Acquiring a $7m Niche Marketing Agency with 50 Employees

Today's guest wanted to buy a business in his local geography of Greensboro, North Carolina. Now, regular listeners of Acquiring Minds know that if you're particularly strong on one of your search criteria, you'll likely need to show flexibility on the others. Well, happily, Rob Belk not only found a business in Greensboro, he really didn't have to compromise on the other two big criteria,…

Sales Factory is a retail marketing agency. Rob has roots in retail, so the business checked the industry box and at 7 million of revenue with 50 employees, it easily checked the size box. We spent time on how Rob structured the deal, which was not a typical SBA acquisition.

Marketing agencies like Sales Factory are relationship dependent, so continuity of those client engagements is key in a risk that needs to be managed in an ownership transition. Listen for how Rob did that. Now, if you're drawn to buying an agency business for yourself, we've had quite a few guests on Acquiring Minds who've acquired them.

Recent examples include Joe Solberg, Brian Houck, and Scott Alexander. Links to those episodes in the Show Notes. Here is the latest example.

Rob Belk, owner of Sales Factory and make sure you see Rob's Search Learnings, a list of 17 takeaways from his journey to buy the business. That too is linked in the show Notes. You know that the biggest unlock as an owner is making the leap from working in your business to working on your business.

But knowing that and actually doing it are two very different things. In a webinar today Thursday, former ETA CEO and business coach Jake Buettner will show you how to make the transition from overwhelmed owner operator to growth focused CEO. Regular listeners will recognize Jake from his appearance on the podcast last year.

He's the one who bought a struggling IT business for 600,000 and sold it a decade later for for 35 million 11x on earnings. Among the topics you'll learn today the shift from hustle phase CEO to Growth phase CEO. The seven attributes every scaling owner must develop, how to identify your biggest leadership bottleneck and the common mistakes that keep a business dependent on its owner.

You'll also receive a diagnostic worksheet to pinpoint your highest impact. Next step the webinar is working on the how owners make the transition and it is today, Thursday, July 16, noon Eastern. Link to register is right at the top of this episode's Show Notes or on the Acquiring Minds homepage acquiringminds Co.

Then on Tuesday, a second webinar, this one on a costly step that every buyer eventually faces the quality of earnings report. A Q of E uncovers critical financial risks in your target, but it also comes with a significant price tag, so you don't want to kick one off before you're actually ready.

Chris Williamson and Derek Pitts of diligence firm Cane Crossing will show you how to do more of your own lift first, everything you should be asking for, thinking about and looking at what before you spend money on the Q of E.

They'll cover how to run a pre Q of E financial review, what add backs are and the common mistakes to avoid the balance sheet red flags that deserve a closer look, and how to build an effective pre Q of the data request of your seller. The webinar is Don't Rush how to prepare for a Quality of earnings report and it is this coming Tuesday, July 21, noon Eastern.

Link to register is right at the top of this episode's show notes or on the Acquiring Minds homepage. Acquiringminds Co. Welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses. My name is Will Smith.