Matt D'Rion

Last year, we acquired 2 businesses with nearly $3.5M in combined annual revenue. It was one of the biggest learning experiences of my career. Here are 4 lessons I'd share with anyone considering an acquisition: 1/ Look beyond the numbers Financial statements only tell you part of the story. A business might be profitable, but what happens when the owner leaves? If they handle the biggest clients, make every major decision, and keep everything running, taking over won't be easy. Before signing, find out how much the business depends on its current owner and what it would take to replace them. 2/ You're acquiring the team, too One of the biggest surprises was how hard it was to make changes. Some employees had been working the same way for 10-20 years. You can't just walk in with a new plan and expect everyone to follow it. Spend time getting to know the team and how they work, and plan for a slower transition. 3/ More revenue doesn't mean more profit Adding millions in revenue sounds great, but there's a lot more to consider. You have debt to pay, people to manage, and costs you might not have planned for. We gained equity in larger businesses, but the impact on our cash flow was bigger than I expected. Before buying, model the economics of owning the business, not just the purchase price. 4/ Everything takes longer than you think We expected to have most of the integration work done within a few months. 18 months later, we're still making changes. Give yourself twice as much time as you think you'll need, and make sure you have enough cash to cover the delays. Looking back, my biggest lesson is that faster growth isn't always better growth. For years I focused on growing as quickly as possible. Now I'm much more interested in building a profitable business that can grow for years, even if that means growing a little slower. Because building a bigger business isn't always the same as building a better one.

If you sell your house, drain your 401k, put it all into starting a manufacturing company, sign 15 PGs, work 100+ hours a week, get sued, get gray hair, and wake up at 4am every morning, they send you this cool plaque.

stormed the field after byu-notre dame game this week got stuck at the 50 yard line because there were 40k people on the field and i legit couldn’t move became friends with an old guy / his grandkids for 15 min turns out he owns 2 dental practices consult call tomorrow

Attention Young Men: I am surrounded by 20 year old girls in my life that are smart, capable, hard working and cute. Nobody is dating them. Not sure what the deal is, but I don’t get it. Step 1: Stop playing video games Step 2: Head to great clips and get that lettuce cleaned up Step 3: Hit a shower (when dating hygiene is critical) Step 4: Go clean your car Step 5: Sign up for a yoga class Step 6: Go to the yoga class Step 7: Ask a cute for her phone number at yoga class (yes you can meet girls IRL and not just on the apps - 10/10 the Dirt Dog highly recommends) Step 8: Follow up within 2 days with a phone call and ask them out for this coming weekend Friday or Saturday night. Step 9: IMPORTANT - come up with a good game plane for date night. Get a dinner reservation, get an activity planned. Let them know in advance what you are doing so they can dress appropriately. I know you are gunna roll off the couch and head to date night, but they are not. They are going to stress about what to wear and call at least 6 different people on FaceTime to ask their opinion. Step 10: I highly recommend you bring flowers to the door step. I’m not covering that you go to the doorstep, because if you don’t do that you have no hope here. Women want men to date them. You don’t need to break the bank on flowers. Head to Trader Joe’s. Grab 2 different kinds of flowers. If you don’t know what matches find the closest looking lady to your mom at TJ’s and ask her. Wrap the 2 flowers into 1 bouquet with paper. Bonus Points you can cut open a TJ bag and use that as the paper. Step 11: Be a gentleman on the date. She isn’t there to hear your life story. Ask her about her. For every 1 question you answer, ask her 3. Open Doors, pay for the meal, be polite. Provided you follow most of this guideline you are highly likely to get yourself an opportunity for date number 2. Keep going until you find someone that you can’t imagine not being around all the time. That’s when you have found a good one for you. My life is complete with my wife as my companion. I wish you the same fortune in life. Happy Hunting.

Please share. If you own a small business along the Gulf Coast in Florida or Alabama impacted by Hurricane Isaias, @smblawgroup is standing by to provide free legal guidance on SBA disaster assistance programs. DM me. We’ll help you understand your options and next steps.

I’ve come to conclude that A.I. knows everything, yet understands nothing.

Late-night SMB story. A couple years ago, a good friend of mine was about seven years into his marriage. Two young kids. His wife was a teacher. Steady paycheck. Carried the family’s benefits. She came to him one day and said she wanted to finally open the cupcake shop she’d been talking about for years. He told her he wasn’t on board. They didn’t have the savings to absorb a failure. They depended on her benefits. She had no entrepreneurial experience, and he thought the business was a bad bet. His position was basically: Come to me with a better business and a serious plan, and I’ll help you build it. But we can’t afford to do this. She felt he was standing between her and her dream. Eventually, it became an ultimatum: Support me doing this, or we can’t stay married. They went back and forth for another year or two. Then they split up. She opened the store. You probably know where this is going. It ran out of cash and closed. I have a lot of thoughts about this. About how he handled it. How she handled it. The ultimatum. What I would’ve done in either person’s shoes. And obviously, knowing how the business turned out makes everyone’s Monday-morning quarterbacking a lot easier. But the part that sticks with me is how one person’s dream can put an entire family’s future on the table. The paycheck. The health insurance. The savings. The time with your kids. People talk about having the courage to bet on yourself. When you have a spouse and two little kids, there are other people at that table with chips in front of them. You need to talk about what you’re both willing to risk and be honest about where your limits are. Anyway, this story crossed my mind tonight and I figured I’d share it. Have a good night

Quick note: If a problem only disappears when the founder gets involved, the process is still broken. Fix the process. Don't become the fix.

One of the fastest ways to go broke in a growing home service business is confusing PROFIT with cash flow Your P&L can look incredible while your bank account is getting crushed Payroll is due now Materials are due now Customers might not pay you for another 30 to 45 days Growth eats cash before it produces cash