Self-funded Search Burn Out

July 29, 2025

by a searcher from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - College of Business in Austin, TX, USA

I have been searching for 2-3 years now, and am very tired. Its a constant repetition of finding a business, being lied to about it, or finding out why it cant work, or the owner has a crazy idea of value. Worst part is the job market is so terrible right now, I cant find a job to get some reprieve. To add, the amount of money spent and forgone to try to find a business to run, is insane. Any thoughts?

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Reply by a searcher
from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, USA

I used to think of it like this: In a search, you have 3 main levers you can adjust - geography (wider = more opportunities), business criteria (more flexible = more opportunities), and time. If you can't widen your geography or you criteria any more, then staying patient and grinding is all you can do.

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in New York, NY, USA

Acquisition is such a hot path right now that it's getting harder to find anything good. The scammers and grifters also know that, so it's a self-perpetuating cycle. This probably continues until a recession, so I would consider a different strategy. Something that I have noticed not enough people consider is joining a small business as an operations manager. Instead of convincing an owner to sell, you can convince a quality owner to hire you, and then you may be in the right seat in 5+ years when the succession event happens. If not, you still learn an industry and then can go run a search there with credibility in the future.

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