Courtesy of Ralph Alswang,
licensed under Creative Commons Share Alike
Political football Joe the Plumber hasn’t just given the Republican Party a prop to embody their blue-collar credentials.
Joe Wurzelbacher – as he was hitherto known – shot to fame earlier this month when he took Democratic presidential hopeful Barak Obama to task about his tax plans and was later mentioned 23 times in the final presidential debate.
Wurzelbacher wanted to buy a plumbing business he worked for was concerned that he’d pay more tax under the Democrats.
But while his confrontation with Obama has seemingly done little for the Republican candidate, John McCain, in the polls (it turned out that, if anything, he might even pay less tax under Obama), it has possibly contributed to a spike in enquiries on plumbing businesses on BusinessesForSale.com.
"Perhaps people see buying a business as a way out of the current downturn," says Marcus Markou, BusinessesForSale.com founder and CEO. "Certainly, many of the plumbing businesses for sale on the site are getting more responses.”
The site has more than 67,000 businesses for sale advertised at any time, including, at the time of writing, 93 plumbing opportunities in the UK. Prices range from a £15k plumbing and drainage franchise in Cheshire to a £1.4m specialist heating and plumbing business in the south-east, with profits of £60k and £120k respectively.
But BusinessesForSale.com has more than just plumbing opportunities. And in a range of industries, buying a business is increasingly one of very few sound investments in the current climate.
"There's a business for sale to suit all entrepreneurs," says Markou. "And if you have cash, where are you going to put it? The stock market? Property? The bank? It's a good time to buy a business."
A recent survey by BusinessesForSale.com revealed that 48% of buyers agree with Markou.
After all, you’re buying an established business with staff, customers, revenues, assets and equipment already in place. The business you buy may have survived previous downturns.
And yet when people think about going into business they often think about starting from scratch and all the associated difficulties. As the economy heads into what could be a prolonged downturn the ‘Joe the Plumber’ story is a timely reminder that aspiring entrepreneurs can also buy existing business that already have a foothold in the market and marketing, administrative and managerial systems in place.
Markou is confident that the ‘Joe the Plumber’ story will get entrepreneurs of all hues thinking about buying as an alternative to starting a business.
"Thankfully, we don't just sell plumbing businesses," says Markou. "We have thousands of opportunities ranging from petrol stations and bars to restaurants and hotels – as well as engineering, e-commerce and manufacturing businesses for sale."
