Patrick McGonagle

SMB owner via self-funded search | Building the highest quality landscaping company in all of CA | Endurance sports sicko

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

Last month I bought a 50yr old landscaping business from the founder and his wife.
The deal was self-funded and fully seller financed - no SBA.

I’ll be sharing my journey here as I jump into the deep end and hope to learn from all of you along the way.

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@pestctrlguy Very impressive 👏 👏 in tough conditions no less

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

The headline is a little misleading.
His point is and has been that Zone 2 is overrated *if you are time limited* ie if you are endurance training less than, let’s say, 5 hours a week.

If you’re training more than that eg you’re training for a race, Zone 2 volume drives neuromuscular adaptations without fatigue. That allows you to do more volume, which brings more adaptations etc.

All that to say it’s really about your goal

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@zachpogrob 🎯 One of the few things in life where the output is directly proportionate to the input

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@nxthompson Congrats Nick - insane you’re still performing at this level 🔥

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@EthanDriskill This is awesome. How do I hire you??

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

Update: Got hit with check fraud. $8k gone 😵‍💫

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

Came in this morning to a big stack of checks to sign sitting on my desk

I know they say not to change anything in the first 90 days as a new owner but…writing checks?? Surely we can make an exception

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@guessworkinvest 🎯

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@blueprintsmb22 Can confirm - living this right now.

Company had been running out of the owners head for ~50 years. Trying to now systematize around that is way, way harder than it sounds

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@blueprintsmb22 Interesting.
You often hear the adage “I’d rather back a good operator in a bad biz than a bad operator in a good biz” but your anecdotes seem to point to the opposite - quality of the business matters A TON

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@SMB_RealEstate This is awesome thanks for sharing, some A+ inspiration in here

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@GOTTABETOUGH @CollinJHumphrey Super interesting, thanks!

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

Came in this morning to a big stack of checks to sign sitting on my desk

I know they say not to change anything in the first 90 days as a new owner but…writing checks?? Surely we can make an exception

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@GOTTABETOUGH @CollinJHumphrey What site are you using? Considering Muse but not sure what else is out there…

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@chrisitianrreed @CollinJHumphrey Wait whaaaat 🤯 I wonder how this would work on big landscaping projects

[Sam Rosati @Sam_Rosati]

Patrick bought a 50 y/o landscaping bix last month. No SBA. No investors. Fully seller financed.

Worth sitting with that for a second.

Most searchers treat the SBA 7(a) as the only door. It’s the most common one, NOT the only one.

What made it work here was the seller relationship.

Off-market, a founder and his wife who cared more about who was taking over than squeezing out every $ at close.

When the seller trusts you, a lot of structure opens up.

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@timthecpa I did, so as part of the deal they asked for a down payment that was higher than the SBA minimum 10% and in exchange they offered an interest rate that was meaningfully lower than current SBA loan rates

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

Last month I bought a 50yr old landscaping business from the founder and his wife.
The deal was self-funded and fully seller financed - no SBA.

I’ll be sharing my journey here as I jump into the deep end and hope to learn from all of you along the way.

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@Implemize Would love to hear about your experience if you’d be open to it!

[Tyler Mumford - The Stump Guy @StumpGuyTy]

I’m becoming a “Silver Tsunami” course guru. Here's the curriculum:

- Chapter 1: Find a retiring business owner in the trades.
- Chapter 2: Buy his business
- Chapter 3: Plug in Ai to make things easy
- Chapter 4: Sell their last 30 years of data to an AI company to pay for the transaction (This is the new sauce)
- Chapter 5: Retire early.

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@JonMStoddard I then did a lot of little things to prove those weren’t just words eg brought my wife to the negotiation so he could hear it from her directly

Also of note that the seller is staying on for 2 years so I have something of an apprenticeship period

[Patrick McGonagle @McGonaglePat]

@JonMStoddard I think my entrepreneurial background helped - he saw someone like-minded.

But also, in hindsight, I echoed back to him what he wanted to hear which was (I) I’m in it for the long haul and (II) I’m recently married and want to settle down (ie move) close to the business