So, as someone that has been in a similar situation in the past - you need to get brutally honest about your options.

Looking at your post history, the business was $500k in debt less than six months ago, two months ago you were talking about a second personal property.

You have a few options.

1. get an investor, it doesn’t sound like someone is going to buy the business for $800k. It’s losing $ and only has revenue of $1.1m. Purchase price is likely to be less then $500k. An investor may be willing to put ~$250k+ in for control and give you some breathing room.

2. file bankruptcy, might see if you qualify for sub chapter 5. If you do file - there is a chance that some of the creditors don’t pursue you. It’s unlikely, but possible.

3. call the creditors and negotiate. This doesn’t always work - but I’ve had to do it in the past.

It sounds like the most likely scenario is bankruptcy, unless you have the cash flow to continue or the assets to sell.

Don’t take on more debt and find a good business bankruptcy attorney, at least get their opinion.

Any bank is going to want you to sign a personal guarantee, in addition to that - most suppliers who give you credit will as well.

The LLC will only protect you from debts that don’t have a personal guarantee.

If you don’t have the assets to satisfy a personal guarantee, the bank probably won’t do the loan - even an SBA loan.

I’d suggest looking for an investor if you have a solid concept. Other than that - there’s not really a way to start a business and not have financial risk.

If $50 is 20% of your daily sales, why do you have an employee at all?

No you can’t deduct that from their wages, unless you want to have bigger problems with the state.

Focus on getting your revenue up and not the $50.

It’s not unusual, but I would personally view it as a red flag if the owner truly is remote and hands off.

I’ve been on both sides of smb acquisition and the employees aren’t stupid. Once a deal is in the final stages (funding proven, other due diligence completed, including discussions with vendors) I loop the key team members in, including what their bonus opportunities are.

There’s a good chance that you lose them the first day or shortly after if you haven’t met them before hand. If your proceed, you need to be ok with this.

With their age, it sounds like retirement could be in the near future regardless

Checkout ‘acquisitions anonymous’ podcast episode 192.

One of the guys owned a small chain of drive through coffee shops and he breaks down the economics very well as well as why he sold it.