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Happy Friday!
On Monday, I told you about Zach - a management consultant who spent ten months putting in one hour a day, closed on a 70-year-old sheet metal fabrication company in Los Angeles for $1.155M…
And is projecting a 200%+ cash-on-cash return in year one.
Today, you’ll hear how he made the deal happen, and get access to our full conversation with his biggest lessons. 👇
Before digging into Zach’s main takeaways, here’s a powerful Acquisition Ace community success spotlight.
Avi and Jay bought a $1.3M cleaning company from another ACE member, and are now building a portfolio of cleaning businesses.
“The conversation that you can have with your network is probably the most important thing once you start doing this. I was able to get something that was forwarded to me from another ACE member. The community itself is what actually allows this to happen.”
Their first deal came directly from networking inside the group, and now they're acquiring their second and third companies.
👉 Want to join a community where members share deals and partner together? Book a call with our team here.
“It certainly is possible. I can say that firsthand.”
That’s what Zach told me after closing on a deal most of his tech-industry friends didn’t even know was a category you could invest in - while still working full-time at a demanding consulting job.
3 key takeaways from our conversation
1. QoE findings are a negotiation tool
Zach went under contract at $1.275M - above the original asking price - after a competitive final round.
When QoE revealed the business needed nearly 2.5x the working capital the sellers had quoted, he used that discrepancy to renegotiate back to the original $1.155M ask and redirected the savings toward day-one liquidity.
2. Removing seller financing can win competitive deals
Zach’s LOI originally included a seller note.
His broker advised that removing it would make his offer more attractive in a crowded field, so he evaluated the risk, got comfortable with the business fundamentals, and made the strategic call to drop it.
The sellers chose him.
(The deal Zach closed was actually posted in the Acquisition Ace community by a coach. Inside Acquisition Ace, members get access to deals that never hit public listing sites. If our community is something you’d like to explore, book a call with our team here.)
3. When banks say no, keep going
Fifteen banks passed on Zach’s deal before the right one said yes. Every bank has its own risk tolerance, and a “no” from one institution is not a verdict on the deal.
The buyers who close are the ones who treat bank rejections the same way they treat seller rejections: note it, move on, find the next one.
Zach got the deal funded by not stopping until someone said yes.
This week’s action item
Get pre-qualified with an SBA lender before you need it.
Reach out this week - bring your last three years of tax returns, recent pay stubs, and a personal financial statement.
Knowing your buying power changes how you search, how brokers treat you, and how quickly you can move when the right deal appears.
To hear the full story of how Zach found, negotiated, and closed this deal while working full-time…
Watch our full interview here.
P.S. Zach said joining Acquisition Ace was the mindset click that made it real - the moment he committed to actually doing this, not just thinking about it.
That commitment is what separates people who close from people who never get started.
If you’re ready to make that commitment…
👉 Book a call with our team here to see how the Acquisition Ace community could help you land your first business acquisition.
 | Onward, Ben Kelly PS: Check out our latest YouTube video. We reveal how one entrepreneur built a multi-million dollar pool company from scratch with no industry experience. |
This is the tool I use to find deals: SMBMarket.com
