Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on some prospects for buying a business in the American Redoubt.
Region-Wide (Buying a Business):
I recently had consulting client ask me for suggestions on “how to make the break” and move to American Redoubt. He mentioned that he found there were very few Redoubt region job listings in his current technical occupation. Next, he asked about starting a business, or buying an existing business. I recommended buying a business with an existing clientele. Why? As baby boomers reach retirement age, there will be a lot of thriving businesses that come up for sale. They often already have and established name and good will built up in a community. Nothing succeeds like success.
You may ask: “Well, what sort of businesses are up for sale, at reasonable prices?” Up until that call with my client, I had only heard of a couple of businesses, by word of mouth. So I made some inquiries with friends, and I did some web searches. I was surprised at what I found so quickly. Here are some examples:
- A pair of computer sales and service shops in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Pinehurst, Idaho, for $175,000.
- A used book store in Moscow, Idaho for $235,000 (including $185,000 in inventory.)
- A home-based self-sufficiency and preparedness mailorder and web publishing business that can be located anywhere in the United States.
- A fastener/construction supply business in Victor, Idaho (Grand Tetons region) for $143,450 (inventory included.)
- The Boulder Monitor weekly newspaper for sale for $102,500.
- A storage company with three locations is in eastern Oregon is for sale for $550,000. (Two locations in La Grande, one in Union.)
- A home-based bicycle repair and sales business in Troy, Montana, for just $5,000. It can be operated from a home 2-car garage space (as it is now), or potentially expanded into storefront space. This is a 40-year established repair business with regular customers from Troy, Libby, and the Yaak River region. Phone: (406) 295-4381.
- The Prairie Peddler gift store and coffee bar in Shelby, Montana is being offered for $150,000. The building is not included, but all the inventory is.
- A multi-generational furniture store in Butte, Montana is up for sale.
- The owners of the popular Pandhandler Pies in Sandpoint, Idaho are looking for a buyer.
- A countertop sales business in Bend, Oregon is up for sale for $550,000.
Don’t be alarmed if you are asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before even being told the name or location of a business. That has become standard practice.
Beware of scam businesses listed for sale that are actually just multi-level marketing schemes. Also be leery of any franchises with a high cost of entry or that would have nearby competition. Remember: Any successful business must find a need, and fill it. Do NOT start a new business that competes with an existing local business. You are much better off buying a thriving business with a good cash flow.
Do your homework. Different sorts of businesses sell for vastly different sums. But the general rule is that you’ll have to pay the equivalent of at least 2 or 3 years worth of annual earnings. And it it is generally better to buy a business from someone who is retiring. That way, they are more likely to throw in more to sweeten the deal, and they will be less likely to be in competition with you. (But getting the seller to sign a five-year non-compete agreement is always a good idea.)
It is often best to find a legitimate business brokerage firm, such as Lewis Business Alliance in Eastern Washington, Arthur Berry in Idaho, or Yellowstone Business Acquisitions in Wyoming and Montana.
Please let me know if you hear of small businesses that come up for sale in the Redoubt region, and I will likely mention them in this column. Thanks, – JWR
Idaho
Back in January, we read: Idaho ‘Pushing Envelope’ With Health Insurance Plan. Can It Do That? Now, there is this (written from the statist NPR’s perspective): Idaho Insurer Moves Ahead With Health Plans That Flout Federal Rules. One historical note: If it had been described in modern parlance, the Boston Tea Party would be called “crazypants illegal.”
o o o
$200 Million tax cut plan heads to Idaho Senate
Montana
Montana Scores $250 Million Bitcoin Mining Campus. JWR’s Comments: The second such announcement in a month. These developments are on the coat-tails of a huge extant operation in a Bonner, Montana. Not only does the Redoubt have inexpensive hydroelectric power, but state and local government ambitions to tax private ventures are modest. I hope that the Redoubt Doubters take note. The Winds of Change are shifting, rapidly.
o o o
Eastern Oregon
After first burglary sentencing, Morrow County co-defendants change plea. You’ve gotta love this Redoubtable quote from the article: “The couple also stole a vehicle and tried to ditch it on TREO Ranches, private property outside Heppner that offers pheasant and chukar hunting. Arce and Devin tried to set fire to the vehicle, according to court documents, and the commotion drew the attention of a crew of pheasant hunters who soon detained them at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived.”
Eastern Washington
Reader Peter S. sent us this news of leftist wackiness: Stuckart proposes gun tax to fund mental health services in Spokane. (In case you were wondering: Yes, City Council President Ben Stuckart is a dedicated Democrat. His proposal conflates gun ownership with mental illness. How about taxing the SSRI drugs that destabilize these loonie shooters, instead?)
Wyoming
Yellowstone fee proposal advances in Wyoming Legislature
Send Your News Tips
Please send your American Redoubt region news tips and event announcements to JWR. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.
Oregon has recently passed a law allowing a spouse or family member to declare to law enforcement that you are either mentally unstable or have a criminal intent and your guns can be seized without further ado. I would assume that this law provides an opportunity for spouses and former spouses to seek revenge AND to gain leverage in a divorce. So no doubt this will catch and punish far more innocent people than it will those who might be a danger.
Might be time to get gone if you live in that state unless you think you can honestly turn it around…
Great info and advice on buying a business.
As far a competing with existing businesses, good advice except when in the construction trades. There’s always room for competition in the trades, and people are always open to new contractors, especially in areas where there hasn’t been any competition for a while.
(I speak from experience)
But, I wouldn’t move to a small town in the redoubt with a 25 man building crew. On your own, or maybe with a helper, and you’ll have more business than you can shake a stick at!
Keep it small and grow slowly.
On businesses in the Redoubt I’ve found a lot of older people that own businesses have a hard time selling to someone they don’t know because of their love for what they do and they don’t want to see their life’s work be driven into the ground and their clients hurt…The best thing I’ve found is if you want to buy or take over a business you need to come and work for that owner for at least a year if not two or three to get to know the owners and the clientele…If you are a solid person then you will have the opportunity to purchase the business and they will probably give you a screaming deal or the very least finance it for you at a low interest rate…I’ve put it out there before that I am willing to help anyone that is a decent person looking to relocate to my area here in the Bitterroot that wants to live a life of Liberty…
And make sure you pick a business you already know, and well. The fastest way to go bankrupt is to buy a business because it sounds cool thinking you will figure it out along the way. Speaking from experience …
I am going to disagree here with JWR. For most people buying a business means taking on a huge level of debt. Debt is rarely good, especially when most of our outlooks tend to think that 15-30 years (the amount of time most will carry that debt) do not look too promising financially. Most small businesses extremely over value their worth to begin with, as much of their intellectual property is between their ears and it would take ears to get it out. Also their clients are often more personally loyal and company loyal.
Start small, with no debt and build small. Take the long view and the narrow path.
If you disagree with me though I am more than happy to sell you my business at three years of very good earnings, sign a noncompete clause for within 100 miles and even include the well set up survival property the business is run from. But I want cash because there is no way I’m going to give terms when so many small business owners fail, especially when you put it over the backdrop of the economic times we live in.
I’ve been operating as a contractor in Eastern WA and North Idaho for the past 25 years. Competition is just part of doing business. I have managed to make quite a decent living doing it. I love the travel back and forth and up and down both states and have many clients in small towns and villages in both States.. I have worked and built wonderful relationships in Troy, Deary, and Bovill ( any of those small towns sound familiar? ) wonderful God fearing, honest people in those towns. I just finished a remodel in Moscow this winter, and will be headed back to Deary this spring to do some work for a guy who just moved from a big ugly city back east. It’s doable folks, I’m proof..and its a wonderful area to live and work.. I wont even go into the world class hunting and fishing, Shot my Elk just outside of Bovill this year.. I cant wait to fish the blueback kokanee this summer at the dworshack, I hear there is no catch limit!.. being in business doesn’t always mean brick and mortar.