Business Brokers and Realtors: How BIG is Our Market?
9 June 2025: Business Brokers and Realtors: How BIG is Our Market?
“Derek Olson has made a fortune making machines that rip up flooring, like carpeting in elementary schools.”
Thus begins a recent article by Juliet Chung in The Wall Street Journal.
The article, styled the “Stealthy Wealthy”, describes how many very profitable but unheralded businesses exist and how they grew.
In her article, Ms. Chung acknowledges the will success that can occur in technology startups and a few other entrepreneurial ventures but concentrates on the “…vast universe of traditional routes…”, businesses focused on providing the good and services that most people – and most other businesses – need on a regular basis.
There are thousands of such successful businesses, as anyone in our industry knows, and every one of them will be sold. More important to realize is that almost every one of them will buy one or more similar businesses.
“Children are Disgusting”
From the article:
“This is how sexy it is: The average elementary school in the United States has 7 miles of carpet – and children are disgusting,” said Olson, chief executive of National Flooring Equipment (and father of two). “so elementary schools basically need their floors redone almost every summer. It’s this niche industry that no one talks about and everybody needs.”
Many of our own clients own business like these.
For example, our files include the value-added developer of fishing bait, a business that buys in bulk, repackages and brands all kinds of bait for fishermen, both professional and recreational. They then resell the repackaged product to 21 Walmarts, generating several million dollars in revenue annually
Another is a specialty metal fabricator, a small, four employee operation, that specializes in custom metal work and a willingness to take on projects most competitors won’t do. They count among their clients two S&P 500 firms: Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods for whom they build specialized product lines, design and fabricate customized line and other operational components and even the facilities to house them.
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Yes, hitting the jackpot with a tech startup is possible but not nearly as likely as owning a medium-size regional business, many of which, such as auto dealerships, beverage distributors, grocery stores, dental practices and law firms – are distinctly boring but extremely lucrative.
Floor Mats!
Another example from the article:
” David MacNeil worked as a tool-and-die maker, dropped out of college and sold luxury cars. He rented a car on a trip to Scotland in 1989 and immediately noticed its floor mats. Thick, and with a border preventing water and mud from running off, the rubber mats were superior to anything he had seen in the U.S.
“MacNeil called the English manufacturer when he was back home in Chicago and eventually worked out a deal to buy a 20-foot shipping container of the black mats to sell in the U.S., taking out a second mortgage on his home to do so.”
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Don’t Miss Out on the “Silver Tsunami”!
“The business MacNeil started from his garage 35 years ago now employs about 1,800 people in Bolingbrook, Ill. and makes nearly its entire range of car accessories and other products in the U.S.”
The business? Weathertech.
Growing by Buying
Our nearl written often about selling franchises (the two recent one are here and here). The owners of many small chains of national franchise brands – be they fast food, healthcare, muffler shops, hotels or any other brand – often end up selling to the owners of larger chains of the same brand. Because of certain restrictions included in the franchise agreement by the franchisor, such transactions are easier to complete. A five-unit Subway sandwich franchisee will likely be acquired by and absorbed into a 30- or 40-unit chain.
Another example from the article:
“Larry Fleming, a Wendy’s Franchisee, made his money in burgers and then beer.”
Fleming built his chain of Wendy’s hamburger restaurants and then bought a beer distributor. According to the article, he sold chain of Wendy’s restaurants and, in his own version of a “roll-up“, he has grown his distribution business to nearly $250 million in revenue – in large part by buying other beverage distributors.
The Bottom Line
Yes, the businesses profiled above are larger than those we typically represent but they started small and grew, at least in two of the three examples, by acquiring other businesses. The three owners profiled are typical of thousands of others. They were buyers first and will be sellers last.
We’ve often discussed strategic buyers – for example, one HVAC company being acquired by another ,similar to how Fleming has expanded his beverage distribution business – and with any business we’re engaged to sell, we look first to what other businesses might be interested.
But the bottom line for us is actually two lines: “Every business that doesn’t fail will be sold…EVERY ONE!℠” (our tagline) and many business are the most logical buyers of other businesses that provide the same or similar products and or services.
“I have found that [public relations] to be the craft of arranging truths so that people will like you.”
– Alan Harrington
If you have any questions or comments on this topic – or any topic related to business – I’d like to hear from you. Put them in the comments box below. Start the conversation and I’ll get back to you with answers or my own comments. If I get enough on one topic, I’ll address them in a future post or podcast.
I’ll be back with you again next Monday. In the meantime, I hope you have a safe and profitable week.
Joe
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The author is the founder, in 2001, of Worldwide Business Brokers and holds a certification from the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) as a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) of which there are fewer than 1,000 in the world. He can be reached at
jo*@Wo*******************.com