Being a business owner is one of the most exciting experiences a person can go through: it spells personal freedom, grand opportunities, and an opportunity to use all your skills for the good of yourself and your community. However, it’s also daunting when you understand the dangers of opening a business – as well as all the hard work necessary to build a successful brand. You might find yourself with little or no profit for months or even years as you pay back the loans used to start the business, at which time you might find that your business never becomes profitable.

There’s an easier way, though: buying a pre-existing business, which has already proven its worth and developed the resources necessary to succeed. Even better, business marketplaces make it simpler than ever to find businesses for sale and step into the entrepreneur role with confidence. Let’s examine the reasons that buying a business is an excellent choice, then how you, too, can achieve that dream.

Your business has survived through the first – and riskiest – stage of the life cycle

Strange as it may sound, a business is much like a living organism made of many moving parts: it can grow and thrive, or it can struggle and die. Businesses have a life cycle, and understanding each step of this cycle is crucial to knowing how to manage your business throughout its lifespan.

As with most living things, the first stage is the hardest for a business: the startup stage, where the business is finding its footing and purpose, as well as amassing resources. Just as many seedlings die before ever putting forth a single bud, almost half of all businesses fail within five years of starting for various reasons, such as not attracting customers or having poor leadership.

If you’re purchasing a business, it’s likely past this most difficult first stage and is now in its growth or maturity stage, meaning you have less fear that your investment will all be for naught.

Many of the ingredients for a successful business are already there

If you’re looking to buy a business, you know that a good business needs a variety of ingredients to succeed, such as great products, a unique sales proposition, stellar marketing, and dedicated employees. The great news is that when purchasing a business, many of these elements are already in place, ready for you to improve upon.

Let’s consider buying a restaurant. It comes with a location, a menu, equipment, vendor relationships, and employees, all of which you can examine and decide how to tweak. Everyone knows that it’s easier to build on something rather than make it from scratch, so even if you find major adjustments you must make, you already have some great ingredients that you only need to enhance.

Marketplaces give you access to far more options

Prior to the arrival of the internet and the many services it provides, buying and selling businesses was mostly by word of mouth, especially in smaller marketplaces: business owners were reluctant to advertise that they wanted to divest, as it might hurt their bottom line in the short term and make it even harder to leave. That means you had to be “in the know” already in order to hear about these opportunities, which significantly reduced the options available to someone just starting out in their entrepreneurial journey.

Now, you can learn about thousands of opportunities through a business marketplace site, where you can search for existing businesses ready to buy, as well as commercial properties should you choose to relocate your purchased business. With options to search by industry and location, you can perform comprehensive market research on the profitability of any given business type in a certain area, which takes much of the guesswork out of deciding where to set up shop. You’ll have peace of mind that your business has everything necessary to succeed in a competitive market.

Final thoughts

Many people dream of becoming an entrepreneur, but few actually take the leap – especially because they may think that the only option is to start a business entirely from scratch, with all the difficulties and downfalls that entails. However, if you have the capital, you can become a business owner with significantly less risk by purchasing a ready-made business that has already proven its worth. Business marketplace sites make this even easier by allowing you to choose from thousands of available businesses in a variety of locations, from cozy hamlets to bustling metropoles. Buying a business is a smart option, and marketplace sites make it even easier to achieve your dream of owning your own company and delivering an amazing product to happy consumers.