Buying a muse already in operation?

[TimWieneke]

Has anyone bought a muse that is already in operation and cash flowing? Here's my situation. I could sell my properties and net about 10-30k in cash on each sale. Each house is making me about $3,500-$4,000 in cash each year after expenses, property taxes and all.... Having perused some sites that deal in selling businesses I have found some online businesses selling for 10-20k each with reported numbers that could double my cash flow while geographically breaking me free from the portfolio. Individually the sites don't make enough for their owners per year so I understand part of why they're for sale. However, coming in with cash if I could create a portfolio of operating muses I could create the cash and mobility I need along with a diversification of markets each site serves.

Anyway to the meat of my question. Has anyone here bought one and by what means did you do your due diligence to confirm the numbers that were being reported when it was listed for sale?

[djp]

Looks interesting, let us know what you find out.

It's my impression that people selling their small businesses are mostly people trying to unload their headaches on to somebody else. And most of them are not nearly as turn-key and automatic as they may try to make it seem.

But you know, perhaps they just never applied the 4HWW principles to their businesses. My business is going from a prison that I would do almost anything to escape, to something which should be close to totally automated and something I can tolerate.

[TimWieneke]

Ok,
A buddy of mine is buying a male enhancement online business in operation. Numbers look good. According to him an Australian firm expressed interest in buying it but I didn't see the offer so I follow my grandfather's maxim of "believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear". Will keep you guys posted.

Seems to be a lot of people selling operating businesses that make around 10k a year for 10k because it doesn't make enough money to support an American consumer lifestyle..... Could be a niche here....

[eniven]

Originally Posted by djp

Looks interesting, let us know what you find out.

It's my impression that people selling their small businesses are mostly people trying to unload their headaches on to somebody else. And most of them are not nearly as turn-key and automatic as they may try to make it seem.

I think you're right on the second point, but not necessarily on the first point. People sell websites and businesses for many reasons.

On the whole, I think buying a website/muse/business is a great idea if you can get a good deal.

I bought a website that sells a poker ebook. The ebook was selling for cheap ($5). I upped the price to $20 and wrote a second volume to go with the original (to add value to the deal). I bought the site a year ago for $1000 and it took 3.5 months to pay back my investment and is still earning money every day. So far I'm at well over 350% ROI on my initial investment.

To the OP: Yes, you might be able to double your cash flow by selling your properties and buying an internet business. If the numbers look right, it could be a great investment. But, one thing to worry about is that internet businesses can be inherently more risky than something like real estate, which is why you can get a good deal on such a business.

You never know what Google will do to their algorithm. A sudden change could result in dramatically less traffic and lower revenue. My own google rankings were affected in the month of January and I made less than half of what I usually make with my website. But, then my rankings changed again and things are back to normal (phew!).

I'm not saying it's not a good idea - that's for you to figure out. I'm just saying, it's not without risk.