Matt Agnese

Strategic Advisory & Business Operations | Business Ownership & Transition | Systems Implementation | MBA, CFC

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Tomorrow October 27 is a great day in time travel history.
Marty McFly and Doc Brown went back in time and discovered Biff's Alternate and Dystopian 1985.

#BackToTheFuture #BTTF #BTTF2 #MartyMcFly #DocBrown #TimeTravel #DeLorean #Alternate1985 #HellValley #BiffTannen #1985A #Outatime #GreatScott #SportsAlmanac #October27 #FluxCapacitor #HillValley #88MPH

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

“These actually sell” and “the median is $350k” are both true.

They also tend to be owner-operated jobs with key-person risk, thin real margins, and limited transferability once the seller leaves.

The $5–10k/month “on top of your W2” version only works if the business already runs without the owner. Most of the ones that look cheap enough to buy while you keep your job… don’t.

[Dylan @dylangans]

Everyone is roasting Bobby for this post but THESE are businesses that actually sell

The MEDIAN sale price on BizBuySell is $350k — there is tremendous opportunity with these companies for the right buyer

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@indexnforgetit This is the part the listing never shows.
1.24x and 58% margins look free until the guy who was promised the shop walks out with the tech who does half the work.
Then it’s just an expensive job you don’t know how to do.

No free lunch.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

The listing: $809k cash flow 1.24x 58% margins
The actual Day 1: Manager was promised the shop, quits, takes the lead tech who does half the work. You don’t know body repair. Production stops.
This is what “boring passive” actually looks like when the numbers were never real.

[PassiveAggressiveIncome @indexnforgetit]

Day 1 of buying a boring body shop business

You get to the office at your W2 (because you can multitask), sit down, and the phone rings

It's the manager at your new boring business

Turns out the previous owners hung a carrot in front of him to make him believe he could one day be the owner

He's had enough and found another job he starts tomorrow. He's out

Oh and btw he's taking your lead technician who makes up 50% of total productivity, because he was a good manager

Looks like you're calling in sick to the W2 for the next forseeable future

Also, you don't know the first thing about auto body repair so production comes to a halt until you can find a manager and a new body man... which btw there's none out there because the good ones are earning $150k+ and kept happy

There is no free lunch

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Only one Rodney Dangerfield.

[Michael Warburton @For_Film_Fans]

“I tell ya, life isn’t easy. Today’s been a terrible day. I got up this morning, picked up my shirt, a button fell off. Picked up my briefcase, the handle fell off. I’m afraid to go to the bathroom.”

Only one RODNEY DANGERFIELD (here with Johnny in 1979).

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Here’s a reply:
That’s the right number to use. Once you put a real manager salary in the model, a lot of the smaller listings stop covering both the debt and the buyer’s target income. The ones that still work usually already have the manager in place or are large enough that the cost is a smaller percentage of cash flow.

Most of the “$5–10k a month” posts never run that adjustment.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Before W2 folks shop listings, decide how many hours a week you can actually give it. A boring business with no manager in place is a second job, not side income. Who's running it on a Tuesday morning while you're in meetings?

[Bobby Graham @BobbyBizScout]

If you work a W2 job and don't have a boring business that pays you $5k-$10k a month on top of your salary...

I got you.

Here are 9 boring businesses for sale today (& where to buy them):

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@BifurcationHQ Most of these listings are priced on the assumption that the buyer will keep doing the owner’s job. Price the seat first. Then price the business.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Clarity before activity applies to software too.

Before you buy a CRM, write down how a deal actually moves today: who touches it, where it stalls, what gets forgotten.

A CRM built on a process nobody agreed on just automates the confusion.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Classic. If she’s doing billing, payroll, and scheduling, that salary isn’t discretionary. Once she and the seller exit, someone still has to do those jobs or the buyer has to step in and do them.

Adding the full amount back only works if the buyer is prepared to absorb that work or hire a replacement. Most listings treat it as free cash flow. It isn’t.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

This is the version most of the “keep your W2 and buy a boring business” posts leave out. The 1.1x multiple looks great until the operating reality shows up on a Tuesday morning and you’re the only one who can handle it.

The math on owner hours and debt service only works if the business already has someone else running it. Otherwise it’s not side income. It’s a second job that also has a personal guarantee.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@BifurcationHQ Exactly. Once you back out the owner’s unpaid hours and then run the debt service, a lot of those “$5–10k a month” listings shrink fast. The math only works if the business already has the manager in place or the buyer is willing to step into that seat full time.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@agent_nick_ Same thing in operations. Owners describe the symptom: the estimate nobody followed up on, the supplier order that lived in one person's inbox. Find where the handoff breaks first, then pick the tool. Otherwise you just automate the breakdown.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@hxxntrr The funding route matters, but the bigger risk I see is buying before you know whether the business fits you. Price the owner's hours, find out who actually runs it day to day, and know your runway. Cheap money on the wrong business is still the wrong business.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@bradsmith @bot I’m curious for sure.
I’m a Pipedrive and Zoho partner and I’m playing with that integration myself.

Interesting things happen when the CRM designer is also leveraging AI

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Flight paramedicine taught me a sequence I still use:

Assess the situation.
Stabilize what needs stabilizing.
Choose a course of action.
Move forward.

It works on a patient. It works on a business. It works on a career decision.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@paulswaney3 Marketplace skills transfer. Matching buyers/sellers, building trust, scaling a two-sided platform, and seller acquisition aren’t ticket-specific. They’re exactly what a business marketplace needs. The industrial ops expertise is valuable too, just different jobs.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@bradsmith @bot @bradsmith - ?? what do you mean by managing?

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

Exactly. That unpaid owner-hours adjustment is the real underwriting.

If the listing’s “$5–10k a month” assumes the owner is already doing the manager’s job, those hours come out of the number before it’s income to you. At 20–25 hours a week it’s not a rounding error—it’s the difference between side income and a second job that still has to service the debt.

Most listings don’t show that adjustment cleanly. That’s why the Tuesday morning question comes first.

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@devantae_masaun Same thing shows up in small businesses with no sales manager. If follow-up only happens when the owner is watching, the pipeline is really just the owner's memory. What's the first habit you look for in a new rep's first month?

[Matt Agnese @MattAgneseCFC]

@heyblake "What almost stopped you from buying?" is the one to write down word for word. That objection is likely killing deals you never hear about. Small teams that track it next to their pipeline stop guessing why deals stall.