oday's guest wanted to buy a business in his local geography of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Regular listeners of Acquiring Minds know that if you're particularly strong on one of your search criteria, you'll likely need to show flexibility on the others.

Well happily Rob Belk not only found a business in Greensboro, he really didn't have to compromise on the other two big criteria — industry and size.

Sales Factory is a retail marketing agency; Rob has roots in retail, so the business checked the industry box.

And at $7 million of revenue with 50 employees, it easily checked the size box.

We spend time on how Rob structured the deal, which was not a typical SBA acquisition.

‍Marketing agencies like Sales Factory are relationship dependent, so continuity of those client engagements is key and a risk that needs to be managed in an ownership transition. Listen for how Rob did that.

If you're drawn to buying an agency business for yourself, we've had quite a few guests on Acquiring Minds who've acquired them. Recent examples include Joe Soelberg, Bryan Houck, and Scott Alexander. Links to those episodes in the show notes.

Here is the latest example, Rob Belk, owner of Sales Factory. (And make sure you see Rob's search learnings, a list of 17 takeaways from his journey to by the business. That too is linked in the show notes.)