Escaping 22 Years in Corporate -> $583k / Year Window Installation Business

Hey - Helen here,

Paul was in the middle of due diligence on a window installation company in Chicago when he hit a wall.

The deal had murky add-backs…

…that led to confusing financials.

…and numbers that didn't make sense no matter how many times he looked at them.

So, he was ready to kill the deal.

But then, our advisors Bill and Mubarak got on a call with him. They walked him through every line of the financials and helped Paul separate the yellow flags from the red flags in the business.

…But more than that, they showed him something huge he had missed.

The business was actually performing better than the CIM suggested. The original 3.2x multiple? On a trailing 12-month basis, it was closer to 2.7x.

The deal he almost walked away from turned out to be even better than it looked when he first signed the LOI.

But let’s rewind.

Paul had spent the last 22 years in transportation logistics. The last 10 in the C-suite. He’d already helped one company exit and was working on helping another do the same.

Then, a former colleague who was now in private equity asked him: “Have you thought about just buying a business?”

He hadn’t. He didn’t even know it was an option.

He tried going it alone for 4 months.

He did the usual. Endlessly scrolling BizBuySell. Sending cold emails to brokers with no reply. Spending hours reviewing CIMs he couldn't properly evaluate.

He wasn't getting anywhere.

So he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro and committed to doing this with a team behind him.

Over the next year, he went on to buy a $1.8M window installation business in Chicago. The same one he almost walked away from.

Here's a look at what he closed on:

🔥 $583K in owner earnings

🔥 10% equity down, 35% seller financing on a 2-year standby, rest through SBA

🔥 Premier platinum Pella contractor. 1 of 8 in the country. Only one in Illinois.

🔥 Backlog booked 3 months out at close

In the full interview, Paul walks through everything. Why the diligence process nearly broke him. How the deal structure came together. And what the first 90 days of ownership actually look like when you're learning an industry you've never worked in before.

Watch it here 👇

And when we asked him how ownership feels:

Paul called the SMB team his "secret weapon." He leaned on our battle-tested deal team to help him:

• Source his deals on and off-market (personalized exactly to his needs)

• Navigate every step of the process from the first broker call to closing day (one on one)

• And ultimately help him not just buy a business, but one he can grow and succeed with…

If you want to buy a $1M+ cash-flowing business in the next 6-12 months but don't want to spend years trying to figure it out alone, let's talk.

👉 Learn more and book a call to see if you'd be a good fit.

Talk soon,
Helen Guo

P.S. If you liked Paul’s ‘How I Closed It’ story, you’ll love these:

• Iris bought a $1M Agriculture Recruiting Company in 4 Months (While She Was Laid Off & 3 Months Pregnant) - Check her story out here

• Reagan Bought a Plumbing Business Cashflowing $860k / Year in 5 Months (and he only put 5% down) - Check his story out here