Archive for December, 2009



Helpful Tips For Accurately Valuing A Liquor Store For Sale

A liquor store for sale can be an extraordinary opportunity for someone who is intending to enter the highly competitive arena of entrepreneurialism. Traditionally they are seen as purveyors of “essentials,” with good turnover and reasonable margins. However, performing a liquor store valuation can be a tricky business, even under the best of circumstances. The whole industry has become overly reliant on out-of-date barometers, and more often than you might expect, an owner will try to sell you their business based on long-standing traditions instead of actual “real world” elements.

Due to these traditions, the industry has a somewhat veiled view of measures used to assess actual, individual business values. No two liquor stores are the same, as they have different footprints, different specialities, the existence or absence of certain subsidiary products which can represent substantial values in themselves, etc. Always keep in mind that you need to place your attention on the actual claim of profits, not to references of percentages or to the simple fact that the business in question might have solid sales, as sales in and of itself doesn’t mean anything.

While you can certainly go over the percentages which are provided to you and use them to clarify any abnormalities which come up, the most useful method of business valuation, liquor store experts all agree, is specifically based on cash flow or owner benefits. Often times, these individuals will refer to a figure which represents a “multiple,” and this multiple could easily be three, four or five times. So, what exactly does this particular multiple refer to?

Across the board, the most commonly utilized figure represents the owner benefits. This refers to the money that you will have left after you have taken all expenses into account and essentially represents the funds you will use to service the debt, pay yourself accordingly and to build the business. When looking at the books your owner benefit is defined as net income added to the owner salary, perks, depreciation and interest less capital expense allocation. The latter element refers to any major alteration or investment you will need to make in the foreseeable future, by installing updated computer systems or redecoration, as examples. Always be sure that any “add backs” are appropriate and reasonable.

As you are going to buy liquor store business at a premium, in relation to the “multiple” attached to the value, you must of course be sure that it is being sold as an ongoing concern. This claim is particularly appropriate when it comes to the inventory of the business. Make sure that you buy this inventory at terms which are realistic to you. Often, buyers will seek to remove the cost of the inventory from the valuation and add it on separately. It should always be treated as an integral part of the valuation and not used to inflate the seller’s position. Typically an inventory is turned over by a liquor business between eight and 10 times per year and you should ensure that your particular stock does not include a large element of items which may be unsalable or seasonable.

Be wary of an owner who claims a large amount of cash sales, as if they cannot prove it, you should never pay for it. In other words, they should not benefit twice – first when they fool the tax department and secondly from an inflated business sale value.

Remember that you must have a good conversation with the leaseholder or management company, assuming that the business occupies a rented space as is most common. Understand before you go any further what you would need to do to assume the lease or to qualify for a new one.

A word on owner financing, which may be offered. Generally speaking, you may add the value of between 30 and 50% of the amount financed by the seller and consider that to be a premium to the stated business value, versus an all cash transaction.

Be on the lookout during times when you meet with the owner, visit the premises or otherwise conduct your due diligence. Consider the number of patrons that you see going in and out of the store and use this as a benchmark, bearing in mind the time of day of your observation. Do you see many family members of the owner working there or watch the owner working excessive hours? Ask yourself whether you want to replicate the situation and how you can truly arrive at a value for the work input by the family members, especially if they are being paid off the books.

When considering how to value a liquor store, remember that valuation is an art not a science!

Richard Parker is the President and founder of the Diomo Corporation - The Business Buyer Resource Center. His inspiring materials, seminars and consulting have assisted thousands of business buyers with achieving their life long dream to buy a business.

Online Masters Degree In Business Administration

online degree business administration programs have become a viable education solution for people who want to develop their career in business administration. Competition for jobs is tougher than ever, and without good education and lots of skills, it is hard to land a quality job. The development of the Internet allows universities and colleges to expand their package of services and to target more people who couldn’t otherwise afford to join on-campus courses. Flexibility, this is what you first gain with an online degree business administration program. You can have a full time job and still be able to include coursework in your schedule.

The range of online degree business administration programs is very high. The main distinction is between associate’s degree, certificate, bachelor’s degrees and master of business degrees. Each if these programs has a standard time frame, ranging somewhere between two and four years. There is also the possibility of accelerated online degree business administration education, but the learning process will be a lot more demanding and challenging.

Some online degree business administration programs are broader in terms of topics while others are narrower depending on the focus and the specialization level. Prioritizing is very important, which means that you need to establish your objectives very well before investing thousands of dollars in an online degree. Does your employer recognize the importance of your degree? Will your career progress with another diploma? Do you reach your professional goals? The list of questions is a lot longer, and you need to think very well before you decide for a course of action. Business administration is a very versatile activity domain, therefore, the choice of education has a heavy word to say.

Here are some illustrative examples of how an online masters degree in business administration program may help to professional growth. Business administration degrees increase one’s chances of working in banking, regional representation of large corporations, niche marketing, accounting, product development and so on. For anyone with business know-how, the opportunities for advantageous employment are nearly endless. According to the domain of activity and the personal work experience, the wages can be as high as $110,000 per year for information system managers, but decent $60,000 revenues are good enough for accountants or human resources managers.

Paying For Internships?

Why are internships important, you may ask? Well, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, paid undergraduate interns made an average of $16.33 per hour. This, of course, depended upon their industry, year in school, degree level and geographic location, but some engineering seniors found internship opportunities that earned them $19.44 per hour, compared to $16.68 for sophomores. Many companies use internship programs to recruit full-time hires, says Marilyn Mackes, executive director of NACE.

There are many different kinds of internships for those who will work for free, but some wonder if the paying types have gone extinct. “We used to pay, but we’re not doing that anymore,” explained Tom Triozzi, senior VP of BellAtlantic. “We ask them to work for free for a great work experience.” In this economy, even the competition for unpaid student intern positions has become so fierce that the NY Times reported some students are actually paying for their unpaid internship positions! “It’s kind of crazy,” said David Gaston, director of the University of Kansas career center. “The demand for internships in the past 5, 10 years has opened up this huge market.” One student’s parents paid $8,000 to get him an unpaid internship at Ford Models this summer, which was an opportunity, his parents say, he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

The company they used is called “University of Dreams,” which specializes in making students’ intern dreams come true. “Students don’t have problems finding internships, students have problems getting internships,” explained Eric Normington, the company’s chief marketing officer. “We can secure those exclusive positions.” The $8,000 program promises guaranteed internship placement for the summer, eight weeks of housing, five meals a week, New York City tours and seminars. This year, the company placed 1,600 student interns in 13 cities world-wide. The student intern program is beneficial for employers because they get qualified prospects who show up ready to give the job their best shot because they’ve invested in the opportunity.

A 2009 Vault survey on internships reported that 64% percent of college students said they were offered a full time job at a company after their summer internships concluded. The survey concluded that summers are a great time for students to further their careers. Even so, About half of internships for students were unpaid, Vault found, which makes it difficult for some students to take advantage of these offers and still pay rent. It’s not worth the few thousand they would have made at another job, Vault advises, because they will earn better wages in the long run.

Thomas Bronson is a foremost expert in generating a ton of traffic and leads to any websites, and one of the course which he recommends is traffic secrets 2. He is also a foremost expert in start a home based business from home and you can check out his free course from his site today.

Has Domestic Interior Design Planning Caught Up With The Internet Business Growth?

It’s not exactly a new phenomenon this, arguably common decision, to work from home. As such, one would anticipate that seeing an opportunity, residential products, services, design and even homes would have begun to adjust to the ever increasing requirements of a growing body of possible customers who wish to work from home. These people who are working in an Internet Business through online jobs have a need for an environment that suits their everyday life and their work needs too.

It’s true, there are a number of products on the market that are made for those people who Work From Home but it’s reasonable to say that the offer is disjointed and it takes a level of skill in construction, IT and ergonomics to form a suitable domestic environment from which one could run an internet firm. Most people only manage to offer a small amount of the facilities needed to be comfortable and dynamic.

The brief for a home office set up should be largely similar to that of a normal office or corporate workspace. A resident worker requires power, data and a place to sit and a surface to work on as a bare minimum. Add into that the requirement for social interaction, ad hoc meetings, team work and areas for detailed working and the brief starts to look very similar.

The easy and least productive answer to meeting these needs is to provide a desk, chair, pc, telephone and data cable. On the face of it these items of kit will provide the necessary vehicle in (or on, or through) which people can deliver their output. The real question is how does one provide for the rest of the criteria and how do we use advancements in construction and technology to support the requirements for people who work in Online Jobs?

Firstly, let’s tackle the workplace itself. Does it need to be a desk? In a typical domestic situation would a desk be a fitting piece of furniture ? Technology gives us laptops and telephone headsets and the ability to work anywhere on any furniture. Add to that wireless printing and a web cam and really the office, as was, is now built entirely around the person in contrast to a location.

Of course, in these days of corporate responsibility, the idea of using a laptop for long periods of time would give Human Resource and Insurance teams a problem, but the fact is that what we have through technology is a new paradigm and what we would expect to see is new furniture ideas to solve the ergonomic issues.

Secondly, there is the issue of privacy, noise and environmental comfort. A voice conference in a house full of playing children is not conducive to productive work. Will we begin to see new homes provided with remote space for working? Possibly provided as an extension, a loft or even a stand alone unit outside.

Whatever the solutions the market is there already and the design industry has yet to react to it.

MLM Business Opportunity - The Info One Must Learn

When your multi level marketing business is already run in a right way and you are already rather professional marketer, so your working week should include about ten hours of pleasant work, which help to your network marketing move in necessary direction and bring you closer to your financial independence. Yes, ten or even less hours of work and you can be free and do what you want. Multi level marketing business can bring not only freedom, good income and satisfaction from work, but also it will bring much joy and approval of your family, because if you are involved with network marketing you can set your working day yourself and can pay more attention to your family.

Of course don’t think that multi level marketing is very easy work and every person can start and success in it. It’s rather easy to start, but to achieve some success is not task for everybody. At first you should learn more information about this kind of home business and probably attend some seminars dedicated to this topic, you should communicate with people who are already running multi level marketing. Maybe they will suggest you to join their company and will help you at the beginning and then you will decide yourself if you like it or not. It’s much easier to join some skilled marketer and to follow him or her and to learn about your new home business more information. Probably your team will help you to avoid some mistakes and will give answers at your questions.

If you decide to start this kind of business, remember that it’s not a game, but it’s very serious real business and it requires hard work and clear mind if you want to get a success. You should be ready to invest some money into your multi level marketing, because it’s impossible to start any business without investment, just you should decide for yourself how much money you will be able to spend on this home business. Define for yourself what product you want to sell and then you should choose the right company that sells this product or service and join it. Of course you shouldn’t forget about advertisement that will make your product and company more popular. Then you are ready to start your own multi level marketing and go to your financial independence with firm foot.

Working at home has a lot of benefits and it’s the right time to use them. Especially when such pleasant work brings good income and gives to you and your family financial independence. You will be boss to yourself and nobody will order you what you should do and at what time you should be at work. So, make your choice and good luck into multi level marketing!

MLM used to be a hot trend, then a stigma and now it is all about real things. It is about finding MLM business opportunity that has a great product behind.

If you need an MLM business opportunity that has assisted many people to make serious cash, then you need to pay special attention to this one. Please read more about an exciting MLM business opportunity.

Today we live in the world where info quickly enhances the quality of our life.

That is why if you are properly armed with the info in your sphere of interest you can be sure that you will in any case find the solution to any bad situation. So, please make sure to get back to this blog on a regular basis or - the least time consuming way of doing it - sign up to its RSS feed. Thus you will have your hand on the pulse of the latest info updates here. Blogging can be helpful, you just need to understand how to use them.

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