Trotters Independent Traders

Surely only Fools and Horses would buy a business from an independent trader?

That's what Spaceworks tenants Cadence have been starting to think recently after struggling with the valuation of a business they are interested in buying. Small, independent businesses, built up largely by an individual, can be hard to value on traditional multipliers of profit. In this case 'profit' is actually what the trader takes out as his salary. But as an investor, you want to see a bigger return than just your salary in return for buying a business. After all, you could get a salaried job without the risk of buying a business.

Most of us at Spaceworks have taken the ‘grow your own’ approach to business development, avoiding the purchase/valuation issue entirely (at least, until you start thinking about selling your own business, but that’s a whole other ball game!).

Comparing notes with other Spaceworks tenants on ways to grow our businesses has proved useful and helpful. We think its something we’d like to do more of. But realistically, we know we’d probably need something to make us prioritise it above the demands of our daily workflow… and so we’ve been wondering about inviting a coach in to work with us and facilitate some -slightly more formal - ‘How to Grow Your Own’ discussions at Spaceworks.

If we stumble on any green fingered, or Del Boy inspired approaches to growing your own we think might be good to share, we'll add them to the blog. And... am I the only one not to realise what the initials of Trotters Independent Traders spelt before ....? Duhh - seems so!