How He Makes $179K/Month From The Most Boring Business in The Trades

The Full Breakdown: How He Quit Tech Sales to Buy a $695K/Year Plumbing Company

Reagan was making $300K a year in corporate tech sales by 27, but he wanted to own something that kept paying him after he stopped selling.

So he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro and went through 110 businesses before making a single offer.

That offer was for a 36-year-old Dallas plumbing company that had never spent a single dollar on marketing.

And even though he's not a plumber, we helped him structure the deal so the company could keep running legally from day one.

A year after buying it, he's grown from 2 crews to 5, with the business on pace to go from $1.5M to $2.15M in revenue.

So how does a tech salesman go from joining Pro to a signed offer in just 41 days?

👉 This week's case study breaks down every step in 12 minutes, so you can follow the same steps while you're still in your 9-to-5.

But if you want to learn a bit more, let's dive into the story...

How many of you have talked yourself out of buying a business with one of these?

→ "I don't know anything about that industry."

→ "I can't search for a business while working full time."

→ "Even if I bought one, I couldn't run it on day one."

Reagan had every reason to say all 3 when he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro.

Here's how he got past all 3 of those doubts, one at a time.

Reagan had never worked a day in the trades, but he was buying a business with 2 crews who were already doing $1.5M a year in plumbing work.

He realized his job wasn’t to do the plumbing but to support his team and focus on helping the business grow.

And to a salesman, the gap was obvious: every customer had come through word of mouth so far.

So he set up the company's first Google Business Profile.

It soon had almost 100 reviews (after some serious work), and that’s when he started seeing some real call volume come through.

And that was just the first step to getting that 40% year over year growth in revenue.

Reagan is heads down on building out the sales pipeline, while his team is focused on delivering for their clients.

Reagan closed in 5 months, when the average search takes 23, and he did it around a full-time sales job.

He was up at 6am every day to search before work, then back on broker calls each evening.

Every lead went into his own spreadsheet, and he sent our Acquisition Strategists more than 200 questions along the way.

After a few deal reviews with them, he could rule out 95% of listings on his own.

We break down exactly what he screened for in the case study, so you can use the same filter on your own search.

Reagan's worst case was the seller walking away with the license, so we helped him build 3 layers of backup.

→ A 4-year agreement to run the company under the seller's master plumber's license

→ A clause that stops the seller from using that license for any other business

→ He hired other master plumbers who have their own licenses

(Licensing rules depend on the state, so always check your own!)

👉 Watch the exact setup that let Reagan run a $695K/year plumbing company without his own license.

Chris spent his career at companies like Microsoft and SAP, and his last 4 years as a CEO still answering to a board.

By the end, his job had become what he calls a "keep the lights on" role… cut costs, don't invest, don't expand.

And as he puts it: "I'm not a 22-year-old who has 40 years … to pursue [this]. It's 10 years or less."

He didn't want to spend those years on someone else's vision.

So he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro and spent the next 11 months searching, and vetting dozens of deals.

He came close twice: a machine shop he lost on price, and a $9M-a-year construction company he walked away from.

The one that finally fit was 2 franchise territories.

He'd had franchise brokers pitching him from the start, but didn't feel confident going it alone.

With our help, he and his partner signed a $925K deal for 2 territories of Pirtek.

Pirtek replaces the hydraulic hoses on heavy equipment used in farming, mining, forestry and construction.

Today, he's hiring his team for a November launch, with $350K to $400K a year in profit projected after year one.

👉 Watch how Chris bought 2 franchise territories in 11 months, and the exact steps you can copy to buy yours

👀 Quick update: 9 Pro members closed deals in September, and another 22 are under LOI heading into Q4.

None of them decided last week. They made the call months ago, sitting right where you are now. On average, our members go from joining to closing in about 8 months, versus 23 for buyers going at it alone.

So if you start now, you could be making offers before the holidays and be the name in this email by next summer.

👉 Book a free 1-on-1 strategy call and we'll pressure test your buy box and map out a timeline to your first offer.

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.