If you had told me even a year ago that I would be a business broker now, I definitely would never have believed you. After all, I have had very little dealing with business brokers, and had never really thought much about how their jobs work. Buying a business is difficult, and once I had hired a business broker to help me find the perfect deal, but that was about as far as it went. I bought a business, got it running, and never saw him again. He got his cut, and I got to work. It wasn't even mind main gig to be honest, just a little side business to give me some supplemental income when I was starting out.

What I didn't realize back then was the advantages business brokers have. Not only do they make bank, but they also get to see the way the business world works as a whole by buying and selling businesses. I got an inkling of how much I would like being one the first time I sold a business. It was a restaurant that I had been managing as an investment, and I had turned it around pretty quickly. I wanted a little bit of money to invest, so I decide to get rid of it. I made a lot of very quickly – more than I would have made in profits for the next couple years. That is what got me to thinking about business brokers. People involved in brokering businesses buy and sell dozens of businesses in a given year. Doing the math, it didn't make sense not to get involved in it! The money was just too good! If you have the capital and the instincts, join the ranks of business brokers!

When you decide you should use business credit cards, think about what you would need it for. If you have to make purchases with it, you want something with a larger balance and that has a better interest rate. Those are important when you may have to make an order at the last minute, but you know you don’t have the cash to cover it. Most of the time, business credit cards mean that you don’t have to think about cash on hand at all for purchases and other expenses. That makes things easier when aspects of your business are unpredictable at best.

What is great about getting business credit cards is that they can have some of the same perks that other cards have, but they will pertain to your business many times. Much like you can get a card that earns you miles for air travel or cash back for certain things, you can find business credit cards that can do many of the same things. Many of the offers, however, may be tailored to things that will help business owners. You may not need airline miles, but perhaps you would love to have cash back.

As a business owner, you may get offers for such cards in the mail, or you may even get phone calls about the subject. You should be smart about what you choose and what you leave behind. You can always look around online for information on various business credit cards to see what each place has to offer and which ones seem to be more in line with what you need for your business. You can always change cards if something comes along that is much more appealing, or you can have more than one if the need arrives.

Shopping at the grocery provides a good snapshot of the sort of consumer buying behavior data gathered in these studies. Every grocery store has weekly sales data. Everyone loves a sale, right? These days, food is costly and consumers are looking for ways to save money. Let's say you see chicken is on sale at the ABC grocery. It's a good buy and almost every customer eats chicken at least once a week. Consumer buying behavior indicates that if he can get you into the store to buy the chicken, which he may just be breaking even on, it's likely you'll do all your shopping there. Thus the grocer can make up his loss on chicken profit with regularly priced produce.

When you do your grocery shopping, you're probably running a number of other errands as well and you don't want to make a day's work of it all. When you reach for a jar of mayonnaise, the jar right in front of you, at eye level, is the one you're most likely to put in your basket. This is a well known consumer buying habit. What you may not know is that an equal quality, but cheaper mayonnaise is sitting on the lower shelf.

Here's another example of a consumer buying habit we all demonstrate: there you are at the checkout, waiting your turn. You've got the kids with you. Since you have nothing to do but wait, your eyes fall on what's before you – magazines, little recipe booklets and candy. The kids start nagging you for a candy as you peruse that recipe booklet. Neither item was on your store list, but impulse strikes just as you're heading to the cash register. The result? A couple more items are tacked on to your burgeoning bill.

With all we have to do on shopping day, few of us will make a separate stop at the discount store for shampoo. Grocers know of this consumer buying behavior too. You'll typically pay 75 to 100% more for the shampoo at the grocery over the discount store price. You probably never even thought of it, but the consumer buying behavior studies reveal this fact to the grocer who pays for this information.

Next time you are out shopping, take a closer look at how the goods are organized and displayed. You'll probably gain a fresh perspective on how retailers market the products and sell to you, the consumer.

I have a rule. If I’m getting ready to do business with a company that I am not quite familiar with, I do my homework. Sure, some companies have just been around forever and I can say without a doubt that they have quite a reputation. But, for any company I happen to not recognize or may happen to stumble upon on the internet, I make sure that I do some research first. I take advantage of the Better Business Bureau quite a bit. In my line of business, I frequently am solicited by online businesses that want to attract my attention. I am always happy to get new vendors and suppliers but I have no interest in losing my money or getting scammed. Unfortunately, that happens entirely too often nowadays. So, a quick check with the Better Business Bureau to see if they have a report on them and my decisions are often made much easier.

Perhaps it isn’t fair, but I very rarely decide to engage in business transactions with a company that has not taken the time to register with the Better Business Bureau. Any legitimate business that wants to maintain excellent customer service and a good reputation should invest in becoming a member of the Better Business Bureau. Displaying that membership logo on your website or in your place of business lets your customers know that your business is viable and important to you. It shows that you care enough about your business to be willing to comply with ethical business standards.

I have also filed a few complaints to the Better Business Bureau in my years as well. Not all of the complaints that I’ve filed have been businesses that have interacted with my own business. I’ve filed complaints against a travel agency who ended up doing so much damage to an expensive vacation that my entire vacation was a nightmare. They refused to admit that they’d made a mistake and offered no refund. Through the Better Business Bureau, I received half of my money back and an apology. Without the Better Business Bureau stepping in and acting on my behalf, I would have been out quite a bit of my money.

The Better Business Bureau is a great place to turn when you have tried to reason with a company and haven’t had any success. Once you feel that you simply cannot make a difference, I would highly recommend turning to the Better Business Bureau. It still might not result in anything positive for you, but at least you can say that you tried. Often times, when a business knows that they’ve been reported or will be reported, their tone may change. They may suddenly want to somehow appease the situation. Getting a little bit of assistance in resolving disputes that have escalated can make all the difference in the world.