How to become a business broker: what the job is, which states need a licence, and what you earn

This guide is for someone who wants to make a living selling small businesses. That might be a salesperson, a real estate agent, or a former owner. It might be an accountant who keeps getting asked "do you know anyone who would buy my shop?". By the end you will know what the job really is, where a licence is needed, how brokers get paid, and what the first year looks like in dollars. Moran Pober has spent over ten years advising buyers and sellers of small and mid-sized businesses. Most of what follows is what he wishes someone had told him at the start.

What a business broker does

A business broker is the seller's agent in the sale of a small business. The work, in order:

1. Win the listing. Meet the owner, explain the process, agree a fee, sign an engagement.
2. Value and package. Recast the financials into seller's discretionary earnings (SDE), set an asking price, write the confidential information memorandum (CIM).
3. Market it quietly. A blind listing on the marketplaces and the broker's own buyer list; NDAs before anyone sees the name.
4. Screen buyers. Buyer profile, proof of funds, a reason. Most enquiries end here.
5. Negotiate. Offers, the letter of intent, the structure (cash, SBA loan, seller note, earn-out).
6. Manage diligence and closing. Chase documents, keep both attorneys moving, keep the deal alive when it wobbles.

Brokers mostly work the Main Street market: businesses selling for under about $2 million, bought by individuals who will run them. Above that, the buyers are companies and investment groups, and the work is called M&A advisory; we cover that in how to become a business advisor. Seeing the deal from the other side also helps; our guide to how to buy a business is what your buyers are reading.

Do you need a licence? Check your state

There is no federal business broker licence. The rules are set state by state, and they fall into three groups.

States that treat selling a business as real estate brokerage. In California, the Business and Professions Code defines a real estate broker to include anyone who, for others and for a fee, negotiates "the purchase, sale, or exchange of real property or a business opportunity" (Section 10131). So you need a California real estate licence. Florida's definition of "broker" in Statute 475.01 covers "the sale, exchange, purchase, or rental of business enterprises or business opportunities", with the same result.

Nevada goes one step further. A licensed real estate broker or salesperson must also hold a business broker permit. Under NRS 645.863 that needs 24 hours of business brokerage instruction and continuing education at renewal.

States with their own registration. Illinois has a Business Brokers Act. It says "every person engaging in the business of business brokering shall be registered with the Office of the Secretary of State" (815 ILCS 307/10-10). The registration is renewed each year.

States with no requirement. Most states fall here. Industry lists name about 17 states with some licence or registration rule, Arizona and Washington among them. But the lists do not agree with each other. So do not trust a blog post, including this one. Before you take a listing, ask your state's real estate commission and its securities regulator in writing.

One federal rule that does apply everywhere. If the deal is a sale of shares rather than assets, you are arranging a securities transaction. Since March 2023, Section 15(b)(13) of the Securities Exchange Act exempts an "M&A broker" from registering with the SEC as a broker-dealer. Three conditions apply. The target company has under $25 million in EBITDA or under $250 million in revenue. The buyer will control and run the business. And the broker never handles the money or provides financing. See law firm Sidley's summary of the exemption.

States can still require their own registration. Acquisitions.com is an advisory firm, not a broker-dealer, and nothing here is legal advice; talk to a securities attorney before your first stock sale.

Training and the CBI designation

Most brokers learn the trade in their first ten deals, inside a brokerage. The formal credential is the Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) from the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA). The IBBA's CBI policy sets out the path. Be an IBBA member in good standing and attend at least one IBBA conference. Complete 68 credit hours of IBBA University or M&A Source courses (52 required, 16 elective), passing each course exam at 70% or higher. Then pass the three-hour CBI exam at 70% or higher in each section. All of it must fall within the three years before you apply.

There is also a tenured route for experienced brokers: ten years of full-time deal-making or a documented record of recent closings in place of the coursework, by the same policy.

Is it worth it? A CBI does not win a listing on its own, but it is the only widely recognised mark in the field. The courses on recasting and pricing cover the part of the job most new brokers get wrong. Budget for the membership, the courses and the conference.

How business brokers are paid

Brokers are paid a success fee at closing, as a share of the sale price. The fee scales with the size of the deal:

Worked example: a business sells for $5 million under Double Lehman. The fee is $100,000 + $80,000 + $60,000 + $40,000 + $20,000 = $300,000, which Exit Promise lays out in the Lehman scale explainer. The original Lehman formula was half that (5-4-3-2-1) and is rare now on small deals.

Three things to know before you sign your first engagement. First, in most states the fee is only earned when the deal closes, so a year of work can pay nothing. Second, your engagement letter needs a tail clause, so a buyer you introduced who closes six months after the listing expires still pays you. Third, if you work inside a brokerage, the house keeps a share of every fee; ask what the split is before you join.

How to get listings

Listings are the whole business. A broker with ten good listings is busy for a year; a broker with none is unemployed. Where they come from:

• Your old industry. If you sold trucks, broker trucking companies. Owners trust someone who speaks their language, and you already know who is near retirement.
• Accountants and attorneys. They hear "I want to sell" first. Take them to lunch, send them the deals you close, and refer work back.
• Owners you call. A letter and a follow-up call to owners over 60 in one sector, in one county, every week. Slow, but it is how most independent brokers built their book.
• Past buyers. The person who bought a business through you will sell one in seven to ten years, and knows other owners.
• Marketplaces and your website. Owners search "sell my HVAC business Phoenix". A page that answers that question brings calls for years.

Pick a sector and a region rather than taking anything. A specialist knows the buyers, the multiples and the lenders, and closes more of what they list.

First-year economics

The honest numbers. In the IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse survey for Q4 2025, a Main Street business drew about two offers on average. Expect to show each listing to many buyers before one offers. Deals take months, and a share of listings never sell at all because the owner wanted too much or the books could not support the price.

A simple first-year plan:

Three closings in year one is a good year for a new broker, and the first closing often lands eight to twelve months in. Keep enough savings to live for a year, or start part-time alongside a job that lets you take calls.

Brokerage, independent, or an advisor network

The third route is newer. Acquisitions.com runs an advisor program where brokers and advisors work under the Acquisitions.com name and get deal flow, AI tools and marketing support. That solves the two problems that end most first years: no listings and no buyers. Whichever route you take, the job is the same: win listings, price them honestly, and close.