I have written a lot about how fast, easy and safely you can make a bundle of money via buying manufacturing businesses. But one question that sometimes comes up -- and it's a good one -- is how do you deal with manufacturing businesses that have locations in two (or more) different cities or provinces and you don't want to mess around travelling to and fro? My answer: It makes it more difficult to manage it... but only if you are doing things "hands on" and trying to run it yourself -- instead of letting the management take care of things. For example, once upon a time I was down in Mexico buying businesses. I did not speak a word of Spanish. By the time we finished after 15 years, we had 17 companies in almost every city in Mexico. I was not managing them hands on so it was no more stressful or difficult for me than if I had owned just one down there. On the other hand, if you have a business in eastern Canada (for example) and another manufacturing plant in western Canada, and youre going to work hands on and try to run everything yourself, youre going to have a hard time getting back and forth every day. And in that situation, having multiple businesses with multiple facilities would be a drawback and will steal years off your life. If you follow my number one rule of buying businesses -- which is let somebody else continue to manage it -- youre going to find nobody calls you and nobody bugs you. You dont have to be in on a day-to-day basis. And running two companies is no more difficult than running one. In fact, I have been running multiple businesses since I started 50 some years ago. Ive never had one company at any one time and I havent had problems. I dont even consider myself that good a manager. I really dont. So go out, stick your toe in the water, and see for yourself. You will be amazed at how easy and simple this is. |
