How far is too far as owner/operator?
February 08, 2022
by a searcher from Texas A&M University in Irving, TX, USA
I live in the heart of a major metro city and want to acquire a small manufacturing business.
I plan on taking full responsibilities of owner / operator, but don't want to move the family at this point (great support structures currently).
So, the question is what considerations should I factor in for how far away from home base could I acquire a business?
My ideal would be only a 3o minute drive, but I dont want to cut off too much deal flow. Currently looking at a deal that would require over an hour drive, which seems like a daily beating - but if the business is a good fit, would it be worth it?
Thanks in advance!
from University of California, San Diego in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Previously, my partners and I acquired an ecommerce business with warehouse operations approx 1.5-2hrs away. It was grueling. I would've never committed to it if I had to do that commute alone, but luckily we had a team of 3 that made that daily commute together.
When we made the decision to complete the acquisition, we set a goal to shutdown the manual operations of the warehouse within 6-12 months, by moving all operations to a third party logistics provider + moving all associates to full remote work.
We ended up completing the transition in 6 months. That first morning of waking up and not having to drive 90 minutes at 6am was glorious.
For a manufacturing business, how involved is the current owner, and how feasible is it that there is someone you could empower to manage operations when you're not present?
from Stanford University in Reno, NV, USA
Longer answer: even though so many folks have gone remote in the past two years, there is something to be said about the human desire for face time. Everyone I have talked to recently doesn't feel nearly as connected to their coworkers not seeing them in person all the time. You miss out on a lot of intangible cultural stuff not being there in person.I have seen this multiple times at various companies I've worked at. Employees want to feel like their manager is in the trenches with them and not "managing form on high." I suspect that for the first many months you'd need to be there every day to form deep relationships with the team and not build up resentment from the team. In the longer term that may not be necessary especially if you had a strong partner on the ground. But I would tread carefully for sure. In person time matters.