Buying an IT business - worth it ??

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22/06/2023, 10:15 AM Syklone - ..... hi

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[Syklone]

My loving wife wants me to go to work sooner by purchasing a business in IT in Gladstone. While it may look great as Gladstone resource boom is great, I am skeptical in it being worth it.

http://www.bsale.com.au/businesses/for_sale/7606/computer-sales-and-repairs-gladstone-qld

Above is the business.

I have worked as a tech for a local crowd before and personally, being a boss seems to be a PITA from what I seen, head aches, fuck wit ma pa clients who complain and calls outs a shit times and working into the night to restore stuff or ensure something is up and running. Overheads, staff, legal requirements etc. And then, when the boom goes away, then what, as I also see on the facebook classifieds every fucking uni kid saying that they have their own backyard business and will do it for 10% less (fucks me on the warranty support they would offer.)

Anyone have any tips or relevant stories on owning a business and if its worth it now days in our era. If it was 1995 I would do it, but now days every cat and dog can do IT and wants a piece of the pie which seems to be too much of a head ache to me to think about managing one.

Regards,

Syks - the Stay at Home Dad for now.

[CordlezToaster]

You pretty much answered your own question.
I'm just here to back it up.

With your skill set why not start up a business starting to support mid to large enterprises. Maybe contract out to local schools?.

Look for an ICT manager role.

I look at small business like that and your only bread and butter is repairs, you will not make much in sales.

[bageled]

You're both right. In business the one thing you want to minimise is overheads. If you can operate out of your backyard do it. Plenty of successful businesses started the same way.
If you do have a look at this businesses books, what you want to find is that the majority of their revenue comes from the minority of their clients, so there should be one or two or three major clients keeping the thing afloat. You can build a business on that. If they don't have that, I'd walk away.
Consulting has the advantage that you have zero overheads, just bear in mind that you have to cover a lot more than just your wage when you calculate your billing rate.
What it really boils down to is, do you want to run your own business? You need to have a passion for it or you won't last. And I don't mean necessarily a passion for what the business does, but a passion for doing business.
Sure it is a PITA but like anything, it's swings and round abouts. Personally, on Monday, I got my haircut, had a nice lunch out, went to the movies, came home had a nap, then went and picked my daughter up at 4pm and spent the afternoon with her at a playground. Two weeks ago I worked 3 12 hour days straight to meet a deadline. Swings and round abouts.
For mine I'd steer clear of retail, opening hours and the like are a fucking drag, you need to be at a specific location at a specific time to do your work. I operate a lot off my smart phone, everything comes in via email.

[cowcar]

Also… look at what you know about that business. Revenue of 350K P/A, in an industry with razor thin margins and an asking price of only 120K plus stock (roughly 20K). Normally the asking price is worked out as a multiple of profit (depending on the industry this varies greatly, but it prices things such as “goodwill” into it) but lets assume the best and say it is 2 years profit. What are you buying? A job for 60k per year which will come with a lot more work…..

The other issue I would see, what is to stop you opening up the same sort of shop in Gladstone?  Setup and rent wouldn’t cost you 120K, and does this place have that much goodwill?

[Syklone]

Its retail from what I know - my wife would like me to revamp it to something more commercial but am just borked at the thought of it. While I have worked mostly in commercial / managed services etc, they have been with the big boys, and any comp they see they gladly squish. And the thought of retail with ma pa doesn't thrill my, but if some one told me it has perks or could show me some different light I may look into it further.

[bageled]

Cow is right. I'd walk away from this one.
Look around, there will be other business opportunities. I knew a guy that went from hotel manager to self employed dog washer. He doubled his income, and didn't have to work nights anymore. Who gives a fuck what you do really, so long as you make a an income sufficient to make you happy, make your fun in your time. Seriously looking at what you need to be happy, and putting a definite figure on 'sufficient' makes it easier. More money is not necessarily better, you just need sufficient money. Maybe you need to own an island in the Bahamas to be happy, I don't know, but maybe you just need enough to meet the bills, pay for a couple of holidays, and put some into investments. I read a study done in the states that found that most people were happy at around 10% above the average wage, beyond that each dollar made was past the point of diminishing returns, until eventually people became less happy, their money actually diminished their happiness.
I'm rambling, good luck with it Syk.

[YosimeteSam]

IMHO, if you have to come onto the interwebs and ask for advice about buying a business, i will keep this polite. Are you fucken serious? 

[Budh]

Any advice helps really to make you better at what you do !!! And at the end of the day its your choice what you do with it .

[Virgil83]

I'm still recovering from the whole concept of Sammy being polite... so I may not be coherent here...

But Syk, I think you've hit the nail on the head... I don't think it's worth it in this case.  Your background is in corporate/bigger business IT... and really that's where the money is... I can't see any of the players in the mining boom relying on a company that has a name in leetspeak for their technical needs

Mum and Pop small businesses, geeky kids, family PCs, ugh... I can't think of anything more annoying.  At least playing for the big boys with big budgets you get to play with some cool kit... and being a boss without being the head honcho or financially responsible, that kind of middle management, is exactly where you want to be as Cordlez said...

[Syklone]

IMHO, if you have to come onto the interwebs and ask for advice about buying a business, i will keep this polite. Are you fucken serious? 

Why don't you have your own hotline. Like a 0055 Sams Advice.

Would be a great business and save everyone by you solving everyone's problems. Think of all the mentally unhinged women you could save.

Maybe that's a new business venture right there.