Wishing you all the best. A great time to start reflecting on the year and take a pause to be thankful for all that we have and may not realize. Cheers

Especially those that are working full time still (and maybe even juggling a family). Keep the foot on the gas. Work late after the kids get to bed (I suggest offsite at coffee shop or co-working space). I often times worked until midnight several days a week searching and then doing DD Searching aint easy....but its worth it when you close and own a business. Best feeling ever. Chat with other searchers and operators like me often. It helps to have someone to talk to (your normal friends won't understand why you are doing this or how hard it is). You can do it! Let's GO!

Hi everyone! I'm Sonia Byun. I started in consulting after my MBA, transitioned to tech in product/ops, founded a women’s health startup in 2020, then returned to tech...and now I’m all-in on entrepreneurship again!! I came across Jed's video as I was learning about ETA and then found this community. I'm early in the search journey! I’m pursuing a self-funded ETA to buy a coastal services platform and scale it. Buy box: Sectors: Coastal estate landscaping, lake & stormwater pond management, stormwater maintenance. Size: $250-$1M EBITDA/SDE Geography: Ideally South Florida Excited to connect and learn from everyone here! Thank you!

Hello everyone, I've been very quiet as I only came across this community while already conducting DD on a (very) small business. We closed yesterday. The business provides online tutoring for high-achieving students entering their final two years of secondary school (in Australia). It's small, but profitable, with excellent margins due to its business model of simply connecting and facilitating contractor tutors with students. I call it "Acquisition Zero" because myself and a business partner intend to make a series of acquisitions, but deliberately sought out a small one first. It forced us to go through the process of drafting each document and checklist, conducting DD, and working with advisors to close the purchase. When we come to "Acquisition One" and onwards, we'll be better prepared and more knowledgeable. With some time, we'll be able to see whatever we missed during DD to inform future purchases. Today, I'm sending out new contracts and a code of conduct for staff, and organising my week to achieve handover between the seller and I. I'm happy to further discuss what I've learned as I get my feet under the desk and discover the skeletons in the closet. Chris.

There are two very key strategies that you could use in business acquisitions that, if you are not familiar with them already, you should definitely look into and understand: 1. ROBS (Rollover as a Business Startup): This allows you to roll your 401Ks / IRAs into a new retirement plan and tie it to a C-Corp, penalty free. The newly formed C-Corp issues shares that the retirement plan "purchases" in exchange for the cash. Then, your funded C-Corp can go and acquire a business with an SBA loan. This rollover, when executed by the proper specialist (for example, a company called Benetrends), is penalty free. This means, you don't need to cash out your 401K in order to access funds to acquire a business. It's important to notice that C-Corp "belongs" to your retirement plan (not you), and it can only be used for "active businesses" (no passive investments). Proof of an active business typically requires income in the form of a salary or management fees. This is a great way to access liquidity if you have old 401Ks that you can tap into 2. QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock): This is wealth building on steroids. You form a C-Corp and use it to acquire a business. At formation, the C-Corp issues shares in exchange for the the equity you put to acquire the business (for example, your down payment, investor's funds, etc.). As you grow the company, the valuation increases, and so does the value of the shares. The government allows QSBS shares to grow TAX FREE up to $50 million. There are even advanced strategies in which you can create trusts and gift shares to your relatives (e.g. your children) so that it expands the QSBS limit. The stock has to qualify in order to be declared QSBS. Typically, active businesses qualify (no passive investments). Hence, if you roll up a bunch of companies and exit to PE in a few years (a.k.a "the dream"), you could potentially cash out $50 million tax free. Now, it's important to understand that a ROBS C-Corp does not qualify for QSBS. So investors usually create separate C-Corps or create a C-Corp that holds both retirement funds and personal funds. The personal funds qualify as QSBS and the ROBS part does not. Still, once you sell the companies, the ROBS exit could be tax free too if you used ROTH funds.