This Week’s Business Buyer (in 10 Seconds):
Bailey is a software engineer who stopped trusting Big Tech to keep her employed after all the layoff news.
So instead of building another side hustle from scratch, she decided to buy a business that was already running.
She landed a $925K landscape architecture firm that's been in business since 1971.
And with our help, she closed the deal in about 6 months.
Today, she runs that $450K-a-year-profit business in about 20 hours a week, all without quitting 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 been watching the nearly endless layoffs at the big tech companies?
And not just for junior roles but jobs that felt rock solid even two years ago now.
Bailey knows that feeling.
She's a software engineer in LA who has built things her whole life, from flipping houses to reselling designer bags in college.
But none of her side hustles were able to make enough money to replace her tech salary.
And with a family on the horizon, she didn't want her stability riding on whether the tech billionaires kept her employed.
What she needed was someone in her corner who had done this before.
So she joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro.
(after visiting an auto repair shop near her office recently acquired by our member Branden)
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 owns a landscape architecture firm in Southern California that has been running since 1971.
She's only its third owner. And the business brings in around $450K a year in profit.
She runs it in about 20 hours/week, she's already pulling money out of the business, and she still hasn't quit her day job
So how does that actually work?
How does a software engineer with no business acquisition experience end up owning a $925k business?
And how does she run it on just 20 hours a week without quitting her day job?
And where did we step in?
We helped her find the deal, fund it around a licensing problem most lenders wouldn't touch, and get her to the closing table in about 6 months.
Here's why this week's alumni case study is a must watch:
→ The seller advertised $350K in yearly profit. We helped her realize it was closer to $450K during diligence, so she bought at just over 2x profit. We break down the numbers.
→ The seller wanted a large balloon payment that could have sunk the deal. We walk through how our advisors helped restructure the note into a win/win for both sides.
→ There was another buyer with an LOI on the table. We explain why the seller still chose Bailey (hint: it wasn't about the price).
→ She runs the whole business part-time without quitting her day job. Inside, the routine that makes it work.
How She Runs a $450K/yr Business on 20hrs/Week (Without Quitting Her Job)
And when we asked what she valued most about the program...
"You seemed like a real person and not overly salesy … The Slack community was really nice … having the community and the advisors gave me enough confidence to confirm to myself that … I'm on track.”
Bailey leaned on our battle-tested deal team to help her...
Build the offer that won her the business over another buyer
Get $100K of operating cash built into her loan, since the seller left none in the business
Go from zero searching to under contract in months using our step-by-step buy box and seller-outreach playbook
Work through every hard call with experienced advisors on her first acquisition
Talk soon,
Helen Guo
👀 P.S. Q2 numbers are in…
Our members closed $50.3 million in deals and went under contract on another $117 million, the most momentum we’ve carried into Q3.
Most buyers check out over the summer. Meanwhile our off-market deal flow doubled last quarter. So there are more deals than usual and fewer people competing for them.
If you want to take advantage of this window…
👉 Book a free strategy call and we'll pressure test your buy box and map out a timeline to your first offer.