How to Get Started in Business Brokering
Business brokering is a high-income, low-competition career most people never consider. Here is what the work involves, what you can earn per deal, and how to get started the right way.
The deals are larger than residential real estate and the field is far less crowded.
Words by
Matan Michael
Business brokering is one of the most overlooked high-income careers in the deal world. You help owners sell the businesses they spent years building, and you get paid a percentage of the sale. The deals are larger than residential real estate and the field is far less crowded. Here is what the work involves, what you can earn, and how to get started without spending years figuring it out on your own.
What a Business Broker Actually Does
A business broker guides an owner through the sale of their company from start to finish. You value the business, package it for sale, find qualified buyers, manage negotiations, and carry the deal through due diligence to close. Most of your clients have never sold a business before. They are handing over their life's work, and they need someone who knows the process and protects their interests. The job is part advisor, part dealmaker, part project manager. You are not just listing a business and waiting. You are running the entire transaction.
What You Can Earn
Business brokers are paid on commission, taken as a percentage of the final sale price. On main street and lower middle market deals, commissions typically run around 10 percent. On a business that sells for one million dollars, that is roughly 100 thousand dollars in gross commission on a single transaction. Close a handful of deals a year and the math moves quickly in your favor. Unlike residential real estate, where agents grind through dozens of small transactions, business deals are larger and the relationships run deeper. The ceiling is high for brokers who can consistently source and close.
How to Get Started
First, you need a license. Business sales are brokered under a real estate license, so an active license is the entry requirement. Second, and this is where most new brokers fail, you need deal flow and a system. Finding qualified sellers, valuing businesses correctly, and managing a transaction are skills that take years to build alone. The brokers who succeed early are the ones who join an established team. At BAA, we bring you qualified seller leads, a proven brokering system, and direct mentorship from advisors who have closed real deals. You focus on learning the craft and closing. We handle the infrastructure. That is the difference between struggling for your first deal and building real momentum from the start.
