Guides for buying and protecting a business
What Google reviews tell you before you sign, how to run reputation due diligence, and how owners keep the customers they work hard to earn.
Trailer Dealership for Sale: Red Flags in Add-Backs
A Missouri utility trailer dealership is listed at $5 to $7 million on $11.4 million in revenue, but the add-backs do not hold up. The stated EBITDA of $354,000 leans on a $1 million owner distribution that masks a broke...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessWhat Happens After You Buy a Business: 3 Real Deals
After you buy a business, the hardest work starts at closing, not before it. Across three real deals, a window covering service, a residential cleaning company, and a finance brokerage, the obstacles were lawyers, lender...
June 11, 2026
Acquisition StoriesBuying a Business Without an SBA Loan: A $1.5M Deal
Buying a business without an SBA loan is hard, but Justus Luttig closed two HVAC and plumbing companies generating $1.5 million in EBITDA at a 5x multiple, with no bank debt at all. Here is how he financed it, what block...
June 11, 2026
Deal AnalysisBuying a Demolition Company: Licensing and SBA Loan Risks
Buying a demolition company sounds simple until the license will not transfer. This Northern California environmental abatement and structural demolition business posts $10 million in revenue and $1 million in seller's d...
June 11, 2026
Acquisition StoriesBuying a Small Declining MSP: $300k SDE Deal Breakdown
Buying a small declining business scares most searchers off, but Brendan Duebner bought IT Total Care anyway: $1.15 million in revenue, four employees, an absentee owner, and about $300,000 in SDE for a $615,000 price. O...
June 11, 2026
Acquisition StoriesBuying a $20M Business as a First-Time Owner: Deal Breakdown
At 57, Alan left a 20-year corporate career to buy a $20 million home healthcare and hospice business. He structured it with seller notes and outside equity, and learned that trust with the seller mattered more than any ...
June 11, 2026
Acquisition StoriesSeller Note Deal Structure: A $250k SDE Case Study
Alicia Powers bought a 32-year-old general contractor for $750,000 at a 3x SDE multiple, with 80% as a seller note that did not come due for 18 months. This case study breaks down how a first-time buyer deferred the fina...
June 11, 2026
Deal AnalysisIndustrial Automation Business for Sale: $656K SDE Review
An industrial automation business for sale in Riverside, California, is asking $2.6 million on $656,000 of stated cash flow. Operating since 1985, it builds custom and standard product handling equipment for niche manufa...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessDo Interest Rates Matter When Buying a Business? Guide
Interest rates barely move Main Street business prices. Mike Finger argues that for most small businesses, valuation multiples stay near 2 to 2.5 times SDE whether rates sit at 3% or 7%. This guide explains where rates a...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessStart, Buy, or Franchise a Business: How to Decide
Choosing to start, buy, or franchise a business is a decade-shaping decision, and most people pick the wrong path for the wrong reasons. This guide walks through mindset, cash readiness, and the due diligence that tells ...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessWhen to Sell, Close, or Stay In a Business: Exit Guide
A business exit has three real paths: sell to a buyer, close and sell off assets, or stay on and hire a manager. The hard fact is that 80% of small businesses listed for sale never sell. This guide shows how to value wha...
June 11, 2026
Deal AnalysisIs 3x SDE a Good Deal for a Recruiting Firm?
A niche executive search firm is asking $1.135 million, about 3x SDE on $365,000 of annual cash flow and $1.2 million in revenue. The deal exposes the core tension in professional services: you buy people and relationshi...
June 11, 2026
Acquisition StoriesSearch Fund to PE Fund: Joe Wechsler's Buyer Playbook
Joe Wechsler left consulting in 2019 with about $600,000 in cash and a million-dollar net worth, not knowing what a search fund was. Seven years later he had bought four companies and helped launch a private equity firm....
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessBusiness Buying Tools: 4 Ways to Avoid Bad Deals Fast
Business buying tools keep first-time buyers from sinking months into deals that never close. Acquisition coach David Barnett built four after an Austin mastermind: a triage guide, a broker playbook, a capital intensity ...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessCapex Trap: The Costliest Mistake Business Buyers Make
Capex is the costliest mistake most business buyers make. A business can look profitable on paper, then hit you with a $50,000 equipment bill within two years. This guide shows how to spot the depreciation trap and run y...
June 11, 2026
Buying a BusinessBuying a Business: 40 Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Buying a business is one of the largest financial decisions you will make, and the gap between what you think matters and what actually matters can cost you six figures. This guide walks through the 40 questions buyers a...
June 11, 2026