So you want to buy a business... (Maybe.)
Somehow the idea of buying a business was sparked in you.
Maybe you got laid off recently. Maybe you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur but need immediate cash flow to fund your lifestyle. Maybe you’re just done with the corporate grind and want to take control of your life, schedule, and wealth. You’re here to explore buying a business, and I’m here to help.
1. Why this, why now
When I lost my corporate job, I was terrified. The cushy corporate stability I had always chased was gone. But, I knew I was also done with the corporate grind. So armed with a Wharton MBA and a knack for ‘figuring it out’, I muddled my way through my first business acquisition.
It took me 18 months, every dime I had, lots of flailing, countless wasted hours, unthinkable stress, and no structure. I finally bought my first business and grew it, and learned a lot of lessons along the way.
When I went through the process of buying a business, I was inundated with influencers selling a dream of buying a business with no money down and promising totally passive income.
Friends, I am here to tell you first hand. That is not real.
While there was lots of scammy influencer promises of how to do it, there was very little practical guidance and toolkits. As I went through my process of buying a business, I built my own toolkit and structure that I actually used to complete a real deal. Now that I’ve done that and been my own guinea pig, I’m sharing it with you.
2. What you’ll get
If I rewind to when I started my business acquisition journey, I remember having to start everything from scratch? What was I looking for exactly? What was my budget? What kind of business did I want? How would I source a business? What questions should I ask the seller? How should I find the hidden gotchas in the financial statements? How do I grow this business? How do I evaluate a huge purchase while under a strict NDA? What do I do when I am under contract? How do I plan for day one? Day 30? Day 100?
Yeah. All of that. When I had none of the answers to those questions, I did what all good ex-consultants do: I built frameworks. I wanted to share the tools that I wish I had had when I was buying my first business.
3. Who you will connect with
While toolkits are great, the thing I found the hardest about buying a business was the absolute loneliness. There’s far less structure than buying, say, a house. It is the Wild West. You rarely have a broker working for you, but the seller almost always does.
I want this Substack to be more than a toolkit. I want it to be the community I wish I had when I went through the process. Since completing my acquisition, I have been happy to share my experience and knowledge with many others who are exploring that path as well. I am happy to be able to share it with even more people and hopefully save you the endless hours and chaos I felt when I was going through the process.
4. Want in?
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