.avif)
Join My Community
Join 10,000+ entrepreneurs receiving proven strategies and the best opportunities delivered straight to their inbox.
Happy Tuesday!
One of the most common mistakes first-time buyers make has nothing to do with the deal itself.
It’s showing up to a deal without a team.
They find a business worth pursuing, sign an LOI, and then start scrambling to find people who can help.
By the time they’ve assembled those pieces, they’ve burned weeks of their due diligence window and started making decisions under pressure they should have been making with support.
The fix is simple: build the team before you need it.
Taggart bought a $2.3M Porsche racing engineering company while keeping his full-time W2 job.
“I learned in the program that if you have that relationship solidified with the seller, it just makes the whole process so much easier. There were uncomfortable conversations that needed to be had about ratios and purchase price, but that relationship being solidified very early on really allowed us to work through the deal structure.”
He used lessons from the program to navigate difficult negotiations and close his dream deal.
👉 Want proven frameworks for navigating seller relationships and closing deals? Book a call with our team here.
A CPA or accountant who understands business acquisitions
This is not your personal tax preparer.
You need someone who has:
Looked at buy-side deals before
Can reconstruct cash flows from messy books
Identify add-backs the seller may be misrepresenting
And give you a clear picture of what the business is actually earning versus what it claims to be earning
This is the person who saves you from overpaying.
An M&A attorney
General practice lawyers are not equipped for acquisition transactions.
You need someone who has drafted purchase agreements, negotiated reps and warranties, and understands the specific protections a buyer needs in a small business deal.
Getting this wrong at the contract stage can cost you significantly more than the attorney’s fee.
(Inside Acquisition Ace, members get access to a vetted network of accountants and attorneys who specialize in small business acquisitions, so they’re not starting from scratch when a deal appears. To learn more about our community, book a call with our team here.)
An advisor or operator with relevant industry experience
This doesn’t have to be a formal hire.
It can be someone who has run or operated a similar business and is willing to look at the deal with you.
Their job is to tell you what you’d never find in the financials:
What that industry’s margins should actually look like
Red flags the numbers might be masking
What the real operational challenges will be after you close
Why this matters before you have a deal
When your team is already in place, you can move the moment the right opportunity appears.
You’re not chasing referrals or scheduling introductory calls while the seller is entertaining other offers.
That readiness also signals to sellers and brokers that you’re a serious buyer who knows what they’re doing and is prepared to follow through.
Tomorrow, I’ll cover how to actually find these people and how to structure the compensation conversation.
If you’d like to connect with professionals who’ve worked on deals like the ones you’re pursuing, the Acquisition Ace community is a great place to build those relationships.
To see how Acquisition Ace can help you secure your first business deal…
👉 Book a call with my team here and let’s talk.
 | 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
