Landon Mance bought Nevada Tree Services without ever having been up in a tree. Making this acquisition a success came down to two primary points: spending time in diligence ensuring the business was fundamentally sound, and finding the right operating partner. In my conversation with Landon, we talk about what makes a small business “fundamentally sound,” how he and his partner built a strong business relationship, and Landon’s thoughts on implementing change post-acquisition.

00:00 Start

01:41 Landon’s background and why he pursued ETA

06:36 Search criteria

08:15 What makes a business fundamentally sound

12:54 Financials of the deal

16:53 Working capital needs

18:28 Experience with SBA

20:46 Why Landon wanted an operating partner and what he looked for

26:59 Building a business partnership

32:07 Diligence with the sellers

36:17 How the relationship with the sellers changed

40:34 Landon’s biggest mistake in the deal

43:12 Transitioning into ownership

50:04 The biggest challenge Landon has faced

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Connect with me: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | [email protected]

Connect with Landon: LinkedIn

Brittney and her husband were in the 9th year of operating their startup when they decided they wanted to take on a new challenge: ETA. After only a couple months of searching, they found their acquisition, a garage door company in Kansas City.

Post close, they faced a difficult truth. There was a lot of clean up to do. The seller had not been operating efficiently and had been doing a ton of work himself. For months they worked 12 hour days. 

My conversation with Brittney highlights a common challenge that new owners must contend with–the balance of learning the ropes of the business with the work of making it your own.

00:00 Start

01:30 How Brittney got interested in ETA

04:00 Initial search criteria

06:32 How she found her business & why it appealed to her

09:15 Financials of the deal

13:43 Lessons learned from the search

19:55 Why operating costs were higher than expected

22:44 The unanticipated challenges of business ownership

26:05 The first few months of ownership

28:45 Brittney’s current day to day

30:14 Improving operations and making the business their own

35:53 Plans for the next year

36:36 The impact of being an industry outsider

39:10 Reflections on starting a business vs. buying a business

45:38 Retaining employees after acquisition

49:32 What Brittney has learned about herself through ETA

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Connect with me: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | [email protected]

Connect with Brittney: LinkedIn

Shawn Allard didn’t set out to buy a business in the food and beverage space. Fortunately, he stayed open minded during his search and ended up finding a business that was a great fit for him: Novel Ice Cream. Almost a year into his acquisition, Shawn is opening a coffee shop and has two new ice cream locations in the works.

In this episode, Shawn shares lessons learned from his search and transition into business ownership.

00:00 Start

05:30 Search criteria

06:56 How Shawn evaluated deals

08:54 How Shawn found Novel Ice Cream & why he decided to acquire it

12:39 How Shawn got comfortable buying in an industry he didn’t have experience in

15:02 Financing for the acquisition

19:29 Why Shawn kept his W2 for a few months

21:09 The impact of keeping his W2 post acquisition

25:58 Spending money on growth

27:35 Surprises and challenges during the first year

29:40 Maintaining and building company culture

33:46 How Shawn’s life changed from W2 to business owner

36:22 Shawn’s new coffee location

39:30 Lessons learned from opening a new concept

42:15 Where Shawn wants to go from here

44:54 The qualities that make someone successful in ETA

47:39 What’s actually hard about owning a business

49:33 How Shawn has grown from the experience of owning a business

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Connect with Shawn: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with me: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | [email protected]

This episode features by Sterling Birdsong, a franchisee and Nationwide SBA Lender with BayFirst National Bank. Sterling has been in SBA Lending since 2016 and the banking industry since 2013. He produced over $50 million in SBA loans in 2022, making him a top performer in the industry.

In this conversation, we dive into Sterling's experience as a franchisee, including why franchising has been a great model for him, and what to consider from a lending perspective when thinking about buying or starting a franchise. We also get into the nuances of SBA, including how to think about working capital, seller note dos and don'ts, and why SBA is the BEST produce out there for business acquisitions $5M and under.

Connect with me: ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ | [email protected]

Laura DiFrancesco is a corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions. She helps investors and founders in structuring and negotiating deals that set them up for scaling and long term success. She also owns a number of businesses, including an educational platform where she teaches entrepreneurs the legal rules of the road for success in ETA.

In this episode, I talk with Hiep Le, owner of Hall's Furniture in Sacramento CA. After immigrating to the US, learning English, and going to school for business, Hiep had landed a stable corporate job. Feeling unfulfilled, he took the leap and left his job to venture into ETA.

In this first episode of So You Want to Buy a Business, I chat with fellow laundromat owner Mark Csordos about his new book The Laundromat Bible: How to Find, Buy, and Run a Successful Laundromat. Mark and I get into all the real talk of what it's like to own a laundromat, and Mark provides insights into everything from how to decide which laundromat is the best fit for you to how to market services.

Learn more about Mark at his website and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Buy The Laundromat Bible on Amazon.

Connect with me: LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube | [email protected]