he worst day I've had running the business has been better than the best day I had working for someone else!"

So Scott Crosby told me about his new life as the owner of an HVAC and refrigeration services business in St. Louis.

Scott bought small; American Services had under $300k of SDE and four and a half employees.

We talk about how he's managed through the vulnerability of such a small business, including turning over essentially the whole team.

‍Part of Scott's model here is not taking any money out of the business for himself in the early days. Everything is being plowed back in.

We unpack Scott's approach here and whether he advises other searchers to follow suit if their financial situation supports it.

Speaking of advising searchers, Scott shares a ton of tactical tips from his journey.

Listen for his Top 50 concept.

And his exhortation that you reach out to your local Economic Resource Center, aka Small Business Development Center, aka SBDC, which are free and powerful if overlooked tools for local SMB entrepreneurs.

Scott mentions his acquisition analyzer, a spreadsheet he used throughout his search to quickly assess a deal. We've linked to that in the show notes.

We've also linked a document that he prepared for us in advance of the interview, recounting his journey plus the many lessons learned along the way. We thank Scott for putting that together for us, and for being willing to share it.

As he mentions in our conversation, Scott loves to connect with people, so don't hesitate to reach out to him. His contact is also in the notes.

OK, here he is Scott Crosby, owner of American Services St. Louis.