Hidden revenue opportunities most new business owners miss

When my student Melissa bought a pool cleaning company in Myrtle Beach, she thought she knew exactly what she was buying.

Then she spent an afternoon digging through the office…

And found something insane, buried in the chaos of the office:

A waitlist of 53 businesses that had reached out asking for pool cleaning services.

The previous owner was too busy to take them on, wrote them down, and forgot about them!

The previous owner had been too busy to take them on, so he just wrote them down as a waitlist, and never followed up.

Everything was paper-based, and the records weren’t well-kept.

With that waitlist, Melissa had discovered $250K+ in potential additional revenue hiding in plain sight.

This happens more often than you’d think

Disorganized businesses are leaving a ton of money on the table.

The previous owner in Melissa’s example wasn’t even a bad businessman! He was just in maintenance mode.

He had enough clients to make good money, so stopped actively trying to grow the business.

Inquiries came in, got written down, and never got followed up on.

When everything lives on paper notes scattered around an office, opportunities get buried and forgotten.

This is actually great news for the new wave of business owners, because there’s so much low-hanging fruit when it comes to finding ways to boost revenue.

Where to look for similar opportunities

In your first 30 days after buying, take some time to hunt for hidden gold mines like Melissa’s waitlist.

A good place to start is with the physical chaos.

Check for inquiry lists or call logs that were never followed up on (these might be buried in old notebooks, sticky notes, or filing cabinets that nobody’s opened in months).

Then, review any service requests the previous owner declined. Maybe they said “no” because they were too busy, not because it wasn’t profitable. Huge difference there.

Next, dig into the digital graveyard, and take a few hours to go through old emails and voicemails for unanswered prospects.

Don’t forget your best source of intel: your employees!

Talk to them about what customers ask for that you don’t currently offer. They hear these kinds of requests all the time, but the previous owner may have never listened.

Finally, look outside your business.

Check competitors’ reviews to see what services people wish existed in your market.

If customers are complaining about gaps in the market, bingo - that’s your opportunity.

Before you launch anything new

Take a few hours to see what opportunities for growth might already be sitting in your business.

Melissa found $250K+ in potential revenue just by looking through old paperwork…

And your new business may have similar opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Now, if you’re considering your first acquisition…

I occasionally come across high-quality businesses for sale and share them with subscribers when I find ones worth considering.

To get those emails, just fill out this quick form:

👉 I want to buy (or invest as a silent partner into) a small business

Or if you’re a business owner looking to sell:

👉 I want to sell my small business

Onward,

— Ben Kelly