Knowing how to buy a business is a lot like knowing how to buy a rental property. First, you’ll need to know the price of the asset, then the cash flow, followed by expenses, and finally the structure. Because buying real estate is perceived as “simpler” than buying a business, most investors decide to go the real estate route—but they could be missing out. Codie Sanchez saw this opportunity when she was working in venture capital and decided to try out the business buying route herself, just on a smaller scale.

Codie can be perceived as your classic “value-add” investor, which much of the real estate investing community can relate to. She finds a business that has a strong foundation but lacks the tech or marketing to grow faster or increase its profits. When a business has a strong underlying value, just like a rental property, it’s easier than most people think to “renovate” it into something that will sell for far higher.

Codie stresses that buying businesses isn’t so different from buying real estate. She also categorizes which businesses real estate investors should buy if they’re looking to maximize their cash flow and minimize their expenses. With some help from Codie, you could be relying on much more than just rent checks soon!