What's Your Best Option? Buying a Business vs. Starting Your Own
While the appeal of seeing years of dedication and hard work
come into fruition may be apparent, building your own company from the ground
up comes with no short supply of challenges.
Buying an already-established business may not come with the
innate gratification of a self-made business. But it offers some advantages
that make the option worth exploring.
If you're struggling to decide between building your own
business or buying an already-established one, allow the following comparison
to aid your decision. This is not a topic you want to be uninformed about.
Starting from Scratch
There is no doubt about the satisfaction associated with
being a successfully self-made entrepreneur. The world's currently unstable
economic status means many people are being driven towards self-reliance and
financial independence.
However, building up your own business from scratch presents
many disadvantages compared to buying a pre-existing business.
- No Client Base
Starting your own business means that your client base does
not exist yet. Introduce yourself to clients and ensure that you stand out from
your competitors to win loyalty.
- Longer, Harder Hours
Starting your own business means carrying the weight of your
business entirely on your own back. It will take a while to find the right
staff members for your team, and until then, you'll have to fill in all the
gaps.
- Low Compensation
Putting in long, hard hours into your business is one thing,
but not receiving an equivalent salary at the end of the month is another. Not
getting compensated appropriately in the initial stages can make the effort
more challenging.
Buying an Established Business
Buying a business that has already made it through the first
few years of development makes a lot of sense. Especially when you consider
stats show that an average of 90% of start-ups fail.
A business that's made it through the first few years will
have an experienced team of staff members, proper HR and accounting systems in place, and operational
policies and procedures. It will also have an existing customer base.
There are fewer risks involved because you can track the
history and trajectory of a company before deciding to buy it. Whereas starting
a new one will mean taking a gamble on its success.
Your target market already knows who you are, and you can
place your focus solely on continuing where your predecessor left off. If you
have the financial means to buy a business instead of building one from
the ground up, the former is a more reliable route to success.
Summary
While it may seem clear that buying a pre-established
business makes far more objective sense than starting a new one, the world
wouldn't have gotten very far if it never deviated from the norm.
Starting your own business is certainly a challenge, but a worthy
challenge if you have the perseverance to see it through.
Your choice of which direction to take really should depend
on what resources you have access to, and what you want to get out of the
experience.
Financial success is more likely to come quickly if you can
afford to buy a business. However, the personal satisfaction and pride that
comes from starting your own is only found through independent development.
