here are 2 key themes in today's interview with Alex Glasner.

The first is:

The impossibility of really knowing what the business you buy is like until you actually buy it.

Here's my favorite line in the interview, from Alex: ”The key issue is, as a searcher…you think, ‘I've done my due diligence, I know everything there is to know, and these are the 30 changes I'm going to make.’

[But] you come to the business and you realize, this business is not the business that you thought you bought.”

So, a big challenge of this adventure of buying a business is your vision making contact with reality.

You need to be prepared for a period of reconciliation between the two.

The second theme from Alex:

Becoming a leader. Like Alex, many entrepreneurs buying a small business don't have much, maybe any, leadership experience.

So, you're going from being a searcher, working probably alone, negotiating a deal over Zoom, to head of an organization with 10, 40, or in Alex's case, 140 people.

In a flash, all eyes are on you.

This is not only intimidating, but it also requires a skill.

And we spend time today talking about how Alex is learning that skill as he goes, including letting go of wanting to be liked.(I can relate.)

It's always fun to catch up with the dynamic, fast-talking Alex Glasner, owner and co-managing director of Workpays. 👇👇👇