Purchasing and running a second business

[Zilly]

Afternoon all, firstly apologies I've been a chronic lurker and this isn't perhaps first post fodder however, I'm looking for a little bit of advice .

Since the age of 16 I have ran my own business (I'm currently 26) , it has got to the point now where the business has the expertise and the structure to ensure it is pretty much self running and I only need to put in a couple of days a month to do the actual work. Unfortunately I will always have to do the core of the work as it is my personal background, experience and talent(?) that the clients are buying however all the day to day running, office and sales work etc is ran by my very small team of competent staff .

I have been looking at the scope for purchasing a second business with management already in place that I could do one / two days a week with along side my duties for the original business.

I'd be interested to hear from any one who has been through the process of purchasing a business as the process seems to be littered with obstacles and some selling agents that from the out side seem very dubious where everything simply seems to be too good to be true. Also I'm concerned that I may be being a little naive as to how realistic my plan is to be able to buy an managed and buoyant business and only spend a couple of days a week on it (my main thought is why would any one want to sell a profitable business thats requiring minimal input).

Finally I'd love to hear from any one who currently runs two business in different sectors as to how you manage your time and different teams.

I know this is limited information to go on however I'm keen to maximise my fortunate situation and make the most of my time while I'm still young(ish) and keen to work. That said I don't want to end up in a position where I am having to compromise my original business (and dream job) to 'save' the investment I've made in a secondary business.

Thanks for the Help

Dom

[Zilly]

Ossiantoad : Thanks for the information think those couple of paragraphs are more insightful that most things I have read over the last couple of months, thank you. I'm incredibly fortunate with my current business , started out as way to make a hobby excess able as a teenager and has grown to something that I never thought possible.

[Zilly]

AyBee said:

Out of interest, any specific reasons why you want to get into a different field rather than putting effort into expanding what you already have or start something similar to what you already have?

Little bit difficult with out giving away what I do but a couple of reasons,

My global target market is incredibly niche and very small, there isn't much more growth available in the sector.
The market has a finite life span I don't want to be sat on the tail end of that life span thinking , bugger what now.
Its a market ,company and role that I have worked in since I left school, I know it , the skills it needs and the people in it incredibly well it would be nice to have a fresh challenge with new skills in a new market.