This Week’s Business Buyer (in 10 Seconds):
Deborah ran marketing teams at software companies for years. Then AI started doing the work she actually enjoyed.
She had consulted and run side gigs before, but she wanted to own something end to end that was actually hers.
But months of browsing listings turned up nothing that excited her.
That's when she joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro, and 4 months later she signed an offer.
She landed an $887K home renovation business in North Carolina.
And with our help, she closed it in 7 months, even after 15 lenders told her no.
Today, the business cash flows $246K/yr.
Her husband works in it full time, Deborah puts in about 20 hours a week, and she still hasn't quit her day job.
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 have watched AI quietly take over parts of your job?
And not just the busywork but the parts you were actually good at.
Deborah knows that feeling.
She's a marketing leader who spent years taking software companies from $10M to $100M in revenue.
Marketing was the thing she was best at, and AI was starting to do the work she enjoyed doing.
She'd consulted and run side gigs before, but she wanted to own something end to end.
Her husband, Donald, had over 20 years in construction, and the two of them had always worked well together.
So they went looking for a business that used both of their backgrounds.
Deborah just wasn't ready to give up her paycheck. So the plan was to buy it while she still had the W2 and put Donald in it full time.
She'd been watching our videos for a long time, and decided that going in blind was too big of a risk.
So she and her husband, Donald 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.
Today, she and Donald own an $887K home renovation business on the North Carolina coast, design center included.
The previous owner ran it for 8 and a half years, and the business brings in around $246K a year in profit.
Donald is on site Monday to Friday. Deborah puts in about 20 hours a week, mornings, nights and weekends, around their 3 kids, and she still works her day job.
When they took over, there was 1 contract on the books.
3 months in, they had signed 9 contracts.
So how does that actually work?
How does a marketing leader with a full-time job buy an $887K business that 15 lenders refused to finance?
And how did she sign all those contracts in an industry she’d never worked in?
And where did we step in?
We helped her find the listing, showed her how to explain an 18% drop in revenue to lenders, and structured a seller note she doesn't have to start paying for 2 years.
Here's why this week's alumni case study is a must watch:
→ The business was listed at $1.2M. Our advisors helped her use the lender rejections as leverage, and she closed at $887K, 26% below asking. We break down the negotiation.
→ She didn't want a big loan, and she didn't want the SBA putting a lien on her home. We walk through the financing stack she built instead, and the one move that took her house off the table.
→ Other buyers were circling the same deal, and every one of them heard the same “no” she did. We explain why she was the last one still standing (hint: she went digging in the franchise agreement).
→ She built an AI setup that prices the job, builds the client presentation, and handles the parts that never change. It cut her proposal time roughly in half. She breaks down how she built it and why.
Click below and watch me walk through her journey step by step 👇
How She Runs a $246K/yr Business Without Quitting Her Job
And when we asked what she valued most about the program...
"You've built a team that is all about outputs … there are other characters out there that are more about the inputs … at least you know that the support you're getting is not a scripted support … business owners that have been in it, who have owned multiple businesses who know what they're talking about.”
Deborah leaned on our battle-tested deal team to help her...
Negotiate the asking price down from $1.2M to $887K
Craft the underwriting story that finally got her deal approved
Structure a seller note with no payments and no interest for the first 2 years
Keep going after 15 lenders said “no”
Talk soon,
Helen
👀 Head up: We're two weeks into September and 3 Pro members have already closed deals, with another 12 under LOI.
There's a one-time bonus for anyone who joins before the quarter ends on September 30th, 16 days from now.
And we're making some significant changes to Pro next quarter that I'd rather you were inside for than reading about.