Time To Get Vertical

A very common way for a brick-and-mortar business to mature is to own the land it sits on. When a business is well rooted, you can really control your destiny (and save $$$) by buying real estate. It’s also a great way to retire, when the time is right: sell the business, keep the building, and become landlord to the new owner/operator.

This is called “Vertical Integration”.

There are several paths you can take on this trail, but most commonly Vertical Integration means that you are either buying a supplier or a customer.

It’s a great way to immediately boost and strengthen both businesses. A “win-win”.

Here are 4 questions to ask yourself, to see if Vertical Integration is for you:

1. What suppliers do I pay the most money to? This will typically either be your building lease or inventory (“Cost of Goods Sold”, in nerd terms).

2. Which suppliers would be the easiest to own and operate? You may have had that thought already… man, this would be a good/fun/simple business to operate.

3. Are there any customers that are facing big life changes? People are open to selling their business when they are facing the Big D’s: Death, Disease, Divorce, or Disenchantment.

4. Are there any customers whose business could grow with a few simple changes? If you have a customer that has a good business with blind spots, you could turn that into a great business, and build an awesome supply chain.

The sky is the limit!

This “Trail Prep” info is from Trail 10 of Profit Hiker: 11 Trails to gain lasting elevation in your business. Find the book right here and the program over there.