Not sure whether to expand again or not

[gotbalz]

Ive got a couple small service businesses in the contracting/construction arena I run with a handful of employees (8 total). One is seasonal so has limited scalability and is ridiculously competitive. The other is scalable but requires large amounts of capital to really become a known brand in my area. Each one of these 2 businesses does about $250K to $300K each. I have the opportunity to buy another service business that comes with employees and it grosses $400K. The owner is in bad health and I think I can grab this for around $30k.

My question is should I keep expanding and buy this business or focus more of my efforts on the 2 businesses I already have. I will say that I run pretty much all of the duties in my 2 businesses as far as sales, estimating, employee management, customer service. Buying this 3rd business might allow me to be able to afford an actual secretary to answer phones and do paperwork.

Thoughts?

 

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[SparksCW]

Can one of your businesses do better than all three business combined?

Yes? then focus on that...

If you're happy running multiple businesses all below their potential then that is also fine. But ultimately if you can make one of the businesses more profitable than all three together it'd be easier to handle and easier to focus your efforts on.

However if the business can be bought and run independently of your time then it might be worth the investment...

 

[gotbalz]

Can one of your businesses do better than all three business combined?

Yes? then focus on that...

If you're happy running multiple businesses all below their potential then that is also fine. But ultimately if you can make one of the businesses more profitable than all three together it'd be easier to handle and easier to focus your efforts on.

However if the business can be bought and run independently of your time then it might be worth the investment...

Its hard to say if I can. Ive spent almost $20k in the last year marketing one of the businesses. Its very hard to get the phone to ring.

 

[Tim Allen Jr.]

If you think that 30k can help consolidate some power and help you accelerate your growth, might be a good way forward. How much of a % is that 30k of what you have? Is it a risk you can take/deal with?

 

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