Just Elementary, Inc. » Negotiation
What to Negotiate in your Commercial Lease BEFORE you open your business
The success of a business depends on many factors, including the terms of the premises lease. This post is a discussion of seven of the many important items to negotiate in a business lease before signing it and opening the doors for your business. The Lease Rate Below Fair Market Lease Rate If you are able to negotiate a below fair market lease rate then you are in good shape, as it gives you a great leg up … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Negotiation
Negotiating Retail Lease Terms – Base Rate, Lease Indexing, CAM, NNN, Personal Guaranty, Lease Assignment
When it comes to negotiating a retail lease, it is important to consider all of the terms and the entire lease. In this blog post, we will focus on a few of Lease Terms that are important to negotiate The Base Rate in Gross Lease Versus a Net Lease NNN & CAM Charges Lease Indexing: Fixed versus Variable Personal Guaranty Clause Lease Assignment Clause Here is a presentation by Commercial Business Broker Pramod Patel discussing the terms listed above. Gross versus Net … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Negotiation
What is a Business Broker & How Do They Help Me Sell My Business?
What is a Commercial Business Broker? A Business Broker helps a Business Owner Sell his or her business to a Buyer. Similar to Residential Real Estate Agent, except the client/product is a business, not a house. Here are common questions we get: Question: Does a Business Broker Buy the Business from a Business Owner? Answer: No! A Business Broker packages a business for sale and markets the business to attract qualified buyers. What does a Business Broker Do for Business Owners? Prepare the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Commercial Leasing, Due Diligence, Featured, Negotiation, Selling A Business
Negotiation Clinic by Lori Greiner on ABC’s Shark Tank
The final segment of Shark Tank had one of the the most interesting negotiation session in Shark Tank History. It had Lori Greiner at her Negotiating Best. Rick Hopper of ReadeREST, which you can find on Amazon. ReadeREST is strong stainless steel clip that sticks to a shirt because a backing strip featuring neodynium magnets. Hopper was asking for $1,000,000 Valuation ($150,000 for 15% equity) The ReadeREST product demonstrated really well, as Hopper intentionally fell … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Negotiation
Shark Tank Tricky Business Valuations & Profit Margins
First up on ABC’s Shark Tank is Last Lid (@LastLid). The proprietors of Last Lid are Melissa and Kevin Kiernan of Waldwick New Jersey. Their product is a fabric lid that covers outdoor garbage cans, and prevents them from being tampered with by animals. The Kiernans have a problem where their garbage cans are frequently tipped over by raccoons and other foraging animals. After finding no suitable replacement at local hardware stores, the Kiernan’s developed their product. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Negotiation
Leverage is Key to Winning Negotiations Shark Tank
Having the leverage in a business negotiation is fleeting, and needs to be leveraged before it is lost. That was a key lesson in this episode. First up in the show was Ivory Tennelle from Irvine, California. Ivory Tennelle is the creator of the the Swilt. The Swilt is a combination Hoodie Sweatshirt with a fold up blanket portion. When the blanket is folded up, it looks like a baggy sweatshirt. With the blanket unfolded, Mark … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Negotiation
Leveraging Multiple Offers in Negotiation & Valuation Lessons on ABC’s Shark Tank
First up in the Shark and a great example of negotiation leverage spawned from Multiple Offers is Travis Perry. Perry is the owner of ChordBuddy, an innovative training product that is like training wheels for learning the Guitar. You can buy ChordBuddy on Amazon. As Travis Perry points out, playing the guitar has a real high ‘cool’ factor, to which Robert Herjavec identifies with, and is commensurately excited. The Sharks ask Travis Perry about the sales figures for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Valuation, Negotiation
Shark Tank Keeping Your Cool During Negotiation
Last up in the Shark Tank was Donny McCall of Invisa-A-Rack (@InvisARack). Invisa-A-Rack is an innovative product that is used on pickup trucks to help organize and haul additional cargo. You can find Invisa-A-Rack on Amazon. The genius of the product is that the racks can fold away and be out of sight, letting the truck not look like a cargo vehicle when desired in less than a minute. This is a product that makes a lot … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Negotiation
Maintaining Negotiation Leverage – Primary Business Lesson from Shark Tank
Back for a new season of wheeling and dealing, we’ll review the business models, proposed transaction, negotiations and other business lessons on display on ABC’s Shark Tank just as we did for the previous season’s episodes. The first business that was presented on the episode is a product that you can find on Amazon: Clean Bottle (twitter @CleanBottle), founded by Dave Mayer. The product is a sports bottle that has opening on both the top and bottom, which … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Valuation, Negotiation
Why Your Landlord Denies your Request for a Rent Reduction and Other Lease Modifications
In the course of helping our clients with renegotiating the terms of their lease and modifying their rent, we come across some situations where landlords have denied their current tenant’s request for rent reductions. In some of those cases there are things that can be done to change the landlord’s mind. The #1 reason a landlord denies a rent reduction request is that they feel that the tenant has not taken all possible steps to streamline … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Landlord, Negotiation, Renegotiation
Lease Expiring Soon, Want to Renegotiate Terms to get a Better Deal on the Renewal or Extension of Lease
Is the premises lease for your business expiring soon? If so, you may be in the CatBird seat. Consider yourself fortunate that you are in position to renew or extend your lease terms in a ‘down’ leasing market. This means you may be able to accomplish one or more of the following things: Reduce your base lease rate Reduce your NNN/CAM charges Reduce or eliminate the Personal Guaranty liability Reduce or modify your security deposit Adjust premises maintenance responsibilities Improve Signage … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Negotiation, Renegotiation
Negotiating the Personal Guaranty Clause for Retail Commercial Leases
What to do about a Personal Guaranty in a Retail Commercial Lease If you are attempting to lease a retail commercial space, one of the the numerous things to negotiate is the tricky subject of the personal guaranty. It is tricky because property owners have justification for asking for a Personal Guaranty. Naturally, a lessee (tenant) would prefer not offer a Personal Guaranty. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the things that can be negotiated … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Negotiation
Negotiating Lease Assignment Clauses for the Sale of a Business
An often overlooked and under-negotiated clause in any commercial lease is the lease assignment clause. No matter how long your lease is, and how long you plan to maintain ownership of the business, you need to negotiate a good lease assignment clause for proper exit strategy planning. What are some common things to consider in a lease assignment clause? Lease Assignment Fee Landlords will usually write into leases a fee for their time and consideration of your request … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Landlord, Negotiation, Selling A Business
Business Lessons from Shark Tank Season Finale
First up in the season finale of Shark Tank is the prominently featured Rebecca Rescate of CitiKitty. Rebecca Rescate’s CitiKitty is a product that is an alternative to the traditional cat litter solution. This product helps trains cats to use actual Human toilets. As funny as it looks watching a cat on a toilet, it does solve a problem, especially for urban dwellers whose cats can not easily go outdoors and use a yard for their bathroom needs. Rebecca … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Negotiation
Negotiation and Valuation Lessons from ABC’s Shark Tank
Episode 207 of ABC’s Shark Tank elicited many responses, and as usual contained a great many business lessons on display, in particular regarding Valuation and Negotiation. First up in the Shark Tank were Jason Lucash & Michael Szymczak of OrigAudio. They asked for $150,000 for 15% equity. Their company sells portable audio speaker solutions. On the show they claimed to have a track record of sales. In their one year of sales they have grossed $750,000, upon … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Business Valuation, Negotiation
More Business Lessons from Shark Tank
Onto the quote-unquote week one episode of the Shark Tank, which is the second episode since the show emerged for a second season. This episode, like all of the episodes, contained a lot of small business lessons that are valuable to have on a life’s journey of entrepreneurship. Lesson #1: Negotiation Snafu: Giving Away Leverage First up was Nikki Pope of Toygaroo. Toygaroo is a great concept of a membership in a rental toys plan. Toys were … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Negotiation
What is Dual Agency?
A common refrain from prospective buyers involves confusion on the Dual Agency Relationship between a broker, seller and the prospective buyer. One of the natural questions a buyer has is: ‘Who is the broker going to be representing?’ Legally speaking in California, the matter is simple, if there is only one broker involved, the broker is going to be interpreted as acting as a Dual Agent. This puts the onus on the broker to get … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Negotiation
Discounting Inventory & Deferring Payments During Escrow
In the middle of a transaction of selling your business, the topic comes up of counting the Inventory. You say, of course, to ‘do it’ so an accurate sales price can be determined for the business plus the inventory at your cost. You also let the buyer know that the inventory amount is ($500,000 for example), and it is all in good saleable condition. The buyer asks you how often you turn the inventory and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Valuation, Due Diligence, Negotiation
Condemnation Clauses for Commercial Leases
The Condemnation clause is an often overlooked clause in negotiating a commercial lease. Even though it rarely comes in play, it is well worth negotiating just in case to protect the many years of blood, sweat and tears a lessee/business owner has put in to the business. A condemnation clause dictates how compensation to the property owner is allocated to the tenant(s) at the property in the case that the property is seized via eminent … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Tips, Commercial Leasing, Landlord, Negotiation
Leasing Second Generation Restaurant Space – Saving Time & Money
Eating Someone else’s leftovers doesn’t sound like the greatest of deals. But, when it comes to your money, you’ll have to figure out if you want to buy an existing business ( e.g. leftovers), or make something new from scratch. Should you buy an existing business? Should you start a new business? That depends on you and the team you are going into business with. There is a Right and Wrong answer for you. We will layout some points for you to consider to help you make an informed decision that will feel, well, Just Elementary! Reasons to Buy: You want an established track record and proven business model. You will be open for business the day you take possession. Trained employees in place with a seller to offer additional buyer training. Reasons to Start: You have your own … Read entire article »
Filed under: Business Opportunity For Sale, Business Tips, Commercial Leasing, Negotiation
Archives
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010