Lance Hood:               Now obviously you don't want to just go buy any business so let's talk about how someone can identify their dream business and where they can go to find it.

                                    How do I know what business is right for me? For example, lot of people dream about owning a restaurant, a bed and breakfast, or a golf business. But how do I know if I'll operate it successfully?

Richard Parker:           That's a fantastic question. So let me try to reduce this to one sentence which is the foundation for getting into the right business and I'll expand upon it a minute.

                                    Whatever it is that you do best has to the single most important driving factor of the revenues and profit of any business you consider purchasing. Remember whatever it is that you do best. And a good business must thrive from your strengths and not suffer from weaknesses.

                                    You talked about buying a restaurant or a bed and breakfast or a golf business. Well I've seen it over and over and over and over again, and I can say that ten more times, that trying to turn a hobby into a business doesn't work. It only works if you have money to burn. And let me give you an example.

                                    Someone may enjoy cooking but that doesn't qualify them to run a restaurant. Someone who loves golf for example, well that doesn't in anyway shape or form qualify them to run a golf store. As a matter of fact I think it disqualifies them and let me tell you why.

                                    If you love golf and that's great or happen to be a great golfer and you think you want to own a golf store. Well the problem right out of the gate - first of all if you don't experience at it that's one big thing of course. And the second thing is your own prejudices are going to penalize your marketing.

                                    For example, you'll have a tendency to put into the store product that you think you like. Well that's not marketing. You have to put into the store what is going to sell. So that's one problem.

                                    The second part is guess what's going to happen every Saturday morning when your three buddies are going to play golf? You're working in the store. I like to tell people, "You know what? If you have a hobby rather than trying to turn that into business find a good business. One that you are right for and is right for you and that you're capable of growing and you're going to make enough money to have plenty of time to devote to your hobby." Deal?

                                    Another point is it's got to be a business that's easy for you explain to others. If it's too complicated for you to explain chances are it's too complicated for you to run.

                                    So those are really four points that really help people determine the right business for them. Now more goes into that of course, but clearly ranking far and above as the number one most important point is you've got to match whatever it is that your greatest skill set is to what drives the revenue and profits of that particular business.

Lance Hood:               If someone's been in a specific industry their whole career should they stick to that field?

Richard Parker:           No, not necessarily. I think that's confusing skills with experience. Unless you're looking at a highly technical business for example, what you want to do is pull from your skills. The key thing to remember again is whatever it is that you do best. So you shouldn't restrict yourself to an industry, instead focus upon your skill set.

                                    Learning a new industry, unless it's highly, highly technical is not overwhelming. But it's impossible to learn a new skill where you need to be an expert in 30 days.