oday's guest was vacationing in Hawaii when he received an ominous request from his office.

They were asking him to "hop on a quick call."

He knew what it meant; he'd been on the other side of those calls before.

And just like that, a 10-year career at SAP came to an abrupt end for Shaugn Lindley, victim to the layoffs sweeping tech.

Well, after some soul searching and reflection, Shaugn decides on buying a business for his next chapter.

And today he owns forklift repair business R&R Lift:

• ‍Decades of history
• Great margins
• B2B essential service
• Combination of recurring and repair revenue
• More demand than he can handle
• And last but certainly not least, a glorious 1990s vintage website

You can hear my enthusiasm for this business.

Two key features of Shaugn's story to call out.

First, how he initially lost the business to a competing buyer. Happily that deal died, and it came back to Shaugn. We discuss the importance of hanging around the hoop.

Second, how Shaugn leaned on an experienced business buyer (and former Acquiring Minds guest) for counsel & coaching through his search.

Now, of course many searchers ask for help, but Shaugn formalized the engagement and volunteered to pay his coach for the time. The model worked well; we unpack it.

Here is is Shaugn Lindley, owner of R&R Lift.