oday's interview is with my old classmate.

Or cohort-mate, really. Evan Stewart and I were in the Acquisition Lab together back in early 2022.

Since Evan and I were there learning about Porter's Five Forces and writing our buyer profiles, he has gone on to acquire and almost double a commercial printing business.

Orlando-based Direct One was doing $1.8m in SDE when Evan bought it in early 2023; it ended 2024 with EBITDA around $3.2m.

But it has not been easy. (Is it ever on Acquiring Minds??)

It strained his marriage for the first few months, as he spent weekdays at the business away from his family up in Jacksonville.

He eventually moved the family down to Orlando, selling their house in Jacksonville, only to find that their home equity could not go back into buying a home in Orlando, and instead had to go directly to paying down the loan on the business.

He suffered bad imposter syndrome for the first 6 months, telling his wife at one point that he might be the dumbest person in the building.

But, as you'll hear in Evan's voice, despite those difficult weeks & months, the journey has been deeply gratifying, and he wants to buy yet more businesses in the years ahead.

"I do know," he says, "that I want to do this again and again and again."

Here he is, Evan Stewart, owner of Direct One.