Long Distance Business Operation

[ptanner]

Good Morning Everyone,

I have an opportunity to aquire a business half way across the country, but my family and I have a stable life where we are and cannot afford to quit our day jobs just yet. In this day and age of technology it seems that owning and managing the business from another state should be possible with the right staff in place and regular visits to the base of operations. I am hoping that someone else has experience with this scenario where you own a buisness but are not directly involved in the day to day operations of it. My wife and I plan on handling all of the book keeping, vendor dealings, etc. and plan on having a separate business cell phone strictly devoted to that side of our lives so that we are available 24/7 should an issue arise. The plan would be to spend a month or two becoming familiar with the operations and then return home with planned once-a-month visits to the location or as needed. I am anxious to hear the thoughts of others on how plausable this is. Thank you so much for your time.

[CCAdamson]

Good morning.

Is it an industry you are already very familiar with? My thought is that if you have to learn the industry it could be very difficult to manage from a distance. Is it an established business with a solid customer base? If it is a start up, even if you have the right team it could be very difficult to gain traction in the market if you aren't there as the face of the business. If it is an established business the current owner/operator probably has established themselves in the community and created themselves as a brand, it would be big shoes to fill if you aren't there to do the same.

There are a lot of factors to consider; your own ability/knowledge, the current performance of the business, the industry itself, and a host of other things that need to be researched and thought about before you take over a business hundreds of miles away.

[tallen]

I am involved in such a situation as the "local" manager, with a remote owner (although even I am not really all that local to the actual business -- so you could say I am doing double duty as both the remote person with another day job AND the local on-site manager!).

I think a lot depends on the specific type of business it is, and the level of trust you develop with your local management.

I would be happy to talk with you in further detail if you want to PM me.