The Exchanges

Q A hundred percent. Do you have a story of a client that maybe is fun to share? They're really hard to close or convinced that digital marketing would be helpful at all. Then you blew it out of the water with them, uh, or just you like working with it. What's like your favorite customer story?

A Um, I mean, I could give you the, I, I do like one story and it kind of Tells the story of the start to finish of my business, like from inception all the way to getting ready to sell the business, um, because it was such a long journey. So, um, there was one medical group that I was chasing. It was my, my white whale for years. And so, um, just trying to get in the door, it took me about two years to get in front of the right people. So it was a lot of reaching out to my contacts, Cold calling. Heading into their offices. Trying to work with office managers. You know, I was really, um, I honestly don't know what came over me, but I was so deadlocked on this particular group. I wanted to, to do business with them. And so I just, I went nuts trying to get in. So it took me about two years to get the first meeting set. And that was just with one of the doctors. Then the doctor kind of recommended me up to, um, to some of the executive level team. And then a third meeting with the CEO. So all of that in itself took probably another year. Um, we went back and forth, and even after those initial meetings, probably another year of negotiation, discussion, really going through the ringer, figuring out what makes sense for them, building relationships. Everything you would do with a client, I was doing without them being an actual client, just because I wanted to bring them on board. U…

AI assessment note: “there was one medical group that I was chasing. It was my, my white whale”

Q What was the reason that, Made you want to sell the business?

A So there's a few factors. Um, I'll start with the big one. Um, the biggest factor, which again, another conversation for another, um, podcast, I'm sure, but, uh, had some family health issues going on, and so my focus wasn't quite there, um, as it had been previously. So I had other responsibilities, um, to take care of, but, um, part of that was I could not Continue to grow the business myself. And so I really had two options. One was bring on more help, more staff, team. Um, you know, I had a very lean operation going and I liked that because it allowed me to be involved. It allowed, um, you know, customer stickiness to be high. Um, but once I was pulled away a little bit, it caused a bit of a bottleneck with what we were doing. So it was either bring on more team. Or, um, or so, and those are the two options, and I had to take the emotion out of all of it, and I looked at the numbers, and the reality was, if I brought on more team, more staff, then I was either going to just obviously lose money myself out of my paycheck, because it'd be going towards other people, and to make up for that lost dollar amount, I would have to grow pretty significantly, um, Because of the way that I had things structured, and it just wasn't worth the, um, the time, the energy, and I didn't have the capacity to be able to do that at that point in time. So, like I said, taking the emotion out of …

AI assessment note: “had some family health issues going on, and so my focus wasn't quite there”

Q Makes a lot of sense. You know, I work with a ton of people that sell businesses for, for different reasons. I think You know, the more you can be honest with yourself, typically the, the better outcome you're going to have. Um, tell me, how did the process go with Acquire.com? How did that, um, help you maximize your exit?

A So, the best thing about Acquire, uh, and the way that you guys structure things, because I was pleasantly surprised by this, I wasn't expecting it, um, and I needed it, quite frankly, was, for lack of better terms, uh, the handholding. You know, the support that I got from, uh, Kai is who I worked with the most, and he was fantastic through the entire process. Um, helping me work directly with, uh, prospective buyers. Helping me through the, um, the diligence, the paperwork, um, just listening to some of my ups and downs and being, um, you know, lending his ear to A lot of the struggle, because this was, um, it was a lot more difficult to process than I thought that it would be, quite frankly. You know, I ended up getting a couple of offers. They were good offers. They're, you know, what I expected. So it wasn't like I was being lowballed, or like I was, you know, going through something I didn't want to. It was all kind of right in the wheelhouse of what I was looking for, and, um, I still was beating myself up over right decision, wrong decision, you know, how I was going to do all this, and he was super helpful, and just not telling me what to do, not guiding me, but just being a resource, and giving me what I needed, and that made the process so much simpler, because I could focus on what was important for me, and I knew that Kai and the rest of the team would take care of…

AI assessment note: “the support that I got from, uh, Kai is who I worked with”

Q That is awesome to hear. Yeah. Kai is great. And I remember your, your acquisition specifically, you had a few bumps in the road that were unexpected. What would you say the most stressful part of the acquisition journey was for you?

A Uh, so twofold. Um, and it really comes down to one, one big thing, but you know, Back and forth trying to figure out, um, what I wanted financially at the end of the day. Uh, obviously you're selling a business. Finances are huge with that. And so figuring out exactly how I wanted it structured, what was important to me, um, you know, that took some time to really iron that out. And Kai helped me out and we figured it out. And, um, when I got the LOI, um, for the, from the buyers that ended up purchasing the business, uh, Checked every box, right? We got the upfront that I was looking for. Terms were great. Like we, everybody was happy. Um, and as you know, and you were alluding to before, the biggest issue that popped up was in the 23rd hour, um, the financial company that was going to be fronting the loan for the buyer backed out of the deal. And so we went from everybody's ready to go The next day, um, you know, we had escrow set up. We were ready to roll, and now there's no financing anymore, and so the buyer was scrambling. I was scrambling. The deal almost fell apart because, um, you know, it, it just, it wasn't what we had signed up for on either side, and we were all frustrated with it. You, you were as well. I know Kai was. I mean, it was, it was a bit of a mess, um, and through no fault of anybody's, um, And so it was extremely frustrating. And at the end of the day,…

AI assessment note: “the financial company that was going to be fronting the loan for the buyer backed out”

Q you know, very straightforward, very direct, very honest with the health of the business. And buyers appreciate that too. Um, so again, kudos to you on that. I guess my next question would be, now that you've successfully sold your business, you've been through an acquisition with ups and downs, do you go back in time and give yourself three pieces of advice? What do you think those would be?

A Ooh, three pieces of advice. All right. Um, number one, and I kind of knew this before, but I would make sure I reiterate it, and it's just like, I mean, it's like sales in any regard, but, um, A deal's not done until it's done, right? Like, I mean, like I said, we were all good and ready to grow, go. Escrow was set. I was counting on that wire transfer a little too much. And when it didn't happen that day, it was, it was a blow. And, um, you know, we had gotten 99% of the way there. And again, by, um, circumstances outside of our control, that's just kind of what happened. And so just reminding myself that Hey, it's not done. It's all it's done. I think that that's super important. Um, number two, I think something I was a little slow to was figuring out the structure of the deal that I wanted and being honest with myself about it because I wanted it to be attractive to buyers. Um, so I wanted it to be flexible and I was genuinely open-minded into the deal, but at the same time, I wish I would have put some parameters on it For myself, you know, I, a minimum of X amounts, um, up front. Here's my maximum length term on seller financing. You know, I wish I would have been a little clearer with what I actually wanted because, um, I wasn't 100% sure. If I probably examined it a little more thoroughly, maybe if I had another conversation or two with Kai about it, he could have help…

AI assessment note: “Ooh, three pieces of advice. All right. Um, number one”

Q I love that. I got another question. You talked to a bunch of different buyers, and out of these buyers, it sounds like you found one that really stood out to you. If you had any advice for other people looking to buy businesses, what can they do to stand out professionally and build this relationship that you have with the acquiring buyer for your business?

A Um, you know, at the end of the day, the thing that I wanted to go into all of my calls with prospective buyers with was just Uh, 100% just honesty and transparency, and I, obviously, people say that, but we're also trying to get a deal done, right? Like, there's, um, there's a lot of nuance to all this, but, and there's nuance to my business, you know. I wasn't a huge multi-million, eight-figure business or anything like that, so there's a lot of little things, even with my bookkeeping, That there was some mess in there. I could explain the mess. That's not a problem. Um, and once I walked through it, it makes sense. But, um, to do it honestly and transparently and let them know, hey, this is why this is here. This is why it's there. Um, I found two or three prospective buyers that it made sense to them. And when I read that through the conversations that, okay, they, they understand my business. They understand how I've structured it. And they understand, um, where it needs to be optimized, where it's not yet. That's when it's already makes sense. And it started to click. And, um, it all started with me just being upfront about everything and not trying to, um, mask it to get every last dollar out of the deal. Because at the end of the day, I knew if I did that, it was, even if I got away with that and got the deal that I wanted, it's not what's best for The business, and qui…

AI assessment note: “they understand my business. They understand how I've structured it.”