I think that was a long way about saying something that was already said. Hypothetically, if the company is already successful, and of a sufficient size to have enough experienced people under the new boss, and the new boss listens to his experts, it can work. (In those cases, the boss is only there to sign the checks.) That's just very unlikely. In the vast majority of cases, if one is buying a shop, it's a small shop with a retiring owner / lead machinist, or one that's beginning to fail due to some internal problem (bad managers, not enough talent, not enough investment in new capital equipment, etc.) Few big, successful shops go up for sale. To hope to take a company that's on the market because it's going south, and turn it around into something successful, is, while not impossible, extremely difficult.
I agree with what you are saying, except (IMO) two distinct points:
"
. . of sufficient size to have enough experienced people under the new Boss, and the new Boss listens to his experts, it can work. (In those cases, the boss is only there to sign the checks.)"
It has been my experience that a Boss leading a successful machine shop, and who recognizes the wisdom of "listening to his experts", isn't just a pen signing payroll clerk.
It has always been my experience that lousy, or even destructive "Bosses" where authority driven tyrants looking out for themselves first, and/or the people in the clique they developed, who played people off against each other, and who flipped on a "professional face with lots of "plausible" eplanations" to their Boss (if they had one) when problems occurred.
"
To hope to take a company that's on the market because it's going south, and turn it around into something successful, is, while not impossible, extremely difficult."
Yes, and nothing in my post suggested otherwise.
What I was reacting to was a different take on advice in this forum to someone asking a question, and I don't agree with advice that says "You aren't the guy for that kind of job, don't bother until you get decades worth of machining experience under your belt." (paraphrased)
Without knowing someone personally and having a first hand read on THEIR personality and capabilities this is highly suspect advice in my opinion. It assigns to the listener all the limitations of the advisor, when that may not be the case. I think the fairer, more objective approach is to call out the challenges, call out the risks based on your experience, push those up front for consideration instead of flat out telling someone "You shouldn't try, you shouldn't do it, because you aren't the person for the job".
Real Life Example:
I've worked in places where there were some super machinists. They knew exactly what to do at a machining position, knew how to setup their position for a job, participated in estimating for quotes for their portions of job production, and had 20 to 30+ years experience doing so. Cornerstones of production, valued employees, experienced.
And what some of those people had absolutely no awareness of was the fact that while they earned their stripes by being good at what they did, that all occurred in a provisioned environment. The Owner/Boss bought or built the building, did the footwork, did the planning and investment, identified the customers, did the contacts for work. Identified what kinds of machining positions were needed, and did everything they could to keep employees provisioned with what they needed to be successful, instead of ignoring them, etc.
Good bosses - Leaders - the successful ones, don't have to be down on the floor competing with lead machinists. A good Boss will in fact be listening to his/her key people who demonstrate good judgment.
To the OP: If you have the drive and the passion to be an entrepreneur, you should explore that. Non-entrepreneurs rarely grasp what it means to take some risks, and snow plow your way to a successful business. Not because they are less intelligent than you, but because they are experts in what they do: Heads down, focused work (tasks) that have to be done correctly.
Just go into it with your head up, and compile a list of the Risks and Challenges and Difficulties, many of which have been mentioned in this thread, and think those through.
Because GOOD Bosses and Leaders are exceedingly rare, and we need as many of those as we can get. And if you happen to be one of those, you are needed. The trick is, how do you figure out if you are one of those or not? Like anything else that comes from trying.
Sorry for the TLDR, but I'm big on how Leadership is a critical function thing for any business, manufacturing included. Mostly because, like some of you I'm sure, I've had the misfortune to be under the thumb of people who ruined the workplace for everyone around them, and they had the authority and position to do so unchecked. And they were experienced machinists.