This Week’s Breakdown (in 10 Seconds):
If I Wanted to Buy My First Business in 2027, I'd Do This
Since then, I've bought multiple businesses and helped hundreds of people buy theirs.
If I were starting over in 2027, I'd do things differently (beginning before I ever opened a listing).
So in this week's video, I walk you through the 7 steps I'd take instead:
Why a listing that says a business makes $300K a year can pay you a lot less than that (and the 5 costs I subtract before I make an offer)
How much cash you really need to buy a $1M business (including the costs most first-time buyers forget to budget for)
The simpler way I'd search after spending $25K+ on my first off-market hunt and buying nothing (and how I'd rule out the wrong deals fast)
Why we told a member to walk away when the seller's counteroffer cut the cash the business needed to keep running in half (and what I'd lock in before signing an LOI)
And 3 more, including the free checks I'd run before paying an accountant or lawyer (so a dead deal doesn't take your money with it)
But if you want to see these steps play out on real deals, keep reading…
Hello SMB Deal Hunters!
Every step in this week's video comes from my own deals and the more than $300M in businesses our Pro members have bought with our support.
You can do all 7 of these steps yourself.
But the hard part comes when a real deal is in front of you and you have to decide what to do next, and that's when it helps to have people around you who've done this before.
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.
You'll meet 2 of our members in this week's video, Mary and John.
Mary bought one of the off-market deals we sourced, and John got a listed business for well under its asking price.
Here's a quick breakdown of both their stories 👇
1/ Mary: UX Researcher to a $1.05M Business (Sourced Off-Market)
👤 Background: Ex-Pinterest and LinkedIn
📍 Location: Remote, serving therapy clinics
💼 Business acquired: Medical billing, $1.05M
💰 Cash flow: ~$360K/year
📅 Time to close: About 10 months (LOI at 5.5)
🏦 Financing: Seller kept 10% (with a buyout)
💭 My 2 Cents: Mary was a UX researcher until the 2022 tech layoffs, then spent years bouncing between contract roles.
She had zero business experience and had barely started her search when she joined.
Our team sourced this deal for her off-market, then helped her clear 3 due diligence hurdles, including a silent partner she didn't know about.
A year after closing, sales were up 35% and her client list had grown from 19 practices to more than 30.
The seller had been signing about 3 new clients a year, almost all through referrals.
Mary built a real system for winning new ones and put everything beyond her salary back into growing the business.
So when you look at a deal, ask how it gets new customers. If it's mostly referrals, there's probably a lot of room to grow.
2/ John: Big Four Consultant to a $1.38M Business (Listed at $2.5M)
👤 Background: Navy officer, then Big Four
📍 Location: Northern Virginia
💼 Business acquired: 2 yoga studios, $1.38M
💰 Cash flow: ~$299K/year
📅 Time to close: 9 months (LOI at 2)
🏦 Financing: SBA loan and a seller note
💭 My 2 Cents: The seller had been trying to sell for over a year at about $2.5M, and John's first offer covered a third studio, a lease on a fourth and the seller's extra franchise licenses too.
His QoE confirmed the earnings, but he also learned what it costs to build out a new studio. So we helped him restructure the deal to buy just the 2 studios he wanted, for $1.38M.
Our team introduced him to 4 SBA lenders and the firm that ran his QoE, and an owner in our network who runs fitness studios nearby helped with his lease.
A district manager runs both studios day to day, and John meets with her for an hour each week.
That hour a week only works because John searched for a management team that was already in place.
If that's what you want too, search for it on purpose. You're paying the managers who run the business day to day, so expect thinner margins than you'd see in an owner-run business.
Both of them started where you are right now.
So if you want to buy a $1M+ business in 6-12 months but don’t want to spend years figuring it out alone, let’s talk.
👀 Quick Update: In October alone, our Pro members closed 12 deals and signed another 15 LOIs.
We helped them source these deals (including off-market deals you won’t find on BizBuySell).
We also worked with them 1:1 on calls and in Slack to structure winning offers, catch red flags, and secure financing, handholding them all the way to close and through the transition.
Our typical member closes about 8 months after joining, so if you want to own your first business in 2027, now's the time to start.
👉 Book a free 1-on-1 strategy call and we'll map out what you can realistically afford, the deals that fit, and your financing options.
P.S. Not sure you have enough saved to buy a $1M business? Start with step 2 of the video, then book a call and we'll run the numbers on your situation with you.
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.