The Vision
Picture this. Retired from your 9-5. Living where you want to live. Living how you want to live. Happy spouse. Happy kids. Happy life.
You own a 7-figure business that you love to run. Or maybe that thing runs itself. Either way, you’re settled, comfortable, and have control over your life. You spend your new money on a big house, a fancy car, or travel. It doesn’t really matter because you’re not worried about bills or spending or saying no to your kids. You’re leaving a legacy for your kids.
It’s Saturday afternoon, and the sun is shining. You grab a cold beer and sink down into a chair on your patio. You can actually relax. You think to yourself, “Is this the new American dream?”
It sure is. And SMB acquisition is how you’re going to get there.
Want to make your vision a reality? You have two options.
Option One: The HARD way
This is you going solo. You’ve got your list of wants and deal breakers. You’re spending hours outside of your 9-5 searching for the right deal. Once you find one, you’re using an LOI template.
You have some business instincts, and you want to learn. You want to make the right deal. You just don’t know what you don’t know.
How could you? You’re new at this.
You finally get a signed LOI, and you’re in diligence. You’re using your sales experience or graduate accounting skills or decades of business acumen. You pull your hair out working through all the financials. Maybe you have your accounting buddy take a look. Maybe you get a one-and-done QoE from some off-shore provider.
You did as much as you could do. You decide it’s time to buy. You’re wringing your hands while you convince your spouse—because you’re convincing yourself just as much. Eventually, you negotiate a seemingly fair-ish price. Your lender approves the deal, so you think, “It must be solid.”
Sometimes, this works out great. You have your business, and you’re off to the races. You're poised to build your dream life.
Other times? You might find yourself the main character in a horror story.
Since you’re new to acquisitions, you’re missing the deep experience needed to see between the lines. That means you’re vulnerable to misrepresentations by the seller, unexpected costs after close, or a simply unprofitable business. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this happen time and again.
Option Two: The EASY way
Here’s your other option: hitting that easy button. You care too much about your deal and your personal guarantee. This is not the time to mess around.
When you don’t have years of expertise to lend to your deal, what do you do? You find someone who has it.
As Guardian, we look at the QoE due diligence process a bit differently. Our future-focused approach validates whether the company you want to buy will be profitable after close. Will your vision come true, or will you be stuck in an unfortunate situation?
The only way we can truly understand the answer to that question is to look beyond financials. Where other providers might solely focus on the financial statements that depict how a company is performing now, we look further down the road. We forecast how the company will do once you take over. At the end of the day, that’s what you really need to know.
We use a three-step process to help you make a great deal.
1. Proper LOI that sets up the deal so you can win
Don’t just use an LOI template that you find online. Just use those to learn how to think about an LOI. Your LOI sets the tone for your deal. It provides a roadmap for your diligence process and is your starting point for negotiations. It eventually serves as an outline of your purchase agreement. You want to get this right. (Have us review your LOI for free)
2. A QoE that is catered toward SMB deals and their nuances
We’ll check the numbers. We’ll check the facts. We’ll make sure this company is everything it’s cracked up to be. Get more in-depth with our QoE here.
3. Knowledge of and mitigation of "Unknown Unknowns"
Every deal has some hidden details. The seller may be intentionally obfuscating or certain facts might not come up naturally. If you don’t know what to look out for, or what to look deeper into, you might miss a huge deal-breaker or leverage to negotiate a better deal. Finding these “unknown unknowns” is where deep diligence comes in. This is the special sauce that helps you make an outstanding deal—or avoid a disaster.
With the support of experienced SMB deal-makers, you’ll be confident in the decision that gets you that dream life you’ve always wanted. (Plus you can do it without putting much of your own money down. Learn more about that here.)
Invest in yourself. Invest in your vision. Do it the easy way.
“I did it the easy way.”
I found a deal that I really loved—a local roofing business. I knew I had to make the most out of it. I didn’t have a lot of experience evaluating companies and, to be honest, I didn’t have a ton of time to dedicate to it either. I was still working my 9-to-5 on top of raising my kids. Since I needed to put a $1 million personal guarantee on my deal, I wasn’t about to play around.
To me, it made sense to enlist the help of an experienced deal guy who’d been around the block with these kinds of deals time and again. I’d read too many horror stories on SMB Twitter. I needed to avoid being one of those guys who gets embroiled in a deal that causes them to lose their whole investment—and sometimes their family’s savings.
Avoiding the cost of some extra help wasn’t worth the risk.
That’s where Guardian came in. Elliott was straight up about what I was really looking at in my deal. The pros, cons, and all the risks involved. I wasn’t looking for a yes-man who would just tell me what I wanted to hear. My family savings were on the line, and I needed the plain truth. That’s exactly what I got.
At the end of diligence, the deal wasn’t quite what I had been expecting, but I didn’t run into any deal breakers. I was actually able to use my QoE to negotiate $25,000 off the purchase price. The QoE basically paid for itself.
I know I made the right decision to get detailed support on my frist deal. I’m already looking forward to my next deal, and you know Guardian is going to be my first call when I find one that looks great.
How To Start The 3-Step Process:
Step 1: Get your LOI reviewed here for free
Step 2: Choose the Best QoE Package For You Here
Step 3: Let Guardian run your deal up against 40+ “hidden issues” & “unknown unknowns” that can tank your deal but we have ways to sniff them out. Bonus: This service is included in your QoE
What are you waiting on? Act now and change your life in less than a year.
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