How Bryan bought a $420K business for $125K (without SBA loans)

Most of my students use SBA loans to buy their first business.

But what do you do if you can’t?

This was Bryan’s situation.

As one of only a handful of Canadians inside Acquisition Ace, he didn’t have access to SBA loans like US buyers do.

Despite that, he became my first Canadian student to buy his first business!

Here’s how he overcame the odds and bought a boring, recession-resistant business that cash flows over $200,000 per year:

Bryan is a product manager at an energy company in Edmonton, Alberta, and had been searching for years for a business that fit his skillset.

In 2024, he joined Acquisition Ace, and soon stumbled across a niche trailer manufacturing company on BizBuySell.

It was a one-man operation designing and producing 6 types of premade trailers, plus custom trailers on request.

The asking price was $420,000, but Bryan talked the owner down all the way to $125,000 (whew!).

Bryan ended up paying only $100,000 out of pocket, with the owner volunteering to do seller financing over 2 years, pitching in $25,000 himself.

This was a steal of a deal, and the owner agreed to it for a few reasons.

In 2022, the yearly cash flow was $240,000. But in 2023, it tanked to almost nothing.

There was nothing wrong with the business itself. But the owner was 71 and had just gone through some personal tragedies, on top of breaking his foot and falling off a ladder. So understandably, he’d decided to shelve the business until he could sell it off and retire.

Because of this, the customer base had dried up.

But there were two huge upsides to the deal:

1. There was a big inventory of trailers and machinery already at hand.

2. The owner had a (temporarily lapsed) contract with the National Police Service to produce four trailers per month. And one year at that volume would pay off the entire acquisition.

So, Bryan’s post-acquisition gameplan was simple:

• Bring on a trusted former coworker to take over the day-to-day manufacturing, marketing, and sales, allowing Bryan to keep his day job while overseeing the business

• Reopen the police contract

• Modernize the company’s systems (everything was paper and pencil, the website was barebones, and the previous owner didn’t accept credit cards)

• Move the operation out of middle-of-nowhere Alberta and into Edmonton (a big city) to attract more foot traffic

I loved Bryan’s “can-do” attitude with this deal — he had no access to SBA loans, but still found a way to get it done with no excuses!

It’s proof that a little creativity (and persistence) will take you a long way in this game.

Thinking of buying a small business in the near future?

Tell me your goals and budget here, and I’ll send qualified deals your way.

Or, if you want to sell your business:

Tell me the details here, and I’ll help match you with suitable buyers.

— Ben Kelly