Deciding to Start, Not Buy, a Small Business

March 27, 2025
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espite all of our enthusiasm for buying an existing business as a path to ownership, we are not dogmatic about it.

There are any number of reasons why starting, not buying, makes perfect sense.

And today we hear from someone who looked closely at buying a business, but chose against it, opting to start from scratch.

The perspective of Kevin Moyer is valuable not just because he'd neatly organized his thoughts in a great article on Substack, but because he has much more experience as an owner-operator than many contemplating this decision.

Kevin had actually started 5 territories in the Smash My Trash franchise network.

He'd built these territories up to over a million in revenue and $260k in SDE.

And, get this, has them running mostly passively. So a small blue collar business running on its own — a real and rare accomplishment deserving of its own interview.

But point is, it gives Kevin a lot of SMB credibility, and you will learn from his experience & thoughtfulness.

Now, the caveat here is that Kevin is just in the earliest months of his new venture, so we'll have to get him on again, a couple years from now, to see if he reflects differently on this decision to start a business versus buy a business.

Here he is, Kevin Moyer, co-founder & owner of Golden Home Access.

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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.

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Key Takeaways

Introduction

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D

espite all of our enthusiasm for buying an existing business as a path to ownership, we are not dogmatic about it.

There are any number of reasons why starting, not buying, makes perfect sense.

And today we hear from someone who looked closely at buying a business, but chose against it, opting to start from scratch.

The perspective of Kevin Moyer is valuable not just because he'd neatly organized his thoughts in a great article on Substack, but because he has much more experience as an owner-operator than many contemplating this decision.

Kevin had actually started 5 territories in the Smash My Trash franchise network.

He'd built these territories up to over a million in revenue and $260k in SDE.

And, get this, has them running mostly passively. So a small blue collar business running on its own — a real and rare accomplishment deserving of its own interview.

But point is, it gives Kevin a lot of SMB credibility, and you will learn from his experience & thoughtfulness.

Now, the caveat here is that Kevin is just in the earliest months of his new venture, so we'll have to get him on again, a couple years from now, to see if he reflects differently on this decision to start a business versus buy a business.

Here he is, Kevin Moyer, co-founder & owner of Golden Home Access.

About

Kevin Moyer

Kevin Moyer

Show Notes

Initially drawn to buying a business, Kevin Moyer instead decided to start a project-based blue collar business instead.

Topics in Kevin’s interview:

  • Is the franchise fee worth it?
  • Buying 3 de novo Smash My Trash territories
  • His appreciation for reversible decisions
  • A small business is an extension of the owner
  • Recurring revenue is overrated
  • Simple is nice, but complexity is a moat
  • Starting a business with his friend
  • Advantages of having a business partner
  • Resiliency of physical world businesses
  • Simplicity of a binary outcome business

References and how to contact Kevin:

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

Get $200 off your ticket to the M&A Launchpad Conference in Houston on May 3rd:

Smithlist is a job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

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Episode Transcript

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