How to Identify What Businesses to Acquire

If you don’t currently own a business, or you don’t know what you want to do or acquire, then you’re not alone.

Truthfully, I can't spell "acquire" correctly half the time and I still manage to get this right. So, if I can do it, you can do it too.

So here’s how we’re going to find what businesses you should acquire…

The What To Acquire Worksheet

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from practicing law and helping people buy and sell businesses over the years is that you can make money doing anything.

So why not do something you’re actually interested in?

Let's divide a piece of paper into four sections to help you pinpoint the exact type of business you should acquire.

1. Top Left Corner: Fill in Your Hobbies & Passions

What are you interested in? Make a list of your favorite pastimes and hobbies.

Example:

1. Photography

2. Gardening

3. Traveling

4. Fishing

Got it? Next…

2. Top Right Corner: Note Your Superpower Skills

Passion without competence is a delusion. So brainstorm a list of things that you’re good at. A question I like to ask myself is, “What comes naturally to me, but is hard for others?”

Example:

1. I’m a good negotiator

2. I’m good at networking

3. I can simplify and organize things

4. I’m pretty decent at Excel

5. I can market and write copy

3. Bottom Left Corner: Write Out Your Previous Experience

Now make a list of your previous experiences. It doesn’t matter if you think they’re irrelevant, just write them down.

Example:

• Law

• Accounting

• Buying businesses

• Selling businesses

Still with me? Sweet. Let’s keep going…

4. Bottom Right Corner: Track Your Business Connections

Then write down places where you can reach your network.

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• Instagram

• Close family and friends

Now that you’ve done those four things, you have a good sense of where your circle of competence lies.

Now start circling the top things that interest you. Keep doing this until you have a list of things that are relevant to each other.

You want to find a business that aligns with your interests, superpowers, previous experiences, and business network — the items you’ve circled.

Let’s say that I’m interested in photography. Then, I’m going to Google search “Types of photography businesses”. Now, I’ll look at the results and see which ones fit each of the four criteria: Interests, superpowers, experiences, and network.

Eventually, you’ll narrow your search down to a few businesses. You can even narrow it further by location: Social media photography businesses in San Diego.

Do you see the process I’m going through? Awesome.

When you have a business that aligns with all four of those? You’ve got a winner-winner chicken dinner.

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