No SBA Loan and $75k Out of Pocket

And I learned during that time that a lot of the traditional investors, I mean if you think about it makes sense from an investor standpoint that you would want to back someone, a searcher who you know and you've seen search over two and a half years and you've worked with, if it's gone well and if you like their process and if you respect them and you think that they're going to, you know, for…

Plus now you've seen them work over two and a half years. Exactly. So it's actually a more sound investment for them to reinvest in a, in a seasoned searcher who has quote, failed over their original search than to potentially invest in a brand new searcher who you don't know what you're getting. So yeah, that was, I think it is surprising to a lot of people to hear that investors would back a…

funded search and so you still wanted to buy a business for all the same reasons. There was no hesitation that you were still gonna, you still wanted to do entrepreneurship because a lot of people who get to the end of a traditional search fund of course would, you know, call it a day and go get a job.

Yes. So I had a, this was a big moment of self reflection this period of time and I had, you know, I spoke with a lot of the investors about what my options were at this point. It felt it was an emotional thing to feel like you, like I had failed in my traditional search. And so I did a lot of soul searching.

I, I knew in my core that I wanted to lead a business. That was something that I, the search made me feel even more sure about. Realistically, I was exploring other options too.

Do I go take a job, you know, self funded search. Now you're not going to be making a paycheck and you also need to think about financing a deal. So at this time I started working.

Thankfully Darden offered me a position to work in the entrepreneurship center, the Batten Institute leading ETA at Darden. So I was able to do that. I took that as a part time job and I also was exploring other, a few other options.

A few companies who I had connected with along the way were offering me CEO type positions. I was speaking with a couple different investors about either, you know, starting a franchise, a new franchise development or doing something one off working with an individual investor. And so I was kind of exploring like all these different options.

And one thing I would say to anyone who is considering search or who is searching and coming to potentially the end of a, of a search and is that your opportunities at that point, after searching for two or three years are going to be really strong. Because if you think about it, I mean I spent between two and three years basically running a small private private equity fund all by myself or pr.

I mean I had investors, but I was sourcing deals, reaching out to companies, evaluating hundreds of businesses, personally interviewing hundreds of CEOs and asking them what, what did you do to get your company where it is? What are you most proud of? What do you wish you did differently?

Tell me about your financials. Asking questions that, I mean the opportunity to speak with that many founders and CEOs directly and dig into their financials and negotiate with them and then negotiate legal contracts with them, go through due diligence with really amazing accounting firms and talk about legal language with really amazing law firms. Like I don't know where else you get that type…