I suffer from overthinking, so I’m kind of at a standstill. My goal is to buy a pre-existing business one day, ideally sooner than later. Probably between $25,000-30,000.

I know I have to create a business plan before buying it. If anyone has any advice here, please feel free to give it. It’s not that I don’t know how to. But any additional info will help type of situation.

I know I need to ask questions to the owner before purchasing. Here’s my list:

1. How much undisclosed debt does the business have?

2. Do you have any liens or lawsuits?

3. How much are the monthly bills and what are they?

4. Do you have insurance? How much? What type of insurance covers you?

5. How many employees do you have and how much do they make?

6. Can I and/or an auditorlook look at your financial statements for the past 5 years? Includes tax returns, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and any current contracts or leases.

7. What’s the reputation of the company?

8. Are you willing to finance part of the sale for 5-10%?

9. How do you manage the business? Do you have any daily meetings with any of your employees? Do you call customers or leave them alone after servicing?

10. What is your marketing strategy? What’s your ad cost? How much do you spend in marketing?

11. How do you generate revenue?

12. Do you have a list of profitable clients?

13. How many hours do you work per week?

14. Are you paying yourself at all?

15. How quickly do you get paid after servicing the client?

16. Who are your competitors? How do you explain the differences between you and your competitors to your clients?

17. Could I speak with some customers, employees and suppliers?

18. Could you tell me more about your suppliers: what items do you get, how long it takes to receive the purchases, and the costs?

19. What licenses and permits do you have and do I need them?

20. Did you feel over your head when you started and do you still feel that way?

My list of businesses NOT to get into: anything medical, food trucks, pool servicing, cleaning services.

I am thinking of buying an IT servicing company. I feel comfortable with technology. I know there’s IT servicing companies popping up near me, so I’m a bit scared of the competition.

Another option is to start my own IT business and teach folks how to use technology, like phones and laptops. I live in an area with a bunch of boomers and older folks. The average age is 40… which I’m surprised it isn’t even older.

The issue here is that I’m working full time but out currently due to medical reasons. The medical reasons wouldn’t stop me from buying or starting my own business.

I’m working on getting my insurance license and working part-time in insurance and getting an accounting degree online. Then working full time as an accountant for a year while working on my MBA. At the same time, I really would like to start or buy a business and hire employees and manage it.

I’m not too familiar with financing, so anything on that side would really help. I’m going to try to take a SBA loan. I know there’s stiff competition in trying to get someone to finance any type of business. That’s why I’m aiming so low in price so I can maybe put a deposit for half of the cost and finance the other half.

Any advice or direction is welcome. Thank you.