The early days
Hello again,
In this issue of my blog, I will try to retrace some of our earliest days when we ventured into our new found world of publishing.
Ok, so, it was back in the summer of 2004 my husband came across an advert for a home based publishing business for sale. It appealed to me in the fact that it was publishing, and I could do it from home as we have a young son. We decided to venture further to find out what the score was i.e. what was it they published, how they worked, turnover, any space issues etc etc. After seeing some of the basics and finding that they were in a 'niche' market - we decided to dig a little deeper and request a few more detailed figures, and ran them past an accountant (a friend's accountant), to get him to check out the figures and make sure they were real, or that he couldn't see anything untoward with them. Never having bought a business before, it was all new territory and we wanted to make sure that we weren't going to be ripped off - so to speak.
Well, figures looked ok, the 'niche' market was an area that I certainly was interested in, and the price wasn't too scary.
We investigated a little more and met the existing owners, saw how they were set up and how they worked and grilled them with loads and loads of questions. They were lovely people and answered everything we could possible think of.
We came away quite excited.
My husband decided to phone the bank to see what they could do for us, and they were happy to offer us the necessary money to buy the business - though they did tell us to say it was for home improvements at the time! Where there's a will there's a way, so the saying goes!
Well, we now had the money in place, met the people, liked what we saw - we then set the wheels in motion. We made an offer on the business, a little lower than was being asked as the business had been up for sale for some months, and finally after a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing we came to a mutual agreement. We were set!
In the meantime whilst we were making our decision we were doing lots of research etc, online and the like to check out the 'niche' to make sure that we weren't getting a white elephant.
We then worked out our agreement of purchase. Sounds grand doesn't it! It was a document outlining in detail exactly what we were buying.
We were just about to go on holiday, and we needed to get this agreement into the agent. I wanted to err on the side of caution and found a solicitor who could cast they eye over what we were going to be doing. I rang around a few solicitors but many didn't bother coming back to me, and other's thought we were too small fry for them! But, persistence pays off - having been recommended this particular one, I turned up at his office, un-announced, and he was prepared to see me there and then!!! We agreed a fee up front so we knew exactly what was what, we discussed the business and what we were buying etc., and he agreed to go over what we had, and add too it or alter it where he deemed appropriate. He too was going away and would dictate the changes etc, to his secretary, who would then email it to me the following day. What service!! :) (I have still yet to receive his bill- though I'm not complaining at the moment - I will pay him when we have lots of money in the bank and say a big thank you).
Well, we went on holiday, agreements were agreed (we made sure we had internet access whilst away so we could check out mails etc!) and plans were in place to pay money, and collect stock and equipment etc.
So when we returned from holiday it was a major frenzy of chaos. In one week we had bank transfers to arrange, vans to hire, travel lodges to book, space to clear for over ten thousand books, business insurance that insured goods in transit, to name but a few! It was a busy week.
But we did it - I did it!
So, that's it for this installment - hope you've caught your breath!
Come back for the next installment!
PaulineThePublisher.
In this issue of my blog, I will try to retrace some of our earliest days when we ventured into our new found world of publishing.
Ok, so, it was back in the summer of 2004 my husband came across an advert for a home based publishing business for sale. It appealed to me in the fact that it was publishing, and I could do it from home as we have a young son. We decided to venture further to find out what the score was i.e. what was it they published, how they worked, turnover, any space issues etc etc. After seeing some of the basics and finding that they were in a 'niche' market - we decided to dig a little deeper and request a few more detailed figures, and ran them past an accountant (a friend's accountant), to get him to check out the figures and make sure they were real, or that he couldn't see anything untoward with them. Never having bought a business before, it was all new territory and we wanted to make sure that we weren't going to be ripped off - so to speak.
Well, figures looked ok, the 'niche' market was an area that I certainly was interested in, and the price wasn't too scary.
We investigated a little more and met the existing owners, saw how they were set up and how they worked and grilled them with loads and loads of questions. They were lovely people and answered everything we could possible think of.
We came away quite excited.
My husband decided to phone the bank to see what they could do for us, and they were happy to offer us the necessary money to buy the business - though they did tell us to say it was for home improvements at the time! Where there's a will there's a way, so the saying goes!
Well, we now had the money in place, met the people, liked what we saw - we then set the wheels in motion. We made an offer on the business, a little lower than was being asked as the business had been up for sale for some months, and finally after a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing we came to a mutual agreement. We were set!
In the meantime whilst we were making our decision we were doing lots of research etc, online and the like to check out the 'niche' to make sure that we weren't getting a white elephant.
We then worked out our agreement of purchase. Sounds grand doesn't it! It was a document outlining in detail exactly what we were buying.
We were just about to go on holiday, and we needed to get this agreement into the agent. I wanted to err on the side of caution and found a solicitor who could cast they eye over what we were going to be doing. I rang around a few solicitors but many didn't bother coming back to me, and other's thought we were too small fry for them! But, persistence pays off - having been recommended this particular one, I turned up at his office, un-announced, and he was prepared to see me there and then!!! We agreed a fee up front so we knew exactly what was what, we discussed the business and what we were buying etc., and he agreed to go over what we had, and add too it or alter it where he deemed appropriate. He too was going away and would dictate the changes etc, to his secretary, who would then email it to me the following day. What service!! :) (I have still yet to receive his bill- though I'm not complaining at the moment - I will pay him when we have lots of money in the bank and say a big thank you).
Well, we went on holiday, agreements were agreed (we made sure we had internet access whilst away so we could check out mails etc!) and plans were in place to pay money, and collect stock and equipment etc.
So when we returned from holiday it was a major frenzy of chaos. In one week we had bank transfers to arrange, vans to hire, travel lodges to book, space to clear for over ten thousand books, business insurance that insured goods in transit, to name but a few! It was a busy week.
But we did it - I did it!
So, that's it for this installment - hope you've caught your breath!
Come back for the next installment!
PaulineThePublisher.
posted by PaulineThePublisher | 10:13 pm
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