Acquiring Minds

Doug Johns reflects on his balance sheet, lifestyle, and new identity as business owner after 9 quarters in the seat. 

Topics in Doug’s interview:

• His wife's involvement in the business
• Working 60 hours a week 
• His experience with ROBS structure and buyout
• Slowdown in home services industry
• Why he loves owning & operating
• When & why to raise your prices
• Moving to a small town in a metro area
• Integration of business into daily life
• Fierce competition in home services
• Great benefit of franchises: in-network peer groups

References and how to contact Doug:

• LinkedIn
• Doug John’s first appearance on Acquiring Minds: Opening Up to Franchises to Buy a Great Business

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Book your free tax strategy session for business buyers today:

• Steed - book your free session

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Register here for the webinar, The Anatomy of an LOI:

• https://bit.ly/4263xl0

It was only after Michael Young started an accounting practice that he found the much larger practice he would then buy.

• How his father’s failed business influenced him
• Being rejected by a search accelerator
• Starting an accounting firm while searching
• 18 months of dead deals before acquisition
• Role of luck in business success
• Role of his wife 
• How accounting practices are valued and priced
• Red flags to look for during diligence
• Role of PASBA in shaping accounting practices
• His advice for searchers looking at accounting practices

References and how to contact Michael:

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn
• PASBA
• Patrick Dichter

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

• The Acquisition Lab

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

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Register here for the webinar, The Anatomy of an LOI:

• https://bit.ly/3U52srP

At his job, Morgan McCauley saw a ceiling on his impact & earning potential. Buying a home care business uncapped both.

Topics in Morgan’s interview:

• His experience working in a family office
• Investing 2 months in a deal that died
• Trade-off between equity and salary in traditional search
• Geographical search in South Florida
• Challenges with healthcare regulations
• Why Robert Graham didn’t like the deal
• The decision to invest in business growth
• Learning curve in the highly regulated home care industry
• Investing in business growth vs aggressively paying down debt
• Evaluating the lifetime value of clients

References and how to contact Morgan:

• LinkedIn
• How to Buy & Double a Home Care Agency | Jérôme Bouillon Interview

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Book your free tax strategy session for business buyers today:

• Steed - book your free session

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Register here for the webinar, The Anatomy of an LOI:

• https://bit.ly/3SsxKrt

Ryan Doyle was 2 long years into searching when he walked away from a deal, but he was rewarded for the self discipline. 

Topics in Ryan’s interview:

• Lessons learned from a failed deal
• Value of a thorough quality of earnings investigation
• Why “stupid good margins” are a bad sign
• Buying a residential pool business in the Golden Isles of Georgia
• Being ghosted by his bookkeeper after transition
• His intern who stepped in after the bookkeeper disappeared
• Why Ryan’s business doesn’t do pool construction
• What he likes about seasonality
• His plan to own the Georgia coast
• His WhatsApp search support “pod”

References and how to contact Ryan:

• Twitter
• Turner Point Capital

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

Register here for the webinar, The Anatomy of an LOI:

• https://bit.ly/492E8eh

Buying a property management business (which he's doubled) helped Brandon Laughridge balloon his real estate portfolio. 

Topics in Brandon’s interview:

• Why he changed his mind about service businesses
• Modernizing and professionalizing a property management business
• Growing from 12 to 25 employees
• The pain of owning a business with no pricing power
• Setting boundaries with clients around service offerings
• Pros and cons of property management
• How SMB owners can incentivize Google reviews
• The myth of “passive income” in real estate
• Managing tenant relationships
• Who should buy a property management business (and who shouldn’t)

References and how to contact Brandon:

• My First Million podcast
• Brian Shields' recent episode on Acquiring Minds: 2.5 Years from Buying to Exiting
• Twitter
• North Terrace Property Management
• [email protected]
• Brandon’s popular Twitter thread from 2020

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

Holdco entrepreneur Sam Turner shares his vision to build the leading platform for independent M&E businesses in the UK. 

Topics in Sam’s interview:

• Importance of patience and flexible timelines
• Getting through fetal position moments
• Balancing diversification and integration
• Gurus in the business buying space
• Lessons from his first acquisition
• Change management in blue collar businesses
• Increasing holdco revenue target from £60m to £150m
• Extending his 5-year plan to 10 years
• His vision to improve the lives of 30,000 people
• Shared services among his four businesses

References and how to contact Sam:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• Empire Builder: The Road to a Billion by Adam Coffey
• Sam’s first interview with Acquiring Minds: Building an HVAC Holdco to £60m in Revenue

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

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