Just as this title says, we talk to guy who bought a business with an SBA loan! Nick Haschka is an entrepreneur and investor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, with his wife and two kids. He owns a small business called The Wright Gardner, which is a plantscaping business (where they help companies maintain beautiful plants around the office). He purchased The Wright Gardner along with two other folks he’s in business with using an SBA 7(a) loan.

Neither Brad or I have used an SBA 7(a) loan to purchase a business so we thought it would be a great idea to invite on someone who has! And, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out our other episode on SBA loans — episode 35: “How to Buy a $2 Million Business for $200K.”

Key Takeaways:

[:12] About today’s interview with Nick Haschka.

[1:23] Welcoming Nick to the show!

[2:30] How Nick landed in the business of buying other businesses.

[6:17] Why did Nick decide to go with the SBA 7(a) loan rather than using a search fund model.

[7:54] How Nick found out about SBA loans.

[9:44] Why Nick moved on from McKinsey and wanted to switch up his career.

[10:49] Nick speaks about his (and his partners) process of buying a small business.

[16:13] About The Wright Gardner, previous owner, and employees; and how Nick found it.

[19:03] How long it took for Nick to lock down the deal with The Wright Gardner.

[19:35] Nick shares some details and metrics of the deal.

[23:30] The process of getting an SBA loan for The Wright Gardner.

[25:45] Nick talks about the personal guarantees he signed for the business.

[29:15] Did this one business get Nick to his $90k/year goal?

[30:49] How Nick and his business partners split up the ownership and responsibilities.

[31:24] Add-ons Nick was looking for to support the objectives of the business.

[32:43] Have they done any tuck-in or bolt-on add-ons?

[34:32] Nick talks about his business growth in the two years since he bought The Wright Gardner.

[35:45] Are Nick and his partners actively looking for outside deals, or is this going to be a platform for them (where they’re going to continue to bolt-on plantscaping businesses)?

[37:15] Did Nick (and his partners) fund his businesses (following The Wright Gardner) out of the cash flow of The Wright Gardner?

[38:03] Is Nick at the scale where he can be less involved in the business day-to-day or is it still his full-time job?

[39:04] Looking back on everything, is Nick glad he did everything the way he did?

[41:55] Where to find Nick online.

[42:09] Nick’s parting words of wisdom.

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Alternative Investor on iTunes

The Wright Gardner

Nick Haschka (LinkedIn)

Nick’s email: [email protected]

McKinsey & Company

BizBuySell

(California) Contractors State License Board

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