Inspired Or Acquired

Baird Kleinsmith loves to say he bought a few 'crappy little self storage' businesses. The reality is within 3 short years he took massive action and calculated risk to build up a self storage portfolio worth over $28M. He's also started HireLATAM, an offshore staff business that's growing steadily. We discuss if he'd want to sell, what he wants to do next, and trying not to get bored at this stage. 

Baird Kleinsmith on X: https://twitter.com/SultanofStorage
Hire LATAM: https://hirelatam.com/
Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Jeff Toren owns two franchise concepts in Philadelphia - 7 KitchenTuneUp locations and 2 iLoveKickBoxing locations. He's been the #1 franchisee for sales in KitchenTuneUp prior years and in the top performers for iLoveKickBoxing. But the last 2-3 years have been really hard going through massive growth, then not being profitable, and currently back to stable profits. Jeff admits he's debated selling with his wife and we discuss where he wants to be financially before he sells.

Jeff Toren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftoren/
Kitchen Tune Up PA website: https://www.kitchentuneup.com/main-line-pa/

Alex Forbes has built Lane17 Custom Cabinetry to +$1.5M revenue. They have great sales momentum and are really hitting their stride in ops to be able to keep scaling, but the business today might not be worth enough to temp Alex to sell. We discuss what size he might want to grow to, how hard this industry is vs other businesses, and the possibility of different ventures in the next few years.

Lane17 Cabinet Co website: https://lane17.com/ 
Alex Forbes on X: https://twitter.com/alexforbes__
Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Craig Hausz has grown a fantastic accounting firm and wealth management firm, CMH Advisors, with his wife Michelle. They've recently landed on the Inc5000 list for all their growth the last few years; they've also successfully completed six firm acquisitions. This Inspired Or Acquired episode is a fun discussion of the differences in valuation for accounting firms vs wealth management firms. Plus we estimate the value of CMH Advisors and ask Craig when they might sell the firm.

Craig Hausz on X: https://twitter.com/CPATaxTeam
CMH Advisors: https://www.cpataxteam.com/
Clint Fiore: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Austin Linney shares a wild, winding journey of buying an HVAC business that involves huge risk, shady characters, and quickly growing it by +300% within 2 years. 

Austin Linney on X: https://twitter.com/AustinLinney
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Lauren Coleman is a powerhouse entrepreneur, designer, and mom. She's bought and renovated two motels in Colorado, and has plans for more. Her holding company, The Sursy, is a mix of hospitality brands, retail concepts, and real estate development. We dive into all the adversity and challenges she's overcome to make things happen and the $30M plan she's working on currently.

The Sursy website: https://www.thesursy.com/
The Sursy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesursy

Dustin Keller bought a small auto repair business at 19 in Columbus, Ohio. Since then he's grown Alpha Automotive to 9 locations through acquisitions and organic growth. This year he's on pace for over $12M in revenue, and he also owns the real estate at each location. The interview is a great example of compounding, intentional growth, and building wealth through real estate.

Alpha Automotive: https://alphaautomotivellc.com/

Peter Lohmann has built a great property management business in Columbus, Ohio that does nearly $3M in revenue and only takes 15 hours/week of his time these days. We discuss that journey, how much EOS has helped, and what it could sell for. 

Peter Lohmann on X: https://twitter.com/pslohmann
EOS: https://www.eosworldwide.com/
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Alan Pentz has grown his government contracting business to $35M in revenue. It hans't been easy and he's stalled out at some previous stages. But he has his sights on a very big exit in a few years and knows what it'll take to get there.

Alan Pentz on X: https://twitter.com/apentz
Small Business Mentor newsletter: https://www.smallbusinessmentor.co/subscribe

Dr. Bob Ledda has built an incredible fishing lodge in Alaska, All Alaska Outdoors. The world class fishing, bear viewing, and remote access has made them famous - as evidenced by a recent viral YouTube video from Wild Fly with +2.2M views. We discuss how the business continues to grow, what it could be worth, and if Dr Bob would sell soon.

The lodge: https://www.allalaska.com/
WildFly YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFf-csP-bro