Speaker 1 (00:00:02) - Good to everybody. Welcome to the deal, Scout. We got seven minutes on the clock to talk about specific deals. Today. We're going to talk about buying businesses with Mr. Richard Parker from South Florida. Richard, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:00:13) - Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

Speaker 1 (00:00:15) - All right. Now we're going to talk about buying buying businesses when when you go about buying businesses what are some of the things that are a must. If I'm looking to buy business, let's just say I retired from my corporate job or from the government, and I got a bunch of money in the bank account, but I'm too young to retire. I want to get back in the game. What should I be focusing on?

Speaker 2 (00:00:35) - Well, the single thing at the top of the pyramid is if you're considering by buying a business, you have to buy a business that matches your single best skill set. So whatever it is that you do best has to be the the the driving factor of the revenue and profits of any business you consider purchasing.

Speaker 2 (00:00:51) - Because for everything else, you can hire. So the match is critical.

Speaker 1 (00:00:55) - Okay, now I hear this a lot from from people. They go, I don't know what I'm like, what are you good at? And they're like, I don't know, man. I've been in corporate job forever and I've managed a bunch of people, but I really don't know my tactical skill. So how do you when you're working with a potential buyer, how do you help them navigate the world of what is my number one skill?

Speaker 2 (00:01:16) - Well, it's definitely the number one concern in your spot on. Correct. So it's a process of look at this like a funnel at the beginning. You have no damn clue. Right. And so what you've got to do is you've got to go out and use the, the business for sale market as a laboratory. In other words, you go on to some of the generic business for sale websites, which really don't offer a lot of great businesses, but it's a perfect place to conduct your experiment.

Speaker 2 (00:01:39) - And if you think that you're you're interested in 3 or 4 types of businesses and you're not sure what the driving factor is, well, you can set up meetings and calls with at least five sellers in each one of those four categories, and you suddenly have a sample size of 20 so that you can ask the seller the 36 key questions that you need to ask them. But also, what do you do every day? What drives the revenue? What drives the profits? And you can also speak to competitive businesses not right in the market, but the owners of similar businesses also speak to colleagues, friends, former bosses, coworkers, people that are going to give you a transparent, honest opinion. Because very often we have this bloated view of ourselves. What we think we good, we're good at is not necessarily what we're good at. And similarly, people have a tendency to confuse experience with expertise. In other words, just because you've worked in healthcare for X number of years doesn't mean that doesn't provide that experience.

Speaker 2 (00:02:32) - That doesn't mean you're an expert. What what is it that you did specifically? What is that one shining skill that you had within those jobs or industries that really separates,, separates the rest of your skills?

Speaker 1 (00:02:46) - Yeah. For sure. Experience versus expertise. There's a there could be a big gap. I was huge my you know, I was the infantry my whole life. That doesn't mean I can, you know, run the government. Right.

Speaker 2 (00:02:57) - There's exactly. It's like it's like I tell people all the time, just because you drive a car doesn't make you a mechanic. Yeah. So they're completely distinct and unique. And so you really have to drill down with that. It's the biggest concern buyers have. There is a process that we take people through to explain how to get to. You start off and you look at this like a shotgun, but you've got to get to a laser beam.

Speaker 1 (00:03:20) - Yeah, yeah. Super good. All right. So one of the things that I love, the question that you asked, what do you do every day.

Speaker 1 (00:03:26) - Because for me, I love sales I love people, I love things. But if you if part of my job every day, let's just say it's an industry that I love. You know, investing. If I have to spend every day behind an Excel spreadsheet, I would I would jump out of a window, like, just because, you know, I might be good at it or whatever. I just don't like doing it. So how do you take a like factor also? So you have expertise. What about joy? What about I enjoy doing this.

Speaker 2 (00:03:55) - Well, the joy what you enjoy doing is generally what people think they're good at doing, but it's not necessarily the case. And so what you have to think about is what is the what is it that you're really terrific at? What is your shining skill set. And and as far as the joy is concerned, here's the beauty about buying a business. And especially for people who haven't bought one before. Joy and passion are overrated. And let me explain.

Speaker 2 (00:04:17) - You can't. You're not going to have the joy and passion before you start. The joy and passion comes with the with you getting into the right business where you can apply your best skill set. You build the business. You're empowering employees. You're increasing the value of the business. You're contributing to the life of others. You're making more money. The passion comes with the entrepreneurship, not the other way around.

Speaker 1 (00:04:41) - Yeah. Super interesting. So we're standing in front of a graduating class, right. And what they want to hear is follow your passions, follow your joy. And what you're saying is, hey guys, that will come. You know, joy and passion are overrated. Experience is not the same as expertise. So I love you. Bring a very realistic look at buying businesses and walking people through the model. So let me ask you a question too. I'm looking to buy a business, right? Do I have to buy something close to home? Do I need to start geographically or should I, you know, kind of start looking a little bit beyond, you know, the the 20 mile drive or 20 minute drive?

Speaker 2 (00:05:20) - I think at the beginning you want to keep it because it's it's a laboratory and an experiment.

Speaker 2 (00:05:24) - If you're open minded about where you can relocate to, that's great, except you don't want to get scattered. It's a big country. Any country that you're looking is always a big country. And so at the beginning, as you start your search just to figure out what type of business is right for you, it's wonderful to start in close proximity because you want to go visit the businesses. You want to get in front of sellers. You want to you want to look into their eyes and ask them questions. But if you're open minded that you're willing to relocate, well, it's wonderful because it broadens the search,, the platform that you're able to search upon versus limiting yourself to, you know, downtown, you know, Main Street, Ocala, for example, if you're saying, well, you know, that's entirely different than saying, I'm willing to relocate anywhere in the state of Florida. Right? But so so it really broadens your ability, but that shouldn't restrict you. So in other words, if you're saying, no, I'm going to stay in Ocala, well, you'll find a business there or within a reasonable proximity.

Speaker 2 (00:06:15) - It should not, should not, could not and will not restrict you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:06:20) - So Richard, if people are interested in connecting with you and learning how to buy business and maybe buy a business with you, where can people go to find out more and to do a deal with you?

Speaker 2 (00:06:30) - Go to Richard parker.com. We have hundreds and hundreds of free articles and free reports that take people through the process, explain what's what's involved. And this way they get an idea of, you know, whether or not this is for them. I always tell people, if you have any inkling of interest to be an entrepreneur, buy a business. You owe it to yourself to at least learn about it. And we have great resources. So any again go to Richard parker.com and you'll have a tremendous amount of information to help you.

Speaker 1 (00:06:55) - Fantastic. Richard, thanks for coming on the show. We did that all in seven minutes or less. If you have a deal you'd like to talk about here on the show, the deal scout.com.

Speaker 1 (00:07:03) - See you on the next one.