have you read the book?

 

This sounds like you are looking for a free money machine. Would there be any value you are adding? If your money is all you are adding to the equation, why not simply invest?

 

"The 40 Hour Treadmill" sounds like the world's worst exercise infomercial

Welcome to the forum, great intro.

You need an education on business valuation, business acquisition financing strategies, and negotiation. I don't know how much of this you might already know.

The valuation is to identify the actual money flow through the business at is right now. Is it changing over time or is it steady state? Is the owner stating things accurately, or using some creative accounting? What's a realistic multiple for the actual financials?

Acquisition financing is to look at buying the business vs. just its assets. And can you find a way to get commitments for selling off or separately refinancing equipment, inventory, leases, etc.? Will the owner take installment payments over time? Perhaps that will be a tax advantage to them instead of a lump sum that's all taxed at once?

Maybe you only need a small down payment out of your own pocket. The really nice thing for you is that you can afford to put in a substantial amount of money, even if you can't arrange more creative terms for all of the business.

The negotiation is to be able to identify each party's goals and priorities, so you can recommend deal points that are agreeable to everyone.

There are plenty of good tutorials, courses, books on these subjects. I see that your vacation home is in Florida, but I don't know where you're mainly located. Where do you want the business to be?

Do you want to run the business you acquire, or have a management team in place?

Your local Small Business Administration office should be able to offer a free meeting or workshop with a local expert, banker, or attorney, who can tell you what kind of down payment and return on investment numbers you can expect for different types of businesses.

 

It seems pretty clear that's exactly what he wants to do.

 

No. It would almost always be priced in (and finding one at a discount won't happen by asking this question on forums). You'll have to do some work. There's a reason a business might have a 20% ROE whereas a bank deposit has 2%.

The best plan would be to buy a small IT business, since that's what you know best, assuming you have management experience, so it'd be easier for you to run. And to increase your income-costs margin.