Resources for LFM Alumni

Hi all,
If you found this post it's because you're looking for information on buying a business. Here are a few resources I recommend.

First, if you want to know about our products, check out the following sites, all of which are owned by the company:
http://industrialrev.com/
http://icecreamrevolution.com/
http://candlelantern.com/
http://lightmyfireusa.com/
Follow the links on these sites to see other products we sell, like Pedco tripods and the Swiss Spice Salt + Pepper shaker.

If you want to read about the first year in business, this blog is the way to go. It starts on April 1, 2005, the day we closed the purchase.

John Martinka was a tremendous help to me in both finding and buying UCO Corporation. He is a consultant specializing in helping people buy businesses. I'm about to hire him again for a new project.

Here's my business wanted handout. This was an excellent tool for me as I attended networking events. I eventually became confident that there was at least a 50% chance I could come out of a networking event (a business talk, meeting, social, etc.) with at least one good lead on a potential target company.

Here are the instructions for writing a Perceived Injurious Experience letter. I pulled it from the syllabus of the Negotiation and Conflict Management class at Sloan. I don't want to post the letter I wrote on the web, but I'm willing to share it if you're interested. Please just send me an email.

My purchase of Industrial Revolution was primarily funded by funds from my 401(k) account. This had the advantage of keeping the tax man from taking a big chunk of money as the funds exited the 401(k), but it left me seriously constrained in a number of ways (having to do with compliance with the ERISA laws). While I'm not sure if I'd do it again, I'm also unable to see another way that would have worked at the time. If you want to investigate this avenue, the company that helped me through the process is Guidant Financial Group. I also had some struggles with the company itself, but they were much newer when I did my deal. I would hope they've streamlined some of their operations.

The government provides some helpful resources. Go see the people at your local Small Business Administration office. The Service Corp Of Retired Executives (SCORE) is another good group.

I get a lot of magazines in the mail. The ones I've foundmost useful are the Puget Sound Business Review (they have about 60 local versions, so there's likely one for your metropolitan area), Fortune Small Business, and the New York Times Small Business section (which I look at online). I've been particularly happy with Fortune Small Business. It has lots of articles that relate closely to the challenges we face.

Here's the Indiana Jones clip that hits home for me. Leaving the security of Boeing felt just like stepping out from that cliff. I hope I'm throwing a bit of sand back across the bridge to help anyone who might want to follow.

Along those lines, I think of risk management as framing many of my decisions. Here's an interesting article about some risks MIT grads took (and the results).

If you want to contact me, email is the way to go. It's keith@industrialrev.com. I enjoy talking about my experiences and hearing about other's experiences. Please feel free to get in touch.