Hello, old friends.

It’s me, Mike.

Last we talked, I said I’d send you a Q2 update. Consider this a late Q2 update.

What I’ve been doing

Since I last wrote in March, I’ve done a lot less cold-outreach searching than I expected.

I pretty much stopped.

I’ll spare you too much detail, but a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

I dedicated most of my time to personal things and my day job.

I don’t regret it — family always comes first. And, monthly revenue is up 2x since then. We’re building something, and it’s a grind, but it’s good.

But I do miss the search.

I still talk to owners, though.

I’ve received a few random emails — replies months late to my initial outreach. Stuff like this (I got this on Tuesday).

I’ve kept in touch with a couple owners…

Especially one.

And, it’s the business I’m zeroed in on right now, which I’ll tell you more about.

The business I zeroed in on

I talked to an owner today, which was one in a series of conversations we’ve had over the last year.

I’ve written about this business, anonymously, many times. If you recall the business owner I drove 7 hours to meet — it’s that one.

To make a long update succinct, they called me earlier in the year. They said it was time to sell.

I was pumped. This is what I was building for!

But I couldn’t find the right (operating) partner.

So, I tried to help them find a broker.

Side note: all but one of the brokers I talked to were… terrible. Really poor follow through.

But then they decided brokers weren’t for them (don’t blame them). They decided to hang on to the business, and slowly scale down over the next two years — a slow burn.

Bummer.

Then, shortly after, I got a lead on a potential operating partner. We built, and are building, a relationship.

I got comfortable with the idea of partnering with this person, and decided I needed to go back to the owners and shoot my shot.

That’s what I did today.

What I proposed, and where we stand

I said from my first update that I’m looking for a home run.

I could write a long list of criteria for a “home run.”

But the simplest way to say it is an underpriced asset with room to grow value.

There’s a lot of room to grow value with this business. I just needed to get it at a very favorable price.

So, I pitched the owners on what would be a really great deal.

I pitched them this against their stated alternative of slowly phasing it out.

And the owners were, to my delight, very receptive to my pitch. They of course knew it would be a good deal for me.

Ultimately, they really want to see the business go to someone who has the passion and enthusiasm to maintain and grow it. I think I do. They think I do.

They want to think about it, and said that we’ll talk again in the next two months.

Honestly, pitching someone on a real offer was pretty intimidating. I was nervous. But I’m really glad I took a shot. I need the reps.

I’m cautiously optimistic, and open to whatever may happen.

We’ll see where it goes.

What you can expect from me

A lot of my time is spent building the agency I work in. It will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future.

But I’m going to keep searching.

There’s so much value in a network of owners like the ones I described in this post. I think, to do it well, it takes a lot of time, consistency, and a long-term view.

So I’m going to keep cultivating.

And I’ll keep you posted.