Nah. Don’t respond. A client list means absolutely NOTHING. If she’s trying to sell her biz, buy it. But only for what its worth liquid. Value -depreciation of all equipment. Contracts= who cares, client list= big deal.
I can sell a client list right now. Do you know if theyre real clients before you buy? Do you know that if they are, the prices they have been paying this person are what you would consider a fair price to turn profit?
If I were you, if you feel like being a cool cat and helping out, find out what her asking price is, tell her to keep her list and just give her the cash if its legit and they REALLY need it…
First thing I thought was “nigerian scam”
I think I would call just to see what she has to offer. If nothing else, just out of curiosity. If you want to grow your business, it might be a good way to get soem new clients. I wouldn’t pay much tho.
I would email back for some more info.
What Phil said…just because, and why not…show me the books. When I first started…I got a note from a window cleaners daughter…he had a brain tumor and couldn’t work, and she couldn’t keep up. I’d already acquired 2-3 of her accounts…so I called and arranged a sit down. Brought my CPA Lawyer friend so he could crunch the numbers and not f it up like I could…anyways… She whips out a handwritten list of clients…@ $3500 month gross…scattered com work over 40 sq miles…she wanted $75k…because this co. On the interweb told her it was worth that much. Anyways…the iced tea was good.
With a name like Hotchkiss why not?
Josh ,
She don’t even give her business name…Sounds like spam to me !
Dave
I actually sold my last business like that. I didn’t want everyone to know I was selling but wanted to see who was interrested to sit and talk. It worked out great.
Shows how much I Know…guess I better know what I’m talking about before I open my trap. :o
That email format (name, number, gmail), no phone number) is the exact same a every scam ad on Craigslist and every phishing email I get.
I texted back, she responded with a phone number. After looking into it, there is a local business with a matching phone number. I’ll chat with the owner Monday.
Interesting. Keep us posted, if you will.
Even if you dont buy it [B]( I would already recommend you dont )[/B] take these opportunities when ever you get them. It will give you a chance to look up another window cleaning companies skirt and see everything. It will also be a training session for you. Look at this business and realize why its not sellable. It will give you some perspective on how to change your business so it is sellable down the line.
Id bet 99.5% of window cleaning business’s out there are not sellable… mine included.
Wow, I’d think if anyone’s WAS sellable it’d be yours, Chris
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That’s not true, and you know it, Chris.
You have built something that can run autonomously. I have never seen All County’s financials, but I feel pretty good about your ability to sell if you wanted to, and the price you could bring. I learned at NOLA about what your gross/net was (sorry for those who weren’t there… it’s privileged info), and I think you could do just fine.
I thought that was one of the rules of Emyth - run & put automations in place that can make the business sell-able tomorrow.
Let me rephrase… Its most likely sellable, [B]IF [/B]I was to take less than I would want or if I broke it down into a dozen pieces. Neither of those are that appealing to me.
Exactly. Now that makes perfect sense.
I can see that. But there’s two parts to it:
1.) When you build something from the ground up and love every inch of it, you will be hard pressed to find someone as passionate as you are about your baby.
2.) When you have a money tree that you can harvest from regularly… why sell it? Obviously there are fantastic reasons to sell. But when you’re at a phase of your life where you have the energy to cultivate and prune your money tree, there are very few reasons to sell-- especially given reason #1.
Although if you can get that tree pruned and tight, you can [B]easily[/B] sell it for 5 times annual profit, if it’s close to autonomous.
That might be worth walking away. Might.
