Buying a Business: How Entrepreneurs Build Real Deal Flow

In this episode of JackQuisitions, Jack sits back down with Chris Barr to talk about what real leverage looks like in a self-funded search: building systems instead of just refreshing BizBuySell, working your broker network, and turning your geo + niche into an actual acquisition brand.

They break down how Chris is rebuilding his search infrastructure after round one, why tech leverage (CRM, scraping, cold outbound) matters more than you think, and how conferences, LinkedIn, and local presence (hello, West Palm Beach) quietly generate real deal flow. They also dig into ETA conferences like Harvard’s, the value of boards and mentors, and why most first deals go wrong when searchers are desperate to escape the slog.

If you’re a year into a search, stuck in a niche or geography, or wondering if you should start a business instead of buying one… this one’s for you.

🔍 What You’ll Learn

• How Chris rebuilt his search with tech leverage: CRM, scraping, and cold outreach running in the background.
• Why broker relationships still matter—and how to use them for both first look and “last look” on older listings.
• How to use LinkedIn, conferences, and DMs without feeling like a guru—and still generate real opportunities.
  
  

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💼 Special Thanks to First Internet Bank!

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Connect with Alan Peterson from First Internet Bank here

Host

Jack Carr 

Guest

Chris Barr 

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Transcript

JQ 30

Chris Barr: [00:00:00] Chris, how is the search going? There was two HVAC companies that I'm waiting on Sims for. It was like, Hmm, that's a better spread than I usually 

Jack Carr: see. How are you keeping an eye out? What are some of the channels that you're using for kind of opportunistic views? 

Chris Barr: Yeah. Honestly, it's kind of basic blocking and tackling and stuff like LinkedIn.

Jack Carr: Don't, don't feel bad about it. Just, just send those messages. Worst case, you're gonna get somebody who says no. Yeah. Any thoughts or. Or movement potentially towards starting what you're trying to find in the niche zone versus buying and moving forward. 

Chris Barr: Nah, you know, honestly not. Um,

Jack Carr: welcome back to Jack position. What's going on? Chris Barr in the house today. What's 

Chris Barr: up everybody? Good to be back. As always, 

Jack Carr: Chris. How is the search going? So it's hard 'cause like you and I stay in contact, so I actually know how the search is going, but like, I do want you to tell everybody else 

Chris Barr: for the masses.

[00:01:00] Yeah. Um, no, it, it's good man. Um, kinda last time we talked and really even before that, it's been a lot of infrastructure work, so not a lot of, you know, super sexy, exciting, you know, deal flow as much as we both like to be talking about that. That being said, I think it's, it's really. A good thing. And I think it's, it's kind of how to build leverage in your search.

Um, and to take some time and take a few beats to really build a sophisticated system, which I realized I, I didn't do the first time around. I thought it was sophisticated, which you don't know what you don't know. But, um, to build something that can handle a lot more volume is gonna build me a lot more leverage to make it a lot more efficient and allow me to.

Up the volume this second go around. So, um, so when 

Jack Carr: you talk about leverage and systems, what are you specifically referring to? 'cause there's lots of leverage, like some big leverage keys are people leverage, right? Mm-hmm. Hiring in the Philippines Yeah. Is a people and a money leverage, [00:02:00] whereas leveraging technology helps your time, money, and, you know mm-hmm.

The search itself. Yeah. So what kinda leverage are you using when you say. Yeah, leverage 

Chris Barr: the, the people leverage, um, is not so much a focus. Um, I will bring that back in as I, I source that pressure watching deal from, I hired someone off Upwork to create a database. There will be some more of that down the road, but as a self-funded searcher, you know, my.

My capital's only got so much bandwidth. So it's a bring in personnel, which, which costs on the, the human leverage front, um mm-hmm. That I said will come a bit later and a lot of the same methods I was using before. 'cause again, my bandwidth doesn't offer much else. Um, it's more the tech, it's more of the, and I'm so not a techie, but it's that tech leverage.

Before I was managing everything in a. Manual Excel file. Basically like a fancy Rolodex that, you know, I built for myself. And it was a lot of clicks. It was time consuming, it was slop sloppy. So to build myself out, um, [00:03:00] a actual CRM and, and things like that. Some data scraping tools. We talked about cold outreach this last time.

Um, and I agree it's, it's not always super personal. It's not the outreach that I. Favor. But to have that running in the background while I'm doing everything else is again, very high leverage. If I'm blasting out a bunch and I'm only getting one to 2% response rate, even then it's still a good thing to have cooking in the background.

So those are the types of tech leverages I'm I'm building in currently. 

Jack Carr: So what's, since the last time we talked, it's been a little over a month. Yeah. So, so for you, what's, what's been working? Have there any, has there been any movement on the deal front? Mm-hmm. Um, is there any strategies that you're saying, Hey, I think I'm gonna.

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Chris Barr: Yeah, I think that the difficult part for me about that, um, building that tech leverage is the juggling and the balancing act. You know, it's one of these things where especially again, it's not a techie. This stuff is so time consuming for me to build.

Um, and again, I, I think that for a while I was so focused on that, but I just got deitch. And I also think there is something to be. Very valuable to be said for just keeping your finger on the [00:05:00] pulse and keeping a foot on the gas pedal for keeping deal flow in. So I think since the last month we talked, that's been my focus is how do I, how do I find a good equilibrium here?

So, um, still focusing on that infrastructure build, but at the same time, okay, let me reapproach my brokerage network that I, I did take the time to build early on. Um, try to at least be actively reviewing opportunities and never have weeks go by that are flat on opportunity review. Um, just to again, keep that consistent flow.

So that's been the focus the past month. Um, you know, I'm still waiting on like a 10 day turnaround time for some, a big batch of sims that I filled out NDAs for, so that's a little frustrating just to have the broker today be like, where, where those sims man we're, we're excited to review, but a lot of kind of.

Bread and butter stuff that, um, was of interest the first go around that I haven't really, uh, seen for a while. A lot of good HVAC stuff, which is straight up your alley. And um, again, I feel like a lot of [00:06:00] those. Price points. A lot of kinda what I was seeing from preliminaries didn't feel like a good fit.

Um, there were some flooring contractors, uh, roofing business, a few landscaping ones, probably three or four HVAC ones. Um, so yeah, again, it's a lot of kind of the bread and butter home services businesses that I've kind of taken a break from that. Circle back up and good op opportunities have popped up.

So exciting. 

Jack Carr: And so it sounds like to me you are really working the broker network right now is what's driving you the most leads, is that correct? 

Chris Barr: Yeah, it is. And again, I think that that'll pop up into more off market stuff once that infrastructure gets built. And that's really what the for is to kind of build that off market pipeline network, um, as well as some on market stuff.

But again, you're, I feel like you're remiss in. Trying to target an offline pipeline. Um, you know, or yeah, while, while you don't really have an on market pipeline, I [00:07:00] feel like you've gotta have the bedrock of that before expanding into off market deals. Um, so being able to kind of tap into that broker broker network for on market stuff while I'm building out the machine to target off market stuff is again that balancing act I'm in the middle of.

Jack Carr: Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't think that's wrong. I mean. From a standpoint of work, 'cause I work with brokers regularly. Mm-hmm. I mean, the nice part about once a broker views you as, hey, you are this type of person, which I'm the HVAC guy Yeah. Who's buying in the HVAC industry. I get a lot of first looks on businesses.

Mm-hmm. Um, but what I've also found to be extremely helpful is it's a first look as well as, I don't wanna call it last look. Mm-hmm. But. On market for over a year. Yeah. Right. Because if, if a business owner really wants to move or a business owner really is looking to, has health issues, whatever the, you know, whatever the case may be, that is causing urgency in their life.

Yeah. They've probably. Giving it to the broker, the brokers said, Hey, I can move it at this number, which was [00:08:00] too high. They get two or three bids that come in that say, Hey, no, this is too high. And then it just sits because everybody's seen it. Are you, do you have any strategy around that or have you ever thought about going and looking at.

You know, on market 180 days plus businesses. 

Chris Barr: No. You know, but you bring up a good point about being on either end of the bookend, you know, um, kind of being monkey in the middle is I feel like where a lot of bad deals exist. Um, so no, it hasn't necessarily. Been a focus. That being said, the original pressure washing deal might end up re towards the beginning of the year for that same reason.

So, um, kind of a organically, not with a lot of intention, but, um, yeah, we, we might have an example of that popping up. But no, it's definitely something I wanna start incorporating. Um. 

Jack Carr: Chris. Um, speaking of that, so I know your background is in commercial real estate with the commercial real estate. Do, do you find that, and this is just me being genuinely curious.

Sure. Do you find [00:09:00] that the bookend theory kind of is the same there as well, or do you, is it, is it different in real estate? 

Chris Barr: Um, no, I think there's some truth to be spoken to it. I think that when it comes to. Commercial real estate. Again, I think that there's this commonplace fallacy that it's very, very passive investing and I guess it can be, I even think that poor landlords, uh, to be frankly honest, you know, treat it pretty passively.

Um, that being said there, for the reasons you mentioned, people's health, their activity level, when you have an operating business, um, it's definitely more involved. And so for that reason, I think that. Um, landlords can let properties hang out on market for much, much longer. True, and not be as beheld into a timeline.

That being said, and you know, Don Teman, who everybody loves on LinkedIn, strip mall guy, um, shout out Don, wherever you are. Um, you know, again, there is still great. Deals on market. Everybody thinks that to find something worth buying, you have to go off market. And that's just not the case. [00:10:00] And I think that that really applies to small business acquisitions as well as commercial real estate, that there is good stuff out there in different parts of the cycle cycle.

But again, I do think that book ending, it's probably wise. 

Jack Carr: Yeah. I mean, good. Mark, uh, you good deals. Don't get me wrong, I, all, my best deals have been off market, every single one of 'em. Sure. That, that being said, I, I don't think that you're wrong. I do think that the idea though is that you, for on market deals that have been sitting there a long time, you go into it.

Understanding that the purchase price given is not going to be the actual purchase price. And the brokers are all yelling at me and telling me that, Jack, you're an idiot right now. But from my experience, um, you know, the, the purchase price is set by the business owner, not the broker. And they have a.

Fiduciary responsibility to bring any and all offers to the business owner. Mm-hmm. So I think that if you do, if you are specifically having issues, it kind of in your case [00:11:00] too. Mm-hmm. Um, not issues that you're having issues, but issues of the sense that you are stuck to a strict geo. Mm-hmm. And you are stuck to, you're not.

But if others are stuck to a specific, um, industry type or vertical, uh, it doesn't actually hurt to. To have those conversations with the brokers and say, Hey, this one's been sitting. Is he willing to, to come down and purchase price? Because I mean, there's, there's a few deals that I've been working on that go back.

Year, two years, where the, the owner still wants to sell, but he's just not getting his price and he never will get that price. And so eventually he has to make a decision or she has to make a decision, um, whether to come down on price or to shut down. And something is usually better than nothing 'cause they'll never get the price that they're asking.

Chris Barr: Yeah. It's funny, um, that you brought that up. I was literally just talking to a fellow searcher like a half hour ago about this and, um, yeah, it, it's, and I'm glad that you noted it because it almost seems like sex. [00:12:00] Nature it. It's almost kind of like for people who have been searching for a bit, it almost goes without saying that for a lot of these AR market deals, the purchase price is not actually the purchase price.

But again, I think that a lot of people. Again, it seems so commonplace to us, you don't even think about it. But I think for a lot of new searches out there, it's something that they kind of gotta get it in the rhythm of, of realizing. Um, uh, but yeah. And you also kind of brought up a, a good point about constraints.

Again, being constrained via geo, being constrained via. Um, you know, via sector and, you know, we were talking about this, a lot of, um, when you're constrained via geo, it's still really important to brand yourself under a banner and say like, you're the H Jack is the HVAC guy. HVAC jack. That is what you do right now.

Um. You know, I am temporary infrastructure Chris and event rental Chris. That is what I'm branding myself as. But uh, when you do have a big constraint like geo to keep the antenna up and to be [00:13:00] opportunistic, and that doesn't mean that you conduct outreach and. Create this wide funnel of a brand, because I feel like you do need to have a niche.

Um, but to be opportunistic in what you allow yourself to review and, um, what you allow to come your way, I think is, that's a, that's a balance. 

Jack Carr: Yeah. No, I, I agree with that. Um, it's very interesting. The, uh, the business, it's the, the. You know, the theory that the minute that you go and buy a red Toyota Camry confirmation bias, that you see a bunch of red Toyota Camry.

Yep. And the minute that you start looking at buying businesses, you actually see the opportunity to buy businesses or to partner with people. Yep. Um, and so I think that that's a very good key is, uh, I used to have an ongoing spreadsheet of just like. Ideas to start businesses. Mm-hmm. That just was, you know, like six or seven pages long.

He's supposed to, to my Twitter. And I mean, the ideas are never, in my opinion, they're not [00:14:00] valuable. The action is. Mm-hmm. But what is valuable, even with the ideas, getting your mind in the right mindset to find those opportunities. 'cause even if they aren't straightforward to you Right. Or they're not outright, Hey, I'm looking for X to do Y.

Yeah. If someone's saying, Hey, I'm, I'm having trouble with this. Does, do you know anybody that can help? Like that in itself is the opportunity to either step in or provide capital value or provide labor value. Mm-hmm. There's different differing ways to get ownership. How are you keeping an eye out? What are some of the channels that you're using for kind of opportunistic views?

Chris Barr: Yeah, honestly, it's kind of basic blocking and tackling and stuff like LinkedIn. Um, I would say, and this is a great segue, um. Two weekends ago was at the ETA conference up at Harvard Business School. And man, that what, what an event, um, especially for, I think all searches have read the, you know, HBR Guide to Buying a Business by RoCE Ugo.

Um, he was a speaker there, ran into him in between sessions. So I'm like, your book changed my life. Like, thanks. And [00:15:00] he like stopped. He's like, oh, are you searcher? Like, where are you out in the process? I'm like, oh my God. Like, um, so I had one of my mentors speaking there as well, so, uh, great. Great event.

So I think that stuff like that, we've talked about it super early on, uh, on the local level Chamber of Commerce, but really upping my like LinkedIn activity and that's something that's very, very uncomfortable for me. I heck, I'll get on and, and speak here, but for some reason hopping into comment section, making posts like that stuff is uncomfortable for me.

But, um, I realize it's helped put me in touch with a lot of people, um, as well as. Uh, business brokers and ETA professionals in my local area, dude, just like hop in their dms, man. Like, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. And I was not as active on that front as I, I should have been in the past. Um. But I think that kind of networking in those ways, again, I think that a big part of my brand I've thrown up is like I am in West Palm Beach.

That is something that 

Jack Carr: I do. I do think that's, that's, yeah. I think a lot of lot 

Chris Barr: researchers that I've run into like, oh [00:16:00] yeah, you're that guy from West Palm. Like, yes. And so I had a few opportunities that were. West Palm specific come through, um, via those channels. So, um, including 

Jack Carr: one for me, I texted you one because I was like, oh, I don't know much about West Palm Beach, but I know that Chris is there, so I'm gonna send him anything that comes up.

But like, that is the, like, that's my, that's my. Key for the brand is like, it's not only, oh, you buy HVAC units, it's, I buy HVAC units in Tennessee or HVAC companies in Tennessee. And it's like, Hey, where Yeah. Who this person is and what they're looking for. Yeah. You're a business, your brand is, I'm a business buyer Yeah.

In West Palm Beach, and I am real, I'm active. Mm-hmm. And I'm searching like, if you have anything, send it to me. Yeah. And I think that that's a great opportunity and, and an awesome, but. It along the same line is also getting out there on LinkedIn, like Yeah, it doesn't have to. It's getting out there on LinkedIn and not doing the guru thing.

I think it's doing the who you really are thing. Yes. And providing value. And coming out there, I mean, I had my [00:17:00] first, I think it was like three or 4,000 followers. I've, I've had more followers on Twitter. From when I didn't own businesses than when I did own businesses. 'cause I had more time to be active.

Yeah. But I also was like doing stuff like, I was like, Hey, I'm, this is how I'm looking at buying businesses. Yeah. This is how I'm looking for this business. I'm scraping all of Biz by sell and I'm pulling all the data from Biz by Sell. Yeah. And I'm going through and saying, Hey, what are all the HVAC companies actually worth?

What are they trading at? Yeah. So that I know. And but posting that data and being outright and just actually being in the community of small business buyers on LinkedIn. Yeah. It has put me in more contacts and in more dms than, um, probably any other medium, even including this show, which is, you know, a show that gets six, seven, 8,000 listens in episode.

Um, I get more, uh, connections through those platforms. So highly recommend being on LinkedIn. I mean, there's people, three people today wrote me an email. I wrote 'em back and, and I tried putting one of them in contact with a. [00:18:00] Business owner in their area. Yeah. So like, it's really easy. We're all just people.

Mm-hmm. Do it. Yeah. Don't, don't, don't pull a Chris, don't, don't feel bad about it. Yeah. Just, just send those messages. Worst case, you're gonna get somebody who says no. Yeah. 

Chris Barr: And again, I think that it was kind of the, the public facing stuff that was like, Ooh, that's, that's just like so not me. Um, but no, it is.

And I think that you again, have to insert yourself into those rooms. Yeah, you sent me that one. You were also one of three. And so I think that that's the thing is again, plan and I, it. I'm realizing it as I'm saying it out loud, that when you're kind of building this brand, and again, I think that kind of some level of sector specificity is key and I'm, I'm not trying to get around that, but again, the whole reason people get into ETA is to like go the Burger King route of like have it your way, like build the adventure and build the the life that you want.

This gives you full ability to customize it and you get to prioritize the things that are most important to you. Enterprise value, um, you know, locations, cash flow [00:19:00] sector, you pick what's most important to you, and my geolocation is obviously really, really important to me. So making that central to my brand, again, it was kind of second nature, but now that I'm saying it out loud, like.

Yes, being known as the West Palm Beach guy, um, is branding in and of itself. So, um, yeah, that's definitely producing fruit. 

Jack Carr: So as you're, you're moving forward, are there any other sectors or industries that you've kind of been opening up sims or you've been looking into that have really blown you away?

And you're like, Hey, maybe I should think about this. I mean, you talked about looking at some HVAC businesses. Yeah. Is there anything out there Less from the purchase price standpoint mm-hmm. But more from like the economics and business model standpoint that interests you? 

Chris Barr: Totally. Um, and again, I really am excited about kind of my sector definition of temporary infrastructure, facility services, event rentals, stuff like that.

Um, I, I am really excited about that, but I'm going into that knowing that that's pretty niche. And again, I'm branding myself with that so I can be the. First person that people think [00:20:00] of in my area when they see kind of a niche opportunity like that. That being said, we kind of touched on this, but it's, it's keeping your antenna up and keeping your frequency range pretty broad of what you're willing to receive and what you're willing to review.

So, 

Jack Carr: um, is there anything you reviewed though in the recent month that you were like, wow, that's incredible Or just everything was kind of what you expected? 

Chris Barr: Yeah, most of the stuff is about what I expected. Um, there was a, there was. Two HVAC companies, um, that I'm waiting on Sims for, and I don't have the data right in front of me, unfortunately.

Um, but the margins kind of right off the bat of what they were reporting of SDE, um, to kind of revenue ratios was like, hmm, like. That's a pretty, that's a better spread than I usually see. So like, what's going on there? What can I find out from kind of digging into those numbers a little bit once I get some more details?

So, um, again, I wish I had kind of, you know, some meatier [00:21:00] stuff to report back, but on the kind of cursory level, um. Few interesting things have popped out there. Some landscape stuff kind of was what I thought it was gonna be, not super appealing. Um, so yeah, that's kind of what I've seen probably in the past month or so.

Jack Carr: Yeah. And then, so to, I mean, to round this out, but you're coming up on almost a year. Mm-hmm. Uh, searching, uh, you've had a deal come through. Yep. Is there any, so I mean on this, this show, I'm not opposed to people starting businesses. I know it's an acquisition show. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But is there any, any thoughts or or movement potentially towards starting what you're trying to build in or trying to find in the niche zone versus, yeah.

Buying and moving forward? 

Chris Barr: Nah, you know, honestly not. Um. And even franchising, you know, even that feels like a bit of a bridge too far. The whole, and again, I know I'm not unique in this, but I think the whole appeal to buying a small business is having something that has, um, some seasoning to it.

[00:22:00] Something that's been around and ideally survived. Definitely survived. You know, 2020 ideally survived 2008, um, and has been te. You know, been fire tested, you know, and again, even a franchise, that's a proven concept of, hey, like this brand has proven, been proven to be successful. It's like, yeah, in some other location with some other guy running on, on a different intersection, but with.

I'm working with a whole new set of variables here. Who knows if that's going to take off for me the same way that it has, um, in other, in other environments. You know, I think that it's those, it's those variables that I don't like playing with. And when you're starting something from scratch, it's nothing but an empty set of variables and it's getting something.

Off the ground, which is always when it has the highest chance of failure. How many small business? We hear stats of, you know, X amount fail within the first five years, X amount fail within the first 10 years. So getting something that has. Already experienced those growing [00:23:00] pains and experienced stability.

Like that's what I'm in this for. And that's why I've remained industry agnostic because there's a lot of different businesses and a lot of different sectors who have withstood that test of time. Um, me trying to roll out something on my own from scratch has not. So, um, yeah, that's kinda where I stand on it.

Jack Carr: Sweet. And, uh, to, to circle back on something you said, how was, I mean, in kind of the same vein of what we're talking about getting out into the industry and talking to people and, and if you're going to search, actually search and actually be that person who's interested in buying a business. How was the the Harvard Business uh, entrepreneurship Conference?

Chris Barr: I left Boston ready to run through a brick wall. Jacked. Um, it, it was, it was awesome coming from, it looked fun. Yeah. Coming, coming from commercial real estate, um, and especially retail. The ICSE conference out in Vegas is always like the event, like you are, you are nobody in retail unless you're at that thing.

Um, I somewhat feel similarly towards, you know, as some [00:24:00] of these ETA conferences, the big ones, Chicago Booth, um, uh, Harvard's, uh, and I've heard Stanford has a good one. I think Warden does too, but I think has one. Yeah. I think that getting. Again, it's those kind of, and I'm j remarked on the long hair and mustache.

I'm obviously not the Ivy League kind of guy, but I think that, um, again, taking a leap and getting in those rooms is huge and. Uh, sometimes I hear a lot of the MBA buzzwordy speak and I'm just like, you gotta get the, its, but a lot of the seminars and a lot of the talks given were from such experienced operators with, um, such incredible value alignment and, uh, the ability to leverage and grow teams from, um, getting people in sync and how they kind of cooperate amongst different, like channels and stuff.

I, it was like. Wow. Like this is, this is how the heck it's done. So, um, love to recommend anybody watching this take a visit. 

Jack Carr: Was there anything that you walked away from that you were from, [00:25:00] that you got extreme value or like, wow, this speaker spoke on this subject and it changed my mind on what I think about.

X, Y, or Z? 

Chris Barr: No, I, I don't think anything really changed my mind, but there was two really validating, um, talks that I went to. One was, uh, one of my mentors, um, who talked about turnaround tales. Um, people who you could, you could have gotten up there for that seminar was people who bought something on their first deal and things went horribly wrong and they had to get it.

Turned around and, you know right. The ship. And, um, every one of those guys talk about kind of a nightmare horror story about their first deal. Um, and all of them said, yeah, as bad as that was. I still would repeat that experience, then go and repeat the search. The search is just like a slog and it's miserable and it's a grind.

I'm like, woo. Like tha thank you. Like, uh, that really helps you kind of embrace the hardship of what searching is, um, in that reality. So, 

Jack Carr: yeah, it makes sense too. Why PE so many people buy their initial deals bad, including myself. It's because [00:26:00] you're trying to get outta that slog. Yeah. Um, so bad. Yeah. That you, uh, yeah.

Put on some, you know, rose colored glasses and, and look the other way. Yeah. But it's important not to do that. Yeah. Because time is better. Than a bad deal. Initial bad deal. 

Chris Barr: Absolutely. And yeah, it's kind of, you know, back to the good old, like marine core isms of like embracing the suck and all that kind of stuff.

Um, and then the second one was Michael Aubrey, uh, spoke and he's just like a master of scaling and uh, he at the beginning was like, I don't have enough time to go into like sales and marketing and like business development, all that stuff. And I was like. Cool. Like, well, you know, what are we gonna get into?

And it was really about, um, getting people aligned on values and mission and how to kind of, I'm defaulting to military speak here, uh, but kind of how to get that commander's intent and how to get kind of your thesis of how you're running. Your new operation communicated down the food chain, um, and opening lines of communication up the food chain so you can have [00:27:00] a really value aligned business that is offering a high quality of service.

And I loved how it ran counter to a lot of what people think PE is. And he, um, was, uh, running a, um. It was like a medical wellness brand. And again, especially in that space, people think of like pe. They come, they gut everyone out, they fire everybody. They slim everything up. They improve margins and profitability and like care and service just like goes down the tubes.

Um, his was very much opposite. He, he preached the importance of like being comfortable with the J curve and like allowing things to go down and get a little bit worse. In order to establish, um, good fundamentals and, and then allow them to eventually get better. And knowing where you're at on that J curve, um, and again, the communication and getting people in line with your vision and how to communicate that vision.

I was like, I, I left that just totally, totally blown away. Um, and my mentor introduced me to him. [00:28:00] Uh, right before the speech, that was cool to get a handshake from that guy. And then the importance of establishing a board, um, they all harped on that of like, get a team around you and shoot much, much higher than you feel qualified shooting in, getting a board around you.

Um, so yeah, that was pretty inspiring as well. 

Jack Carr: Yeah. That, that one's always interesting 'cause I, I've never, we never had a board. Yeah. Um, we, we don't to this day. Yeah. But I do see a lot of new searchers coming through with a board and it's like, oh, this is the ex, uh, president of Costco and Oh, this guy. I remember that guy.

Yeah. Yeah. A lie. And you guys, 24 old kid just 

Chris Barr: slamming like 2000 cold calls like an hour or something like that. Crazy. Yeah. 

Jack Carr: And he's getting the, I'm still blown away that he is getting, like, how does he get these guys' numbers? But he is an, he's an expert at it. God bless him. But I've seen now, since then, since that episode, I've seen like three or four.

Usually young, young guys coming along who are extremely ambitious and they're like, Hey, Jack, we got this guy on the board, this guy on the board, and this guy on the board. Mm-hmm. And we're moving this way. What do you think? I'm like, this is wild. [00:29:00] Yeah. But hey, I, I don't, I don't disagree with the, the concept of surrounding yourself.

Chris Barr: Yeah. 

Jack Carr: With industry folks that, um. Can help you, can help you out a ton. Because they've been there, they've done it. They know the industry, they know people in the industry. Yeah. And they can point you in the right direction. 

Chris Barr: And obviously if you can go get, you know, former CEO of Costco or if you can go get some like heavy pipe hitters and like, by all means, like that's great, but like, again, swing as high as you possibly can.

Um, get creative on, you know. Not necessarily even compensation, but you know, the exchange rate for why those people are gonna be involved. Um, and I think that there's a lot of willingness to, again, like help out young, hungry minds. So I think that again, doing what you can to surround yourself with some really smart people and regularly be getting their input, um, I think is, is a great thing to do.

So, um, Jack, if you be on the lookout for a board invitation, um, it'll be coming. So Casey Acquisitions needs you. 

Jack Carr: Probably one of the most important decisions you can make in [00:30:00] your ETA journey is which SBA lender. You are gonna pick a lender who will be in your corner to get you closed on the deal, as well as set you up for future expansion.

That is why we partnered with Alan Peterson from First Internet Bank. He and his team take a how can we approach as well as I personally know they specialize in home service acquisitions. Mention the show or my handsome bald head and receive a reduced good faith deposit, as well as a detailed deal review and maybe even a buy-side pre-qualification, no strings attached.

Head on over to Alan FIB. Dot com. That's A-L-A-N-F-I b.com, or click the link below to get connected. Sweet. Well, let me know. And, uh, in the meantime, uh, that wraps up today. Thank you everybody for listening. We appreciate it. Um, leave us five stars wherever you listen. I know we say that every time and nobody leaves five stars.

Go do it. Just take the two seconds to leave this, this [00:31:00] podcast review, uh, like subscribe, leave comments on what you want to hear or where you think Chris should go buy a business and how, just give him lots of feedback on what he should do better. Let me have it. That's that's, yeah, that's what I'm looking for.

And uh, you know, we appreciate you. Appreciate it guys. Awesome. 

Chris Barr: Thanks everybody.