Luis Aguilar found a $1.5m SDE commercial laundry business on BizBuySell, then a second acquisition followed quickly. 

Topics in Luis’s interview:

• Geographical search in Florida
• Working with SIG (Search Investment Group) to raise capital
• Pitching investors and overcoming rejection
• Negotiating a dead deal back to life
• Acquiring a linen rental business
• Second order effects of raising employee wages
• Learning all the jobs in the business
• Mental weight of being the chief decision maker
• Doing a second big acquisition in the first year
• Increasing profit in both businesses

References and how to contact Luis:

• LinkedIn

Book your free tax strategy session for business buyers today:

• Steed - book your free session

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Watch the recording of our webinar on Financial Modeling a Self-Funded SBA Acquisition:

• https://acquiringminds.co/webinars/how-to-model-a-self-funded-sba-acquisition

The cemetery services biz Philip Blackett bought in 2019 was finally squeezed to insolvency & shuttered 2 months ago.

Topics in Philip's interview:

• Searching locally due to having twins
• Buying a cemetery management business
• The downside of flat monthly billing
• Increasing expenses straining his bottom line
• Covid deaths affecting his customers
• Working a second job for a year
• Unforeseen weather challenges
• Taking high-interest loans to keep the business going
• Importance of a support system
• His decision to close the business

References and how to contact Philip:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Business Wealth Without Risk

Book your free tax strategy session for business buyers today:

• Steed - book your free session

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Watch the recording of our webinar on Financial Modeling a Self-Funded SBA Acquisition:

• https://acquiringminds.co/webinars/how-to-model-a-self-funded-sba-acquisition

In a world of tight labor supply, Tyrel Sulzer & Bob Boniface saw the benefits of buying a school that trains truckers.

Topics in Tyrel and Bob’s interview:

• Choosing to do a partnered search
• Why they chose a traditional search fund
• Interviewing prospective investors
• Potential in blue collar businesses
• The future of trade schools
• Buying a CDL school
• The demand for CDL training
• Job opportunities for graduates of their CDL school
• High turnover in long-haul trucking
• Competition in the CDL training industry

References and how to contact Tyrel and Bob:

• TransTech
• Bob Boniface LinkedIn
• Tyrel Sulzer LinkedIn

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

When he bought an HVAC business in east Tennessee, John Mahony moved in next door & became a member of the community.

Topics in John’s interview:

• Moving from Nashville to rural Appalachia
• His vision to build a holding company
• Buying an HVAC business in a small town
• Transferring skills he learned in the Marines
• Hiring veterans for their leadership capabilities
• Learning about HVAC through ride-alongs
• Changes he made after transition
• Revenue growth and increasing headcount
• Cyclicality of HVAC revenue
• Preserving traditions from the previous owners

References and how to contact John:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Pat Lazure explains why Flavor-Crisp, a food product business that uses co-packers, was such a great business to buy. 

Topics in Pat’s interview:

• Doing a “spouse-funded” search
• Starting a shear-sharpening business while searching
• Growth, churn, & margins in his shear-sharpening business
• Why he wanted to buy  a breading and batter mix company so badly
• Similarities between food businesses & dropshipping businesses
• The role of co-packers in the food industry
• Challenges & risks in his food business
• Psychology of having an SBA loan
• Reflections on owning 2 small businesses
• The value of BizBuySell’s Insight Report

References and how to contact Pat:

• LinkedIn
• Rock Paper Shears
• Flavor-Crisp

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Sam Turner is 3 acquisitions into a 5-year plan to buy HVAC businesses across the UK that together cash flow £6m/yr. (Rebroadcast from August 2022.) 

Topics in Sam's interview:

• How the businesses he buys are run and by whom
• Buying without the benefit of an SBA loan
• Why HVAC?
• Why buying small business is more appealing than real estate
• Harbour Club with Jeremy Harbour
• The value in acquiring businesses in a highly-fragmented industry
• Deal structure for his first acquisition
• Sam's goal for revenue/EBITDA/multiple and his own wealth
• Buying small vs. buying big
• Buying an HVAC with mostly new construction vs. maintenance revenue
• White collar people buying blue collar businesses

Reach Sam at:

• sam DOT turner AT advantos DOT com
• LinkedIn

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

How Doug Johns overcame his reservations about being a franchisee to acquire a dream business with $1.8m EBITDA. (Rebroadcast from September 2022.) 

Topics in Doug's interview:

• Buying a franchise vs. independent business
• Opening your mind to a franchise
• The many (overlooked) benefits to being a franchisee
• Calling yourself "independent investor" instead of "searcher"
• Running a search like a B2B sales process
• The appeal of a deal with few addbacks
• Why home service businesses are so appealing as acquisitions
• Loving, rather than running from, managing people
• Why the top home service businesses have more sophisticated funnels than the Fortune 500
• ServiceTitan
• Where the opportunity is when the business you buy is already well-run and mature
• Owning a plumbing company without knowing anything about plumbing
• The numbers of Doug's deal
• The exact multiple is way less important than you think
• Using ROBS to buy the business
• Why high growth can make a business harder to finance
• Understanding debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) thresholds
• Doug's tip for choosing an SBA lender
• The $500k value of Doug's appeal to the seller
• Going to meet a seller face to face

Reach Doug at:

• doug DOT johns AT couffley DOT com
• LinkedIn

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Jack McCarthy has acquired 27 pistachio & almond farms from retiring owners, with a plan to build & hold for decades. 

Topics in Jack’s interview:

• Jack’s fascination with overlooked businesses
• Gold Leaf’s unique business model
• Appeal of farmland as a safe and attractive asset
• How farms are valued
• How specialty crops compare to row crops
• What makes a farm high quality
• Using technology to farm efficiently
• Incentivizing farm managers
• Converting conventional farms to organic
• Long-term nature of agriculture

References and how to contact Jack:

• Linkedin
• [email protected]
• Gold Leaf

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Ben Jasper made a change at age 40, acquiring a plastic bag manufacturer with 10 people & a daily start time of 4:30am. 

Topics in Ben’s interview:

• Managing a portfolio of $500 million on Wall Street
• Leaving finance to prioritize family
• Buying a plastic bag manufacturer
• Starting his work day at 3:30 AM
• His intense 2-month initiation
• Creating a manual and financial model to manage the business
• Challenges of maintaining old machinery
• Understanding his employees' personal values
• Long-term vision to hire an operator
• Negative revenue growth in the manufacturing industry

References and how to contact Ben:

• LinkedIn
• Benjamin Ross Group

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Eddy Zakes has 2x'd revenue and 4x'd headcount at the snow removal brokerage he bought with a traditional search fund. 

Notes from the conversation with Eddy:

• His highly-personal outreach approach
• Earth Development’s unusual business model
• Negotiating with an anxious seller
• Acquiring during Covid
• How being close to a target business changes rapport building
• Buying a highly seasonal business
• Operating across multiple states
• Convincing a key employee to stay
• Risk of customers taking relationships off the platform
• Quadrupling staff to add management and redundancy

References and how to contact Eddy:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Earth Development Inc.

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter