To think you can buy a business without having much prior knowledge about how it works

[Wetbankhols]

DH says you can't, but if the business is already running, surely you can?

[pitterpatterrain]

How do you know it is worth buying if you don't understand it? "Running" and being a decent going business can be very different things

[NannawifeofBaldr]

Why would you though?

[Wetbankhols]

As a source of income.

When you buy it, you do get to see profit turnover and other relevant things.

[ghostyslovesheep]

You can buy what u like with money

It the should you that's the issue - turn over etc are fine it do you understand the reality of the work involved etc

[AgathaMystery]

You get to see the profit/ turnover etc before You buy it.... You don't buy it without a thorough look at the accounts!!

[Wetbankhols]

I don't (understand it, that is) but that's why I'd want to keep people in place who do, iyswim.

[NannawifeofBaldr]

Yes, but it will only be a source of income if you can run it well enough.

Lack it experience in running a business and in that specific business will make that very difficult.

Unless of course you can pay someone competent, and trustworthy to do it for you.

[araiba]

When you buy it, you do get to see profit turnover and other relevant things.

yeah.... i think you have just shown you really do know nothing about running ANY sort of business. It has failure written all over it

[Wetbankhols]

Yes, that was what I meant!

[Wetbankhols]

That's largely what would happen, Nanna hypothetically of course.

[Costacoffeeplease]

No way, how would you know it was being run properly if you don't know how that business works? They could tell you anything

[RNBrie]

My parents did it. Bought a care home with absolutely no prior experience. My mum was a sahm and my dad worked in the city. They wanted to move out of London and have a lifestyles change.

They've done really well out of it for the last 20 years and win awards etc now. Seemed totally bonkers to us all at the time but it is doable.

[Wetbankhols]

That's the sort of thing I'm looking into RN, it is a franchise.

[NannawifeofBaldr]

I think, personally, that I find a similar business and get a job there for a while to get some on the ground experience before buying in.

[Wetbankhols]

I've got a bit of experience on the ground level. But there are managers in place already.

[shamelessmailhack]

Well yes, you can buy what you like.

You do realise though that the care industry is very heavily regulated? If one of your carers fucks up, or someone in your care home dies, you could be sued or jailed for manslaughter. It's stressful as hell.

The scrapping of zero hour contracts could also be a big hit on the industry. And lots of smaller care agencies round here have shut recently because the local council chose one agency to basically do all their contracts, leaving smaller agencies to pick up the crumbs. Any changes to your local council could cause big issues down the line.

Could be fun tho.

[Wetbankhols]

At the moment it seems to be thriving pretty successfully. Hard to say how things might pan out in the future I think.

[recall]

Yes of course you can, it depends on you as a person and your attitude. I bought a pub with no experience. If I came across something I didn't know, I would find out by reading or asking. The only thing I did do was get a bar job for a few weeks just before we completed the sale so that I could find my way around the bar and keep up.

Make sure you know how to document your finances correctly and keep on top of them.

Develop and maintain a good relationship with your customers.

Use other people's scepticism and negativity to fire you up and be even more determined to make it a success and prove them all wrong.

Good Luck !

[Wetbankhols]

Thanks, recall, that's so helpful!

[Costacoffeeplease]

Someone bought our thriving business, they were also in the industry, they didn't last 2 years

[Wetbankhols]

What went wrong?

[QuintessentialShadow]

Why are they selling?

[shamelessmailhack]

I'm honestly not trying to piss on your dreams on anything, but it sounds like you've worked as a carer rather than in care management and the jobs are really different.

It's very tough dealing with a high turnover of staff and distressing situations that crop up. There are investigations to deal with and you'll have to tactfully deal with abuse accusations and all sorts. I obviously can't go into details without outing myself and breaking confidentiality but it's tough.

Although you have managers in place the buck will stop with you and you'll be expected to deal with a lot of stuff. Yes, you can learn as you go along, but mistakes could lead to inadequate care so you need to be really, really careful and do loads of research before you take this step.

[Costacoffeeplease]

I don't know - we just heard through the grapevine