Searching while working full time

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February 06, 2026

by a searcher from The Ohio State University - Max M. Fisher College of Business in Chicago, IL, USA

Does anybody have any tips on managing the search process while working full time? I intend to use an email automation tool to help automate outreach while I am working, but curious if anybody has any other suggestions on things that helped drive productivity while keeping your job.
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Reply by a searcher
from University of Virginia in New York, NY, USA
I searched while keeping a full-time job for a while (before deciding to jump to search full time). I used the following tools to streamline the process: 1) I used Clay (www.clay.com) to develop my lead lists, and did some lightweight automation for outreach. 2) I used ETA IQ (www.etaiq.com) to quickly filter through deals using their financial model. Really sped up my understanding of which deals worked / didn't work. 3) I used Kumo (www.withkumo.com) to aggregate brokered listings. You can also do this on your own by setting up deal alerts with all the brokerage sites. I also set weekly measurable goals (outreach, CIMs reviewed, IOI/LOIs sent, etc). I treated it like a sales funnel.
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Reply by a searcher
from Babson College in Boston, MA, USA
I found it impossible to do proprietary outreach while working full time and searching on the side. You just don't have that much time in a day to do it all. The only outreach I did was to brokers who are local to me. Ended up acquiring 4 businesses (all brokered listings) before I left my full time job to run one of them.
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