Overall, there is less risk in purchasing a going business than in starting one, even if there are major areas which need improvement. Or the seller can indemnify the buyer. There are several ways to do this. The idea that there are operational liabilities that can't be easily changed is usually just wrong. Small businesses are usually quite flexible and changeable.
Employees usually welcome enlightened change.
Our experience is that you pay for it one way or the other. Either you pay the seller for goodwill or you have to put lots of extra money into working capital to develop goodwill yourself. There's no free lunch. A franchise that only sells you a plan, a pile of equipment, a one-week seminar and a lifelong obligation to pay royalties and to buy supplies from them is a ripoff. The failure rate of these businesses approaches 100 percent in all the cases we know.