Questions such as what is it that you are good at? What have you done with your life that has prepared you for your next business? Think about this... business owners are usually skilled in one of three areas. Administration, sales or operations. Which of these three areas are you most comfortable in? What is is that you are good at?

Buyers will be either entrepreneurs or conservatives. Which end of the spectrum are you? Conservative type buyers will do well in businesses such as newsagencies, childcare centres, post offices, service stations, or management rights. Entrepreneurial types will enjoy the thrill of owning businesses such as a café, restaurant, retail business, hire company, etc. Which end of the spectrum are you?

Experienced business brokers will be able to assist you in identifiying the most suitable businesses for your personality and your needs.

As all business eventually have a life cycle that goes from start up, to growth, to plateau, to decline, it is important for the business buyer to understand where they fit into this business life cycle, and what sort of plan they can develop to 'grow' the business to fit in with their needs.

Evaluate your access to resources. Before you even begin to look for that "perfect" business, you should have a better than good idea about how you are going to fund your enterprise and what you need to fund your lifestyle. Ask yourself these questions and make a list of your resources:

How much Cash do you have that is available?
How much equity do you have in property (be conservative)?
How much cash do you have in shares, debentures etc.?

Good brokers will be able to help you to assess your finance needs and capacity, and to assist you with application for funding.

Starting from scratch or buying a "going concern".

Just about everyone you will speak to when they know you are looking to buy a business will have an opinion on this. Many will say - "Start your own from scratch; why pay someone else goodwill? - you can do just as good as them!!"

Statistics show that most new 'start up' businesses fail in the first 3 years. They are high risk during this period because the reality is that you can do everything right to get the business going but you just never know if your "dream" is going to be a commercial success.

With an existing business, you mitigate this risk because you have a historical track record. All the administrative infrastructure and systems are in place allowing you to focus entirely on growing the business rather than creating a platform for growth.

A time frame to find the "perfect" business.

The perfect business could best be described as a business that is low risk, is easy to run, has few if any problems and is one which offers unique products that are in high demand.

Unfortunately, the truly perfect business does not exist. Therefore, don’t try and find the perfect business, look for something that is close to perfect. Something that you can work with, and change to suit your needs.