5 business acquisitions in 15 months

In this episode, Jonathan Jay talks with Andrew Norton, who has successfully bought five businesses in the last 15 months. Andrew shares his experiences and the strategies he used to make the five acquisitions, and talks about why he prefers large deals to small ones. He also explains the advantages of buying a business rather than starting one from scratch, as well as the challenges of financing a business that doesn't have fixed physical assets. And he offers valuable advice for anyone considering making their first acquisition.

Key Highlights

[03:37] A brief background of how Andrew met Jonathan

[08:07] How Andrew's training program aimed at benefiting employees ended up benefiting third parties

[10:37] Selling a business at a low point in its growth

[12:32] How the Covid-19 pandemic gave Andrew time to readjust

[13:14] What triggered Andrew to acquire a business rather than a startup

[14:29] Reasons one should buy a business instead of starting one

[15:45] Sequence of events that led to him joining the Fasttrack Program

[16:11] Feeling before joining the Fasttrack Program

[19:31] Andrew’s first acquisition

[22:39] Financing a business that does not have fixed physical assets

[28:35] Worries that new dealmakers have in their first acquisition

[30:42] Andrew’s plan for the coming years

[32:49] Advice to those who have not yet made their first acquisition

[34:56] Advantages of joining the Fasttrack Program

Notable Quotes

• I thought it was really fun. I like that. And I could see some benefits and really grow quickly. Obviously, I was hungry to achieve.
• It's so much better when you've got skilled people in their roles from the outset.
• So our first acquisition was our smallest and funnily enough, and it's not intentionally this way; every acquisition we've made has got bigger each time.
• We were probably too worried at the start that there were certain things that we really wanted to clarify early.
• I think it's all about action, isn't it? And the rest of the journey is about action as well. So yeah, the first bit of action. It gave me confidence.

Resources

If you are looking for a lawyer in the UK to help you get the deal over the line, then use my guy, John Andrews. You can phone his office at (0345) 2412494 or email him at [email protected].

If you would like to take the next step to learn the best ways of buying a business, without risking your own cash, you can access my free training at: https://www.dealmakersvideo.co.uk

Watch my Webinar Training Video: https://www.dealmakerspodcast.co.uk

You can also request a free copy of my book at: https://www.thedealmakersacademy.com/free-book-giveaway/

If you want to jump straight to my live Zoom FastTrack course, please go to: https://www.thedealmakersacademy.com/fast 

Connect with Jonathan Jay at: Website: https://www.thedealmakersacademy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-jay-3556b230/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDealmakersAcademy