Business Broker

Startup Costs: $10,000 - $50,000
Home Based: Can be operated from home.
Franchises Available? Yes
Online Operation? Yes

In Canada all business brokers are required to have a real estate license to list and sell businesses. In the United States, however, at the time of this writing only 17 states require people to obtain a real estate license to legally start and operate a business brokerage. These states include AK, AZ, CA, FL, GA, ID, IL, MI, MN, ME, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI and WY. This is exciting news because it is estimated that there are as many as 1 million businesses for sale at any one time in the United States. Needless to say, the potential to earn enormous profits from listing, marketing and selling businesses is very great. Even if you do invest the time and money to obtain a real estate license, the potential rewards easily justify the effort. So what do business brokers do? They source people wanting to sell their businesses, prepare a business valuation for fair market pricing, list the business for sale, market the business, qualify potential buyers, show the business, answer questions, work on behalf of their clients to negotiate an appropriate selling price and help in all closing matters. In other words, a business broker looks after everything that is required to sell a business, taking all the stress and work off the seller's shoulders. You might also want to consider specializing in selling a specific type of business such as restaurants, hotels, retail establishments or manufacturing companies. Specialization is the fastest way to become known as an industry expert and will increase repeat and referral business.