Businesses for sale

Read “Part 1: I Don’t Know” here

Everyone’s mother warned about not taking candy from strangers, but I don’t remember any of those mothers talking about rejecting well-meaning but totally ignorant advice.

The clothes-buying couple mentioned to a shop clerk the intolerable six-hour duration of the Highway 101 voyage down to LA. The clerk, giddy from the fresh sale, commiserated and let them know that if they took Highway 5 back, it would only take three hours. Thank goodness for friendly shop clerks: they give you an extra discount off your purchase and save you three hours off your trip home. All we needed to do was to get on Highway 10 East and connect to Highway 5 North to get home. Using my new computer which processes 1 quadrillion instructions a second, I determined 550 miles in three hours might be an exaggeration for their 1996 Toyota Corolla. But the husband is a very able auto mechanic, so he might have squeezed a Ferrari engine under the hood.

Secret knowledge in hand, they headed back to the parking lot, got the car, and met me in the Fashion District where I stood guard over their newly acquired inventory. Exhausted, we found a motel and stayed over, ready to return home tomorrow.

At 8am, we found Highway 10 East easily enough and drove out. And drove. And drove. You know, 120 miles in the wrong direction goes really fast at 80 miles an hour. And the scorched, stark scenery of Palm Desert contrasts so wonderfully with Los Angeles. We pulled over at a rest stop, I examined the map on the bulletin board, and offered my input.

Fast forward to 8pm: we enter our home town, rejoicing with gladness that we took the fast route. And with delight that we took well-meaning but ignorant advice from strangers.

You know better: hire a business broker for buying or selling your business