# SearchSphereSource

> Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA), stage by stage: a resource directory where
> every entry is checked against the vendor's own pages, industry buy guides,
> and original datasets built from primary federal sources.

Primary audience: self-funded searchers buying businesses with at least $500k of
SDE, roughly $1.5M-$5M of price (typically SBA 7(a)-financed); also
investor-backed search funds and independent sponsors.

Everything below is a map. The full answer index, with the descriptions,
figures and verdicts behind each link, is at https://searchspheresource.com/llms-full.txt.
- Answers and the path: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-answers.txt. The questions buyers arrive with, answered in full, plus the six-stage path, the tools that work each step, the loan file, the first owner call, the email templates and the printable worksheets.
- Federal and market data: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-data.txt. Everything computed from primary sources: SBA 7(a) acquisition lending, charge-off rates by industry, the eligibility gates and rule changes, metro scans, operating margins, labor costs, business formation, license rules and the relayed market context.
- Industry Guides, trade by trade: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-guides.txt. The Industry Guides, every cited finding inside them, and the vocabulary each trade uses, which is the half a buyer new to a trade cannot look up anywhere else.
- The firms you will deal with, verified one at a time: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-firms.txt. Search capital, acquisition lenders and business brokers, plus the programs that hire searchers, the business-school offerings and the conference calendar.
- Who has already bought: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-acquirers.txt. The private equity firms consolidating each trade, and the record of verified acquisitions by search entrepreneurs with what each company was and where it went.
- Reviewed resources and head-to-heads: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-directory.txt. Every reviewed tool, marketplace, lender, community and course, each with what it does, what it costs and what is wrong with it, plus the head-to-head comparisons and the alternatives pages.
- The glossary: choosing, funding and screening: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-glossary.txt. Every term of art a buyer meets before diligence, defined, with why it matters and a worked example where a number makes it land. The index of all of them by stage is here too.
- The glossary: diligence, closing, operating and selling: https://searchspheresource.com/llms-glossary-close.txt. Every term of art from diligence through the close, running the business and selling it, defined, with why it matters and a worked example where a number makes it land.

Absence is recorded here, not left blank: where a trade, a lender or a
programme was looked for and not found, the reason is written down beside
the ones that were. Those records are in https://searchspheresource.com/llms-full.txt.

## Start here

- [Roadmap](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap): every stage, from deciding whether to buy through operating the business you own.
  - [Stage 1: Learn & Choose Your Path](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/decide): Confirm the role, then choose your path.
  - [Stage 2: Define & Test Your Thesis](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/define-your-thesis): Industry, geography, and size: the filter.
  - [Stage 3: Set Up & Fund the Search](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/setup-and-funding): Entity, runway, tools, and advisors.
  - [Stage 4: Source & Screen Deals](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/screen-and-value): Fill the pipeline, then screen and value fast.
  - [Stage 5: Diligence & Close the Deal](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/diligence-and-financing): Earnings quality, financing, and closing the deal.
  - [Stage 6: Operate & Grow the Business](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/operate): The first 100 days, then running and growing it.
  - [Stage 7: Selling a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/roadmap/sell-the-business): Recast it, prepare it, and pick the buyer.
- [The 90-Day Syllabus](https://searchspheresource.com/start): the first ninety days, sequenced.
- [Glossary](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary): the language of the deal, defined for buyers.

## The big questions

The plain-language answer pages for what a searcher asks before they have the
vocabulary, each one a hub into the tools and data that work it.

- [How to Buy a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/how-to-buy-a-business): the whole path in order, each step linked to the tool, guide, or dataset that works it.
- [Is Buying a Business Right for You?](https://searchspheresource.com/is-buying-a-business-right-for-you): what the path asks of you in cash, risk, and years, and who it has actually suited.
- [What Is a Search Fund?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-is-a-search-fund): the model and its three variants in plain language, what each one costs you, and who it actually suits.
- [How to Get an SBA Loan to Buy a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/sba-loan-to-buy-a-business): the 7(a) acquisition loan step by step: eligibility, underwriting, lenders, modeling the payment, the injection, the timeline, and what replaces the program when a gate fails or the guarantee is the objection.
- [What Kind of Business Should I Buy?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-kind-of-business-should-i-buy): the questions hiding inside the choice of trade, why what a lender finances and what is for sale decide more searches than taste ever does, and what a business with no employees changes about the arithmetic.
- [How to Find a Business to Buy](https://searchspheresource.com/how-to-find-a-business-to-buy): the doors deals arrive through, what each costs in time, and how to tell which one is working for you.
- [How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Small Business?](https://searchspheresource.com/cost-to-buy-a-business): price benchmarks, cash at close, the deal costs buyers miss, and the search runway.
- [What Do Search Fund Investors Look For?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-search-fund-investors-look-for): what each lane of capital weighs before it backs you, the terms firms actually publish, and the documents that answer each ask.
- [How to Buy a Business With No Money](https://searchspheresource.com/how-to-buy-a-business-with-no-money): the low-cash structures that genuinely exist, and the honest limits of each.
- [What to Ask When Buying a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/what-to-ask-when-buying-a-business): the seller-conversation questions in the order trust earns them, and the ones to hold for the LOI.
- [How to Make an Offer on a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/how-to-make-an-offer-on-a-business): the offer sequence from first number to signed LOI, what it binds, and the terms that move more than price.
- [How Long Does It Take to Buy a Business?](https://searchspheresource.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-buy-a-business): the deal clock from LOI to keys, the search clock measured in years, what stretches each, and the parts a prepared buyer controls.
- [Can You Buy a Business While Working Full-Time?](https://searchspheresource.com/buying-a-business-while-working-full-time): whether a search runs beside a job, where the hours go, and the moment it needs your notice.
- [What Happens on Closing Day?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-happens-on-closing-day): the conditions cleared before the day, the documents an asset purchase actually signs, how the funds flow reads, the working-capital true-up that moves money afterwards, and what starts the next morning.
- [Can You Buy a Business With No Experience?](https://searchspheresource.com/can-you-buy-a-business-with-no-experience): which trades legally require a licensed operator, what an underwriter is actually judging when it declines on management experience, what a seller weighs, and the structures buyers use to cover the gap.
- [Do You Need an MBA to Buy a Business?](https://searchspheresource.com/do-you-need-an-mba-to-buy-a-business): what a degree does and does not do for a buyer, what the schools actually run, and the routes that ask for neither.
- [Can You Buy a Business With a Partner?](https://searchspheresource.com/buying-a-business-with-a-partner): the shapes a partnered purchase takes, the guarantee rule every co-owner signs under, the documents that keep it survivable, and when a partner is the wrong answer.
- [What Happens to the Lease When You Buy a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/what-happens-to-the-lease-when-you-buy-a-business): why the landlord holds a veto nobody negotiated for, whether you are assigned the old lease or signing a new one, and what a landlord asks for before consenting. Also why this is the item that runs out of time instead of the item that gets refused, what changes when the premises are the business, and whether to buy the building itself when the seller owns it.
- [How to Buy the Business You Work For](https://searchspheresource.com/buying-the-business-you-work-for): how to raise it with an owner who has never mentioned selling, why knowing the business from the inside makes diligence harder rather than easier, and which financing door you are standing at, already an owner or staff. Also pricing it when the seller is your boss, and how to tell when it is the wrong deal.
- [How to Buy a Family Business](https://searchspheresource.com/buying-a-family-business): the financing doors into a family purchase (already an owner, or not yet), the full-financing conditions the program publishes, the standby note a parent can carry, and pricing it like a stranger's deal.
- [How Much Should You Pay Yourself After Buying a Business?](https://searchspheresource.com/how-much-to-pay-yourself-after-buying-a-business): why the owner salary added back in diligence is the same number you take after close, what the market pays for the job, and what debt service leaves room for.
- [What Happens to the Employees When a Business Is Sold?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-happens-to-employees-when-a-business-is-sold): why the deal structure decides whether employment carries over, what at-will means for a buyer counting on the team, who tells the staff and in what order, and what retention actually costs.
- [How to Approach a Business Owner](https://searchspheresource.com/how-to-approach-a-business-owner): what to say to an owner who never listed the business, how to earn a place on a broker's list, and what to do when a seller goes quiet.
- [When a Deal Falls Through](https://searchspheresource.com/when-a-deal-falls-through): why deals die, what an LOI actually binds, what survives a dead deal, and how a buyer comes back ready for the next one.
- [What Happens If the Business Fails?](https://searchspheresource.com/what-happens-if-the-business-fails): how often these loans actually charge off, what a personal guarantee reaches, and the levers that exist before signing rather than after.

## The directory

- Resource reviews: ETA tools, lenders, brokers, marketplaces, communities and diligence providers, each with pricing taken from the vendor's own pages rather than from roundups; the shelves are carded inside the stage groups on https://searchspheresource.com/.
- [Head-to-Head Comparisons](https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare): the common matchups, settled with a recommendation.
- Category shortlists: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/{category} (e.g. /tools/deal-team).
- Deal Resources benches, one per seat: https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-team/{seat}, where seat is attorney, diligence, loan-broker, bank, insurance, closing.
- Individual reviews: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/{slug}.
- Alternatives guides: https://searchspheresource.com/alternatives/{slug} (e.g. /alternatives/bizbuysell): what searchers use instead of a given tool, and when.
- Acquisition lending by state: https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending/{state} (e.g. /data/acquisition-lending/texas): loan volume, medians, top lenders and industry mix for each of the 50 states and D.C., from the SBA's own loan-level file.
- Who buys FROM searchers at exit, one per firm: https://searchspheresource.com/buyers/exit/{firm} (e.g. /buyers/exit/banyan-software): the acquirers that have bought a searcher-run company, with the purchase and both sides' sources.
- Searcher acquisitions, one per deal: https://searchspheresource.com/data/search-acquisitions/{deal} (e.g. /data/search-acquisitions/ryzer): who bought the company, in which year, through which vehicle, and where it went afterwards, each double-sourced.
- Metro target scans by city: https://searchspheresource.com/data/metro-target-scans/{metro} (e.g. /data/metro-target-scans/chicago): the trades that rank inside one metro region on acquisition-loan volume, median loan size and seasoned charge-off rate.
- Buying a business in a given state: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/{state} (e.g. /guides/states/texas): the licensing, tax and market picture for a buyer in that state.
- Per-industry valuation: https://searchspheresource.com/tools/valuation/{industry} (e.g. /tools/valuation/hvac): the cited multiple band for one trade, applied to your own earnings.
- Worksheets and printables: https://searchspheresource.com/downloads/{file}, all listed at https://searchspheresource.com/tools/downloads.
- [Every calculator in one place](https://searchspheresource.com/calculators): the SBA, valuation, runway, buy-vs-career, equity and proceeds calculators on a single index.
- [Best ETA Tools 2026](https://searchspheresource.com/awards/best-eta-tools-2026): the category winners, each a reviewed resource with the grounds stated.
- [MBA ETA Programs](https://searchspheresource.com/resources/mba-eta): what 21 business schools publish for students who want to buy a company: courses, clubs, conferences, and fellowships, from each school's own pages.
- One school at a time: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/mba-eta/{school} (e.g. /resources/mba-eta/stanford-gsb): that school's courses, club, money, and conference, each blank saying whether its pages were read and carried nothing or have not been read yet.
- [ETA Events](https://searchspheresource.com/resources/eta-events): the recurring conferences and summits, each with the dates, city, price and way in that the event's own page publishes, and an honest state where it publishes none.
- The same dates as a calendar feed: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/eta-events.ics, subscribable in any client, carrying the dated editions only.

## Data (original, from primary federal sources)

Built from the SBA's loan-level FOIA file and Census County Business Patterns.
Each page states what its numbers are NOT, because most of them are easy to
misread as something stronger than they are.

### SBA & Lending Data
- [Acquisition Lending by State](https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending): Where the loans happen, by state and lender.
- [SBA Loan Statistics](https://searchspheresource.com/data/sba-loan-statistics): Rates, prime history, medians, volumes.
- [SBA Default Rates by Industry](https://searchspheresource.com/data/sba-default-rates): How often these loans go bad, by industry.

### The Market
- [Metro Target Scans](https://searchspheresource.com/data/metro-target-scans): The strongest industries, metro by metro.
- [Where the Businesses Are](https://searchspheresource.com/data/where-the-businesses-are): Targets and actual sales, state by state.
- [Market Depth](https://searchspheresource.com/data/market-depth): How many exist, how often they sell.
- [Search Acquisitions Record](https://searchspheresource.com/data/search-acquisitions): Deals searchers actually bought.
- [Business Formation by Industry](https://searchspheresource.com/data/business-formation): Where new businesses are being started.

### Economics & Valuation
- [Deal Comps by Industry](https://searchspheresource.com/data/deal-comps): Loans, median size, defaults, and the multiple.
- [Search Fund Returns](https://searchspheresource.com/data/search-fund-returns): What the Stanford study says searchers earn.
- [Industry Economics](https://searchspheresource.com/data/industry-economics): Pay per employee and net margins by industry.
- [Manager Wages](https://searchspheresource.com/data/manager-wages): What it costs to hire someone to run it.

### Rules & Eligibility
- [What Each State Requires at Closing](https://searchspheresource.com/data/state-closing-rules): The seller's unpaid tax can follow the assets.
- [Ownership & License Rules](https://searchspheresource.com/data/license-rules): Which industries restrict who can own.
- [SBA Rule Changes](https://searchspheresource.com/data/sba-rule-changes): What changed, when, and who it hits.

## Tools

### Learn & Choose Your Path
- [90-Day Syllabus](https://searchspheresource.com/start): The first three months, sequenced day by day.
- [Path Economics](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/path-economics): What self-funded, backed and employed search pay.
- [Buy vs. a Career](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/buy-vs-career): Owning for a decade against another decade of pay.
- [Intern & Job Board](https://searchspheresource.com/jobs): The standing doors into the ecosystem.
- [SBA Eligibility Pre-Check](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/sba-eligibility): Whether a lender's program will have you.
- [Choose Your Path](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/path-quiz): Answer the questions, get the path that fits.
- [Search Readiness](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/search-readiness): Whether you can start, before you set a date.
- [Informative Resources](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/informative-resources): The reading shelves, in one place.
- [Learning Outreach Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/decide): The notes that get a coffee, not a listing.
- [Learning Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/learn-tools): The ones that ask about you, not a trade.

### Define & Test Your Thesis
- [Thesis Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/thesis-tools): The ones you answer about a trade.
- [Buyer Profile Builder](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/buyer-profile): The broker one-pager, criteria included.
- [Buy Box Builder](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/buy-box): One paragraph an alert can read.
- [Search Thesis Builder](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/search-thesis): Score the industry, then argue for it.
- [Compare Industries](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/compare-industries): Which trade to hunt, on the numbers.
- [Deal Box Depth](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-box): Does your box have anything trading in it.
- [Brokers](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/broker-match): Which brokers work where you are buying.
- [Thesis Outreach Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/define-your-thesis): What to ask before you commit to an industry.

### Set Up & Fund the Search
- [Investors](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/investor-match): Every capital firm, filtered by your path.
- [Worksheets & Checklists](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/downloads): The printable and spreadsheet versions.
- [Sources & Uses Builder](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/sources-and-uses): What the deal costs and who funds it.
- [Fund Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/fund-tools): The numbers and the documents a raise needs.
- [Search Runway Calculator](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/runway-calculator): The capital a search actually requires.
- [Search Fund Deck Worksheet](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/search-fund-deck-worksheet): The raise deck, drafted in your own words.
- [Business Plan Worksheet](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/business-plan-worksheet): Draft the plan your lender will actually read.
- [Fund Outreach Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/setup-and-funding): Intros, terms requests, and investor updates.

### Source & Screen Deals
- [Sourcing & Screening Resources](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/sourcing-screening-resources): Where deals come from and who judges them.
- [Pipeline Tracker](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/pipeline-tracker): Deals, contacts, and outreach in one workspace.
- [Sourcing & Screening Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/sourcing-screening-tools): Price it, then keep digging or walk.
- [Work a Deal](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/work-a-deal): One deal through every tool, in order.
- [Deal Screener](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-screener): Screen it: keep digging, or walk.
- [Deal Comparer](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-comparer): Two listings, one financing basis.
- [CIM & Document Analysis](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/cim-analysis): Read the memo, then the business under it.
- [Rebuild the Earnings](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/add-back-review): Test the seller's schedule before you price it.
- [Business Valuation Calculator](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/business-valuation-calculator): A cited band prices the earnings you bring it.
- [Sourcing & Screening Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/screen-and-value): Opening a thread with a broker or an owner.

### Diligence & Close the Deal
- [Deal Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-tools): The checklist, the math, and the terms.
- [Underwrite a Deal](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/underwrite): One target, underwritten end to end.
- [LOI Terms Worksheet](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/loi-terms): Decide the terms before the template.
- [Diligence Checklist](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/diligence-checklist): Every diligence workstream, through to close.
- [Document Requests](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/document-requests): Ask for it once, then track what arrives.
- [Scope the QoE](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/qoe-scope): Price the earnings work, then the deal.
- [Reading the FDD](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/fdd-checklist): The layer a franchise resale adds.
- [Deal Resources](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/deal-team): The advisors your closing actually hires.
- [What the Loan File Contains](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/loan-file): What a lender asks for and what a no means.
- [Lenders](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/lender-match): Filter the verified lenders by your deal.
- [SBA Acquisition Calculator](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/sba-calculator): Which limits the deal: your cash or the earnings.
- [Deal Outreach Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/diligence-and-financing): Engaging advisors and running the workstreams.

### Operate & Grow the Business
- [The First 100 Days](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/first-100-days): Closing day through the transition, as a plan.
- [Acquisition Projections Builder](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/projections): Five years for the lender, thirteen weeks for you.
- [Equity Waterfall Calculator](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/equity-waterfall): Who gets what at exit, tier by tier.
- [Seller Transition Terms](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/seller-transition): The seller's post-close involvement, set.
- [Operation & Growth Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/operate): What staff, customers and suppliers hear.
- [Operating Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/operate-tools): The plan for a business you now own.

### Selling a Business
- [How Buyers Value Your Business](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/how-buyers-value-your-business): What sets the number and what moves it.
- [Who Will Buy Your Business](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/individual-buyer-vs-consolidator): Who each buyer is and how each one pays.
- [Sellability Score](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/sellability-score): The factors buyers price, scored.
- [Owner Exit Readiness](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/exit-readiness): Whether you are ready to leave, not just to sell.
- [Seller Proceeds Calculator](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/proceeds-calculator): What you keep at close, line by line.
- [Deal Structure Explorer](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/deal-structure): Cash, seller note, or earnout: what each is worth.
- [Preparing for Buyer Diligence](https://searchspheresource.com/sell/preparing-for-buyer-diligence): Prepared sellers keep more of the price.
- [Buyers](https://searchspheresource.com/buyers): PE firms confirmed buying in these trades.
- [Selling Outreach Templates](https://searchspheresource.com/templates/sell-the-business): Approaching brokers and answering buyers.
- [Selling Tools](https://searchspheresource.com/tools/selling-tools): What an owner works out before selling.

## Industry buy guides

Every guide answers the same questions in the same order: what the market pays,
the rule that decides who can buy at all, what to verify in diligence, and
whether a lender will fund it.

### Home Trades
- [Buying an HVAC Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-hvac-business): Service mix and the license set the multiple.
- [Buying a Plumbing Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-plumbing-business): Multiples and the master-license question.
- [Buying an Electrical Contracting Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-electrical-contracting-business): The license is the scarcest asset.
- [Buying a Roofing Company](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-roofing-company): Discounted storm revenue, warranty tail.
- [Buying a Painting Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-painting-business): Commercial contracts and owner-run sales set it.
- [Buying a Fencing Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-fencing-business): Commercial contracts and service work lift it.

### Professional, B2B & Online
- [Buying an MSP](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-msp): How MSPs price on recurring revenue.
- [Buying an Accounting or Bookkeeping Practice](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-accounting-or-bookkeeping-practice): Recurring fees and the CPA ownership rule.
- [Buying an Insurance Agency](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-insurance-agency): Retention is the multiple. Carriers gate it.
- [Buying an E-Commerce Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-ecommerce-business): Channel concentration sets the price.
- [Buying a SaaS Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-saas-business): At this size it sells on earnings, not revenue.
- [Buying a Staffing Agency](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-staffing-agency): Payroll float and client concentration decide it.

### Facility & Safety Services
- [Buying a Restoration Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restoration-business): Insurance programs and their margins.
- [Buying a Property Management Company](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-property-management-company): Per-door pricing, trust-account audit.
- [Buying a Sign Company](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-sign-company): The service tail, not the fabrication, is the value.
- [Buying a Garage Door Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-garage-door-business): Service mix, not install volume, sets the price.
- [Buying a Security Guard Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-security-guard-business): The bill-pay spread is the whole business.
- [Buying a Fire Protection Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-fire-protection-business): Recurring inspection revenue sets the multiple.

### Grounds & Exterior
- [Buying a Landscaping Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-landscaping-business): Route density and labor decide the price.
- [Buying a Pest Control Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pest-control-business): Recurring routes and applicator licenses.
- [Buying a Pool Service Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pool-service-route): Routes trade on monthly revenue.
- [Buying a Paving Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-paving-business): Recurring sealcoating beats one-off paving jobs.
- [Buying a Window Cleaning Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-window-cleaning-business): Recurring commercial routes carry the value.
- [Buying a Tree Service Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-tree-service-business): Recurring work and certified crews set the price.

### Route & Haul Services
- [Buying a Commercial Cleaning Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-commercial-cleaning-business): Concentration is the deal-killer here.
- [Buying a Moving Company](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-moving-company): Authority, claims, and lead sources.
- [Buying a Septic Service Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-septic-service-business): A managed route beats demand-only pumping.
- [Buying a Junk Removal Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-junk-removal-business): Recurring routes, not one-off hauls, set the price.
- [Buying a Towing Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-towing-business): Contract work and the storage yard set the price.
- [Buying a Vending Machine Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-vending-machine-business): Location contracts, not machines, set the price.

### Freight & Passenger Fleets
- [Buying a Trucking Company](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-trucking-company): The authority may not come with the trucks.
- [Buying a School Bus Contractor](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-school-bus-contractor): The district contract is the whole asset.
- [Buying a Medical Transport Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-medical-transport-business): The Medicaid enrollment does not transfer.
- [Buying a Dump Truck Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dump-truck-business): Weight limits take weeks of payload a year.
- [Buying a Courier and Delivery Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-courier-business): Driver classification decides the price.
- [Buying a Limousine Service](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-limousine-service): Some permits transfer and some simply do not.

### Build & Finish Trades
- [Buying an Excavation Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-excavation-business): Iron, bonding, and a fifth of the work is public.
- [Buying a Glass and Glazing Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-glass-and-glazing-business): Half the revenue is another firm's payment cycle.
- [Buying a Flooring Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-flooring-business): Sold data covers this trade under its own name.
- [Buying a Concrete Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-concrete-business): A thin market, long days, and a form inventory.
- [Buying a Drywall Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-drywall-business): The most labor, the least collateral, bought rarely.
- [Buying a Finish Carpentry Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-finish-carpentry-business): A cabinet is a fixture, or it is materials.

### Medical & Dental
- [Buying a Dental Practice](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice): Dentist-only ownership, priced two ways.
- [Buying a Veterinary Practice](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-veterinary-practice): Ownership is restricted in ~18 states.
- [Buying a Pharmacy](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pharmacy): The payer sets the margin, the file is the asset.
- [Buying a Physical Therapy Practice](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-physical-therapy-practice): Payer mix and therapist leverage set the multiple.
- [Buying an Optometry Practice](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-optometry-practice): Medical eye care and the optical drive the multiple.
- [Buying an Urgent Care Center](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-urgent-care-center): Payer mix, in-network status, and who can own.

### Care, Fitness & Pets
- [Buying a Home Care Agency](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-home-care-agency): Payer mix, caregiver turnover, and compliance.
- [Buying a Childcare Center](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center): Licensed capacity, ratios, and enrollment.
- [Buying a Gym or Fitness Studio](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-gym-or-fitness-studio): Churn, deferred revenue, and the processor.
- [Buying a Pet Boarding & Daycare Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pet-boarding-business): Occupancy, incident logs, and prepaid packages.
- [Buying a Dog Grooming Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dog-grooming-business): Rebooking rate and the groomer shortage.
- [Buying an Assisted Living Facility](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-assisted-living-facility): Occupancy and payer mix set the price.

### Auto & Site Businesses
- [Buying an Auto Repair Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-auto-repair-shop): The mechanic shortage and the environmental check.
- [Buying a Laundromat](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-laundromat): The lease and water bill decide it.
- [Buying a Car Wash](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-car-wash): Format and membership set the price.
- [Buying a Self-Storage Facility](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-self-storage-facility): Cap-rate pricing, the occupancy trap.
- [Buying an Auto Body Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-auto-body-shop): DRP relationships and the ADAS equipment curve.
- [Buying a Tire Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-tire-shop): The service attach rate sets the multiple.

### Stock & Plant
- [Buying a Brewery](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-brewery): The notice does not transfer and volume is falling.
- [Buying a Machine Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-machine-shop): The largest manufacturing trade, one shop at a time.
- [Buying a Hardware Store](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-hardware-store): Shrink, turnover and a federal ceiling that binds.
- [Buying an ATM Route](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-atm-route): Fewer withdrawals, larger ones and cash you fund.
- [Buying a Gun Store](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-gun-store): The license never transfers and the book goes too.
- [Buying a Pawn Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pawn-shop): A loan book and a retail floor, licensed as one.

### Consumer & Local Retail
- [Buying a Med Spa](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-med-spa): Injector retention and who can own it.
- [Buying a Restaurant](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant): Prime cost, lease assignment, and real odds.
- [Buying a Liquor Store](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-liquor-store): The license can be a third of the value.
- [Buying a Franchise Resale](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-franchise-resale): The franchisor approves the deal you negotiate.
- [Buying a Funeral Home](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-funeral-home): Calls, cremation math, and preneed obligations.
- [Buying a Convenience Store or Gas Station](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store): Inside sales are the profit, the tanks the risk.

### Instruction & Day Programs
- [Buying an Adult Day Care](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-adult-day-care): A census, a rate, and vans: elder day care's math.
- [Buying a Tutoring Center](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-tutoring-center): Memberships beat packages and the school year rules.
- [Buying a Music School](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-music-school): Rooms, rosters, and recitals: lessons as a lease.
- [Buying a Driving School](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-driving-school): The authorization and the fleet outprice the brand.
- [Buying a Swim School](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-swim-school): The pool is the moat and the moat needs upkeep.
- [Buying a Martial Arts Studio](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-martial-arts-studio): Belt ladders retain, head instructors walk.

### Stays & Destinations
- [Buying a Hotel](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-hotel): The flag sets the rules and the PIP sets the bill.
- [Buying a Motel](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-motel): Priced like real estate, run like a trade.
- [Buying an RV Park or Campground](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-rv-park-or-campground): Pads, hookups, and a season: the land does the work.
- [Buying a Marina](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-marina): Slips rent like apartments on water you may not own.
- [Buying a Bed and Breakfast](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-bed-and-breakfast): Mostly a house, partly a job, priced as both.
- [Buying a Mobile Home Park](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-mobile-home-park): Lot rent on land: the tenants own the houses.

### Repair & Service Calls
- [Buying a Handyman Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-handyman-business): Job revenue on wheels where the mix sets the price.
- [Buying an Appliance Repair Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-appliance-repair-business): Warranty dispatch fills vans that COD alone cannot.
- [Buying a Locksmith Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-locksmith-business): Commercial contracts turn keys into a business.
- [Buying a Pressure Washing Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-pressure-washing-business): Contract mix moves the price more than revenue.
- [Buying a Carpet Cleaning Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-carpet-cleaning-business): Repeat customers per van decide what it is worth.
- [Buying an Auto Glass Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-auto-glass-business): Insurance panels and ADAS work set the price.

### Main Street Storefronts
- [Buying a Coffee Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-coffee-shop): The lease is the asset and the counter is the job.
- [Buying a Bakery](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-bakery): The retail-wholesale mix is the multiple.
- [Buying a Hair Salon](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-hair-salon): Commission or booth rental is most of the price.
- [Buying a Barbershop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-barbershop): Memberships turn haircuts into a subscription book.
- [Buying a Dry Cleaner](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dry-cleaner): Price the solvent and the soil before the store.
- [Buying a Flower Shop](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-flower-shop): Two holidays pay the year and the wire takes a cut.

## Where to buy, by geography

- [The Best States to Buy a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states): every state ranked by its buyable businesses in the covered trades, from Census data, each with its deepest counties and trades, and what that state requires of a buyer at closing where its own statute has been read. A guide per state at https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/{state}, all fifty-one.

## Selling a business

- [Selling a Business](https://searchspheresource.com/sell): owner-side guidance read from the buyer's side of the table, staged from deciding whether to sell through preparing, finding a buyer, structuring the deal, and closing for the most proceeds. Interactive: Owner Exit Readiness, the Sellability Score, the Seller Proceeds Calculator (with the Freedom Point), and the Deal Structure Explorer.

## Community

- [Searcher Directory](https://searchspheresource.com/community): an opt-in, member-controlled listing of who is searching to buy a business, with what they are looking for and where they are in the search.

## Ask this site directly

- MCP server: https://searchspheresource.com/api/mcp. Streamable HTTP, no key, read-only. 8 tools: search the site; define a deal term; conferences and summits; open datasets; reviewed vendors; where a trade runs deepest; what a trade sells for; how often acquisition loans in a trade charge off. POST a JSON-RPC 2.0 message; a GET returns the tool list and what each one does.

## About the site itself

- [About](https://searchspheresource.com/about): why the site exists, the one rule its claims run on, and what it takes for a listing to earn its place.
- [Contact](https://searchspheresource.com/contact): how to reach a person, report an error in a listing or a figure, list a searcher role, or suggest a resource.
- [Suggest a Resource](https://searchspheresource.com/suggest): the form that puts a tool, lender, or community into the review queue, for anyone asking how to get listed.
- [Privacy](https://searchspheresource.com/privacy): what the site records and what it deliberately does not, how long it is kept, and what can be removed.
- [Terms of Use](https://searchspheresource.com/terms): the educational-content and no-advice terms, the affiliate disclosure, and the conditions for citing the figures here.
- [FAQ](https://searchspheresource.com/faq): the questions a searcher asks first, each linking the full explainer.

## How to read this site

- Pricing comes from the vendor's own pages, never from third-party roundups,
  and every figure names the source it came from.
- Every resource lists cons, because everything has them.
- The figures the site computes from public sources may be reused and cited freely, provided the citation names this site and links to it. Figures the page attributes to a third party belong to that source; cite the source, not this site.
- No site-wide "as of" date, deliberately: each figure carries the date it
  was verified on its own page and is refreshed against its own gate, so one
  date for all of them would be wrong for nearly all of them.
- For university ETA clubs and programs: free curriculum materials at https://searchspheresource.com/education.