy the business. For those with minimal savings or ownership experience this may be the perfect way to get started in the world of entrepreneurship.
Room to Grow
Many businesses started with someone who just had a passion, or wanted autonomy, or wanted to do something new (or all three!). The good news is that a job can always grow into a business.
- Generate more sales from existing products or services: Very rarely do we find businesses that are doing all they can in every channel to promote and sell. There are always opportunities to be found. Smart execution here often leads to more discretionary earnings.
- Delegate responsibilities and bring on staff: one of the first things you can do with those extra earnings is start to build a team that can help you execute and remove yourself as the single point of failure.
- Create new products or services: Creating new income entirely allows you even more discretionary income, which can increase the long-term value of your business and put some more money in your pocket in the short term.
Whether you want to buy a job, buy a business, or buy a job you want to build into a business, we are here to help! Give us a call.
