How Much Do Business Brokers Make? (Commission, Fees & First-Year Income)

Short answer: Business brokers are normally paid a success fee when a company is sold. On smaller “main street” deals (roughly $100k–$500k total sale price), that fee can land in the tens of thousands of dollars from a single closing. An established solo broker who closes a few of these per year can reach six figures. Most first-year brokers, however, make $0 for months because they never get one properly priced, real, sellable listing under contract. This page explains why.

1. What Does a Business Broker Actually Get Paid For?

Where the money comes from

A business broker is paid for getting a sale completed between an owner who wants to exit and a buyer who wants to acquire. The broker’s fee is usually a success-based commission paid out at closing, mostly from the seller’s side. You don’t get a normal salary for effort. You get paid for completion.

The job is not just “finding a buyer”

You are not just an introducer. You manage valuation story, confidentiality, buyer qualification, negotiation, documents flow, and emotional stability until the money moves. That is why one successful deal can justify a $20k–$60k+ cheque to you personally.

Typical deal sizes a new broker can realistically close

Nobody starts with a $5M industrial exit. First wins are usually “main street / micro-local” businesses such as:

• Clinics, dental, aesthetic / medspa practices
• Gyms and boutique fitness studios
• eCommerce brands with stable cashflow
• Service companies (repair, logistics, cleaning, niche B2B)

Sale prices: roughly $100k–$500k+. This range is where most first cheques come from.

2. How Business Broker Commission Works (and Typical %)

Standard success fee (percentage of sale price)

On smaller deals, brokers often charge a success fee in the ~8%–12% range of the final sale price. On bigger deals (high six or seven figures), the % often steps down, but the absolute dollar number is higher because the base price is higher.

Example: You sell a $300k business. You’re on 10%. You collect ~$30k when it closes. One deal. One cheque. This is why people with strong networks take this career seriously.

Minimum fee / floor fee

Many brokers set a floor: “Minimum fee $15,000 even if % would be less.” It stops you wasting 4–6 months on a distressed $80k sale and walking with $3k. A floor turns a weak deal into meaningful pay.

Retainers and upfront fees

Some brokers take an upfront retainer (a few thousand). That filters time-wasters and covers prep work: basic valuation, packaging, buyer brief, outreach. This shows the seller is serious, not just “curious what I’m worth”.

Important: if you bill retainers, you must actually deliver advisory work. You are already acting as a professional adviser. That matters legally and reputationally.

Tiered / laddered fees on larger deals

As deal size grows ($1M+), some brokers use tiered / laddered fees (a version of “Double Lehman” logic used in lower mid-market M&A). Plain English: higher % on the first chunk, stepped-down % on higher layers. Seller feels it’s fair; you still get rewarded for pushing price. You usually get to this level once you’ve closed smaller exits cleanly.

3. How Much a Broker Makes Per Deal

Micro-local deals ($100k–$500k sale price)

This is where most new brokers close first money. Seller profile: tired, wants out quietly, doesn’t want staff or family to panic. You handle discretion and positioning.

On a $250k–$400k deal at ~10%, that’s $25k–$40k+ to you if it actually closes. For many professionals, that’s more than a month’s salary. For some, it’s more than a quarter’s salary. That’s why this path exists.

Main street / lower mid-market ($500k–$2M sale price)

These businesses are usually more stable: cleaner books, recurring revenue, better systems. The fee % may drop into high single digits. But because the base is $1M+, the cheque can be bigger.

A $1M sale at 8% = ~$80k brokerage fee. If you’re solo or on a strong split, a large share lands with you. This is how full-time brokers hit six figures without building a 20-person staff.

$2M+ mid-market deals

$2M+ deals start looking like structured M&A. The % steps down, but your personal cut can hit six figures on one transaction. Most first-year brokers are not here yet. You normally get here once you’ve proven you can manage a $300k–$1M exit without drama.

4. Annual Income: Year 1 vs Established vs Top Performers

There is no fixed “salary”. Income is lumpy. You get $0 for “trying”. You get paid for deals that close, and only those.

Year 1 (no track record yet)

Expect $0 in the first few months. Not because the model is fake. It’s because most beginners never lock one serious, sanely priced mandate with a signed engagement letter. They talk to owners, but never secure representation. No signed mandate = no legal fee protection.

The realistic Year 1 win: lock 1–2 believable mandates in the $100k–$500k range, package them properly, close at least one. That can still mean $20k–$40k+ in actual cash from one decent closing. Most normal jobs do not give you a single-event $20k–$40k payout.

Established solo broker

Once you can source motivated sellers, reject impossible junk, and keep buyers serious, you are not chasing “50 deals a year”. You aim for a small number of quality closings.

If you close 3–6 decent main street deals in a year, each producing maybe $15k–$60k+ to you, you understand how a broker can cross six figures annual without an office lease, without heavy payroll, without 80-hour corporate weeks.

Top performers with strong network / repeat deal flow

High earners aren’t always the loudest. They sit at the centre of deal flow. Patterns:

• They’re known in one niche (clinics, logistics, HVAC, industrial services), so owners come to them first instead of going public.
• They keep a private buyer list and can quietly place a business fast.
• Accountants, lawyers, wealth managers, and retiring founders feed them new mandates.

At that stage, annual take-home can beat senior corporate salaries. But that position is built. It’s not “Day 1 money”.

5. How Many Deals Per Year Is Normal?

Most solo / boutique brokers are not closing 30–40 deals a year. This is not rental churn. You are selling entire companies, not apartments.

For a competent broker with focus, 3–6 closed deals a year is already strong. You do not need 100 closings to have a high-income year. You just need a few closings that actually cross the finish line.

6. How Fast You Actually Get Paid

Real timeline from “Hi” to “money cleared”

A normal local sale for a decent $100k–$500k business looks like this:

• Weeks 0–2: You identify an owner who is already tired and open to exit (burnout, retirement, health, divorce, relocation).
• Weeks 2–4: You build the valuation story, prepare a quiet brief, and sign an engagement letter. If you do not sign a mandate with a defined success fee, you are gambling your time for free.
• Month 2–3: You speak to qualified buyers, filter tyre-kickers, keep seller calm.
• Month 3–4+: Buyer due diligence, terms, transition, closing.

Money usually lands after a few months, not in Week 1. Many beginners quit at Week 5 (“no money yet, must be scam”). They walk away from a $20k–$40k cheque that was 60% done.

Why most beginners never collect a commission

• No signed mandate: They “act like a broker” but never formalise representation, so they cannot enforce a fee.
• Fantasy pricing: They accept the owner’s fantasy number instead of a sane valuation. Fantasy does not close. No close = $0.
• No buyer pool: They start looking for buyers after listing. Too late. Real brokers build a buyer shortlist early.

7. Can You Broker Part-Time?

Who succeeds part-time

Part-time works if you already sit in deal flow. Examples:

• You’re a commercial / luxury property agent and owners already whisper, “Do you know anyone who’d buy my business?”
• You’re in private banking / wealth management and you hear succession talk early.
• You’re an ex-founder who still knows buyers in one niche.

In those cases you can handle one mandate at a time and still land serious money for what looks like “side work”.

Who fails part-time

• You have zero direct access to real owners. You just “like the idea”.
• You hate talking about money and exit with owners.
• You think it’s passive income. It’s not. It’s high-trust advisory work around someone’s life exit.

If that’s you, treat this like a real advisory function or don’t do it. It is not a passive-income play.

8. Why Most New Brokers Earn Nothing

No qualified pipeline of sellers

Rookies chase “sexy startups”. Real money usually sits in boring, cashflow-stable companies owned by someone tired and ready to exit. Motivation closes. Ego doesn’t.

Wrong type of listings

If the business is already collapsing, your only “buyer” is a vulture. That’s a nightmare first deal. You bleed months and get nothing.

Weak valuation story

If you cannot explain calmly why the business is worth the asking number, buyers walk, seller panics, deal dies. No deal = no cheque.

9. How To Shorten the Path to Your First $20k–$40k Cheque

Target owners who are already emotionally done

Your best first seller is usually 50–65, burnt out, and done with staff drama, compliance, and 05:30 starts. Not the 25-year-old eCom kid screaming for “20x”. Motivation, not hype, is what closes.

Lead with valuation clarity, not ego pitch

You open the door with: “Here’s what a serious buyer would realistically pay and why.” That earns trust without lying on price. That gets a signed mandate. That protects your fee.

Build a micro buyer list early

If you already have 3–5 serious potential buyers in one niche, you become valuable overnight. Sellers care less about your logo and more about “Can you quietly place me with someone legitimate?”

10. Is Business Brokering Still Worth It Long-Term?

High margin, low fixed cost

Your overhead is low (time, phone, packaging docs, simple outreach). Upside per deal is high. You are not managing a 50-person payroll. This is why experienced operators like this path: high dollar-per-hour leverage without building another huge organisation.

Scaling beyond single deals

• Exit prep retainers: “Help me get sale-ready over the next 6–12 months.” Recurring cash.
• Buy-side representation: You get paid by buyers to find targets for them to acquire.
• Industry niche ownership: Become “the” broker in one vertical so mandates come inbound.
• Licensing / training / franchise: Once your process is repeatable, you train others under your method. That is how you turn yourself from “a broker” into infrastructure.