This Week’s Breakdown (in 10 Seconds):
Irving spent 20 years in wealth management, in what he calls a corporate "sausage factory."
But after all that climbing, he had nothing in his portfolio he'd built himself.
And he wasn't the only one ready for something new. His wife, Evgeniia, has a background in events for the Olympic Games and high-ranking politicians.
After 5 to 6 years raising their two young kids, she was eager to get back to work, and fast.
So they decided to buy a business and run it together.
Their first year, they searched on their own, at what Irving calls a "snail's pace."
So they joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro to get there faster.
After looking at more than 1,000 businesses, Irving opened one listing and sent an offer the very next day.
In his words, "this is it... this is what I've been waiting for."
It was a $5.7M physical therapy center in East Texas, with a half-Olympic therapy pool nobody nearby could match.
Some patients drive in from as far as Houston, 2 hours away.
A year after they closed, we caught up with them to hear how it went.
The first few months got wild.
2 months in, their only therapist walked out, and they had 3 weeks to replace him.
They found one, and today revenue is about 15% above what it was under the seller.
And they've already replaced Irving's corporate salary.
They take turns running it a week at a time, and they're already hunting for business number 2.
👉 Watch how 2 first-time buyers took over a $1.3M/yr clinic and grew it 15% past the seller's numbers
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 thought about buying a business, then realized it's a family decision, not just yours?
And with that comes the worry: will this help us or hurt us as a family?
Irving and Evgeniia know that feeling.
Irving's corporate career was winding down, and Evgeniia didn't want to start over at the bottom of a corporate ladder.
Whatever they bought, they'd run it together.
But first, they had to find the right business, and that took 2 years.
For the first of those years, they did it on their own, learning everything from books and YouTube videos.
Progress was slow.
After a year of seeing maybe 5 local deals a month, they 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 to 12 months, or we work with you for free until you do.
After they joined, we started sending them brokered and off-market deals from all over the country.
More than 1,000 of them, until Irving could tell a good listing from a bad one in 2 or 3 minutes.
He'd also watched people in Pro's twice-weekly office hours nitpick businesses until they talked themselves out of buying.
So when the right one finally showed up, he didn't overthink it.
He expected problems, and he was ready to deal with whatever came up.
But it came down to the wire. They closed about 2 weeks after Irving lost his job.
He was the only breadwinner, had two young kids at home, and his paycheck was already gone. That’s why they needed the clinic running from day one.
That depended on one person.
The seller was the only licensed therapist on staff, and part of the deal was that he'd keep treating patients until they hired a new one.
Then, 2 months in, the staff told Irving and Evgeniia that the seller had already bought a ticket out of the country.
Instead of panicking, they split up the work.
In Irving's words, "If I'm the shotgun blast, she's the one going there and combing... through all the... details."
Here's what they walked me through:
→ The 3-week scramble to replace the only licensed therapist in the building (and who they found)
→ The paper-and-glue system the clinic ran on (and what Evgeniia spotted once it all went digital)
→ How they grew revenue about 15% from the same flow of patients, with zero marketing (and where half of that gain went)
→ The year-one rule every buyer hears, and why they broke it on purpose
None of it was easy, but it worked.
In that first year, they already replaced Irving's corporate income.
Member Spotlight
Alex spent over 10 years managing a financial planning team at a big insurance company, and all the turnover was getting tiring.
On top of that, he was driving 1 hour 45 minutes each way into Boston.
He wanted out, and he already had a model for what came next.
His family had owned businesses for decades, and as he put it, “it kinda runs in my blood.”
So instead of climbing the corporate ladder, he decided to buy a business he’d run for the long haul.
And after 2 months of broker conversations going nowhere, he joined SMB Deal Hunter Pro.
With our help, he and his wife bought a tent rental business for $4.5M.
She’d spent over a decade leading an event planning team at a private equity firm, so she already knew the event side of the business.
The catch was coming up with $450K for the 10% down, which he calls “the hardest part.”
So they refinanced a couple of their investment properties and used the equity to fund it.
In return, they got a company where the biggest tents rent for about $15K a weekend and over 80% of customers come back.
👀 Quick Update: October’s not even over yet, and 7 Pro members have already closed deals this month, and another 11 have gone under LOI.
We helped them source these deals (including off-market deals you won’t find on BizBuySell) and worked with them 1:1 to structure winning offers, catch red flags, and secure financing, handholding them all the way to close and through the transition.
On October 31st, we're retiring a bonus worth five figures for new Pro members.
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.