Most definitely, your stress level can swing depending on how the business is performing or recent problems/successes you are addressing at any given point. "Control' is something I thought was extremely important while working for someone else (I want to be my own boss). It's really an illusion...run a company and you realize how much is outside of your direct control and in the hands of your employees, management team, the industry you are in, etc. You are now in a position of influencing a living, breathing, hopefully growing organization and it can be incredibly fun and rewarding, especially if you are winning. Personality & positive mindset matters. I think the highs are higher and the lows are lower. Way more fun, way more stressful.

'It's also important to recognize that this forum is a self-selecting group that will surely err on the side of pro entrepreneurship...you either directly benefit from more search activity (investors, bankers, lawyers, lenders, etc) or you are a current or soon-to-be entrepreneur. You won't find a ton of failed searchers hanging out here.

Depends on what brings happiness. I absolutely love captaining the ship. I will say that it is not a vacation or easy, so if someone defines happiness that way, it will not meet expectations.

Fantastic question underpinning almost everyone's intrinsic motivations. I wish I had the answer.

The search was fun, and I can't help but to occasionally "window-shop", but life is less stressful now that the initial search is complete.

Great question put forward here. Big picture thinking and makes you reassess your motivation for searching for a business

Agreed, this is an interesting topic, any other new CEOs out there with insights?

This is highly dependent on your motivation to acquire a business. The stress is significantly higher than a normal corporate job and I imagine most people who acquire and operate a business would agree. If your goal is to minimize stress then this is not the path for you. Personally I went this route because I wanted to control my own destiny. Nothing about operating my business has been easy but throughout I have enjoyed being in the driver's seat.

This is an important discussion to have.

Nathaniel, the biggest potential stress can be potentially losing your money and that of your investors.. Others recognize that investors provided 'risk capital' and that they were seeking high financial returns. I would recommend ignoring the 'fear of failure' and to forging ahead as an entrepreneur. Whereas it may seem like 'less stress' to work for an I-Bank or Consulting Firm and earning a paycheck, it is not. People choose the size of their 'stress bucket' and it is the same whether risking capital or working at a large, successful firm. Fun is rarely the result of working at a business, but when a deal 'works' it certainly makes for a more positive feeling than the benefits of working at Big Firm. You have significant opportunity cost, with your background, to going the entrepreneur route, but the risk/reward relationship is in your favor to succeed, have time flexibility and each day, decide what you are going to work on.

Great question and not discussed often enough. As some others have already said, much of it does depend on the initial motivations for the individual for going into a search. Often, being the operator is not glamorous, rarely do you get a "thanks for carrying the constant burdens" or anything close to that, and a lot of it is a grind. I often feel like a full time bookkeeper or paralegal, depending on the week. You have to have good reasons for getting into it. Obviously success or lack thereof plays a lot into happiness and stress. Like most things in life, you'll be happier and less stressed if it goes well, and the opposite is true. Every person will react differently. It is both a unique and very stressful situation even when things go well. One anecdote i always share with prospective searchers is something my attorney told me once, which is that roughly half of his searchers over the past 12+ years ended up with some sort of serious health issues - body and/or mind. That goes for those in both the search phase and operating phase. From what ive seen that statistic is probably fairly accurate and the seriousness of that should not be underestimated. It can be very satisfying, but it is always a special challenge.

This is a great discussion. This question I think cuts to the heart of managing one's life in general, holistically. What happens at work is a huge part of life, but how it makes you feel is important too. Tony Robbins calls it the "Science of Achievement vs. Art of Fulfillment".. I think the concept is sound - which basically means there is a formula + rules for achieving goals/objectives - but whether it makes you happy - that is an art. I recommend the book "The Motive" by Patrick Lencioni as well. It is about the burden of leadership, what is needed to do it well, and why for many, it might be a poor choice.

Great question and one that I've asked many searchers and CEOs over the past few months. A common answer so far has been some form of "higher highs and lower lows".

I can only speak to my experience -as long as you do a good job of purchasing a business that matches your personality I don't think there is a better path in life. While the stress level is higher than when I was an employee I am way happier as an owner operator with the ability to steer the ship in whatever direction seems best. I was very lucky and had the prior owners stay on for an extended amount of time after closing so the learning curve wasn't so steep/stressful for me. I think most will find that the stress post close is more than manageable considering I crammed it into one heck of a year - got married, moved to a new state to run the business, became a dad, and now working on finalizing another acquisition all while operating the business through Covid. This is a lot different from when I made a previous purchase that was way out of my comfort zone - in the retail space with multiple locations that was on the verge of being shut down (I knew this and paid accordingly). While it turned out to be a financial success in the end, it was a nightmare and beyond stressful for me to run because the traits that business required were my weakest (resulted in personal growth, but very painful). My take away is make sure you consider if the opportunity is in the right industry and you have the required traits to be a successful operator in that industry along with the financials.(maybe this is common sense to everyone else on here, but I was a little too arrogant in my first "search" and thought I could put on any hat and be great at it if needed - tiny company so had to cover a lot of different roles myself).

Call up some non-competing business owners outside your geographic area and ask them. I have done this and you will learn a lot more in a few hours of belly to belly time vs hours of theoretical internet research. When you get down to a specific target, get a good idea of what the owner's day to day looks like, and whether you can step in their shoes or delegate those aspects if you were running it-- kind of like a "Sources and Uses" analysis, but for the daily activities of the business, rather than capital.

Great question. Courage to ask.