Acquisitions Anonymous - #1 for business buying, selling and operating - Inside a $3.4M Rodeo Supply Business

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

In this episode the hosts break down a rodeo supply retailer for sale in Arizona, debating whether a passionate lifestyle buyer can make the numbers work despite expensive inventory, real estate, and ...questionable deal structure.Business Listing – https://www.bizbuysell.com/business-opportunity/rodeo-sports-retailer-w-impressive-geographical-coverage/2176067/Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.Looking to build a professional website in minutes? Try Wix: https://wix.pxf.io/c/6898629/3115214/25616?trafcat=templateHubSpot is the backbone for how businesses scale without chaos. Try them out here: https://go.try-hubspot.com/OeG9VrSubscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquisitionsAnonymousPodcast?sub_confirmation=1Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.acquanon.com/newsletter💰 Sponsored by:Inzo TechnologiesWhen you acquire a business, you also inherit years of IT and cybersecurity risks. Enzo Technologies helps acquisition entrepreneurs uncover technology issues during due diligence and stabilize IT after closing with a buyer-operator perspective. Get a complimentary IT risk audit and 30-day action plan at https://enzotechnologies.io and mention Acquisitions Anonymous.Bedrock Quality of EarningsBuying a business without verifying the financials can lead to expensive surprises. Bedrock Quality of Earnings combines experienced Big Four leadership, operator-backed expertise, and AI-powered analysis to help buyers validate earnings before closing. Learn more at https://bedrockqoe.com.This week the Acquisitions Anonymous crew evaluates a rodeo sports retailer in Maricopa County, Arizona listed for $1 million with $3.4 million in annual revenue and $387,000 in Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE). At first glance, the valuation appears attractive at under 3x SDE—but the deal quickly becomes far more complicated once the hosts discover that approximately $1 million of inventory and $1.3 million of real estate are not included in the asking price.Key Highlights:- $1M asking price with $387K SDE, but another $1M inventory and $1.3M real estate dramatically change the economics.- Two-week seller training period raises significant concerns about transition risk.- Discussion around inventory valuation, financing challenges, and whether SBA lending is even feasible.- Tim Delaney shares practical advice on negotiating unrealistic listings and evaluating seller motivation.- The hosts unanimously give the deal a thumbs down, unless you're a lifelong rodeo enthusiast seeking a lifestyle business.Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous. Today's deal involved horses. And Heather had a feel about it. So I loved choosing the stuff when it goes with the hobbies of my fellow co-host. So super excited. We also had a special guest today, Tim, one of the smartest first time out guests we've had. So super super cool. Here's the episode.
Starting point is 00:00:22 Hello, another episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. We don't have 100% beers anymore. And thumbs downing on just the plus inventory. When you close the deal, you inherit the cyber and IT problems that have been piling up for years. Inzo Technologies, that's INZO, helps acquisition entrepreneurs evaluate technology risks during due diligence and manage cybersecurity, IT, and voice after close. CEO Nick Acres acquired Inzo and recently led the company through its first ad-on acquisition. He brings a buyer-operator's perspective to what needs to be uncovered before the wire
Starting point is 00:00:59 and stabilized once ownership changes hands. Enzo offers a complementary IT risk audit of your target company to help surface the biggest risks in plain English and deliver a 30-day plan to reduce exposure and lower the risk of downtime. Visit Enzo Technologies.com slash ETA and mention Acquisitions Anonymous. That's I-N-ZO Technologies.com slash ETA. Well, everybody was talking about the challenge of of dealing with lenders. So please continue, Heather.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Oh, no, oh no. Well, we were just talking about how long it really takes to close a deal. And especially when you're at the end, the final stage we call it closing, where this long checklist goes out and everybody has to, the buyer has to get it all fulfilled before the deal can close. And, you know, Tim and I were just noting that you basically have to be calling the bank every day. Otherwise, you get sort of put aside or forgotten about. And so it is, you've got to be relentless to get it closed.
Starting point is 00:02:05 100%. Yeah. I mean, we're closing a bunch of deals out of our fund right now, and that's my advice to every single one of our portfolio companies is just call it. Otherwise, you might spend another three weeks, lose the deal. Like, this is something you've got to
Starting point is 00:02:20 push the bank, not the other way around. Yeah, and Tim, this is your first time on the podcast. We're so excited you're here maybe introduce yourself to our listeners and then we'll why i have a deal which i think hether will love because it involves forces so but first let's talk about them yeah thanks for having me really appreciated i'm the uh ceoo of the acquisition lab but i started off as a acquisition entrepreneur actually went through the lab in 2022 found a business within four months closed on it ran it for a year and a half realized there was a bigger opportunity to invest in other acquisition entrepreneurs in this
Starting point is 00:02:54 space, started a fund, and merged with the Acquisition Lab not too long ago. So now we help people through the entire lifecycle of I'm a business. Amazing. So what percentage of kind of acquisition lab members end up also being one that you guys decide to invest in? How common is that? Yeah, it's a small amount. I mean, we have a $20 million fund. It's the largest in the space, but that gets us to maybe 20 or 30 deals. The Acquisition Lab has 1,300 members, 450 of them have bought a business. So, you know, by numbers, we're going to invest in a small amount of the businesses. But not everybody going to the lab wants to work with outside investors, and that's totally okay. Yeah. And then how does it typically get structured? Are you guys just taking straight minority
Starting point is 00:03:34 equity in the deals? Or are you doing a custom thing per investment? How does it, how do you guys structure things? Your fund today only works with SBA-backed deals. And so we're taking a minority position in the company. We take preferred equity and we use the PACDACs, a bunch of the funds and investors in the space got together and wrote a shared starting point for docs for these types of deals. And so we have a ton of education on ETAPAC.com. Amazing. Well, cool. Well, sounds very exciting.
Starting point is 00:04:08 And on that note, speaking of excitement, Heather, can I pitch you guys on this deal? I'm excited. Yes, please. Let's do it. My first time. I'm excited. You're going to do great. So you got, dear listeners, Tim got a good 45 seconds of training.
Starting point is 00:04:24 before the podcast. So very consistent with the way we used to. Well, it's all, it's actually super intentional. It does two things if there's not a lot of prep required. It makes the number one, hopefully it makes the episodes better because they feel more natural. There's this, you know, if it's prepared, you know, I think people want to listen to the podcast because people are, we're saying what we truly think. And if it comes across as prepared or there's a bunch of notes ahead of time or we study things or gather data other people don't have, it kind of ruins it. The second thing, which is important for us, it's why we have 500 episodes. It makes it much easier if we're not asking the co-host to do homework because we're all very busy.
Starting point is 00:05:00 We have our day job. So we just get to show up and have fun. And then with a lighthearted, positive fashion, talk about deals. All right, Heather, I have good Neal's news for you that there's a horse in the very first picture. I'm already sold. It's a thumbs up. Thumbs up. Where do you send the check?
Starting point is 00:05:19 All right. So this is a rodeo sports retailer with impressive geographical coverage located in Maricopa, Arizona. Is that the Phoenix area? Do you guys know? I think so. I'm not sure. That's the county that always seems to be involved in some weird election counting thing. Yeah, that's right. Is it an election craziness town? Yes. Maybe out Tucson way or something.
Starting point is 00:05:41 All right. So they're asking a million dollars for this. They have a guy who kind of looks like an out-of-shaped Marlboro man. Is that how you would describe him? Yeah. I'm adventure. Sounds right. Marble Man, after some Twinkies. That's what we got here as the guy on the, on the, on the picture. The asking price is a million dollars. Cash flow is $387,000 to find as seller's discretionary earnings there. It includes $1.3 million. Oh, no, there's $1.3 million in real estate that is not included in the asking price. They've been in business for 30 years and they're doing $3.4 million a year in gross revenue. So asking price a million, sellers discretionary earning 387, so less than a 3x multiple for a horse business. Heather. Sounding good.
Starting point is 00:06:30 Two thumbs up already. Only 10% that margin on it. Oh, don't ruin it, Tim. We had a thing going. All right. So the 2025 financials are available soon, which is kind of odd because it's July, 26, as a requirement. this, but we'll get back to that. Welcome to my world.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Yeah. This Western sports retailer focuses on radio supplies, providing merchandise ranging from saddles to tack and related bits covering a wide range of needs. Saddles are, Heather, the thing you sit on. What is tack and related bits? Tack is just a general word for all of it. A bridle, a saddle, that's all part of your tack, your gear. Got it.
Starting point is 00:07:14 Think of it as gear. Okay. Tim, are you a horse guy? If you are, I will ask you these questions. also. I don't know. My wife love sources, but I know none of the firminology, so. Well, get her in here. Just kidding. Don't look too so on, but yeah. Established in 1996, this business employee's six staff, of which two are managers covering various areas of activity.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Available with this sale is real estate for purchase or lease value approximately $1.3 million. The real estate includes over 2.3 acres of land, a 2,300 square foot three-bedroom home, and three barns, dedicated to retail and storage. The seller holds approximately $1 million in inventory, all of which is in addition to the sale. Uh-oh. There's thumbs are going down.
Starting point is 00:08:01 It's like one of my thumbs away. So effectively, this is, if I'm doing the math here, Tim, it's a million dollars for the business, which is a little less than three times earnings. But if I'm going to buy the business, I have to spend an extra million dollars to buy their inventory. and I got to figure out what I'm going to do with this house slash facility where they've been operating out of for another $1.3 million. So realistically, you can live there. So realistically, this is a business now that is doing $387,000.
Starting point is 00:08:33 But for me to buy it and own the real estate, I'm looking at $3.3 million. So it's a, what is that, 10 times multiple? Yeah. Oops. But they're throwing the land. Okay. A little bit more here. range of merchant ice includes a proprietary line of saddles built to own specifications, and the company's brand is widely recognized amongst rodeo enthusiasts. So that's kind of a turn there. This is very special, I guess, in the rodeo space. Is that what you're seeing here, Heather? I think so. I'm not a rodeo gal, but yeah, that's what they're saying. And I have to imagine the saddles and the equipment vary by business, or by use case, whether you're just doing a horse? Yeah, by the sport, you know, by what is the event that, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:21 somebody's doing in a rodeo, whether it's roping or barrel racing, whatever, they're specialized saddles for whatever it is you're doing, yes. Definitely. All right. Well, there's more details here. Tim, before I get into that, anything else in this listing kind of stand out to you? Yeah, I mean, we don't look at a lot of retail deals. We're an investor generalist, but like retail restaurants and a handful of other categories aren't good fits here. But, you know, 10% that margin kind of calls out. When everybody lists inventory, I'm always like, is that their price for the inventory? Is that the retail price? What am I paying for there? And again, I don't know the retail space, but it's like a million
Starting point is 00:10:01 dollars in inventory and a business doing $3.4 million. Is that a lot of inventory? It seems like a lot to me, but I, again, I don't know the space well. I think there's a question of what does their turnover look like? You know, how many skews did they need to kill? how much is custom versus standardized. There's a lot of questions and all that for sure. But in the end, it sounds like this business, Tim, is somebody who has a retail presence, right, in front of this house. There's a building where there's six staff work out of and warehouses where they store stuff.
Starting point is 00:10:35 And then people show up and buy the tack and the gear and the saddles from these folks. That's the core business. Like if you're in the rodeo stuff or doing horsework, you buy that kind of supply to enable that from these guys. Is that your read of the thing? Yeah, and I think it sounds like a interesting opportunity for somebody who's super into this space and wants to live on a property here. I mean, I'm guessing this is, you know, truly a lifestyle business.
Starting point is 00:11:00 You could get the right person very excited on it. So let's see what else they gave us here in details. There's $476,000 in furniture, fixtures, and equipment. That's included in the asking price. I guess there's a question as to whether, what does that mean? Is that carrying value on the books, depreciated? Is it purchase price? How much of that's really usable?
Starting point is 00:11:22 But we'll come back to that. They have six employees, five who are full-time, one part-time, and two managers. So how do you guys feel about there being two managers for four employees? Feels a little manager-heavy. Yeah, give them a little better title to keep them on at some point. That seems like what I read there. support and training. They're going to give you two weeks
Starting point is 00:11:47 to learn the entirety of the rodeo's saddle business. Heather, you'd be up to speed in like 20 minutes, I'd be up to speed in what a saddle is, but not much more about how to make one. So, hmm, that's all right. I sell stuff. When you see two weeks, you're just like, who in the right mind would buy this business
Starting point is 00:12:06 and only get two weeks of training? I mean, every deal that I've done and work with any acquisition lab member, I mean, we're trying to get three to six months of training and support. Two weeks just seems really, really low. How we, I mean, as you've watched that be in practice, I'm always curious about this, like the six-month thing. Like, you've got, in my mind, you've suddenly, when a deal gets done,
Starting point is 00:12:30 you've got a seller who is suddenly, excuse me, sitting on a huge pile of money. They no longer are in charge anymore. So they're kind of a fish out of water in the business. And, you know, they're going to give six months. months of training and arguably, they're probably somebody who's never done, you know, transition training in their whole life. So it's a question if it's going to be good or not. How do you see that actually working out in function? Like, do people actually really provide six months of value or
Starting point is 00:12:56 what kind of happens after your members kind of get the deals done? I think it's very front-loaded. I think, you know, the first month or so, at least in my experience, buying a business, like the seller basically worked the business and I watched so that I could learn. I asked lots of questions and and all of that. But it really depends on the seller. In my case, the seller, there was two sellers, one of them who was really running the business, like didn't want us to change the name, didn't want us to start making changes. So he transitions out fairly quickly. But I mean, to be available, like, it's three years later. There's still times where I call him and ask a question or we have to get access to something. Or, you know, there was an account that came back after three years
Starting point is 00:13:35 that he had the knowledge on. So, you know, I think having access to them, where it really works. But the second owner ended up staying on for two and a half years. He only retired recently because he had a heart attack. And his wife made him. So it just really depends on the seller and their personality and what they want to do. But two weeks, it's just really, really short to learn a business inside out. So. Well, and to advertise it is kind of a bad idea too. Yeah, right? If that's all the seller's willing to do. Like, that's a, that's a major concern. Have they already left and like, you know, So, yeah, it just raises a red flag.
Starting point is 00:14:09 I don't know why you would put that in there. And it's interesting because this is listed. As I look here on the listing, is listed by Arval Knight, who is a trans world associate. Like, this is a person in theory who's a real broker. So I wonder what his thinking was when he kind of put that in this. After seeing as he won't make the same mistake. We do get some interesting emails from the business broker community. We also don't have a lot of them as sponsors.
Starting point is 00:14:39 Which is shocking, right? I don't think so. So I've talked to a number of them. And, you know, the people that are watching this podcast are often buyers. And if you talk to your typical broker, they are not short of buyers and tire kickers and even serious buyers. They're short of good deals that are going to close. and I think a lot of them do the analysis of, okay, should I pay to advertise on acquisitions and items?
Starting point is 00:15:10 Well, probably not. Like, I'm not, this isn't a podcast for sellers. You know, it's a podcast for people who want to buy. So I think that's the core of it, Heather. It's not that they don't like us. Just they don't see the utility. I will say, no, I will say this, though. I have gotten calls from would-be buyers who tell me that they listen to the podcast.
Starting point is 00:15:29 So I think there are, I mean, I'm sorry, sellers. I should have said sellers. that, you know, people who own a business who are listening to learn about selling their business, which is kind of cool. Yeah. So today's video is actually sponsored by a company I started called Bedrock Quality of Earnings. And Bedrock is a service for business buyers. If you're going out to buy a business, one thing you don't want are surprises.
Starting point is 00:15:50 There are tons of stories out there of people who buy businesses. They get into them in three months later, they realize the numbers that the seller told them, well, they weren't true. In a situation where people were often buying businesses and signing personal guarantees, meaning they're really on the hook to return that money to a bank or anybody they borrow it from, that could be a disaster. So Bedrock is a quality of earnings firm. There are people you hire that go in and look at the seller's books to make sure what you're being told is actually true.
Starting point is 00:16:16 And there's lots of quality of earnings firms out there. What makes Bedrock different is it's the only one that has three things. Number one, a CEO, a guy who comes to us from a big four firm and has been doing quality of earnings reports, well, basically for a long time, his whole career, basically. Bedrock is also backed by people you trust and know, including me. You know where to find me if you're unhappy with their service. And number three, Bedrock uses the latest technology, AI, and all that different kind of stuff to make sure you get the best results at the best price.
Starting point is 00:16:45 So if you're interested, book a call with the CEO Will. You can go to bedrock QOE.com or check out the link in the comments below or the one on the screen. Thanks. This guy does also have some other interesting listings. He's got a commercial flooring business and a southern comfort food business. It's like, okay. And the Southern Comfort business, the teaser, has a $60,000 discount for a cash buyer. It's like buying a used car.
Starting point is 00:17:11 Pretty great. Cool. So what, I mean, Tim, as you think about this business, like, what is the, what am I buying here? Like, I'm obviously going to buy some existing customer relationships. Like, what is the core of, what is the core that I'm acquiring when I get into this business? A lot of inventory. But at a house, but I mean, I think you're just getting the location and the name, you know, seems like it's wildly recognized and rodeo-thusiest.
Starting point is 00:17:42 I don't know if that just means the area or people travel there. I know nothing about that area, but it seems like you're buying yourself a retail job here. That's my read on it. Yeah. And Heather, how do you feel about the future? I mean, as I read this again, I may have glossed over it. this is a rodeo-specific supply business in Maricopa County. How do you feel about the future of rodeo?
Starting point is 00:18:03 And the reason I ask this, like I know guys who are my age now, who in their 20s were professional rodeo guys or who did it just as recreation and their teens, they're broken. Like physically, it's really, really bad for these guys. And a lot of them end up on painkillers. There's all kind of horrible stories.
Starting point is 00:18:23 I mean, which way is rodeo going? going up into the right, down into the right? How do you think about it? I think rodeo is growing, and that's just, I'm not a Western, I was always an English writer. So it is funny, the horse world totally divides into two camps and I was in the other one. But I happened to be in Las Vegas last year during the national rodeo, I'm going to say it wrong, whatever, the big national event. It's like the Super Bowl of rodeo. And I didn't intend to be there during that time. It just happened to be there. And it was pretty amazing. There was a lot of money.
Starting point is 00:18:58 There was a lot of people there. A lot of excitement. So I think rodeo is a growing sport. And you don't have to do the bull riding and the stuff that really hurts you. There's barrel, you know, women do barrel racing. You know, there's a lot of, which is not without some danger, but there's a lot of other parts of rodeo that don't have to, you know, cause a lot of injuries. So I think it's growing. I think it's a very popular sport.
Starting point is 00:19:24 And I don't know whether this is the type of gear that a professional rodeo rider buys or somebody who just likes rodeo and kind of does it recreation. You know, does a little bit of it recreationally. I would assume it's the latter. The problem I see here is that this is totally a lifestyle business, like Tim said, all of the, all horse businesses are. We got excited one other time about a horseshoeing training business. And I think, you know, what we ended up learning there was it was also a lifestyle business. It just don't make a lot of sense on paper. They're great for someone who's really into the horse world.
Starting point is 00:20:06 It's a great way to make a living and stay completely immersed in what they love. But the numbers don't usually add up. And that's the case here. Even if you took the real estate out of the equation, you figure you're just going to rent the little retail store up front. You know, six times multiple between the inventory and the operating business is just not realistic at all. So I think this is one of those listings. I wrote a blog post and put it on my website this week, and I talk about the 85% of listings that come to market that are just never going to sell.
Starting point is 00:20:42 And I would put this one in that category, at least at this valuation. And I mean, how would a lender look at this? I assume you're not getting a, you know, 10% down note. here with the inventory and everything involved. Maybe with the real estate it could work out, but like I just, how is this fundable? Yeah, it's not. And you notice that they didn't say it was.
Starting point is 00:21:02 They didn't say SBA pre-qualified or anything like that, probably on purpose. The problem with the real estate here is that this is their home. And so I very much doubt there's any rent expense taken out of that SDE number. That's probably, you know, without any rent expense. So even if you came along and bought this business, if you've got to also pay rent, and you didn't buy the real estate,
Starting point is 00:21:26 your SDE is going to go away. It's going to shrink or go in half. Could I get one of those FHA loans for something like this, Heather? I mean, this is, and I think those are the ones that are kind of the farmland, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:38 designed for this type of stuff, like out in ag world. You could, but only on an LTV on the real estate, which is only 1.3 million. So let's just say you could get 90% of that. That's still going to leave the business and the inventory unfunded.
Starting point is 00:21:53 So, you know, that's not going to get you there. That's just going to get you to buy a house and some barns and some land. But you've still got to find a way to pay for the inventory and the business, and they're asking six times for that. So that still doesn't pencil. Yeah. My take on it, I mean, is if you're like, the buyer, if they're out there, is somebody who's, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:17 had a corporate career or maybe a business owner and outside of this. made some money in their life as a rodeo enthusiast, like wants to move to a farm and be involved and immersed in in their retirement like that, and they have a little nest egg, like that's, and they're probably, you negotiate a seller financing deal on the asking price of the business, get a loan on the house, like on the real estate, like that's where I think this is like somewhat of a realistic buyer for it. I did look it up. Maricopa is Phoenix County. So I'm sure our Phoenix and Arizona listeners were screaming at the, screaming at the screenings. Well, you know, that's why everything we say gets couched with the, here's what I think, but, you know, it is what it is. And also why the game of, the game of buying businesses is so fun, right? There's so many moving parts and it's such an exploration and learning opportunity. So, you know, Tim, it sounds like you don't think this is something that would be investable for somebody in your shoes in any kind of regards.
Starting point is 00:23:18 definitely not i mean the economics for a professional investor in this space like it gets really tough if you have any business below a million in sde like maybe it could work at 750 but you know for a professional investor in in this space it's just hard to go below that there's just not enough cash flow after debt service after paying the owner uh to pay back investors like it's just not really feasible so we would never look at something like this beyond the fact that it's retail based which is just something that, again, professional investors aren't typically interesting in because there's not a lot of growth opportunity there. Yeah. Well, let's say I was somebody that wasn't one of these nest egg people and I really wanted to be in this business, but I'm looking at this deal, which I think is like a lot of deals where it's just clearly not going to pencil. It's way overpriced. The seller is not demonstrating not being super reasonable with this two-week transition plan.
Starting point is 00:24:08 but there's also not that many like, hey, I really want to be a rodeo retailer, like businesses out there. Let's say I'm the searcher and this is the right one for me. Like, how do you guys see people approach this situation in which a seller is just clearly advertising unreasonable expectations? Like, do you just like take your licks or do you go have a conversation with them about where you think the business should actually underwrite and what price you could pay? Like, how do you guys see people approaching this scenario?
Starting point is 00:24:38 It depends on how well the broker is in these deals. They're typically the ones that I think could kill something like this. I think if this wasn't a broker deal and you know, you were a super enthusiast and you worked directly with the seller, like, and the seller loved you and thought this would be a really good fit for their legacy, there's probably a way to make a deal work here. And it's probably more seller financing and a lower price and, you know, all those all those sort of things. But, you know, my experience, it's typically the brokers who try to prevent those. offers from actually happening because they don't they're not going to get comp as higher sometimes they don't get comped on seller financing portions and all of that so yeah I think I think the broker might be the one that would prevent this from happening if this was your deal I would say make an offer and say inventory is included you know and just kind of skip the part where they said it's it's extra and say you know here's my offer with inventory included and I'll lease the retail space, you know, for a market rent or whatever. And, and my offer is still subject to a multiple of, you know, verified EBITDA once I get in there and
Starting point is 00:25:50 figure out whether there's rent in there or not. And, you know, I tell, I advise buyers to do that all the time. Like, just show them a reasonable offer of what it actually could trade for and give them your logic somewhat, like your mathematical logic right there in the offer. And see what happens. Sometimes you're surprised that they may come back and say, well, that is, maybe that is a reasonable offer. And I'd want to know, and I'd advise buyers, like, really dig in with the seller on why they're selling, why they put two weeks. Was that just something that the broker put there? Or was that sort of an expectation on their side? Like, you just, you know, my, whenever we're revising people at the acquisition lab, regardless of the deal, like, to me, if you don't get a good read on
Starting point is 00:26:30 the seller and why they're truly selling, especially if they're not at retirement age, like that, And there's like issues in the business. That's major red flags from me. And I think because the space is so competitive right now and every deal has a red flag on it or some hair on it that people don't know how many red flags to start overlooking. And they justify deals that are like clearly not a good deal and clearly have way too much baggage on them to continue pursuing. But I've seen people in the Acquisition Lab continue to pursue those deals that's like on the outside. it's like just clearly too much. Cool.
Starting point is 00:27:06 All right. Well, are you guys ready to rate this deal? How do you feel about it? Heather, well, no, this is a horse deal, Heather. You're going last. Tim, up to you. How do you feel about this? Thumbs up, thumbs down.
Starting point is 00:27:17 I'd go thumbs down unless you were a super enthusiast about to retire and this is your dream. Yeah. I think there's a person out there for whom this is the right deal, like if you're a rodeo nerd. But this is hard work. Like, I don't think anybody should go into this thinking they're just going to have an easy time. like retail is tough. You know, you're dealing with crappy customers. You've got two managers, Michael.
Starting point is 00:27:37 Come on. That'll solve all the problems. So I'm thumbs down except for the right lunatic who should totally buy this. So, Heather? I have to go with my logical brain, you know, rather than my heart. My heart wants to give it a thumbs up because it's a horse business and it would be a lot of fun for somebody to run. But the numbers and the fact that it's that we. We were offered two weeks of training and 25 financials available soon.
Starting point is 00:28:06 I have to go with my logical brain, which is thumbs down. Have you, why do you like horses so much? I don't mean this an accusory thing, but it's like I feel like a lot of times, folks, you have an emotional connection to the entire thing. And it's coming from male energy land, like I don't understand it. So I'm just curious, like, what about it is so, like, fun for you and so, so cool? They're very, well, riding a horse are very, very, sensitive beings. And so there ends up being this like communication that's nonverbal communication
Starting point is 00:28:38 that you end up having. If you have your own horse or if you have a horse that you ride very regularly, because it takes a long time to build the trust and the relationship there. So like compared to like riding a motorcycle where you just tell it to go with your, it's a machine, the horse does not work that way. And so there's a lot of work involved in kind of getting to the point where you're, you know, you're getting what you want. You know, the horse is understanding you and it's nonverbal. I don't know, it's very, it is very much an emotional connection. Really cool. Very rewarding when you achieve certain things that look like they should be easy, but they're really not. As a married man, a lot of what you described feel like the things I've taken the past 20 years
Starting point is 00:29:16 trying to learn, like how do you feel a vibe for the moment, like not, you know, not have to be told things, like just know when to unload the dishwasher, you know, like I think it's that kind of, you almost described that. It's like, oh, okay, like, I could see, I could see that answer. Yeah, yeah. Cool. All right. Well, thanks for that digression. So Heather, where can people find you? I am at V-I-O-C-A-P-V-I-O-C-A-P.net. That is our website. And every Tuesday, I do a webinar for people who are looking to buy a business to tell you all about the entire process, what it looks like, answer all your questions, and show you what our services look like. Superb. Tim, how about you? Acquisitionlab.com.
Starting point is 00:29:58 Tim at AcquisitionLab.com if you want to reach out to me directly, but I've got a whole team to help support you through your journey. Amazing. Tim, 10 out of 10 for your first joining today. Really, really good job. We hope you'll come back.
Starting point is 00:30:11 All right, everybody. We'll see you next week. Thanks for being here. And let us know if you go by this radio thing. We'd be really interested because we want to find out what's wrong with you. Call me. Call me if you do.
Starting point is 00:30:23 See y'all next week.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.