Host: Today's guest was already a successful small business owner when she bought the subject of our interview. Brittany Orellano and her husband had founded a property management and real estate brokerage business and grown it to $1 million in revenue over 10 years. They got it to the point where they could almost totally step out of it and still have it generate north of $300,000 per year in earnings for them. And then they didn't know what to do. They spent a couple years trying to figure it out, looking for the next thing. One day Brittany hears Cody Sanchez, the queen of buying boring businesses, on a podcast. Brittany's path forward crystallizes in an instant. Here again we have an example of one of my favorite themes. The realization that you can buy a business unlocks a world of possibility. Brittany ran after it and today we hear that story. But do listen for how it's gone. Even for Brittany and her husband, who were already immersed in small business, who had listened to the podcasts, who knew it would be difficult, this first year has been very hard working capital challenges, employee turnover and retention. These are not unfamiliar themes on Acquiring Minds and ones you will continue to hear as we strive to show both the ecstasy and and sometimes agony of this exciting path. Please enjoy my interview with Brittany Orellano, owner of radio Controlled Garage Door and Gate Announcements. Four awesome webinars coming up. Two this week, two next. You can register for each of these in today's show notes or right on the Acquiring Minds homepage. Acquiringminds co today, Thursday, September 19th due diligence office Hours Max Lummis and his team at LCS return for a live session devoted to answering your questions on all things related to the process of due diligence. You'll recognize Max's name. He is my partner in Mind's Capital and his company lcs is a forensic accounting firm that does the quality of earnings for dozens of search acquisitions every year. So come get your due diligence questions answered by one of the most active diligence teams in the search ecosystem. Today, Thursday, September 19th noon Eastern. Then tomorrow, Friday, September 20th, searcher now owner Costub Dio is hosting a session on how much you should budget for a self funded search. Kostub left private equity to do his own self funded search which culminated in his acquisition of a tree services business in his hometown of Seattle. And he's going to break down exactly all the costs involved in the actual searching part of buying a business using the self funded model. You probably have a vague sense that it is expensive. Well, Costub is going to explain it in granular detail and give you some hard numbers around all those costs. That is tomorrow, Friday, September 20th, noon Eastern. Then next week, Thursday, September 26th, attorneys James David Williams and Bill Barlow, whose entire practice is devoted to business acquisition, return for legal office hours. This month's topic is deal structure. Bill and James David will go over some basics like asset versus Stock deals, but they'll also be bringing along a tax expert to go over F reorgs, QSBs, S Corps versus partnerships and other topics that they frequently get asked about by searchers. So come with your tax questions this month. That is next Thursday, September 26th, noon Eastern. And finally next Friday, September 27th. Searcher Dave Lewis, who bought a blue collar business, recently hired an operator to take over, allowing him to step out of the business. As you know, this is a major step, a highly desirable step in any searcher's journey and Dave is going to walk us through how he recruited, hired and trained this operator to replace himself. That is next Friday, September 27, noon Eastern. Register for any of these awesome webinars in today's show notes or right on the Acquiring Minds homepage. Acquiringminds Co. Hope to see you at one, if not all four of these awesome webinars that we have coming, starting with today's at noon and continuing on through next week. Four from today through next Friday. Hope to see you there. Welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses. My name is Will Smith. Acquiring an existing business is an awesome opportunity for many entrepreneurs and on this podcast I talk to the people who do it. A PEO run by a searcher for Searchers if you're running a company with less than 100 employees and providing health insurance to them, you may secure better benefit plans at a 15 to 30% discount through a professional employer organization or PEO. Aspen HR run by search Fund veteran Mark Sinatra, understands the needs of search operators and provides HR compliance, flawless payroll, HR due diligence support for your acquisition and Fortune 500 caliber benefits, all for a fraction of the cost. And tis the season to evaluate your employee benefit plan. Most new clients reach out to Aspen 90 days before year end or their renewal date. So before they get slammed, check out aspenhr.com or contact Mark directly@markspenhr.com Also, Aspen HR is proud to sponsor a discount for the Self funded search conference September 13th through 15th in Dallas, Texas. Tickets are selling at self fundedsearchconference.com use discount code aspen24. That's aspen24 self fundedsearchconference.com Brittany Orlano, welcome to Acquiring Minds.

[6:58] Guest: Thank you.

Host: Brittany, you started your journey to buying a business as a zero to one small business entrepreneur. You and your husband had founded a property management business and built it to a million dollars in annual revenue over 10 hard years. Deciding where to take your careers and business after that was proving to be a challenge until you discovered that you could buy other existing businesses. So today you're just over a year into your first acquisition and that's what we're here to talk about. Start us off with a little bit more background on you, please, Brittany.

Guest: Yes, that's exactly right. We started the property management company at the very end of 2013 and just like you described, kind of scratched and clawed our way through, definitely through the first few years. We had three little ones and not a lot of funding to get started. And so it was kind of the quintessential bootstrapped. Every dollar we make is going back into the business and then we try to pay ourselves when we can type of deal. So that was really the first five years of business ownership of. We wish we knew another way because this is grueling and difficult and hard. But then I would say that's when we kind of the tide started to shift. We had grown a portfolio, got a better understanding of business ownership in and of itself and kind of learned more about organization and process and really just forced us to become better business owners because we were doing so much ourselves. So, um, and then I would say then the next big shift for us was around that eight year mark. Um, that's when we really had built our business to being as self operating as we felt was possible with its current size. Um, and so we really were debating about next steps. Um, we had considered, considered bringing on like a, oh, like a director of operations or some type of something just to kind of completely fully remove ourselves and someone to push us toward higher goals. Uh, but we ultimately decided that, you know, whatever it was, we just were looking for something else to pursue.

[9:18] Host: Okay, well, you were looking for a director of operations because so you could step further out of the business. I mean, to what degree had you and had you and your husband been able to, if at all, step out of the business?

Guest: Yeah, so we were both working probably less than five hours a week, maybe five hours a week combined at that point. So the director of operations was less about taking things off of our plate, although it would do that. It was more about someone who could see what it took to go to the next level and could kind of drive us there without us having to be heavily involved to be the drivers.

Host: Oh, oh, okay. And as I recall, you were also fielding calls from potential acquirers of your business.

Guest: Yes, yeah, that's exactly right. So that's when we kind of started learning about acquisition. Was we there in the industry? There was kind of like a massive conglomerate, like consolidation happening with roll ups and really big firms were kind of eating up, gobbling up all the mom and pops that they could nationally. So at that time, it was kind of the height of getting those phone calls and people who were either trying to enter the market or expand their presence into a market. Our experience was, you know, we really. I felt that I knew what a business buyer was at that point. And so what I had seen was just really well funded, you know, kind of these massive funds kind of, it felt like limitless capital to pursue this goal of, of growing out property management. And so in my mind, that's kind of what I categorize is like, those are the people that built buy businesses. They don't. They're not us. So it wasn't until I heard a podcast with. It was actually a personal finance podcast, but Cody Sanchez was on there and she was just awesome and got my attention immediately and was really talking about Main street, not Wall street and everything. I was picking up everything that she was putting down. It really lit a fire in me and kind of expanded my mind of like, yes, this is what we have been looking for and we too can get in the game. There's all different levels.

Host: Fantastic. Now a couple follow up questions. So I. Well, you, you did not sell the property management business, I take it correct? Why not?

Guest: I initially had wanted to, but my husband, you know, I came home from that. I was at the gym when I heard the podcast. I came home from that, nearly kicked the door down and was like, I got it. Like, I know what our thing's going to be. I know what we should do. We've got to buy a business. And so it was really a dramatic, like, I'm doing it with or without you, but I'm going to do this thing type of deal. Because that's just how I am when I get motivated about anything is like, I can only see that direction. So I was like, all right, let's sell the business for people who want to buy it. Like reset, you know, this is stage two of life. This is what we're doing. And my husband wisely was like, let's pump the brakes, you know, let's make more of a Like calculated decision here than just like doing it by sure grit, which is how we've done everything in our lives to this point. So, so he said, you know, let's use the income from that business that we're getting because we're so lightly involved to kind of help fund this new venture, essentially.

[12:49] Host: I see, but selling the business would have given you even more capital to go out and buy another business.

Guest: Yes, but his viewpoint was we were so lightly involved and we were making, you know, what we felt was good enough income that there was no why for him. Like no big driver beyond, you know, like you said, more liquid capital. But it kind of felt like a safety net of this whole thing doesn't go as planned. We still got this, this paycheck coming in.

Host: Yeah, well, I think it really gets to something that you now hear talked about more commonly, although it's taken a while to get there, which is the appeal of cash flow. So many entrepreneurs, particularly with a tech bias, are building, building, building towards some big liquidity event toward an exit. And cash flow has never been something that's been that prioritized, at least in, in that world. Now it is in that world. And of course people like Cody Sanchez, this podcast, others are talking about in just kind of the return to blue collar businesses, the, the, the increased interest in small business and those are cash flowing assets. And, and, and so the appeal of having something that is enduringly profitable and throws off cash versus selling it and just looking for that exit, I think you guys felt, and you were right on trend because that, that seems to be where people are these days. Not that that's why you were doing.

Guest: Little did we know, it's probably comes from our real estate background because cash flow is all anyone ever talks about in an investment. So I don't know if that's what's attributed to, but that's probably, that's what we're always looking at is, you know, this is cash flowing. It's a self managing almost investment. So I feel like that was just kind of second nature to us to, to, to think that way and why

Host: not invest your newfound time and now that you actually have this cash flow in, back into that business and grow it from 1 million to 2, 5 and beyond.

Guest: That's a great question we had. There's actually a podcast for property managers called like 300 to 3,000 that I had listened to and there were other people in the industry who were double, triple, quadruple our size, who I kind of walked through that process with of what Would it mean to do this right now? It's a business that we can kind of wrap our arms around. It's definitely a lifestyle business. We're can. We're happy, we're content with the income that we're making. You know, what would the path look like to try to double this? And we felt like overwhelming. The feedback was it would require a considerable more amount of time of ours and that we would have to really dive back in and be passionate about the business itself and doing what it took to get to the next level by kind of rolling our sleeves up and getting back into roles that we really hadn't participated in for a few years. And for us, I don't know if it's entrepreneurial. I don't know what it is, but just the thought of doing more of the same, it just didn't, like, spark anything in us. We just couldn't get excited about it. We felt like we. We had gotten this gift of having so much time that we wanted to use that time to kind of invest in other things. We're both naturally kind of like builders, creators. That's what excites us. That's what gets us jazzed up. And so the thought of building and creating kind of in the same structure, I think just kind of felt like, just doesn't. It's not that exciting for the amount of work it would take.

[16:27] Host: And I also. You had also mentioned to me offline that there was a period between, before hearing about hearing Cody's message, Cody Sanchez's message, buying boring businesses, and after deciding that you guys were looking for your next thing, there was a period in there where you were looking for your next thing, casting about, trying to figure out what that was going to be. And I guess that's why when you heard Cody, part of the reason probably you were so receptive to it was because you were actively looking for a path. What else had you considered or tried?

Guest: Pretty much anything. We have. Yeah, we. We were just. I think we're both open to a lot. We both have a. Off the charts risk tolerance, and we both like the challenge. And so. And I think we believe in ourselves enough that we feel like with enough gumption or believing in what we're doing, we're. We're capable, maybe not to the level that everyone else is, but, you know, we feel like if we're excited about something, we trust our. Our ability to figure it out. And so my husband has his garage. He's turned into what is lovingly called Ray's Lounge, which literally Has a bar in it. I mean, it's like moth to a flame when the lights go on. All the neighbor guys come and pile in there normally on like a Thursday night. So it's been that way for years. So a lot of it was just talking to neighbors, like, what are you getting into? What are you doing? Or, you know, I mean, we would have probably gotten excited about just about anything, but we found that very few people are like us, where it's like the idea and then like steam steamrolling toward the idea. A lot of people will talk about it or kind of think about it, but what they have going on is too good to risk. So it was hard for us to kind of really get anything going. We looked at an app development software. I think we both kind of quickly realized we are not those people. Just not our gifting at all. So, yeah, I mean, we were pretty open.

[18:25] Host: Okay. And this, of course is the story here is not about the property management business, but just a little bit to understand you and your husband's.

Guest: Sure.

Host: What, what, what makes you all the way you are the thing that you just said, plowing forward, actually executing rather than just fantasizing about new businesses. The starting. So it sounds like given that you've been in the business for 10 years, you've been growing your property management for 10 years, you're in your late 30s, so you would have started it in your late 20s. So you guys were destined to be entrepreneurs because you started pretty early. This wasn't something where halfway through your career, corporate career, you decided you needed to try something else. You started earlier.

Guest: No, I think, I mean, I can speak for myself. It is run through my veins for as long as I can remember. And even when we were dating, my husband and I, we. We lived in Naples, Florida, which had just gotten. Gotten crushed by a recession. That's where we met. And there were kind of the haves and the have nots. It was like the server level of people and you know, the people who were just rolling in the dough. And so I think I seized an opportunity there. I kind of started like a little nanny business of working for all these different moms. And I just never, ever could place myself in like a 9 to 5 corporate job. I just from a young, I mean, I used to make a newspaper when I was a kid and sell it. I just have always been like, why aren't more people doing this? Like, there's so many ways to get out and try to make money, you know. So I think it just to answer your Question. Yeah. I never have never sought a corporate career. There have been times where I'm like, why can't we be normal? Why aren't we, like, the people who, now that we're seeing in their 40s, who have worked their way up the corporate ladder, and that seems like a really comfy, cozy life? So, I mean, there are times where I'm like, I wish one of us was. Was what I would consider more normal. And then for my husband, I think he's just, like I said, off the charts risk tolerance. And so he's kind of just down for whatever. So it'd be more like, I have the idea. And he's like, yeah, let's go for it. Let's try it. What? Why not?

Host: So great. I love how abnormal you are. How weird.

Guest: Okay, maybe not to your listeners. To other people that I. Yeah, in the. In the Midwest, I'm an anomaly, I guess. Yeah.

Host: An SBA loan broker, as opposed to a direct lender, doesn't work for a particular bank. Instead, the broker pairs you with the right SBA lender for your deal, based on industry terms, risk thresholds, then helps you navigate the process better than many lenders themselves do. Matthias Smith of Pioneer Capital Advisory is just such a broker. Matthias worked at two of the country's top 10 SBA lenders. So he's been on the inside of the SBA process and knows well the pitfalls and hurdles and how to avoid them. He struck out on his own to laser focus on the ETA and search space. Our niche is his niche. You'll see Mathias at all the ETA conferences. He's closed over 30 search deals since starting Pioneer in May of 2022, including some acquiring Minds guests. To learn more and get in touch, go to PioneerCapitalAdvisory.com or. Or click the link in the notes to the property management business. So it was doing a million dollars a year.

[21:56] Guest: Ish.

Host: Can you tell us what that meant? You and husband were taking home, were earning.

Guest: We were taking about 350.

Host: Okay, 350. And that had gone on for some years. So I. So really the question is, what did your balance sheet look like when you decided to buy a business? And we're going to go right back to that in a second. Roughly how much cash had you saved or did you have available to you to put toward your business acquisition? So you're bringing it or you're bringing home 350 a year?

Guest: Yeah.

Host: But given. I don't know how long you've been doing that. So how much money did you have

Guest: to put toward your business acquisition like 75 to 100.

Host: Okay, all right.

Guest: Yeah.

Host: Well, 350 a year is a lot, but 75 to 100 is, is not a huge amount to devote to an acquisition now. Yeah, okay, okay, great. And then property management. Let's just dwell here one more quick minute. That is a category that not only was interesting to these, this big roll up that you were getting interest from, but also down here in search land, individual searchers are interested in this as a, that as a industry and category. Well, it's got, it's got recurring revenue, it's often B2B, not always. And it's a needed service, it's ubiquitous, it's very fragmented. Do you think it's a good place for a searcher to explore buying a business?

Guest: As far as advice to people who are looking to get into it, this is probably obvious, but I would say get a consultant, get someone who has done it, because it is not something that I would dive into without someone who is in the know. So I would say definitely speak to an industry veteran, which, you know, one year in property management they say is like, you know, dog years. Because it just, especially if you're doing a lot yourself, it's just a lot to a balancing act. I think it worked well for us because my husband is very much like the art of the deal. He brokering unhappy people to kind of get aligned on the same path is something that is a gift of his. He has a lot of good soft skills. So I would say don't get into it. If you are exclusively like me, who I'm like, this is a process. I'm very regimented. Like down the line you have to have a little finesse, you have to have excellent soft skills. Because a lot of times you're in a situation where maybe a vendor, a resident and an owner is not happy. And none of them like a win win solution. They all want to win independently. And so getting them to get aligned is. It's an art in and of itself. So. And then I would just say about the subscriptions, about the fees, there's. It's such an amazing business and there's so much to be done and there's a lot of really cool stuff that people are still rolling out. That's exciting. But I don't think it's something. And this is coming from a lady who did it that I would just dive into without a ton of guidance.

[25:02] Host: Okay, great. Thank you for that, Brittany. All right, now let's return to your Story of buying the business that you did, you come home and kick down the door after hearing Cody Sanchez and, and decide to go after it. What do you think it was that resonated so hard with you about this? Having explored other paths and talked to all your neighbors about what they were up to. Why, why buying boring businesses a la Cody Sanchez? Why was that the thing that turns you on?

Guest: Because I think especially like I said, after trying an app, a software and realizing that is not us, I'm like, this is us, like service industry. I mean in property management, you are everything from maintenance to plumbing to, you know, garage doors. The therapists, like you're everything. And so I felt like this really tied into our know how as far as this, you know, diagnosing how significant a problem is. And you know, I don't know, I guess to me it just felt like we can do this, we got this. Like we, we should be capable with the experience that we have.

Host: Okay, tell me what it looked like when you, when you turned your attention to this project. How did you start searching? You've already told us that you basically had 75 to $100,000 in cash to put toward this kind of fill out the picture of what your search looked like.

Guest: It was aggressive. I, I just was so excited about it. So being in the real estate industry and the property management industry, we fortunately have access to just a lot of really cool people who are a lot of different types of business owners. So a lot of it started just kind of speaking to vendors we use, which was kind of an awkward dance, but being like, if you ever consider selling, you know, if it was maybe a plumber at H vac, just, you know, like, I'm your girl, I would love to talk to you about it. So really just worked our existing network and lawyers that we were in relationship with. If you know of anyone buying or selling, let us know. Accountants, pretty much just anyone that would listen, we were like, let us know. So. And then I found out about Biz by Sell. So then I started looking on there, which is where we ultimately found our deal.

[27:17] Host: Okay, were there any. Before you tell us about the deal that you found, were there any Mrs. Or ones that you went after and decided you didn't like or you didn't get or what have you?

Guest: I would say through those kind of channels that I was reaching out to, I did have a few presented to me of like a CPA who said, this person does short term property management. That could be a nice little sister business to you guys for a Minute when we heard about roll ups, we were all in on that because we're like, you may not have to put anything down and you know, it could double the size of our business. And we know how to do this thing, so we really considered that. But yeah, I would say that we just kind of got hit with reality that a lot of service businesses don't have. Like, I think I went into it expecting to find our profit margins and, and kind of how our business was. And I kind of got hit with reality of there's not a ton of businesses that had those same margins.

Host: And what, what are your margins in your property management business?

Guest: Well, is. Property management's not fair because now I'm learning about a business with cogs and everything else. So like our, our gross profits, like you know, over 80% high 80s. And then our, you know, take home what we're making is obviously in the 35, 40 plus. So.

Host: Oh, right, yeah. You said you were taking home 350 on a million dollars, so call it 35%. Yeah, those are some in the bank.

Guest: Yeah.

Host: And leaving some in the bank. And that's all a testament to how dialed in you had built this machine, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, on the one hand, when you find out there that you had maybe you hadn't realized just what a high quality business you and your husband had built. On the other hand, you say to yourself, well, maybe we know the game of property management, but also really, really what we've learned over these last 10 years is how to take a messy small business and operationalize it and make it and do automation where we can. And while that process is painful and messy, there's so much value to be unlocked by doing that. So I wonder if you were almost encouraged to find that so many of the businesses out there for sale were, were, you know, your business circa year four, year five, in terms of how sophisticated they were or not, as the case may be.

Guest: Absolutely. No, I, I definitely was encouraged. Operations is my favorite thing. And so seeing kind of disjointed operations gets me very excited because I'm like, there's so much work to be done here. There's so many things that I actually really enjoy cleaning up and, and systematizing. So that was definitely a draw for us. Mm.

[30:00] Host: And what about size? So you guys, your property management business again, to, to anchor was a million bucks in revenue, $350,000 in earnings, call it. What were, what were you seeing? What were you looking to buy in terms of size for the acquisition?

Guest: I Think initially we were looking for like, kind of a copycat, like, lookalike business. So initially we were like, let's just get something around our size or, you know, hopefully a little bit bigger was kind of our initial indication. We obviously had cash limitations, so we tried to be realistic about that, about getting into a business that would be over our heads as far as what we felt we could comfortably manage financially. So I would say we were looking for in the 1 to 2 or less than 2.

Host: Less than $2 million in revenue.

Guest: Yes.

Host: Okay. All right. Were you bringing the intensity? Did your intensity and excitement for this project sustain itself after that first night of hearing Cody? I mean, were you just. Were you just going after this? Yes.

Guest: Yeah, I. It's just. Well, because that's just how I am. I'm very driven. So, you know, when I get onto something, it's hard to shake me off of it. You know, besides, people I trust or counsel of, people who I know, you know, will be honest with me. But once I have my mindset on something, it's like it's go time. And I think it's evidenced by how quickly. So I heard that podcast in November, and we were under contract by January, so it was a very quick search process.

Host: And tell me more just about the search. Was it just biz by sell? Was it proprietary? What are the mechanics of it look like? And where are you, by the way? What market is this?

Guest: Kansas City.

Host: And so obviously with three kids, I'm in a property management business now.

Guest: We have four.

Host: And now you have four.

Guest: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Host: I'm going to. I'm going to assume it was geographically constrained. You're not moving, right?

Guest: Yeah, no, that's correct. Yeah. We knew we wanted to be within, you know, and again, this is where I do think I probably reined it in is like, at first it was just like I would have moved because that's just how I moved every year growing up. That's not alarming. That doesn't concern me. But again, it's good to have a good partner who will be honest. And he was just like that, you know, I don't think that's the right thing to do to the kids and all that. So I rained. I rained it in. I took his counsel. And so then it became like, okay, where do we actually want to work? We're going to be driving to the office every day. So where. Where would be a good radius? So then we kind of really did it within really like a 20. 20 mile radius.

Host: Okay, so 20 mile radius. In Kansas City. I mean, you go, you look on Biz by Sell, you're. You're going to get through the availability, the available listings pretty quickly. I mean.

Guest: Yes.

Host: So then, then what?

Guest: Well, like I said, we had worked our personal network, but this one was on Biz by Sell. I think it's a blessing that it was originally listed for I think twice the price, if not more. And the listing wasn't super clear because it was actually, we didn't purchase the land, but there was land with it that really ruined the numbers. That once you broke it apart, it was like, okay, you know, this was making a little more sense now. So I ended up being on Biz by Sell. I had seen it hanging out there and then once I saw the price come into more of our wheelhouse is when we reached out.

[33:23] Host: Okay, well, so tell us about this business.

Guest: It's a garage door and gate business. So we do servicing and installation of garage doors as well as gates. Our sweet spot, or like what makes us unique is that we do highly customized projects. So we work with a lot of high end luxury home builders or just higher income clients that live in our area who want a very customized door. So it could be a solid wood door or those full view glass doors, which are really cool, that are modern looking. But we can completely customize it. So if you have a certain like trim theme going on with your house, we do custom trim on the doors or windows or what, really, anything you want. And likewise with the gates, we don't touch fencing at all. But with the gates, we can customize it to really do anything from sliding to swing to, you know, having your family's emblem on it or initials, you know, pretty much any material. So that's, that's what I would say would be unique about us. But other than that, just a standard, you know, service, repair, maintenance.

Host: Okay. And what got you so excited about this particular business? Other than the fact that the price was cut?

Guest: Yeah, I would say that like I, we, like I said, property management's such a wide net where you're doing so much. So I actually loved how honed in this business was on. Even though it's garage doors and gates, it just felt so much easier to conceptualize than like looking at an H Vac company or looking at plumbing where it's like reading Greek. It's like, I don't know if I'll ever be able to understand this. It just felt like a lot, a lot of inventory. This is a low inventory business because there's custom fabrication Happening. So I just felt like, okay, this is something that I think my husband and I are not handy at all. We joke like we couldn't screw in a light bulb. It just doesn't come natural to us. So. But we felt like we could understand the basic mechanics of a garage door in a gate easier than we could some of these other businesses that we were looking at.

Host: Mm. And what about numbers and the nature? This is essentially a construction or project based business, which is something that we're, of course, we learn is something to be careful of, very cyclical, you're only as good as your last sale, etc. So how did you think. So first, share the numbers, if you would, and then second, how you addressed that risk factor?

Guest: Yes, that's a great question. So some of it was by accident. We were told that the developers and the new home builders were a marginalized part of the income, which while it's true, they're almost exclusively all of the install jobs, so they're not really any service jobs. So it's true in that sense. But as far as installations go, that's an area we're looking to develop is like a remove and replace is what we will call it, where it's an existing homeowner who's wanting new to update their garage doors. So numbers of purchase price was just under a million. We put 5% down, 5% seller carry. Then we did SBA financing for 50 and seller financing for 40.

[36:46] Host: And what was when you say, you said seller, seller financing for 40%, but you also said seller carry for 5%. What's the difference between the 40% and the seller carry of 5%?

Guest: Basically that he has to agree. It was our down payment and basically he has to agree to not be paid on that until the other loans are paid.

Host: So it was like a standby kind of note.

Guest: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Host: Okay. And it was. The purchase price was a million dollars. And what can you tell us about the business? How much revenue was it generating? How much, how many, how much earning in earnings was it generating?

Guest: So it generates just under 2 million. The SDE was closer to, I want to say, in the three hundreds.

Host: Okay. So a bigger business in terms of sales than your existing business. But in terms of earnings, it is quite close to your property management business. So it was, it kind of really was what you were looking for. That.

Guest: Yes.

Host: Okay. You had said to me that it was, it was something of a unicorn because going back again to how profitable your property management business was and how you were looking for a Same. Same sort of small business out there and couldn't find it. That this was starting to get in that direction. That it was. That it was more profitable. Was it. Than many of the other businesses you saw. Why was this one so distinct that it got you excited?

Guest: I would say that. I would say also the seller himself, he just felt like a person who had a lot of integrity and was a genuinely good, kind person. Um, and so that was nice going into it. Um, he also. His strengths are. Were our exact opposite weaknesses. Um, so we felt like there was a lot we could learn from him and he seemed open to teaching us. So I think the seller was a big part of it for us. Um, and we just. And his team, the way he described his team and the people he had collected, we just. I guess the people ultimately sold us on it. We just felt really good about who we would be kind of going into this adventure with.

Host: Mm. How many people were in the business?

Guest: Seven.

Host: Okay. How does that compare to your property management business?

[39:02] Guest: There are now four.

Host: Four in the property management business and seven in this business. Okay. And how old was the business and was the seller the founder of the business?

Guest: That's the other thing that we loved about it. The business is 60 years old, so it's been a part of the community for a really long time. And what's really cool about the garage door business is, I don't know if you've ever noticed. I had not. But you have a sticker on your garage door typically, that if it breaks, that's who you're going to call. So we're just in a lot of homes on a lot of stickers. And so that was really exciting for us too, I would say. Also, I had recognized that they weren't really taking advantage of any type of subscription model in any way. And I felt like, coming from property management, that that's something I had really learned how to do. And so I felt that was something I could bring that would kind of immediately bump up the top line.

Host: And what would a subscription look like exactly in this. In this world? Just an annual check or a biannual or. Excuse me, semiannual check.

Guest: Yeah, it could be anything from planned maintenance to the wood doors that we do require annual maintenance to either stain or touch up because they're real wood inside and out. So it could be something like that. There's cool new smart tech that's come out like MyQ on garage door openers and keypads that you can kind of package in their subscription with something that we might offer so ideas for days.

Host: And the fact that it was a project business complete opposite from property management where they're, they're, as you just said, there's. I mean in your case you called it subscription, but we might also just call it recurring revenue. And this business didn't have it at all. And it, and it's going to be kind of like a construction business. Although of course you have the maintenance as well. That was something that you didn't take as you weren't, you didn't run away from that. You were fine with that.

Guest: If it hadn't had the service arm of it, I probably would. But they do a considerable amount of service calls and repairs and so I think that helped. It felt a lot like our current business where we have a real estate brokerage which is like your one time sales that you're chasing kind of. And then we have the property management which is more frequent. So granted it's not a contract, it's not anything like that. But it felt to me very similar to something I could, I could wrap my head around of. You know, you have these kind of big projects and then you have this, this other maintenance type income.

Host: Yeah. And how did that split in terms of the revenue percentages in the business? How much was was project versus this maintenance and service?

Guest: I can't recall now, but I want to say that it was probably 60, 40 with the installs being 60.

Host: Okay. And the service and maintenance that you all will do is anybody's garage door. So not just the fancy ones. Your installs are kind of fancy, high end custom, but your service, anybody with any garage door that has a problem in Kansas City can give you a call and you can fix it.

[42:07] Guest: Exactly. And, and even with the installs, we can do it for anybody. But that's just kind of the market that they had been segmented into that not our previous owner, but two owners ago had just developed a lot of good relationships with excellent local home builders and so he kind of fell into that. But yeah, we would do anybody's garage door also install.

Host: Okay. Two owners ago. Lovely to be. Lovely to find a business that has transacted and lived through multiple owners.

Guest: Yeah.

Host: Tommy Mello, does that name mean anything to you?

Guest: Yes, I immediately learned about him as soon as we close on the business.

Host: Yes, tell the audience who Tommy Mello is.

Guest: Okay. Well, he's like a God to definitely garage door guys, but really any service industry person because he took his business to I want to say around 20, 30 million and then got private Equity involved and has grown it, I think to over 200, 300 million. But what makes him so substantial is that he's a very giving person. So he gives back to his community of like small business, service based business people. He gives back a lot. So he's, he's a hero to the

Host: community and he's very online. So he's got what, a YouTube channel? I mean he's an influencer.

Guest: Absolutely. Yeah.

Host: And the fact that he, where he made his hay was in your business, the garage door business. That must have been an exciting and eye opening because it's. There's always the question of like what. How big a business could this become? I mean how many garage. How, how can I, how rich can I get in the garage door business? Well, it looks like pretty rich at least. Tommy. Tommy.

Guest: Take his path. Yes. No, it was super exciting because I'm an informationaholic. I, you know, binge podcasts and anything I can ever get my hands on when I'm trying to do something new. And so discovering him and that podcast, it was. Yeah, it was great. It was great. I wish it for anybody purchasing a business that they could find someone who has a podcast in the business they're trying to run.

Host: And what is his playbook for getting to? I guess nine figures in revenue. Is it. He must have gone national. Obviously that's not just in, in a region that's got to be all over the country.

Guest: Yes. I mean sales, sales inside the garage, having techs who are upselling in the home and upselling gets a bad rep. But it really just is kind of the. Do you want us to fix this now and you may have to call us back or should we replace the whole thing? So you're not calling us for 10 years. So definitely sales is a really heavy component. And then I would say the subscription, the, the plan, maintenance and garage doors is another really heavy component of it. And he's right now, I believe he's still strictly residential. I think he's going to start doing commercial, but he's very heavily focused on acquisitions currently.

Host: Oh, well, I hope you've raised your hand to introduce yourself to him.

[45:02] Guest: I. Not yet. I need, I need a minute to, to get ready.

Host: Brittany, you, you started to say how quickly this happened. So November 22nd, you hear Cody Sanchez and kick down the door. You're under LOI by January 2023, you

Guest: close when in May, May or end of April.

Host: So call that a 4ish month. 5ish. 5ish start to finish before discovering from discovering ETA entrepreneurship through acquisition to buying a business. And you had, and you had said to me also in the pre call that one of the reasons that you got so intent and serious and committed to your search was not just because of your enthusiasm, but because you kept hearing on podcasts like this one that it takes a long time to search. And you were like, well, so elaborate on that, please.

Guest: Yeah, every podcast I heard, I heard that it was taking sometimes years or months, which was super discouraging to hear, which I get why. Um, I would definitely do. If we do another acquisition, I would, you know, take a little more time probably. Um, but yeah, so I just felt like if this is something we want to happen in a year, best case scenario, then we have got to really go hard and be planting the seeds so that hopefully something sprouts, you know, sooner than later.

Host: A prediction now that you are in the game and have bought a business and already we're part of the community with your other small business, the property management business, and the fact that you were putting out feelers and letting Your attorneys and CPAs there in Kansas City know you probably will be approached. I wouldn't be surprised if you will be approached for deals because you've demonstrated, you now own two local businesses and you've demonstrated your ability to buy a business that you're going to do this. So I could see deal flow coming your way.

Guest: Okay, you know, I'll take it. Okay.

Host: All right, so tell us about, in fact, what, what this business is like on the inside. What was the transition of ownership like?

Guest: The transition was rough. It. I definitely went in with rose colored glasses and, you know, just like, I don't know, pixie dust and like, this is going to be wonderful. And this seller's so great. Like, what. What could go wrong? Essentially, I felt like I was prepared for what could go wrong, but I just don't think you understand until you're in it. Also, a couple things didn't really go according to plan. At closing, the owner was renovating a sixplex to turn into what is now our office, but that wasn't ready when we closed. And so we ended up our first day going into a rental house and like, not a great area was what he was officing out of. Um, and then just immediately, like, you know, here I am talking about how much I love messy operations, but I think getting hit with it and everyone's kind of looking to you to be like, all right, tough guy, what's next? You know, like, you gave us this because we tried to let the guys know our history when we first started and you know, what we were excited about doing in the business. And so then it's just kind of all eyes on you to prove it, to kind of put your money where your mouth is. And so I think I underestimated the difference of growing a business with a team where we're attracting people who are like minded, who are. We're vision casting what's important to us, and they're on board for that to employees that someone else had recruited for maybe their vision or how they like to do things. And so I think I underestimated that, you know, the team buy in of what that would look like, and then also just the amount of capital that was going to be needed almost immediately.

[48:54] Host: Well, let's take those two in turn. So when you say you. You overestimated how quickly you could kind of get in there and start making changes and. And the team buy in, what did that actually look like, the friction that you experienced there?

Guest: Well, first it was just kind of trying to retain them because like I said, my husband and I are not. We couldn't go in a garage door. No, I mean, we. There's nothing we would be able to do. So if everyone left, we wouldn't have a plan B as far as, you know, we'd figure it out. But that was definitely something we were trying to avoid. So team retention was just really important to us. And they were very close with the previous owner, and so I think they felt blindsided and hurt and, you know, kind of like separate a couple of the employees. This was now the second owner switchover that they had gone through, and they were just kind of over it. So I think that I kind of immediately recognized that it was going to be much more important to nurture those relationships and to be more of a student than to come in and be like, all right, here's all the awesome stuff that, you know, I've been chomping at the bit to roll out. So I think it just forced me to kind of push pause and to work at a much slower pace than

Host: I'm accustomed to, which is actually not uncommon at all. And we hear that a lot on from guests on this podcast that in fact, there's always the debate, like how to approach transition. Do you. Are you a student for six months and do nothing, or do you go in there and just take advantage of this window of opportunity as new owner to quickly make a lot of changes, A flurry of changes, or somewhere in between, But I guess so you perceived from the team that they were disillusioned with this news, and so that gave you pause about just being too aggressive?

Guest: Yeah, initially, yeah. I just think they felt blindsided and hurt due to their personal relationships with the previous owner. But I will say my husband is, I feel like the most likable guy on the planet. And he's wonderful with people and he's disarming because it's authentic. He really, really genuinely cares about people. And so I feel that he was able to win them over fairly quickly by just being himself. And then it was important to us that when they voiced something to us that we took action on it. And so I think that helped our cause a lot is that they would say, oh, you know, we haven't gotten new shirts since, you know, the previous owner owned it, or new gear. And we're like, let's get you guys new gear, you know, so we, we tried to take the things we could do as wins to, to kind of help, I don't know, build that trust with them that we're here to, we're here, we have your back. We're on the same team. We, we want you to win just as much as we want the business to win.

[51:46] Host: And, and that worked. And how long did it start to feel like it was working and that you were building rapport with your new team?

Guest: I would say not that, because then it kind of shifted to, well, here's all the cred the old guy said he was going to do. That never happened. So now that you guys are doing stuff, then it became almost like a pylon of here's all the things that should be fixed and then kind of an expectation with it because we were taking so much action of like, you know, things that were important to them that they wanted to see immediate changes with. So I would say pretty quickly they got on board, but it was almost like. And then an over correction of how it had been initially.

Host: Always threading a needle with people. Okay, what do the following Acquiring Minds guests all have in common? Doug Johns, Morley Desai, Tim Erickson, Chirag Shah, Shane Ursam. They all went through the Acquisition Lab, the accelerator in community for people serious about buying a business. But they represent just a sliver of the lab's success stories. The number of deals across the lab's cohorts now stands at over 120, with over $300 million in aggregate transaction value. The Acquisition Lab was founded by Walker Deibel, author of Buy Then Build the book that introduced so many of you to the very idea of buying a business. The lab offers a month long, intensive, almost daily Q and A sessions with advisors, live deal reviews with Walker deal team introductions and an active community of serious searchers. Check out acquisitionlab.com link in the notes or email the lab's co founder, Chelsea Wood. Chelsea.buythenbuild.com and then the other piece that you had said was that you underestimated, I think, what did you say that. The need for how much capital. Yeah, yeah. For so elaborate. What was. Why did the business need more money into it?

Guest: Well, I think two things that crushed us were the interest rates. I think that was unexpected because it kind of went up during, during the purchase. So that kind of. When I say crush us, it just wasn't what we had projected initially when we were evaluating the business. And then we hadn't planned on taking any income out of the business and we didn't take any income for the first year. So we kind of felt like, well, even if we just have what he was making to put back into it and our little bit of cash reserves, you know, we should be okay. And I just think that we really. That was, you know, such an underestimate of what was really needed because there was just so much investment needed as far as trucks, gear, tools, software. There wasn't any software in place. So it just felt like at the beginning we were just writing checks left and right for things that. Yeah, what are you gonna say?

[54:47] Host: Only that even expecting to not pay yourselves, you and plowing all the dollars back in, it still didn't feel like enough.

Guest: Not even close. No. And they weren't like exciting purchases. It wasn't like we were doing things that got our gears going of like, this is awesome to do. It was like, these guys can't go to a job because the truck broke down or, you know, a safety concern or things that, you know, weren't necessarily like glitzy, glammy, like, this is fun to invest. It was painful.

Host: Well, it was, it sounds like it was stuff that was just to get the business back to kind of healthy condition as opposed to grow the business.

Guest: That's exactly right. Yeah.

Host: And was it, was it your sense that the previous owner had been underinvesting in the business because he was, he was trying to sell it or simply because he was somebody who just didn't invest in his business?

Guest: Yeah, I think that there's a couple schools of thought and I think that the way he liked to increase his bottom line was by cutting expenses. And so, you know, if A truck broke down under his watch. He was going to fix it. So there wasn't really. Truck. Yes.

Host: Oh, okay.

Guest: So pretty much anything that might have arisen, either he didn't see the value or he would take care of it himself. So it was kind of night and day as far as that. We're very much like invest into the solution. And I think he just had a

Host: different mindset about it and he was able to fix a truck. So he was technical.

Guest: Yes, he's an engineer, so yeah.

Host: Okay.

Guest: He enjoyed it.

Host: Okay. Were you familiar with the concept of the J curve before you bought the business, or are you now?

Guest: No, Lightly? Yes, but I, you know, I'm ready to get out of the bottom of the day, that's for sure.

Host: Okay. Okay. So interest rates shoot. Start going up right as you buy the business. All of this maintenance needs to occur. A lot of the fixing that had been happening, the maintenance that had been happening to date, he was doing himself. So there was no. That was a hidden expense. Is that where you are right now, still a year plus later, or have you pulled out of it?

[57:11] Guest: Yes. So we learned really quickly about shoulder season, which was something else we were not prepared for, which is essentially in a lot of service businesses, not nearly as dramatic as like lawn care in a seasonal place like us, but we have busy seasons and, and slow seasons. And so when we first took over the business, we were like having a hard time keeping up with jobs and it was all referral. He didn't have a Google page or, you know, Google my business or anything like that. So it was all just people calling from stickers. So we were feeling pretty good about stuff as far as, like, if this is how good it's going when we haven't done any marketing, just imagine. And then somewhere around, I want to say, Thanksgiving, it was just like, you know, fall a drop off a cliff. Like the phone just quit ringing. And we weren't prepared for that. We had hired around growth. Again, just being overly ambitious and thinking once we started marketing and all of that. And so we kind of got again faced with expectation versus reality of now we have these guys sitting around and we've never been in that situation before. Not enough jobs for techs.

Host: So what did you. How did you handle it?

Guest: We ended up letting a couple people go, which is awful because again, with still trying to keep team morale. It just felt like, you know, we didn't want to lose our core people with that decision of thinking, like, okay, maybe they didn't know what they're Doing. And this is actually, it is a problem. So. So we let a couple people go and then we try to just continue pushing hard toward marketing and just being creative with jobs and tackled some projects in the warehouse that needed to be done as far as organization and labeling. But we kind of just like you, sheer willed our way through it, essentially. And so that's something that we're trying to be more prepared for for when that comes again.

Host: And so this, of course, is a working capital issue.

Guest: Yes.

Host: And working capital is something that is of course a theme on this podcast a lot. And learning it and how it's one of these that is easy to think you understand intellectually, but only once you're kind of truly in it and managing working capital, do you really learn the art of doing. So, you guys, with your 10 years of property management experience, do you feel like, did that property management business teach you anything about working capital or was this a steep learning curve? I mean, I mean, had the seasonality is the first time you were dealing with that, but overall working capital, were you more adept at that, do you think, than. Than the average person listening to this?

Guest: No, no, I don't think so. I think just because we don't have inventory, we don't have. If we have a slow day at the office, that's a score for the team. So we never felt that pain before if things were to slow down, you know, because of, I guess, the recurring revenue, we were sheltered from perhaps like a slower sales season. So I think I. We just kind of were fat and happy and had the luxury of this recurring revenue that, you know, if you. We never sold again, we'd be o. With that, you know, supporting the business. So, no, I don't think I, I don't feel that we were better prepared

[1:00:25] Host: and to the point now also about experiencing the. Similar to what I said about working capital, where we all know intellectually that recurring revenue is preferable to every other type of revenue, particularly project revenue. You only really feel that when you are in a situation, when, when you experience it. So now that you've owned a business that has recurring revenue and owned a business that is project revenue, are you more of a believer in recurring revenue or are you. Are you basically fine with project revenue? You just realize that it's trickier to manage?

Guest: No, I think I've always understood that recurring revenue because that was what changed our business. I mean, we, we truly our property management business, the top line doubled. I mean, we grew an insane amount year over year without adding a ton of New clients because I, we cracked the code on that. So I think recurring revenue is something that's very important to me. And having gone through the first five years of a startup where if we're not getting a sale we're kind of looking at each other like oh my gosh, what are we going to do if someone doesn't want to buy or sell a house? I, you know, I have lived that. So I think having gone through that and getting that cushion of the recurring revenue, you know, I'm a big fan.

Host: Okay, so where are you? So, so, okay, so, so we're going through the winter so let's see you buy it in May 2023. Let's kind of fast forward to December, January of this year. You have been sinking cash back into the. Cash back into it. Not to grow the business business but just to maintain and repairs and kind of get it healthy again. The new project spigot has turned off and there's not a lot of revenue coming in. Then what happens? And by the way, at this point how are you and your employees? Are you used to each other? Have you, have you reached stasis where they're asking for things but just the right amount, not too much, not too little? Yeah.

Guest: And again I just have to credit that all to my husband because I am working from home now. I wasn't at that time but he's really care shouldered that portion of it is just making sure his guys are getting taken care of and that they're happy and, and being there if they're not to hear it. So yeah, that everything with the guys is good. And then we started a promotion. So we learned about these kind of well, local service ads was new to us. That's not something we do in property management. So we started running like promotions for you know, 49 tuna.

[1:03:06] Host: What is, what is local service ads, please?

Guest: It's a Google product that you can basically put under your Google my business page or on the front page some type of special or promo or something that a call to action. So it's another form of advertising on Google.

Host: So people in home services will may have seen this lsa. It's often referred to, it's a big, it's a big product. So go ahead.

Guest: So we kicked that off. So we were doing promotional specials. Now one thing to know is that most people who are doing promos are doing it with the intention of kind of what we talked about earlier. Once I'm there, you know and I do a checklist and I kind of flag to you other concerns, the idea being that we kind of start there, but then you'll want to. But our guys do not sell at all. It's a pain point for us. And so our promo tickets were our promo price. And so that was a different kind of painful of like, I don't know what's worse, them kind of twiddling their thumbs at the warehouse or that they're driving and doing truly a job at 49. But it got us through. So, you know, just, again, lessons learned. So that got us through until really the phone started ringing again, which was around May. So kind of that full year cycle is when all of a sudden, it was just, like, glorious. And, you know, we'll never take a phone call for granted again because everyone just started calling again. So we joke. I don't know if you're a Game of Thrones fan, but we're always like, winter's coming. So, like, we have to prepare because winter is coming. But as of right now, it just gave us some breathing room of, like, okay, at least that is not our concern is. Is what to do with the guys.

Host: And through all of this, did you have to come out of pocket with any new capital to put into the business, or was the. The. The earnings from the business enough to sustain it, even though you weren't taking any salary for yourselves?

Guest: Yes, we did come out of pocket. We either took from our property management business would, you know, do ourselves a favor, or a lot of times it would just come from us, but it was probably around 30,000.

Host: Another 30,000 into the business. Okay, all right. Well, that doesn't change the true purchase price of the business that you paid that much.

Guest: Mm.

Host: Okay. Well, I'm exhausted. How do you feel? So. So that was May when the phone started ringing again. That was just three months ago or really two months ago. So how do you feel about the adventure after this first hard year, Brittany?

Guest: I think. I think one thing I have now that I didn't have then is clarity, Having the gift of just time to learn more about the business, learn more about what's important to our tax, learn more about people like Tommy Mello who are doing big things that I can learn from. It's just been learning, learning, learning. So I would say in that aspect, I have never felt clearer about, like, a path forward. Like, I see where we need to go and what we need to start doing to kind of turn the ship for us. But I do will say that the capital restraints are. Our biggest issue is that we just don't have the liquid reserves to, to take immediate action on the things that I feel need to be done to kind of turn it around. So that's kind of the gridlock that we're in.

[1:06:35] Host: Like what would that be if you

Guest: had the capital marketing, obviously sales investing into sales training for the guys, getting the guys selling, rolling out a maintenance, you know, a recurring revenue type of situation. Hiring more administrative help to remove myself and my husband from a lot of the stuff that we're now doing, especially after letting somebody go, bringing in more of that like support staff so that we can be doing more of like biz dev, I guess.

Host: And so do you feel like this was not the right business to have purchased?

Guest: I think that'd be too painful to feel. I don't think that. I just think that we are in like step one of what's going to be, you know, a multi year step process. So I would say that I don't have regrets about the business because hearing other people say stories, at the end of the day, no one pulled the wool over our eyes. There was nothing shady happening. There wasn't. There's a great local reputation. We have that history. I don't know what we would be doing if it weren't for referral customers, you know, just organic repeat customers. So I'm very happy. The team that we thought we were going to love, we truly love them. So all of those things I feel great about. So I think what we're experiencing, just knowing he and I and how we learn and I think we probably would have experienced in any business that we purchased.

Host: Is there anything though that you would have done differently? Like is there any takeaway from your first 14 months in the business or, or the selection of this business that you would do differently or, or could tell, you know, the audience can learn something from your pain.

Guest: Definitely just focusing on capital. I probably sound like a broken record, but that really is to me what's holding us back is that I wish I would have maybe considered a partnership or some type of, you know, we had never done that before, so I had never considered it. Or maybe some type of capital partner or strategic partner or someone like a Tommy Mello who, you know, has this background, who could help get us to the next level because I just know the amount of time that it takes to grow by bootstrapping. And so the hope had been a 60 year business, we would have cut the line a little bit, which I think we have. But I just think that I did not realize how much of a constraint that was going to be to us. So I would say whatever you think, you should have double that. So I wish I would have told

[1:09:10] Host: myself before, well, having more capital, you can achieve that in a number of ways including taking on a partner who invests into the business and invests know put dumps a lot of working capital into the business and then of course takes equity for that. There's also the idea of buying a bigger business where there's just more cash flow coming in and more capital to play with that way is that would do. Do either of those strike jump out at you as a preference?

Guest: I mean I think we would have bought a $30 million business if we could have afforded it. I just don't think that was a realistic like a goal for us to attain. So I don't think that felt like an option. Like I said I now I would be open to private capital for sure just because I have a completely different perspective on it than when I did from kind of a starting a business from scratch. I think where we're at right now is just not the people who we were 10 years ago starting a business. I think we recognize where not having that has held us back and it didn't bother us so much because we were so comfortable with the other business. But I think now is when we're feeling the pain of not having that. So that would probably be the option I'd be more open to.

Host: And what about people out there? I mean how much of your 10 years building a property management business that experience do you think feeds into your management of this business? Do you. I mean imagine having bought this business, imagine the last 18 months without having had the 10 years of property management experience.

Guest: I think a lot, I think perseverance is something that, that we learned that we couldn't have learned any other way. And just understanding that like I tell my kids, it's. It's a hard day, not a hard life. It's like this is a tough time for us in this business. But I don't think either of us is looking at it like a life sentence. And I think just having gone through a startup for 10 years, you get a little more longevity, a little more endurance for kind of the hard knocks that may come along. So I think that's one thing and I think we proved to ourselves that we can be scrappy and figure things out where we need to. So I think that I think the self assurance is something that I don't take for granted where if I had quit a corporate job and come into this, I Probably would have felt like, I don't know if I'm built for, you know, you just don't know. You don't know if you're built for it. So now I just say people, management, you know, that's something that I think we had to learn and, you know, nuances of business ownership. And yeah, I for one think it would be a lot more difficult if we didn't have that experience.

Host: Okay, Brittany. And is there a grand vision here or is there a larger goal that has crystallized or at this point, is it basically just continuing to scratch and claw your way out of the J curve and then grow this business to the extent that you can and then come up for air and see what you want to do? Or is it, no, we want to buy more businesses. This is the path. I mean, and let me ask you another follow up question to that. Are you. Do you think this path is still the path? Are you as excited about this prospect of buying small businesses as that first day you heard Cody talk about it?

[1:12:22] Guest: I will say I think I'm. I am excited. I'm still excited about it. I still believe in it. Knowing us, it's probably something we will do again and we'll forget. That's kind of like having a newborn baby. It's like, it was all great, you know, So I think we'll probably still have some of that in us. We're optimistic, you know, entrepreneurs. But I think I'd be more realistic about it now and just have a less of a, like, gloss over of things that I would probably dive deeper into or, or a better understanding of what it's going to mean for us after takeover if something's not in place or not currently existing. So, yeah, I still believe in it wholeheartedly. I'm so excited about it.

Host: Mm.

Guest: Grand vision. I think, like I said, right now we are. That's another thing you learn in business ownership is enjoying your rests. And so I feel like we, because the busy season has picked up, we are just taking a minute to enjoy like a rest period of like just being grateful for where we're at right now and then kind of recalibrating, seeing how this affects our top line, our bottom line. But, you know, I would like to grow. I think that I believe in this business. I, I care about this team and like, it's there. So I would say my grand vision would be to try to be, you know, use the Tommy Mello playbook of try to create, you know, even one tenth of 1/100th of what he's done.

Host: Let's close Brittany with some of the. The personal aspects of this and. And. Or I should say, things that were going on in your personal life while you were going through all of this. So there was all this backdrop of stuff that was going on in your family. And you said to me in the pre call that that might be something that resonates with women maybe a little bit more strongly. So tie all that together. Doing this as a woman, as a mom, maybe even. I don't know if. If Cody landed on you because she's a woman, you're a woman. What was going on in your family life? What do you want to share with the audience about that?

Guest: Yeah, you know, I think going through hard things personally, probably everyone can relate to that. I think sometimes if it's, you know, things with your kids, I do think sometimes it lands more squarely on the mom or keeping home. Okay. While. While you're doing these big. Taking these big leaps of faith professionally, I think sometimes falls more on the mom. And I don't mean that my husband's insanely involved and a wonderful dad and all of that, but I just think that's kind of falls into the mom bucket more often. And so personally, we had only owned the business for, I think, a month or so when my husband lost his mom kind of suddenly. And then a few months later, he also lost his dad pretty unexpectedly. And then we have just had some addiction, substance abuse stuff with close family members unrelated to that. And then we've had a kid who was really struggling with mental health. And so these were all happening kind of simultaneously while we were taking this. This massive leap into, you know, entrepreneur entrepreneurship acquisition. So it was just felt very overwhelming at times because it's hard to be strong and present and emoting a confidence about the future professionally when at home things can, you know, can feel overwhelming or kind of dismal. So I just wanted to, I guess, speak to anyone who might be experiencing that where you're taking this big leap and seemingly everything that could go wrong, it feels as though it's going wrong personally and just, you know, if nothing else, solidarity, that. That I get it and I understand it,

[1:16:26] Host: and I. I imagine that it was helpful that you and your husband bought this business together so that at least you can lean on each other about what's going on in the business. The stressors of the business are something that you can commiserate on.

Guest: Yeah, I would say overwhelmingly it's positive that we do it together. My husband likes to joke that, you know, sometimes, occasionally we'll have fights at home. And he's like, we wouldn't even be fighting about this if we didn't own a business together. Like, this sucks. This isn't a marriage fight. This is a work fight. So that happens where, you know, we're kind of head to head over something we both feel passionate about. But by and large going through it together, it means that we're struggling with the same things together. Um, so there's not really a reprieve for either partner. As far as, you know, things are hard in his home life. It's hard in my home life too. Um, but I do feel that it has bonded us together and I'm so grateful for that. Cause I know that's not everyone's experience with their spouse. Um, but I do feel that this year has pushed us to kind of prove who we are to ourselves, but then prove who we will be to each other when hard things happen. And that kind of our commitment to one another and our family.

Host: Thank you for that. Brittany, if people want to reach out to you, do you have a way that you prefer they do that?

Guest: Email? I'm not huge on social platforms, so they could email me or I am on LinkedIn, but a lot of I feel LinkedIn messages can be. So I don't always open all of them, so I would probably shoot for email. That's a good one for me.

Host: Anything that I failed to ask, Brittany, that you want to share about with your wanted to share regarding your experience?

[1:18:03] Guest: I don't think so. Just, you know, high five to everyone out there who's doing it. And you know, you're still in the fight, so there's something to say about that. So.

Host: Awesome. Brittany, thanks so much for coming on and sharing your experience.

Guest: Thank you for having me,

Host: Sam.