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Author: J. Erika

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Multiples can be tricky to figure out when valuing a business. Lots of opinions float around, most stemming from imperfect information. For example, Aunt Agatha’s hairdressers say that her husband’s cousin sold his widget manufacturer for three million dollars based on a multiple of five. What the hairdresser didn’t mention is that this price included $800,000 worth of inventory – an amount well above the industry average. Misunderstanding the details of a deal can lead...

15 January, 2025

For many New Mexico small business owners, selling a business is one of the most challenging and complex financial decisions they’ll face. More than just a source of income, a business often represents years of hard work, dedication, and personal accomplishment. Finding the right buyer and structuring a mutually beneficial deal can be both emotional and complicated. As the most well-established firm among New Mexico business brokers, Sam Goldenberg & Associates has been helping small business...

07 January, 2025

When buying or selling a business, “goodwill” often comes up in discussions. Most buyers and sellers understand that goodwill refers to the intangible assets of a business—its brand reputation, loyal customer base, long-standing vendor relationships, and community presence. What’s less clear is how to value goodwill. While it’s straightforward to set a fair market value on tangible assets, putting a dollar value on something as intangible as customer loyalty can present a more challenging concept. A...

02 January, 2025

Selling a business is an exciting process, but it also involves a degree of complexity and preparation that may come as a surprise. Sam Goldenberg & Associates works diligently to prepare the business prospectus, present a high-level of overview its financial performance, and launch it on the various online businesses-for-sale platforms. While these are all critical first steps, most business buyers will have a lot of follow-up questions. It’s more surprising when they don’t. Buyers aren’t...

18 December, 2024

Buyers and sellers’ viewpoints may diverge on what a business is worth. Different priorities, emotions, and approaches to valuation can create a gap between what sellers believe their business is worth and what buyers are willing to pay. When both parties have a clear picture of the business’s financial health and potential, they are more likely to arrive at a mutually agreeable valuation. [su_spacer size="10"] Emotional Attachment vs. Objective Evaluation For many sellers, their business often represents years...

02 December, 2024

Selling a business is an exciting milestone, but it also comes with complexities that may catch you off guard. At Sam Goldenberg & Associates, we collaborate closely with you to prepare a compelling business prospectus, provide a high-level overview of financial performance, and launch your listing across various online platforms. These critical first steps lay the foundation, but they’re just the beginning. Many prospective buyers will follow up with additional, detailed questions—and it’s surprising when...

18 November, 2024

With 3.65 million baby boomers reaching retirement age every year, a historic number of small business owners are looking to pass the torch. As impressive as that number is, according to the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), only about 20% to 30% of businesses brought to market every actually find a buyer. [su_spacer size="5"] That’s a sobering statistic. [su_spacer size="5"] While you can point to rising interest rates, tight labor markets, recent inflation, and evolving buyer expectations, the reality...

14 November, 2024

If you’re looking to buy a small business, you’ve probably found few options that check all your boxes. Many buyers begin with a list of “must-haves”: high profit margins, minimal competition, low staff turnover, and a stable history of growth. Ideally, they want a business that doesn’t depend on the seller’s expertise, allowing them to work fewer hours or even run the business remotely. [su_spacer size="10"] While these criteria make sense, the reality is that no small...

11 November, 2024

The market of buyers for small Main Street businesses, not only in New Mexico but throughout the United States, is dynamic and steadily evolving. Over the past decade, demographic shifts, broader economic trends, and evolving buyer motivations have had an effect on the types of businesses sought out. Just as before, buyers look for businesses that have strong and reliable financial performance, but an ever-growing pool of buyers look for opportunities that they can bring...

07 November, 2024

BizBuySell just published its latest quarterly Insight Report. According to this market watcher, 2024’s third quarter posted its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year gains, representing a 5% growth over 2023 but slipped 2% from the last quarter. This decline is attributed to business sellers waiting to see the outcome of the upcoming election and hoping to take advantage of further anticipated interest rate cuts, something we’ve been observing as well. While more intuition than anything...

01 November, 2024

It’s easy to see why buyers focus on a business’s finances during due diligence. But P&Ls and balance sheets only tell part of the story—they show how the business performed under the previous owner’s watch. Now it’s your business, and you’re the X-factor. With so much activity leading up to getting to the closing table, it's often easy to get swept away in all this activity and not give much thought into what happens next....

31 October, 2024

Teya Vitu for The New Mexican writes: A San Francisco Bay-area boutique hotel chain with a dozen properties is expanding in Santa Fe. Redwood City, Calif.,-based Concept Hotel Group bought the Guadalupe Inn bed and breakfast at 604 Agua Fría St. on Dec. 14. The chain first entered the Santa Fe market in 2017 with the Sage Hotel. It acquired the Super 8 in late 2019 and remodeled it into Coyote South, reopening in June 2020, and...

02 January, 2024

On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates a quarter point, making it the eight time that they’ve adjusted the bank rate in the last 12 months, and putting interest rates at their highest level since 2007. The banking industry anticipates more increases totaling an additional three-quarters hike by the end of 2023. The Fed’s main if imperfect tool to combat inflation, higher interest rates come when many business owners are ready to exit their business and...

23 March, 2023

The business world is abuzz about ChatGPT, an AI-based conversational agent that is innovating how large and small businesses interact with customers. Other AI-based technologies are streamlining content development for marketing and outreach. While this technology is still new, small business owners in both the service and retail sectors are moving beyond the experimentation phase and integrating it into their operations. The South Bend, Indiana hair salon Hair Crafters uses a ChatGPT bot to automate appointment...

16 March, 2023

The Training and Transition phase can be vital for helping a business buyer get off on the right foot once they have closed on the purchase of a business. It’s one of the most immediate and important steps for setting them up for success, but it often comes as an afterthought for both the buyer and seller. Why? A business buyer doesn’t know what they don’t know, and a seller can be challenged to come...

13 March, 2023