I am always railing on and on about why people should buy businesses worth at least a million dollars or more. That are big, with lots of cash flow and with a management team already in place who know what they are doing -- so you can just sort of step in and let things go "as is" and not have to think about it.

However, besides all the financial reasons, there is another -- very powerful -- reason to only go after large businesses like this. A reason almost nobody ever talks about and yet, is probably a more important reason than any other.

And that reason is, quite simply, people who own large businesses, that have good numbers, and that can prove their business is what it is, are almost always straight-shooters and not crooks.

It's true. I have been doing this for over 50 years and I can tell you right now, the chance of you running into a person that has a business making a million a year that doesnt have a good word or isnt a good personis almost zero percent. There may be exceptions to this, but I have never, in all these years, run into one that wasn't a man of his word and didn't genuinely want the deal to go down fairly, squarely and exactly as we agreed to.

Does this mean they are all going to be your best friend?

No. In fact, I have run into one that I havent gotten along with. But at this level, where there's a lot of money at stake, theyre basically all nice people. Theyre easy to get along with. And keep in mind, one of the main reasons they are so nice and friendly is because they know you have cash. When you pay cash (using investor financing) you do all the talking. You're the one who is really in control, and they know it.