Acquisition Aces - Issue  #13 - Read Time - 3.5 minutes

You Don’t Have To Believe In Miracles To Acquire Your First Business

As winter is about to officially kick off in the next couple of days, December 21st this year, it makes me think about hockey.  The “Miracle on Ice” to be exact.  On February 22, 1980, a ragtag bunch of college kids defeated what was basically a professional Russian squad.  The story has been told, retold, told again, and even made into a movie (which was very good).  I’m bringing the game up for a very obscure reason that you might not know about.

Al Michaels, who uttered the iconic line “Do you believe in miracles?” (which might very well be the most famous line ever uttered in sports), was the only ABC announcer available who had ever called a hockey game.  In fact, he had only ever called one hockey game ever before that fateful night.  In hindsight, you would think that would have resulted in a less-than-stellar call at the end.  Obviously, it did not work out that way.  You can never predict what is going to happen, but when you have the right people in place, you don’t need miracles.  The right team fixes everything (and answers a lot of questions).

“Build Or Buy?” Is Not The Question

In entrepreneurial circles, some people like to debate “Build or Buy?”.  This refers to which approach you should take when you want to be an entrepreneur.  The build side says that you should go the founder’s route.  The buy side says you should acquire an existing business and scale from there.  

You obviously know which way I fall on this question.  If you buy an existing business, with a 5-year proven track record, the stats say you will have a 90% success rate (I go deeper on this concept in my previous newsletter Boring Businesses Are The Ultimate Time Hack (Only Two Skills To Master).

The right question is not if you should build.  The right question is “Who should I build my team around so I can then go buy a business.”  If you have never put a team together this may be intimidating, especially since you may also be learning how to acquire a business as well.  Don’t worry, it is possible to put a team together quickly that can put you in a great position.  Check out this quick thread for some ideas:

Once you have your own A-team on board, you can start looking for deals with confidence and clarity.  Think of it as having your very own version of Al Michaels, ready to help you with your personal business broadcast.  When you have a great team, you are operating from a position of strength.  This makes you very powerful for your next step:  Negotiation of the deal.

The Negotiation Mindset

People like to make negotiations very complicated.  When you break it all down, however, it should only be a couple of steps.  You figure out an initial offer which you relay to the seller.  They either accept it or counteroffer.  If they counter offer there should be very little back and forth at this point.  Extended negotiations are almost never a good idea.  It usually means that someone is way off in their valuation of the business, or is not serious about the acquisition.  This is the time to walk away from the deal.

“Walk away?  But I love the company!”

You can love the company all you want, but how you feel has zero bearing on whether the deal is going to get done or not.  In fact, the more emotional you are about the deal, the higher the chance there is of you getting yourself into a less-than-optimal situation.  There are a ton of other opportunities out there, waiting to be discovered. If you have the ability to walk away, that is a negotiation superpower.

Once you have this mindset there are only a few more concepts you need to understand negotiation more than 90% of people out there. 

The Three Pillars of Negotiation

The key to not being overwhelmed by entering into a negotiation is to have a mental framework in place.  I have found that the easiest way to do this is to break every deal down into three buckets:

• Human Psychology

• Market Trends 

• Counter Offers

Mastering these buckets can mean the difference between closing down a lucrative deal, or having to mark it down as a missed opportunity.  I go over this framework in the following video where you can start your journey to becoming an A+ negotiator:

With the right team, mindset, and negotiation framework you will be well on your way to closing your next deal.  If you don’t want to have to learn all of these things on your own and want to explore hiring someone who can help you every step of the way, book a time to chat with me here: Calendar 

Have a great rest of your week!

PS - Coaching compresses timeframes. If you want help finding the perfect deal for you, book a time on my calendar here to explore becoming an Acquisition Ace: Calendar

Ben, I Want to learn more…

If you feel that you are constantly working "in" the business instead of "on" the business and feel that your goal of financial freedom has led you to a prison of your own design.

You are not alone, I used to be there as well.

I have 5 companies and counting and work less than 20 hours a week on them - COMBINED.

It is not rocket science and I can help you do the same for your business.

Choose a time on my Calendar and we will get to it.

Onward,

Ben

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