If you're buying a business you will engage a lawyer, at some point. Here are some additional issues you could ask your lawyers to investigate:

•    Conduct a search for any litigation history. Prior lawsuits against the company can tell you a great deal about what’s really going on.
•    Conduct a search for other businesses owned or controlled by the selling parties. Far too many people have the entrepreneurial spirit and would sell you their business, only to have a similar business or interest that may end up competing against you.
•    Check public records, licensing and governmental filings for completeness and accuracy. Are there prior bankruptcies? Were licenses ever revoked? In others names? Never filed? etc.
•    Verify the receivables are valid and with unrelated parties. Who really owes them money and do they acknowledge the debt and agree to it.
•    Interview employees and vendors about the health of the business. These people know what’s really going on. They know about the business and managements reputations. They know if business is really down 30%, if a major client is unhappy with them, if their habits have changed, if any employees have been laid off or let go recently, if they have bad leadership, etc.

For over 30,000 businesses for sale go to BusinessesForSale.com

If you are setting up a new firm there are some things that you must avoid doing, writes Rachel Bridge of the Sunday Times

Starting up and running your own business can be exciting and exhilarating. It can also be extremely daunting because, as any fledgling entrepreneur quickly discovers, there is no manual or guidebook that comes with the keys to the office to tell you what to do and what not to do.

In reality, every day is a blank sheet of paper and you need to think on your feet at every step. It can be frighteningly easy for the unwary to fall into traps and come unstuck by pursuing plans and strategies that may seem a good idea at the time, but can quickly lead to disaster.

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At Dynamis, we've just undertaken the task of scanning every single agreement and letter. We did this to create space. However, we've found some additional benefits we hadn't anticipated.

We have over eight cabinets worth of agreements, contracts and letters of correspondence with clients and prospective clients. On BusinessesForSale.com and FranchiseSales.com we deal with 1,000s of business brokers and franchisors.

To save space we decided to scan them as PDF documents and tag them. Every piece of physical information is now held electronically and securely in a series of folders that can be accessed by everyone in the company. This means that we can now get rid of eight filing cabinets.

However, one of the greatest reasons for doing this is the speed and ease with which information can now be accessed. Here is a simple example:

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In every office or workplace there is usually at least one - the slacker, the lazy so-and-so, the man forever surfing the net, the woman constantly emailing her mates.

Whatever you wish to call them, the work-shy are seemingly everywhere.

And most people seem to agree - a recent survey by the Investors in People award scheme found that 75% of the UK's workforce think some of their colleagues are not pulling their weight.

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Buying a business is a great way into business ownership. Here are some tips you should consider from website BusinessesForSale.com:

• Think about your own strengths and weaknesses, and focus on the business that is right for you and your needs. For example, do you need to live on the premises?
  
• Research your sector using the trade press, the internet and even word-of-mouth. This will help you to ask the necessary questions should you decide to proceed.
  
• Make sure you have professional advice in place. Professionals will oversee local searches, check legal implications and analyse the accounts.
  
• Be prepared to pay for an independent professional business valuation.
  
• Visit the prospective business in person. Be discreet as the owner may not wish staff or clients to know the business is for sale.
  
• Examine the client and customer bases closely. If the business is doing very well – you may wish to run it in exactly the same way in order to retain customer loyalty.
  
• Look for areas that the current seller has not exploited, giving you 'hidden' value. This could range from automating administrative procedures to executing more effective marketing.
  
• Shop around for the best deal to finance your purchase – your local bank may not be the most competitive.

At Dynamis, we are in the process of looking for new offices and I am keen on installing a power nap room for our employees.

This has raised the odd smile at work - they think I'm joking.

In the early days, when we'd just launched BusinessesForSale.com, I was often seen on the floor, flat on my back, in what is known as the 'semi supine recovery position'.

The back of your head rests on a book, the hands sit gently on the lungs and the knees are raised to support the spine. You get in touch with your breathing, you clear your mind and your body shape corrects itself.

I don't do it at the office anymore - not since we became profitable. But when we were losing £60k per month I was often found staring at the ceiling.

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Vice presidents and Personnel Directors of the one hundred largest corporations were asked to describe their most unusual experience interviewing prospective employees:

• A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle.
• Interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
• Candidate announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.
• Candidate explained that her long-term goal was to replace the interviewer.
• Candidate said he never finished high school because he was kidnapped and kept in a closet in Mexico.
• Balding candidate excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a headpiece.
• Applicant said if he was hired he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
• Applicant interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific interview questions.
• Candidate brought large dog to interview.
• Applicant refused to sit down and insisted on being interviewed standing up.
• Candidate dozed off during interview.

At 34, Hugh Morris gave up a lucrative legal career to start an organic food delivery business. I asked Hugh 10 Questions over the phone:

1. BOB: Any regrets yet?
Hugh: No, not yet! There have been some tricky moments but once you start on a course of action you just see it through.

2. BOB: Has it been that tough already?
Hugh: I underestimated how hard you end up working. I used to be in a job - which was hard - but when I left the office - sometimes as late as ten or eleven o'clock - I also left the work behind. When it's your own business you simply don't sleep some nights because you are lying awake thinking about what you need to do next. Sometimes the morning can't come quick enough. But maybe that will settle down when I am sure that the business will work.

3. BOB: How did you find the money to start?
Hugh: I remortgaged my house and managed to raise £150k.

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Although Australia’s first immigrants may have been reluctant European outcasts, destined for a lifetime of hard labour, today this vast country lures 150,000 people annually from the UK alone.

Many of these hopefuls arrive to set up business for themselves in search of the famed sun, scenery and laid-back quality of life.

Search 100s of businesses for sale in Australia

Australia is an affluent country with a stable economy and strong links to the UK, making it a more significant market for the UK than its comparatively small population of 20 million might suggest. With a market worth over £250 billion, Australia is a prime location for business immigrants.

The advantages of a shared language, a common basis for commercial law and similar business culture make Australia hugely accessible to the fledgling exporter, as well as the more experienced.

Business Broker, Eric Lahra, who has 30 years experience in the Australian market advises:

“The professional businessperson looking to migrate to Australia should continue in the same field and not re-invent the wheel.

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Just after we posted the story about things you can retail in the face of the larger retailing giants, the following news item appeared on the BBC website about how a leading UK supermarket will now sell houses.

Supermarket group Asda is to start selling property through its stores.

Shoppers will be able to browse properties for sale via an in-store computer terminal.

People choosing to sell their homes through Asda will pay lower than average estate agency fees and receive a free Home Information Pack (HIP).

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It's becoming increasingly difficult to compete with the large retail chains. However, there are certain products that are still being sold by independent retailers.

Here is BOB's top five independent retailing ideas for you to consider when starting a buisness:

1. Speciality Baked Products. Even though supermarkets bake bread on site, the independent bakery and it's ability to produce speciality baked products still has a place in all our communities. There's no greater feeling than buying a freshly baked loaf from your local baker. This is feel-good retailing that cannot be replicated so easily in a hypermarket.

2. Bicycles. Believe it or not, bicycle retailing, especially in Britain, is dominated by the independent retailer. In the UK the majority of bikes are sold through independent shops.

3. Jewellery. It's obvious. The idea of buying a bespoke piece of jewellery from an independent retailer is mark a quality. No one likes the idea of something so personal being mass retailed.

4. Deli Food. Fine cheeses, specially cured hams, fresh herbs... in an age of mass produced, plastic-wrapped food, the independent Deli will never die.

5. Cards & Gifts. These items are similar to jewellery. They are personal tokens of affection and customers prefer to buy them from independent retailing outlets. The experience of shopping should feel as unique as the gift or card being bought.

For 1000s of independent retailing opportunities, visit BusinessesForSale.com. 

Entrepreneur Brian Kurth's Vocation Vacations gives people the chance to try out a new career before they take the plunge

Just one year ago, David Ryan was an international banker with HSBC. He had done stints in Bahrain, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey, and London over the course of 17 years. However, by the time Ryan had landed in New York City two and a half years ago, he says, "the buzz for me was gone." Exciting as a two-decade spin around the globe once was, Ryan says, his chosen profession was simply, "not as exciting as it had been."

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Richard Branson is the entrepreneur we'd all like to be - he's always having fun. However, in a recent interview he stresses that with great wealth comes responsibility.

On talking about visiting an impoverished region in Africa, he says: "Anyone would feel an enormous sense of guilt going to one of these places - and if you're in a position to do something about it you've got to make an effort.

"If you go to a hospital in South Africa today, or almost anywhere in Africa, you'll find they're not hospitals, they're places people go to die... and for 30 cents a day for anti-retroviral drugs they could live."

Branson says that such knowledge creates obligation and the need to apply the "necessary evil of capitalism" to its best advantage.

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The Americans have their mighty gas stations, the French have their charming cafe-bars and the British have their pubs. Here are our 5 favourites for sale on BusinessesForSale.com
 
1. 100-Year Old Award-Winning Real Ale Pub, Herefordshire. Leasehold. Asking Price £120k

2. Gastro Pub with Character and Three-Bed Accommodation. N.Yorkshire. Freehold. Asking Price £475k

3. 16th Century Pub in Historic Town Square. Cardiff. Leasehold. Asking Price £200k+

4. Scottish Country Inn with Restaurant. Elgin. Asking Price £365k

5. Beautiful Coastal Pub with Accommodation. Devon. Freehold. £485k

Over 2,000 surveys compiled by Cohesive Knowledge Solutions, Inc. (CKS) indicate that US professionals now spend 2.5 hours a day on email and consider 30% of that time to be wasted.

Extrapolated across America's 56 million knowledge workers and assuming an average wage of $25/hour this equates to over $257 Billion wasted each year.

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We asked three entrepreneur's who use BusinessesForSale.com to supply BOB with their top three Eureka! Business Tips:

Judy Smith, 36, Nightclub Owner
One – Buy an existing business to save on start up costs and minimise bureaucratic procedures.
Two – Make sure you choose a business that suits your background and lifestyle.
Three – Find a niche that is not being catered for by other businesses in your sector.

Correy Henderson, 42, Hotel, Laundry and Convenience Store Owner
One – When you start, make sure that you invest revenues back into the business.
Two – To quickly expand look at acquiring similar businesses operating in your sector.
Three – Always consider the tax implications of your actions and get good advice.

James Foster, 23, Dating Agency Owner
One – Put together a good plan that will help you get the funding that you require.
Two – Make sure that your staff believe in what you are doing and can see the future rewards.
Three – Resist the temptation to micromanage. Put your trust in the staff you employ.

The days of catalogue shopping are essentially over – or rather, they have been replaced by online retailing. These days, home shopping, including mail order, increasingly means one thing: the internet.

According to market researchers Mintel, in 2003, catalogue sales accounted for 53% of the market. By the following year that share had plummeted to 25%. Meanwhile, the share of online sales almost quadrupled, from 9% to 32%.

E-commerce monitor Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) says that online shopping now accounts for 6.3% of total retail spending.

In 2004, Britons parted with £14.5bn over the web, and the increase looks set to continue. November 2005 saw 24 million internet shoppers spend £2.253bn online – an average of £94 each – in the UK alone. It’s certainly big business.

Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, says: “Home shopping retailers must admit that the days of the big book are over and that the great hope of the home shopping industry is, or should be, the internet.

“The internet is still seen by many as an exciting, new and convenient way to shop from home, while catalogues are seen as old fashioned and downmarket.”

Escape the rate race. There are 100s of action-adventure opportunities on BusinessesForSale.com - from Kayaking in Australia to Jet Skiing in the Florida Keys

Here are this month's top 5 'Escape the Rat Race' opportunities... for those looking for a business with thrills and spills.

1. Mountain Bike and Kayaking Business in Australia






2. Adventure Travel Business in Phoenix, Arizona





3. Fishing Lodge in Alaska





4. Boat/ Jet Ski Business in Florida





5. Glass Bottom Boat Business, Devon, UK

The key to success in business (and in life) is to surround yourself with positive people and root out the negatives.

People are like buttons on an elevator. Some will take you up and others will take you down. Look around you. Do your friends champion you?  Or do they take comfort when you fail? Do they really want you to succeed? Or is that their worst nightmare?

When you're building your business - big or small - you'd be amazed at the negativity you will encounter. And I am not referring to your competitors - they'll probably have respect for you. No, the biggest resentment will come from within.

Unless all members of the business are aligned to the cause and unless all staff members feel that the success of the business is also tied to their own personal success, you run the risk of carrying negative attitudes that could end up damaging the aims of the company.

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One of the most important steps you will take towards buying a business will be to make a sound judgement on the viability and true worth of what you are buying.

On BusinessesForSale.com there are over 25,000 opportunities and it's important that you play the part of a good detective and uncover the truth about the business you are considering.

The first assessment you must make in evaluating a business for sale is to review its history and the way it operates. It is important to learn how the business was started, how its mission may have changed since its inception and what past events have occurred to shape its current form. You should also understand the business's methods of acquiring and serving its customers and how the functions of sales, marketing, finance and operations interrelate.

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