How Ted bought a mole trapping company for $925K and 2X’d his income

Happy Monday!

Today’s story is about Ted.

He was 27, working in sales in Chicago, and had spent five years building out a company’s entire sales operation without owning a single share of it.

After getting tired of building wealth for others and not himself, he bought a mole trapping company…

And has already doubled his income.

Before sharing Ted’s story, here’s another success story from the Acquisition Ace community.

Andrew bought a $700K nail salon in LA with his wife after joining Acquisition Ace, and found his investor through the AA investor database.

After finding an investor in the Acquisition Ace database and putting just $40K out of pocket, he’s on track for a 300%+ return in year one.

👉 Want a community where you can find investors, build relationships, and close deals? Book a call with our team here.

Before the deal

Ted had heard about business acquisition through a friend who happened to be an Acquisition Ace coach.

The concept was new to him - he’d always assumed this kind of thing was reserved for private equity firms and large corporations.

Once he realized an individual could get SBA financing and buy a profitable small business, he was sold.

He joined Acquisition Ace in October, sent his first LOI within weeks, and the second LOI he ever sent became the deal he closed on.

Finding the deal

The business was Trap Your Moles, a pest control company operating across Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southern Indiana, where moles are a serious and ongoing problem.

The business sends trappers to properties weekly to check and clear traps throughout a year-long service contract, and over 58% of customers renew annually.

The previous five years had shown consistent revenue of $1.2-1.3M, and the seller had started two other companies and was ready to shift focus.

Ted’s buy box criteria was simple: he had to be able to fully understand how the business made money within 30 days. Mole trapping passed that test easily.

(In Acquisition Ace, members connect with investors and future partners, just like Ted, who found both through the community. To hear how our community could help you secure your first acquisition, book a call with our team here.)

The deal breakdown

Purchase price: $925K (Ted came in at asking)

SDE: ~$320K

Financing: 90% SBA loan, 10% seller note on full 10-year standby

Ted’s personal cash out of pocket: 5% (~$46K)

Projected SDE after debt service: $200K+

What he’s doing now

Ted gave his director of sales a meaningful raise alongside expanded responsibility, is working to reduce the seller’s micromanagement culture, and beginning to map out geographic expansion into Northern Ohio.

He’s keeping his W2 job for now, and wants to see real cash flow hit his account before making any major decisions about his salary.

His target is 10 hours a week or less within six months, and he’s already working on his second deal with a partner he met inside the Acquisition Ace community.

The key lesson

“Knowledge without action is nothing. There are people way more educated on business acquisition than I am who will never buy a business - not because they’re not smart enough, but because they never took action.”

Ted had no pest control experience, no large personal capital base, and had only sent one prior LOI before this one.

What he did have was a commitment to himself to actually do it, and the willingness to be the one driving the deal forward at every stage.

Ready to find and close your first acquisition?

Join the Acquisition Ace community with 2,000+ members who are learning to find, finance, and close deals just like Ted.

👉 Book a call with our team here to see if it's a good fit.

This is the tool I use to find deals: SMBMarket.com