C-Man

[Big Cat @BarstoolBigCat]

The Florida Gators may need a playoff berth

[Shaugn Lindley @shaugnlindley]

This is my ETA story.

At the beginning of this year I was laid off by SAP after 10 years. Got the news two days before my 40th birthday while on I was on vacation. Oh, and we had a baby on the way.

Nice.

After a 10 year successful career climbing the ladder it opened my eyes to the reality of corporate life.

Everyone can be replaced.

I was truly grateful for the life I had built through SAP, the skills I acquired, and the relationships that were formed. No one can take that away.

It was at a major reflection point and needed to take time to think about, what is next?

I had to figure out do I go back to corporate? Become my own boss? What about my family? How will this impact them? What will make us happy?

Before my corporate life I had chosen an ETA path without understanding what ETA was. At 23 I bought the franchise restaurant I worked at in college. I had no idea what I was doing but I knew I wanted to be successful.

My business partner and I scrapped together what little money we had and seller financed the rest of the deal.

After 3 years owning and operating that business we decided to sell and join the corporate world. We had doubled the value of the business and I felt like I got an MBA at business school.

After getting laid off I took 3 weeks away and decided to go through a life prioritization exercise. I had done both roles and understood the pros and cons.

This was an important exercise to go through so I listed out my passions, long term goals, ideal day/week/month out, pros and cons list, would my son be proud of his dad, risk tolerance, etc.

Entrepreneurship was calling my name so I dove head first back into the ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition world).

I spent hundreds of hours researching, listening to podcasts, audio books, talking with peers and connecting with business brokers to re-educate myself on entrepreneurship.

Here are some people, content, and tools I used in my ETA search:

@AcquiringMinds_
@walkerdeibel
@Codie_Sanchez
@ClintFiore
@LeadershipAcad1
@SBA_Matthias
@SMB_Attorney
https://t.co/S2u1Hf37QL

I signed 100+ NDA's to look at all different types of businesses. Laundromats, landscaping, IT businesses, home services, e-commerce, cell tower businesses, pet services, etc. Fun fact - mulch blowing businesses crush it.

How you value a business depends on many factors. Most <$1M SDE businesses sell between 2-5x the multiple of their SDE (seller discretionary earnings).

To simplify if a business has $500K in SDE it typically sells between $1M-2.5M.

Here is a sample criteria I used on businesses I was interested in buying when I reached out to business brokers:

-Cities I would look at
-Min-max purchase price
-Min-max revenue
-Min SDE (seller discretionary earnings)
-Industries I would look at
-Minimum # of years in business (15 minimum for me)
-No major customer concentration & consistent cash flow

I engaged with a bunch of brokers/owners for 2 months and felt like I was getting nowhere. Am I an idiot for doing this? Am I spinning my wheels?

The game changer for me was contacting a guest I had listened to on the podcast @AcquiringMinds_ that had been doing what I was trying to do for 10+ years. I did a cold reach out to him, told him my story, and asked him to be my business coach. He accepted and we started meeting weekly. Shout out to @signthefronts

Those weekly meetings helped me stay on track and understand where to allocate my time. I could bounce ideas off of him and get real feedback on how he had handled each situation.

After multiple failed attempts to go under contract, finally things changed. I found one.

31 years in business. Consistent cash flow. No large customer concentration. Checked all the boxes. Areas for operational improvement were in my wheelhouse.

You gotta move quick because its a competitive market. I scrambled to get my offer submitted after meeting with the sellers and I was informed they had accepted another offer. My offer would be the backup offer.

I was crushed because I thought this was the one.

15 days later I got a call that the other buyer dropped out because they had challenges moving out of state to Texas.

You ready to re-submit your offer? Hell yeah I am!

We were off the races on due diligence, lending requirements and moving to close.

For those that don't know it is a quite the process to get financing for a business if you don't work with private investors.

Here is what you can expect:

-SBA 7a loan (75% backed by US govt) through a bank
-Typical deal structure is some form of 5-25% down, 70-90% bank financed, and 5-20% seller financing
-Personal financial statement
-Forms, on forms, on forms
-3 years financials from the business
-Your business plan & 3 year financial projections
-Signed purchase agreement
-Business evaluation (like a house appraisal)
-Life insurance
-Working capital requirements
-And a bunch of other stuff ill leave out🙂

All in all this was a 9 month process. We closed last month and I am 40 days in as the new owner.

So what did I buy?

R&R Lift is a 31 year old Material Handling Equipment service business that specializes in forklift repair. They have built an incredible customer base here in Austin and provide excellent service to keep these companies moving their products.

Why did I go this route?

Its the opportunity to do something different, grow a family business, build wealth, provide for my employees, and do something that my family can be proud of.

For those still reading I hope this inspires you to do what is in your heart. Feel free to take a piece of what I wrote down, go after your own dreams and take action.

-Shaugn

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

It is absurd that @cnn refuses to call states that have clearly been won by @realDonaldTrump in order to create the perception that the election remains close. Perhaps this is simply to retain viewers to drive advertising revenue and ratings, but it certainly will cause a loss of even more confidence in the news network.

To the @nytimes credit, they have had a Trump victory as a 89% probability for nearly an hour.

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

@Damondyor Add me to the list brotha

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him …

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

@Colemandoikos @realDonaldTrump Guy doesn’t miss

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

@benkellyone Biz

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

@AmericanAir @AmericanAir We were there 2 hours early. Walked up to the gate 17 mins before departing but they prematurely gave our tickets away, which is the issue. We are rebooked, that doesn’t fix the fact that we will not make it to my best friends wedding + the awful customer service. 🤢

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

@AmericanAir disappointed in you once again. Arrived at my gate 17 minutes early. Already gave away my ticket which is absolutely trash. People at the gate were terrible people and made the situation worse. @BarstoolBigCat attack them please

[MrBeast @MrBeast]

I’m gonna give 10 random people that repost this and follow me $25,000 for fun (the $250,000 my X video made)

I’ll pick the winners in 72 hours

[TaylorMade Golf @TaylorMadeGolf]

In honor of @Jerrythekid21's hole-in-one heard around the world, we're going to GIVE AWAY a year's supply of golf balls.

To enter:
Follow @TaylorMadeGolf
Follow @Jerrythekid21
Retweet this post by Jan 7th at 11:59 PM, we'll pick a winner then.

Good luck! #TeamTaylorMade

[Fore Play @ForePlayPod]

Legend.

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

Yo how the fuck this over 15k likes

[AB @AB84]

⛳️ 🆎

[C-Man @carsonburton3]

Will never understand why the didn’t make a Nice Guys sequel, all time move straight up

[Miami HEAT @MiamiHEAT]

Jimmy Butler, ladies and gentlemen.

[Miami HEAT @MiamiHEAT]

You’ll be going back to the Garden @stephenasmith… next season. #WINNING 👋

[Hoop Central @TheHoopCentral]

Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat played in 2 play-in games, and now they are in the Eastern Conference Finals. 🔥

[ESPN @espn]

THE HEAT KEEP THE FLAME ON 🔥

Miami becomes the second 8-seed to reach the Conference Finals since seeding began in 1984.

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

MARCH BABY