This Week’s Breakdown (in 10 Seconds):
Ryan spent his career consulting on customer experience, first at Lowe's, then opening his own firm.
But he kept handing clients answers they never used, and he wanted the authority to make the call himself.
So, in 2022, he started looking for a business of his own.
After two dead deals, he landed on a grant writing business in his New Mexico hometown, an industry he knew nothing about.
He didn't want to go the SBA route, so we helped him structure an offer where the seller carried 80% on a 10-year note and he put in 20% cash.
Then, all in the same month, he closed, rebranded his consulting firm, and had his first child. (and somehow came out on the other side in one piece)
The grant writing business had never had a real sales engine, so he set out to build one. It took five months longer than he planned.
Then the State of New Mexico awarded them a contract.
One year in, revenue has doubled.
Today he runs it remotely from Southern California, still running his other company, and he plans to buy more.
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!
How many of you are waiting until you feel qualified to buy a business?
Maybe you want to make sure it’s in an industry you have previous experience in.
It sounds responsible, and Ryan ignored it completely. He bought into an industry he'd never worked in, on purpose.
Let me explain.
We first sat down with Ryan a few months after he closed.
This week we caught back up with him, one year in.
He'd spent his whole career in customer experience consulting, first at Lowe's, then opening his own firm, and he'd never written a grant in his life.
His bet was that if you can lead people and run a sales process, you can learn the rest.
But before any of that, he'd watched multiple deals die under LOI (a nail salon and a moving company). He went through that stretch completely alone.
Then he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro.
As a quick reminder, SMB Deal Hunter Pro is our business buying accelerator where we help you find, finance, and acquire a business in 6-12 months...or work with you for free until you do.
A few months after joining, a grant writing firm in Albuquerque came up on our deal sourcing platform, throwing off $180K in profit a year.
SBA financing didn't work with the cash flow, so the seller carried 80% on a 10-year note, and he put in 20% cash.
And one detail he found while digging into the business told him he could run the whole thing remotely, from another state.
Then, two days before close with money already in escrow, the seller fired her broker.
Ryan didn't know what that meant for the deal, so he called our team and found out how common it is, and how to keep one alive when it happens.
The first three months after closing were harder than he expected.
It wasn't just grant writing, it was learning how federal, state, and foundation funding each work differently.
By six months in, he could hold his own in client conversations, and he knew which organizations were a bad fit for his team.
He'll tell you he had too much confidence going in, and that he still wouldn't buy an aerospace company.
But he thinks the core of it holds. If you know how a business actually works, you can learn most industries (but maybe not ones involving rocket science).
And once he knew enough to lead, he ran the growth play the business sorely needed.
One year in, revenue has doubled.
And he runs it all remotely from Southern California, still running his own consulting firm, with a one year old at his feet.
👀 Ryan watched two deals die under LOI while he was searching alone. Then he joined us, and a little over a year after closing, revenue has doubled.
July was supposed to be a slow month, but members closed 8 businesses and went under contract on 23 more (that's over $50M in deals).
None of them decided last week.
They made the call months ago, sitting right where you are now, reading an email a lot like this one.
In fact, 11 of July's members who went under LOI got there within 3 months of joining.
So if you want to work with us to find, finance, and acquire a million-dollar cash flowing business in the next 6-12 months, start now and you could be under contract before Thanksgiving.
Member Spotlight
For those who missed it, we also did an SMB Deal Hunter Pro alumni interview breaking down Taabish's acquisition of a $2.9M industrial equipment business.
Two deals fell apart before this one closed.
Today the business cash-flows $906K/year.
Taabish spent 10+ years at Amazon running operations teams. The job ran 24/7 and he wanted his time back for his family.
So he joined the Pro program.
11 months later, he closed.
He stepped in with zero industry experience.
The result?
→ Closed a $2.9 million acquisition at a 3.2x multiple on a 50-year-old business distributing blowers, pumps, and gearboxes with a full machine shop and service operation already in place
→ Landed his first LOI after two prior deals fell apart. We break down what went wrong on the first two and what he did differently to finally get one to the finish line.
→ Three months into ownership, revenue is already ahead of last year, and Taabish has already signed on as a dealer for a brand new product line the previous owner never touched
→ At Amazon, every morning started with overnight fires. Now his business is closed every weekend, and for the first time in a decade he can actually unplug and be present for his oldest heading into high school
And here's what he had to say:
“They just make the process much easier for someone like me or people similar to my kind of background who've only been working in big companies, big tech companies who haven't had the opportunity or experience to do M&A.”
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.
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
Find Me On Twitter
Find Me On LinkedIn
How was today's newsletter?
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.