Key Points From the Interview
he very morning of our interview, Russ Hadlock had been in touch with his SBA lender.
Because Russ is just now in the middle of extending the term of his loan from 10 to 20 years so that he can lower the monthly payment and get some breathing room.
Russ isn't sure he's going to make it.
He bought an auto glass business that seemed solid.
Founded in the 80s.
$600k of SDE.
2 locations.
Multiple lines of revenue.
But as you'll hear in today's interview, what seemed solid has been anything but.
A few of the business's expenses have jumped under his ownership, while sales have declined.
When both of those happen at once, that 20% margin that so many service businesses have closes very quickly.
Russ hasn't paid himself in his 14 months of ownership; in fact, he's plowed an additional 6 figures into the business to keep it going.
He's looking to consolidate the 2 locations into 1.
He's looking at getting a job, if he can just stabilize things and keep the business going, even if he's not earning any money directly from it.
So this is one of those stories about the sometimes-perilous nature of buying a business, and Russ was very generous to not only share it with us, but do so in real time.
He and I have already agreed that he'll come back on later in the year to tell you what happened in these next critical months.
Here is Russ Hadlock, owner of The Autoglass Clinic & Mobile Radio.