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

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Webinar Recordings

Aug 21
2025
Thursday
Aug 21, 2025
Overcoming Common Deal Sticking Points
Learn how to overcome SMB deal sticking points related to due diligence findings, working capital, noncompetes, and more
With
William Barlow, James David Williams
Watch Recording
Aug 7
2025
Thursday
Aug 7, 2025
The "Plant Your Flag" Strategy: Build an Empire with ETA + Franchising
Learn how to enter a franchise system in order to execute a programmatic acquisition strategy once you're on the inside.
With
Connor Groce
Watch Recording
Jul 24
2025
Thursday
Jul 24, 2025
Working Capital for SMB Acquisitions
Learn to account for working capital in your deal and avoid one of the trickiest pitfalls for first-time business buyers
With
Heather Endresen, Chris Williamson
Watch Recording

The Podcast

Aug 28
2025
Thursday
Aug 28, 2025
$2 Million of Fun: Big Margins in Play Centers
Despite tight search criteria, Daniel Batista found a business that excited him. The eye-popping margins were a bonus.
Daniel Batista
Aug 25
2025
Monday
Aug 25, 2025
Stacking Small Acquisitions to $5m in Revenue
Kyle Boyden & Jake Furfaro bought tiny cleaning companies, five times. While painful, it taught them ops & integration.
Kyle Boyden and Jake Furfaro
Aug 21
2025
Thursday
Aug 21, 2025
4th Time's the Charm: 3 Broken Deals to Buy a Great Business
Bryan Houck was fatigued of his search and broken deal costs when he finally closed on an award-winning creative agency.
Bryan Houck
Aug 18
2025
Monday
Aug 18, 2025
Buying and Building a Xerox Dealer to $30m
Jeff Horn left a lucrative path to buy a $5m copier sales and service firm. 5 years later he exited for a great return.
Jeff Horn
Aug 14
2025
Thursday
Aug 14, 2025
A Searcher’s Second Act: Building a $25m Holdco
After success as a traditional searcher, Eric Calderon started building an industry-focused holding company in 2020.
Eric Calderon
Aug 11
2025
Monday
Aug 11, 2025
2 Years to $40m: The Anatomy of a High-Velocity Roll-up
When Luis Reyes bought a small fire safety business, he saw an opportunity. 24 acquisitions later, he's at $8m EBITDA.
Luis Reyes
Aug 7
2025
Thursday
Aug 7, 2025
From 16 Years in Corporate to a $1m SDE Acquisition
After years of corporate success, Jesus Wong yearned for something else. When he discovered ETA, he knew he'd found it.
Jesus Wong
Aug 4
2025
Monday
Aug 4, 2025
Building a $25m FedEx Route Empire from $100k Equity
Avery Tomek bought his first little $1m FedEx route with an SBA loan. 3 years later, he has 240 trucks and $600k weeks.
Avery Tomek
Jul 31
2025
Thursday
Jul 31, 2025
Buying a $200m Franchisor (Not Units, the Whole System)
Tyler & Zach Gordon's search for an overlooked industry with good prospects led to a franchise system of thrift stores.
Tyler and Zach Gordon
Jul 28
2025
Monday
Jul 28, 2025
A $10m Acquisition for Freedom and Family
Anica John bought a print-on-demand business to have more time with her kids without compromising her career ambitions.
Anica John
Jul 24
2025
Thursday
Jul 24, 2025
You’ve Been Served: Buying a $1.3m Process-Serving Company
At a low point in life, Raj Kankaria was served papers. But he liked the business and bought a process-serving company.
Raj Kankaria
Jul 21
2025
Monday
Jul 21, 2025
One Year, 3x Revenue, and a Clear Path to $15M
Enrique Rodriguez bought a project-based construction business (gasp) with $1.4m in revenue. One year later it's at $4m.
Enrique Rodriguez

Sneak Peak: Upcoming Episodes

28
Aug 2025
Thursday
Aug 28, 2025
$2 Million of Fun: Big Margins in Play Centers
Despite tight search criteria, Daniel Batista found a business that excited him. The eye-popping margins were a bonus.
Daniel Batista
01
Sep 2025
Monday
Sep 1, 2025
The Joy & Pain of Buying a Tech Business
Felipe Corcuera bought an automation company that didn't offer AI. Since ChatGPT was released, he has had to adapt.
Felipe Corcuera
04
Sep 2025
Thursday
Sep 4, 2025
A Few Hours Per Week, a Few States Away
Brett Maxam bought a concrete business with high 6 figures of earnings. Despite being a plane ride away, it's gone well.
Brett Maxam
08
Sep 2025
Monday
Sep 8, 2025
Hiring a CEO to Run Things (and Get Life Back)
Jeremy Hunka bought a $2m cabinet business, and year one consumed him. Leadership had to evolve for things to improve.
Jeremy Hunka

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.