Learn How to Buy & Own Businesses

Acquiring Minds is a media platform all about buying, owning, and operating small businesses.

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Upcoming Webinars

May 1
Thursday
Thursday
May 1, 2025
Anatomy of a Franchise Holdco
Acquisition entrepreneurship & franchising complement each other well, especially if your goal is building a portfolio.
With
Connor Groce
Register Here
May 22
Thursday
Thursday
May 22, 2025
Use an SBA Loan to Start a Roll-Up
Traditionally, roll-up strategies require large quantities of equity to get going. SBA loans may offer an alternative.
With
Heather Endresen, Brian Boland
Register Here

Webinar Recordings

Apr 23
2025
Wednesday
Apr 23, 2025
Should You Buy a Business? A Live Panel with Lab Members
Live reflections — good & bad — from entrepreneurs on the path: a panel with Acquisition Lab members who’ve acquired.
With
Chelsea Wood
Watch Recording
Apr 17
2025
Thursday
Apr 17, 2025
Licenses & Regulatory Issues in Acquisitions
Buying a business that requires licenses or is subject to regulation can be daunting. But it can be a great opportunity.
With
Bill Barlow, James David Williams
Watch Recording
Apr 11
2025
Friday
Apr 11, 2025
5 Stages of the Business Buying Process, 3rd Run
There are many moving pieces in an acquisition. Heather will show you how to fit them all together to close your deal.
With
Heather Endresen
Watch Recording

The Podcast

Apr 24
2025
Thursday
Apr 24, 2025
How to Build a Niche Holdco with $2m in Earnings
In 2019, Matt Kopp bought a supplier to elementary schools with $350k SDE. 6 years later, he has a portfolio of them.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Matt Kopp
Apr 21
2025
Monday
Apr 21, 2025
Hiding in Plain Sight on BizBuySell: $800k SDE for 2x
Joe Ziolkowski found the deal of a lifetime — a $10m manufacturing business — by expanding his filters on BizBuySell.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Joe Ziolkowski
Apr 17
2025
Thursday
Apr 17, 2025
How to Build a $100m Holdco: The Power of ESOPs
With 300 employees across 5 companies, the holdco that Chris Fredericks is building has an uncommon feature at its core.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Chris Fredericks
Apr 14
2025
Monday
Apr 14, 2025
How to Reinvent a $1m Candle Manufacturer
Adam Goldberg had to adapt his corporate approach after buying a nearly-closed manufacturer whose sales were down 80%.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Adam Goldberg
Apr 10
2025
Thursday
Apr 10, 2025
Stars Align After 4 Broken Deals
Keegan Dum wound down his search fund after 2 years without a deal, but he went on to acquire & create a great outcome.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Keegan Dum
Apr 7
2025
Monday
Apr 7, 2025
When Buying a Retail Business Makes Sense
Ken Eyjolfson looked at tons of businesses before deciding on a mattress outlet with $500k SDE and 700 5-star reviews.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Ken Eyjolfson
Apr 3
2025
Thursday
Apr 3, 2025
FedEx & Fencing: A Pivot into Ownership
After his foray into SMB ownership went well with FedEx routes, Matt O'Brien bought & doubled a $2.5m fencing business.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Matt O'Brien
Mar 31
2025
Monday
Mar 31, 2025
Why Buy a Travel Agency (Because They Can Crush It)
You thought the internet killed them off, but the travel agency Jared Benoff bought does $1m SDE by dominating a niche.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Jared Benoff
Mar 27
2025
Thursday
Mar 27, 2025
Deciding to Start, Not Buy, a Small Business
Initially drawn to buying a business, Kevin Moyer instead decided to start a project-based blue collar business instead.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Kevin Moyer
Mar 24
2025
Monday
Mar 24, 2025
How to Buy a Multinational
Seeking a fit with his industrials experience, Adam Salmen bought an 8-figure business with locations around the world.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Adam Salmen
Mar 20
2025
Thursday
Mar 20, 2025
Lessons from 24 Acquisition Nightmares
After his acquisition failed, Jed Morris connected with dozens of others who'd experienced the same. There are patterns.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Jed Morris
Mar 17
2025
Monday
Mar 17, 2025
From Tech Sales to Forklift Repair
Recently laid off and a baby on the way, Shaugn Lindley pivoted into SMB ownership by buying a business with $550k SDE.
Register for the live Q&A with
on
Shaugn Lindley

Sneak Peak: Upcoming Episodes

28
Apr 2025
Monday
Apr 28, 2025
21 Months to Stability Buying a $1.2m SDE Business
Jan Roll bought a $6m residential contractor, a harrowing experience he calls one giant ambiguous ball of figure-it-out.
Jan Roll
01
May 2025
Thursday
May 1, 2025
Buying a Remote, 20-Year-Old Business with $900k of SDE
Dan Angel knew he wanted to buy this B2B travel company with $3m top line. But the sale would shock the key number-two.
Dan Angel
05
May 2025
Monday
May 5, 2025
Turning a $250k Investment into $7m+
Marvin Karlow & his partner bought a powder-coating business with $500k in equity. 8 years later, they sold it for $21m.
Marvin Karlow
08
May 2025
Thursday
May 8, 2025
How to Recover from a Fraudulent Seller
Jason Jackson thought he bought a $1.5m SDE dental practice. In fact, the business was losing money & engaging in fraud.
Jason Jackson
12
May 2025
Monday
May 12, 2025
How 1 Couple Bought 2 Businesses
The original plan was for Lindsay Buckheit to buy a business. As husband Kevin Black got involved, that plan evolved.
Lindsay Buckheit & Kevin Black
15
May 2025
Thursday
May 15, 2025
How to Use an SBA Loan to Roll Up from $6m to $140m
Michael Davidov bought a home care agency with an SBA loan. 6 years later, he's grown & acquired to $140m in revenue.
Michael Davidov

Why Entrepreneurship
Through Acquisition?

The riskiest time for a new business is the startup phase.

You’ve got no product, no revenue, no staff, no reputation. It can take years for a business to build those things, if it survives at all.

Now imagine an alternative scenario, where the risk and toil of those early years have passed. Where there are already paying customers, and people & processes in place to serve those customers.

A website with traffic, a phone that rings. The flywheel is already going.

That’s what it means to acquire an existing business. Your job is to improve and grow it, not breathe life into it.

For many entrepreneurs, this is a better fit. Better suited to their skills or station in life. More rewarding, more lucrative, even more fun.

What’s more, there are many trends in your favor.

An entire generation of retiring business owners are looking for an exit. Their businesses are established, sometimes decades old, and yet there is no successor to take the reins. Oftentimes when they finally do retire, they just turn off the lights, pull the door closed, and shut down the business.

What a waste.

Meanwhile, it’s easier than ever to start a business online, from FBA to Shopify stores to courses to affiliate blogs. Which means millions of people start online side hustles, only to lose interest or shift priorities.

In the right hands, these neglected businesses can not only survive but thrive.

And unlike getting a bank loan for a startup (near impossible), banks routinely lend to entrepreneurs who want to buy a profitable small business.

Which means you can finance an acquisition, then pay down the debt with the profits of the business itself.

Many people think “buying a business” is just for the wealthy, or private equity.

Not so.

Thousands of normal individuals acquire a business every year. This site tells their stories.

Not to say that it’s easy.

While buying a business can be a path to wealth, you will not get rich quick. It’s still entrepreneurship, with all the hard work and persistence that entails.

It’s just a different kind of entrepreneurship, one that is overlooked by a media fixated on billionaires and unicorns.

But one that offers the same rewards and professional fulfillment.

Acquiring Minds will open your mind to the possibilities.

FAQ

What type of person acquires a business?
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There are so many that it’s hard to generalize.

But here are a few examples:

You have entrepreneurial energy but you don’t have an idea to pursue.

You’re a mid-career employee looking to pivot into being a business owner. You’re ready to take control of your own destiny but don’t have the years or financial resources to start a business from zero.

You have deep industry expertise that could be applied a small business in that industry to make it grow.

You have a specialized skill set — online marketing for example — that could be applied to a small business that is weak in that area.

You’re interested in a space, like e-commerce or manufacturing, and want to accelerate your education and participation in that space.

You weren’t looking to buy a business but an attractive opportunity has presented itself.

You already have a business but want to acquire another one in order to grow.

You want to build a portfolio of profitable businesses as a path to wealth.

Isn’t buying a business just “buying a job”?
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For many people, yes, they do operate the business that they acquire. You’d call such a business buyer an owner-operator.

This isn’t a bad thing.

Most owner-operators acquired the business precisely because they wanted to actively improve and grow it. They may intend to later reduce their personal activity in the business, or they may continue operating it indefinitely. Or, they may themselves sell the business after growing it over a few years.

Regardless, they’ve realized their entrepreneurial aspirations and become their own boss.

People who want to acquire a business but not operate it are investors. This is a different acquisition strategy, but one that can be extremely rewarding as well. (Just ask Warren Buffet.)

Do I need expertise in the industry of the company I acquire?
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Usually people have some related experience, but not always.

In that case, you should at least have a strong commitment to, and preferably a genuine interest in, learning the industry of the company you acquire.

You should not buy a business in an industry where you have no knowledge nor any interest in gaining it.

Can I buy a business with no money down?
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Yes, it is possible. But “no money down” deals are not the norm and you should be wary of gurus promising that they’re easy to find.

That said, there are a variety of ways a “no money down” situation could occur.

The most common is a 100% seller-financed deal. That is, the current owner of the business sells it to you for $500k (for example) over a 5-year term. You pay $100k per year out of the profits of the business. At the end of 5 years you own the business outright, having put zero of your own money at risk.

This example is an oversimplification, but it does give you a sense of what's possible. Deals like this do happen with some frequency.

More often, however, a deal will be partially seller financed. So in our above example, you might have to pay $150k up front, then the remaining $350k over 5 years.