# small business profitability **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711 "2003-05-27T04:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![badchad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@badchad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badchad)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/1 "2003-05-27T04:46:22Z")
Anyone know of any websites or resources that make estimates of profitability, cash flows, bankruptcy, or other data by various types of small or private businesses. Perhaps since the businesses are private, there isn’t but I thought I would check. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/2 "2003-05-27T05:43:36Z")
There is such infro available. If you are serious go ask your banker. He will be impressed that you are doing this type of investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/3 "2003-05-27T05:58:22Z")
You need to flesh out your inquiry a bit - there are many small businesses of many sorts - do you mean a shrimp boat, a taxicab, an IT consultant? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/4 "2003-05-27T12:25:59Z")
The IRS would have excellent numbers on this sort of modeling and in fact they make a study of it, but they ain’t talking. Per Kniz a small commercial banker should also have some this info on a more general level and possibly an experienced accountant who does a lot of small business accounting. In real terms “estimates of profitability” for categories of businesses are so WAG and speculative for individual cases that they are largely worthless as success predictors. Mismanagement of the details can doom any business. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/5 "2003-05-27T15:19:47Z")
The [Small Business Administration](http://www.sba.gov/) is definitely the place to start your research. ---
**Author:** ![badchad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@badchad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badchad)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/6 "2003-05-28T02:34:36Z")
Ringo: _You need to flesh out your inquiry a bit - there are many small businesses of many sorts - do you mean a shrimp boat, a taxicab, an IT consultant?_ Thanks for the reply. Probably not an IT consultant but maybe a shrimp boat.🙂 What I’m looking for is a way to get data on a variety of small businesses. For example I have been brousing [http://www.bizbuysell.com/](http://www.bizbuysell.com/) and have looked at everything from junk yards to bars. So when I see a business for sale I wonder if it is historically pretty profitable on average or if the owners generally just squeek by. When looking at a particular companies numbers I would like to know if it is an outlier either good or bad with regards to it’s peers. The banks sound like a good idea but I’d rather have a quicker preliminary resouce so I don’t have to make an appointment for every hair brained idea I find. Thanks **peepthis** for the SBA link. I didn’t see what I was looking for but they do have a questions link so I’ll see if they know of a resource. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/7 "2003-05-28T03:07:03Z")
Besides the point **astro** made about management of an individual business, a particular type of business’ place in history should be considered. If you were to examine the seismic data brokerage business, you’d see that it got started in the 1960s, and many such firms sprang up over the next decade. With relatively low start-up costs, many people were able to make some big bucks in the late 1970s and 1980s. Many tried to hang on as long as they could through the 1990s, and now there are pretty much just three companies that own the market and I don’t think you could start a new, successful data brokerage firm. I’ve never studied’em, but I’ve known a couple of shrimpers. I’d stay away from the shrimp boat. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/8 "2003-05-28T03:33:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ringo \* > \*\*I’ve never studied’em, but I’ve known a couple of shrimpers. I’d stay away from the shrimp boat. 😉 \*\* > [@](#): > > Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There, uh, shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole… shrimp gumbo, panfried, deep fried, stir fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp… shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich… that’s, that’s about it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-business-profitability/177711/9 "2003-05-28T04:03:28Z")
You can get information on private companies at Dun and Bradstreet. ([www.dnb.com](http://www.dnb.com)). Although private companies do not have to publish financial results, in practice they release figures to D&B as many suppliers and customers will check the D&B credit ratings before agreeing to contracts with the company. However, you will have to pay to use D&B.