the MacAngLyn journey: Canvassing for SMB Cache

TODAY’S ISSUE

🎨 PERSISTENCE & CREATIVITY
🔎 Canvassing for SMB Cache - this week’s progress that you can copy
📈 Growth - our take-aways that you can use in your business buying journey
📚️ Resources - books, podcasts, etc. we are using to make us smarter

PERSISTENCE & CREATIVITY

My body was completely tense; my teeth were chattering; I looked down at the dash…. 12 degrees!!

Another year in this cold hell of Chicago;  I don’t think I can do this again.  I never thought of cold being like hell until I moved here 13 years ago, almost a third of my lifetime.  I counted down… only 2 more winters until the older boys graduate and we can move.  The plan is to go to Texas to be with family, where it’s warm, and my little kids can grow up with their cousins.

My warmest winter jacket was zipped all the way to the top. I sunk my face into the warmth and blew hot air out of my mouth to keep my face warm.  My glasses fogged.  I was driving slow, to the daycare to pick up the little ones.  And for the first time, I noticed the rainbow of color, a ring around each street light, so I blew more hot air to fog my glasses again.  Why hadn’t I taken the time to notice before, a small beauty in the cold hell?  Maybe I can do it, only two more winters, for my childrens’ sake…

Opening instead of closing the mind to possibilities enables this level of determination, ruggedness to make it through uncomfortable situations, knowing the power of creativity is exercised along the journey until there is a beautiful painting before us, something of value created at the end of the experience.  “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

Over this Thanksgiving, my little children reminded me of what it meant to be creative and persistent through several examples:

1. My four year old crumbled cornbread into teeny-tiny pieces, almost resembling the cornmeal it came from.  Then, he fed it to his backpack which is in the shape of an alligator’s face.  There is a large flap that opens to expose the alligator’s large teeth.  Raising it from bottom to top, he shoved the small pieces into the alligator’s mouth, to share his treat with his friend.

2. My one year old pulled the plastic container with multiple hot sauces out of the pantry, and tried to open them up.  He was able to break the lid off of one of them.  Then, he proceeded to discover what was inside by pouring the contents into the container, all over his hands, feet and face.  Somehow, and thankfully, it didn’t end up in his eyes.

3. My four year old opened a new bottle of chocolate syrup.  Each time he got the bottle out, I took it from him and put it away in a more secure place each time.  It took him four retrievals, but he finally screwed off the cap, ripped the seal with his teeth, and sauntered into the room to let me watch him suck it directly out of the bottle through a straw.

Creativity when buying businesses is one of the keys to success, and really why we would invest in them in the first place.  There are many levers, many possibilities when structuring deals.  To finance deals, you can get money in many ways: SBA loans, equipment loans, friends, family, savings, 401K, Heloc, Seller Finance, any mixture of them.  The coolest part is that you can set up the deal with any percentage of each that you want.  There are the “normal” ways to buy a business, and there are the “irregular” or “creative” ways to buy a business.

I think that having the Seller finance at least part of any deal is a critical indicator.  When a Seller agrees to Seller Financing, they are willing to act as the bank, loaning you the money to buy their business.  Here’s what it tells you.  They are confident that their business will make money, even after you start running it.  It tells you that they really have made what they say they made, and they believe you will be able to pay them back, even after they no longer own it.

It also helps with handoff of the business to ensure there is a smooth transition.  They don’t tell you to peace out and walk away, leaving you with the bag.  It gives them incentive to help you, to make sure that you don’t fail once you take over.  That makes me, as a buyer, feel a lot more secure; it de-risks the situation.  

Here are a couple of positive take-aways:

1. Be Creative - Know that there are many ways to do something, not just the first way that comes to mind.

2. Be Persistent - Keep trying.  Don’t give up, ever.

3. Use Seller Financing - It’s in a buyer’s benefit.  Gauge your trust in the seller by if they are willing to use this method for at least part of the purchase.

CANVASSING FOR SMB CACHE

Activities we accomplished this week. Not much this week.

👩‍🏫 2 Learning Events with Unconventional Acquisitions

GROWTH

I think I need a bigger binder for all of my notes from this year.  It’s starting to pop open, and I can’t even fit the ones that need to be filed in the back into the binder!

😣 Persistence
✔️ Joining the Learning Events even though I really didn’t feel like it this week

🥅 Reviewing Our Family Goals & Aligning Our Dealbox Strategy with Goals
✔️ Timeline Development
✔️ Location Refinement
✔️ Tweaks to Process for Finding Deals

📽️ Project Management Software
✔️ Learn this software by doing in my W-2 job (JIRA Work Management)

🌸 Learning About Affiliate Marketing / Started a New Blog Called Outdoor Melodies 
✔️ Learning Ahrefs for Keyword Use and Analytics
✔️ Learning Hostinger¹ with WordPress to Build Blog
✔️ Learning AI Software Anyword to assist with Blog posts for the Outdoormelodies website
✔️ Learning Pixabay to use stock photos that are not trademarked

RESOURCES

Resources that can help you learn about small and medium business (SMB) buying:

1. Learn how to create an AI Blog from Buildaprenuer. 

2. Learn how to create Faceless YouTube Videos using AI from Superhumans Life.

3. Learn how to make any YouTube Video go Viral using Storytelling Strategies that Jenny Hoyos uses.  This famous YouTuber who makes Shorts Videos was interviewed on Jay Clouse’s channel.

1 This is an affiliate marketing link, and I may earn commissions if you use the link to buy the product.  I only add links for products that I have used and recommend.