This Week’s Breakdown (in 10 Seconds):
Ronnie spent 25 years buying and refurbishing senior living communities with other people's money.
And he spent the last 18 as CEO, with three partners who could outvote him on anything.
On paper he owned a piece of the company and ran it, but he never had the final say.
So in April of 2024, he cashed out his share and started looking for a new business to buy with his wife, Louann.
One that they owned 100% of.
Through SMB Deal Hunter Pro, they bought Heritage Flooring, a high-end flooring and tile company in Charleston, for $3.5M.
Then, thirty days in, the COO who ran the day-to-day resigned.
But business didn’t dip through the transition. It actually picked up.
Today it throws off about $1M a year in cash flow, and Ronnie, Louann and their 22-year-old son run the whole thing together.
A year in, here's what he changed:
🔥 Why the COO walking out turned into the best thing that happened to them
🔥 The change that costs him nothing and has his phone ringing all day
🔥 Why he takes the $7,000 jobs the previous owner wouldn't bother with
🔥 Why he decided not to aggressively grow the business in year one, on purpose
And for our audio-only listeners, jump in and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
But if you want to learn a bit more, let's dive into the story...
Hello SMB Deal Hunters!
We hear this question on a lot of Pro strategy calls.
"What if I buy a business, I don't know how to do the day to day work, and the people who do know leave at some point?"
It's a fair thing to be afraid of.
It happens. Not often, but it happens, and you should prepare for it just in case.
Thirty days after closing, it happened to Ronnie.
His COO handed in his notice on Halloween.
But the business didn’t dip through the transition they negotiated.
Why?
Because everything that made Heritage work was still in place:
→ A brand that had been voted best flooring company in Charleston the year before he bought it
→ About ten high-end builder relationships, plus homeowners calling in off word of mouth
→ Subcontractor crews who had been running those jobs for years
None of that changed.
So there was no J-curve, no dip while he found his footing.
The COO who left even recommended his own replacement, and he still sends referrals.
After that hurdle, Ronnie spent the next year turning down the obvious moves.
He didn't push for growth. He started taking $7,000 jobs the previous owner wouldn't bother with. He kept spending nothing on advertising.
The phone rings all day anyway.
A local mill rep came into the showroom this year and asked Ronnie what on earth he was doing. "I have never seen anybody come into this industry and do the amount of business that you're doing."
And after 35 years of marriage, Louann is hearing something from her husband she had never heard before. "I say every day I love what I do."
What he changed cost him nothing and almost nobody in his industry does it.
Member Spotlight
How He Bought a Concrete Coating Business Making $350k/yr at 28
For those who missed it, we also did an SMB Deal Hunter Pro alumni interview breaking down how Alejandro bought a $1.5M concrete coatings business at 28.
Today the business throws off around $350K a year in profit.
Alejandro spent 6 years in tech sales, first at a Fortune 500 company and then bouncing between AI startups. The money was good, but he was always building someone else's dream.
He knew he wanted something of his own, but almost a year of hunting BizBuySell alone got him nowhere.
So he joined the Pro program.
By the end of March, he'd closed and walked away from his W-2 for good.
The result?
→ We helped him structure a 15% seller note and a 10% equity injection on top of his SBA loan to get a seven-figure deal across the line
→ He beat out more than 10 other buyers to win it
→ He came straight from software sales with zero concrete experience, and he's already gunning to double revenue to $3M
For 6 years he sold software for other people's companies.
Now, at 28, he owns his own business.
And here's what he had to say:
“I looked at a bunch of different communities, and a lot of them were just educational videos. That's not what I was looking for. I needed a couple of advisors that were literally gonna grab my hand and say, you're gonna go close on this business... whether you like it or not. And that's what I found.”
So, if you want us to work with you to find, finance, and acquire a million-dollar cash-flowing business in the next 6-12 months, you might be interested in the Pro program.
👀 August was supposed to be a “slow month,” but 35 Pro members went under contract on more than $46M of businesses, and 10 more deals closed worth over $14M.
If that's what a slow month looks like, September should be interesting now that sellers are back from vacation and deal flow is picking up.
The next 90 days are also the last real window before the holidays, so to get buyers off the sidelines, we're adding a one-time end-of-quarter bonus for anyone who joins Pro this month.
👉 Book a free 1-on-1 strategy call and we'll build your search together: what you can realistically afford, the deals that fit, and your financing options.
COMMUNITY PERKS
• Ready to buy and operate a $1M+ business? Get expert help at every step.
• Want to invest passively in SMB acquisitions? Get access to investment opportunities.
• Get a personal introduction to my preferred SBA 7(a) lender, non-SBA lenders, Quality of Earnings providers, or legal counsel
• Raising capital for your deal? I’ll connect you with investors from the SMB Deal Hunter Community.
• Interested in selling your business? I’ll help you connect with buyers from the SMB Deal Hunter Community.
THAT’S A WRAP
Want me to interview you for my podcast? Hit reply.
See you next week with some new deals!
-Helen Guo
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Disclaimer
This publication is a newsletter only and the information provided herein is the opinion of our editors and writers only. Any transaction or opportunity of any kind is provided for information only; SMB Deal Hunter does not verify nor confirm information. SMB Deal Hunter is not making any offer to readers to participate in any transaction or opportunity described herein.