• Before you look at a single listing, answer four questions about yourself.
• How much cash do you really have to work with, and how much time?
• What kind of searcher are you, and what do you bring that other buyers do not?
• And where will you aim: an industry, a size, or a place? Answer these and your buy box almost writes itself.

• Your liquid cash sets the size of business you can buy. Not your income, not your net worth on paper. Cash you can wire.
• With an SBA 7(a) loan, plan on about 10% of the price as your down payment.
• But the down payment is not the whole number. You also need working capital, closing costs, and, if you are searching full-time, money to live on while you look.
• As a rule of thumb, a $1M business takes roughly $100K down plus another $40K to $60K around it. Under about $50K of liquid cash, most SBA lenders will want to talk before they quote.
• Aiming at a larger deal? Investors and conventional loans are options too. Unit 6 covers how each one works.

Rules of thumb at September 2026 SBA 7(a) terms (10% equity injection, $5M program cap). Ranges assume roughly a third of your cash is held back for working capital and closing costs. Every lender underwrites differently: confirm your own numbers with one.

• Full-time or part-time is a real trade, and neither one is wrong.
• People who dive in headfirst can buy a business in a few months. That is especially true if they have a well-defined buy box and have done the work to build their profile and get ready.
• But most people should not plan on that. Plan to settle in for the long haul. People are surprised by how much work it takes to find a great business.
• Part-time keeps your paycheck and takes the pressure off. The cost is speed: brokers move fast, and answering them the same day is harder around a job.
• If you go full-time, plan for a lot of runway. Decide the number before you start, not when you are six months in.

• There are three ways to aim a search: by industry, by size, or by geography. Together they define your buy box.
• Be picky about two of the three, not all three. Size is already settled by the cash you just worked out. So the open choice is industry or geography: hold firm on one, stay flexible on the other.
• Hold firm on geography and your family stays put. You also build real relationships with the brokers near you. The cost is deal flow: you only see what comes up locally.
• Hold firm on industry and deal flow opens up. Your own experience starts to count for something. The cost is that the right business may be three states away, so decide now whether you would move for it.
• Below is what each choice looks like in real listings. Try your own state and industry.