Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / A Practical Guide to Buying a Business with Kyle Griffith

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A Practical Guide to Buying a Business with Kyle Griffith · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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Three, two, one, zero.
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Ignition.
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Lift off.
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Ending small business failure.
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Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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Emerson.
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Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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Well, it's time.
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Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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small business.
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In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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your business forward.
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Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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Hi, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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I'm Melinda Emerson, your host, America's number one small business expert, and I am so
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excited to be here with you all to talk about my new passion, and that is for seventeen
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years, I have talked about start a business, start a business, start a business.
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Well, you guys, I have turned over a new leaf, as they say, I have evolved, and it is my
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belief that nobody should be starting businesses from scratch anymore, you should be
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buying a business.
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Unless you're inventing some new SaaS software, maybe, but most people can get into business
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very effectively by buying a healthy business or franchise.
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And today, my guest, Mr.
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Kyle Griffith, who is CEO of the NYBB Group, he's also the former chair of the International
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Business Brokers Association, and many, many other things.
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The CEO of M and A, the Mergers and Acquisitions Network, but his whole mission,
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whole goal in his business right now is to help small and mid sized business owners in needs of
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mergers, acquisitions, and selling their business to help them navigate really one of
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the most important financial decisions of their lives.
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He specializes in industries such as HVAC, trucking, and distribution while also advising
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clients across a wide range of sectors.
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Now what makes Kyle's insights especially valuable is that he doesn't just advise
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business owners, he has been one.
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Throughout his career, Kyle has owned and operated several businesses, giving him
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firsthand experience in business development operations and marketing.
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And that real world background allows him to see deals the way owners do, not just on paper,
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but in practice.
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Kyle, welcome to the Small Biz Chat.
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Small Biz lady, Melinda Emerson, it's such a pleasure to be here today.
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Thank you so much.
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I'm very humbled to be on your show, on your program here at Small Biz.
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Looking forward to sharing with your community and reconnecting after such a successful summit
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you had not too long ago.
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Oh, thank you so much.
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We had a great time at the Next Ag CEO Summit.
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But listen, so let's focus on you.
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Tell me, how did you get into this?
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Like, how did you know, I know that you're a serial entrepreneur, but how did you decide to
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you know, that you were gonna get into helping other people become entrepreneurs by buying
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businesses?
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How did you develop a passion for that?
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So it's interesting.
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I had the same question asked.
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I was in a session early on today, someone that's looking to get involved in same thing I
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do in brokering deals.
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And they asked me, you know, why did I become a broker?
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Like, how did I get involved in this space?
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Most people that are, do what I do is their second or third career, right?
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So for me, read my last job was in healthcare, spent nine years in healthcare and finance.
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And during that period of time, had several part time ventures and I ventured to full time
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entrepreneurship about twenty years ago.
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And I, you know, as most people that migrated to this country didn't have any support system,
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didn't have any mentors, any small business owners that I could look up to and help me as
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far as my business endeavors.
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I end up either starting businesses or partnering with others to with another in other
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businesses.
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And a colleague of mine in Chicago, reached out to me and shared the idea or the concept about
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business broker, which I didn't know anything about the time.
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This is going back about seventeen years.
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And I just came with the epiphany, Melinda, that, hey, you know what?
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If you can't beat them, join them, right?
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I was trying to figure out this entrepreneurship thing, like for like, God
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knows how long, had some successes, had a lot of failures.
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And for me, if I can get in the position as a business broker to work with small business
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owners and help them sell their business, throughout that process, I can learn about that
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business, learn about that market.
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And for me, for self increases, I just wanted to learn about business general.
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I didn't have anyone I could connect with that was already in the space.
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So initially I got into the space I'm in because I wanted to learn and be a better
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business person myself.
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And I was like, you know what, along the way, I might see some deals I wanna buy myself, right?
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So if I can beat them, do my own thing, you know what, I'm gonna join them by buying a
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business.
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So after about seven or eight years, working with a firm, becoming the top producer in that
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company, was called New York Business Brokerage, I had the opportunity to buy the
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business.
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So invested in that company, rebranded it, and we launched as the NYBB Group.
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And collectively, it's been up, it's our twenty third year, I believe, in business.
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And I've been in this space going on seventeen years now.
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So very excited, helped a lot along the way.
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And yeah, just very excited to be here and share and help folks.
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Awesome.
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Awesome.
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So let's just kick it off.
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Like, why do you think buying a business is a better route than starting from scratch?
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Well, think about it, right, is that's so interesting that you can go from being a, you
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know, not making any money to being a millionaire overnight.
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Right?
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So there are companies already that have they have customers, right?
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They have products already, they have distribution, they have employees, and most
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importantly, have profits.
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So you're essentially buying a cash flow.
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So you can go from not having any business, not generating any money to buying a business that
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already has cashflow as opposed to starting a company where you're starting from scratch with
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zero cashflow, zero support.
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You you have to figure out the contracts, figure out permits you need to operate, figure
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out your leases, you know, where are you gonna sell to, what your, you know, product market
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fit, trying to figure out, okay, well, what's working, what's not working, as opposed to
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buying a business that's already operational, you have everything in place already.
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So it's a huge advantage.
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I would say though, there's one caveat and that's what I've learned in my career that now
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that I have generated and built a lot of knowledge about running businesses, I think you
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can, once you have been in business for some time, you can go back and, you know, start
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being more in a creative side of being a founder, because you have kind of been through
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the process.
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So I always advise like first time business owners, you know, either invest in a franchise
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or, buy a business.
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That's a great way to start a mentor with someone that's already in business, learn from
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them.
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Then when you get the chance to be an operator, just jump right at it.
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Well, couldn't agree with you more, but I wanna just switch gears with you a little bit and
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say, what do you think are the best types of people that are best suited for business
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acquisition?
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Well, business acquisition and business ownership, they fall hand in hand, So I'm gonna
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kind of put two of them together, right?
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What makes a good business person, right?
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So as a business owner, most people think, okay, well, I'm gonna have my own business, I'm
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gonna buy a company, and all of a sudden I'm gonna go from making X amount.
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Now I'm running this business, I'm making more money and I don't have to work as much.
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And that's actually not the truth.
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You actually work more as a business person, but you work smarter, not harder.
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You're building an asset that you can keep, you're creating generational wealth.
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So to answer your question, there's someone that has a mindset of, Hey, I am providing a
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service in my community, I'm providing a product that fills a need, right?
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So you're given of yourself, whatever your service or your product is, at the same time,
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you're reaping the benefit of that.
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So it usually works backwards.
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It's kind of a weird way to look at it, right?
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Whereas opposed where you're working a job, like you're in most people that go to a job and
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their goal is, Hey, I'm going to get everything I can from this company, right?
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I'm going to work just enough so I can get a paycheck.
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And in reverse how business works, you actually have to give more of yourself in the beginning.
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And then after a while, it start coming back to you.
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You start showing up in the community, right?
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You start doing like talks like this.
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You start doing speaking engagements, right?
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You start sponsoring events.
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You start speaking in schools, right?
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You start giving free samples of your product, right?
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And you're spending time in the beginning, right?
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Honing your craft.
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And then the intent is if you have a good business plan, a good support system, over time
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it reaps rewards, right?
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So it's a mindset shift.
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So someone that's going to think in long term, not thinking that, Hey, I'm going to jump into
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this business, I'm going buy or start a business, and all of sudden I'm going to be
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profitable and be successful.
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It does take some time.
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What would you say the biggest myths people have about buying a business?
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Well, one of the biggest myths is, you you're taking a huge risk, right?
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So you're purchasing a company and you're inheriting the shortcomings and the issues that
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company may have, right?
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So call it a myth, truth, it It is an investment and with investments, are risk.
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So you still have to be very wary of it.
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One myth I see all the time, you see some of the talking heads talking about, Hey, you could
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buy a business with no money down.
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Right?
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I can get into a business with no money down.
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There's all of these, it's like the, what do you call it?
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The silver tsunami, whatever they call it, right?
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They have all these folks that are retiring.
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2030, you have all these baby boomers are gonna be retired.
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There's gonna be so many businesses.
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And hear from someone who's been in this space a long time, inventory is actually lower right
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now.
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There's actually not in comparison to the businesses that are operating that are in
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business, there's actually not as much businesses available on the market.
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So with that being said, like what I shared with you earlier, you know, if you're looking
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to, let's say, invest or buy a laundromat or looking to buy, you know, self storage or
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whatever, right?
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Figure out a way to get, befriend that owner, right?
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Either start working there, show up at a chamber, see how you can connect your way in
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there.
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And if that's the space you want to be in, learn that space, understand what the multiples
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are, understand what the players are in that industry, befriend that owner if they like to
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play golf, like get connected with those people.
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But that's the only way truly that you would be put yourself an opportunity to get businesses
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with no money down.
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Because in the open market where businesses are traded and being sold, these sellers are being
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approached by multiple buyers.
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So if your pitch is, Hey, I'm gonna buy this business, no money down.
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You're competing against other buyers that have cash.
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Right?
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So that's a big myth that you can get a business, no money down.
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It's possible, but you know, lot of times you have to come with some sort of capital.
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Right, extremely rare, extremely rare, right?
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Yeah.
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What would you say, I mean, are there any others?
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I mean, no money down is sore.
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The other one that I see sometimes is absentee owner, right?
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People think they're gonna buy a business and they gonna be traveling or doing what they
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doing and that some mystery person is gonna run their business.
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I feel like that's a recipe to get ripped off by someone, don't you?
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Guess what, you're gonna buy my business, right?
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And I'm gonna keep on working while you go and have fun, right?
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No, no, you actually, that first year or two when you buy that business, you're gonna be
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working your butt off in the beginning until you understand the business.
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Then you can work on replacing yourself and either be semi absentee or absentee.
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Find me a entrepreneur or business owner's absentee.
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I'm gonna sign up for that right now.
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I wanna be absentee.
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It's kinda crazy.
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It really is.
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So what do you think that buyers should look for in a quality business?
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What are the top three things you think somebody should look for?
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It's a lot of great things.
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There's obvious stuff that you could chat GPT and Google, right?
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I would say someone that's looking to buy a business, you have to look that business owner
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in the eye and see if they're a person of integrity.
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So is this someone that you wanna work with?
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Is this someone you want to have a business relationship with?
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It is a transaction where you're going to be in bed with this person for a period because what
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happens when you buy the business, the seller stays on to help you run So the buying a
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business is a risk and you wanna make sure you wanna minimize any risk.
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And you can tell from the character of a person whether or not you wanna do business with them,
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right?
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Everything else is stuff you can look up in the internet.
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And so number one, wanna look at, okay, well, the revenue, right?
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Is there a high percentage of revenue coming from one customer, right?
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So the customer believes, right?
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What's gonna happen in the business, right?
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So you wanna look at the customer concentration.
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You also wanna look at what's not talked about a lot is vendor concentration.
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So you're how you're a supplier of a product or a widget, and this one widget you get from a
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from a place in China, what happens if there's a shutdown or what if you can't get those
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products in the country from this particular vendor?
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That creates a problem, right?
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I think one thing you wanna see, is it a growing market?
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Is it saturated?
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A lot of times business owners, they grow their business to a point where there's no more room
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for growth.
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And it's not thinking about exiting and selling, but little do you know just coming
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into that space that they own a manufacturing business where they have equipment that needs
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to be improved, they need to get new equipment to improve their processes.
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They need to invest in different systems to make their product more affordable and more
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accessible.
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So you may walk into a business from the outside look great, only made a lot of money.
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But as soon as you buy that business, you end up having to invest more into the business that
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you normally would have expected.
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Right?
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So you want to understand this balance sheet, you want to understand how much money it takes
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to invest in the company, right, the capital expenditure.
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And there's a bunch of other things I could go on for a minute.
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I would say the other thing you want to see is what aspects of the business process makes the
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income predictable.
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Right?
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Almost everything we are doing right now, there's a subscription tied to it.
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Right now we're in StreamYard, it's a subscription.
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So if I was buying StreamYard, I know there's X amount of customers paying X amount per month
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on the different tiers.
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So I can extrapolate that and do a projection and know how much is coming in.
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If you're buying a business where, you know, they're doing, let's say it's construction,
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they're doing, you know, a lot of new build outs, right?
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So they build out a building.
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Now they have to go buy the next building to build out, right?
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What if they don't find another building?
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So you want to be able to understand the money that the business is generating and ensure that
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some aspect of it is predictable and that will help you make sure you have a good investment
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and you can also get talk about the financing as well for the company.
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Yeah, no, and that's definitely true.
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I think when you think about it, do have to understand what's really going on in this
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business so that you can figure out whether or not you should grow it, right?
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Because one of the things I was always taught that if you're gonna buy a business, you gotta
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walk into that business with a growth plan, right?
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Can't do a step slow.
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Let me take it a step further, right?
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So if you ask me, the question you asked me about your buying a business was one thing to
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look at, right?
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So when you're speaking with a seller, you mentioned about that buyer having a growth
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plan.
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What's a seller's growth plan?
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Right?
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You wanna ask that seller, person selling the business, retiring, if they were ten or twenty
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years younger, what would they do to grow the business?
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If they cannot answer that question, walk away.
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Cannot answer that question, walk away, just pack it up and go.
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Because no true business owner that's thinking about growing your company, right, is not gonna
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have a plan in place.
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If they don't have a plan, it usually means there's too much issues with the business,
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they're tapped out, they're burnt out, and it may not be worth looking at.
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You have to be very careful.
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Yeah, yeah, I think that's something else definitely to consider because there's just so
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much out here.
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What would you think are three financial red flags?
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I know you already mentioned about having an over concentration in one particular client.
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Like if you have an 800 pound gorilla client, then it gets you 80% of your revenue, that
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that's a red flag.
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Can you think of two other ones, two other financial red flags for people to
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I think for, based upon the audience, mostly first time buyers.
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So I want to give easy stuff that folks can identify and just sometimes you have to apply
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common sense to it, right?
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So the very first one is if they don't have clean books and financials, just run.
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Don't even waste your time.
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Because think about it, right?
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You're operating a business, right?
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You don't understand what your profit margins are.
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You don't know where your money's coming.
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You don't know how it's leaked out the business.
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You don't know who's stealing money.
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So if the operator, him or herself, don't even know how they're making money, how you as a
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first time buyer coming into this scenario, gonna understand that and try to figure it out.
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So now you're gonna spend money to hire an analyst, a CPA, a CFO to come in to repackage
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everything and try to figure out these numbers and waste money in that.
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And you make in that analysis, you figure out, you know, here's the reason why the owner
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hasn't been doing that, right?
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This person was stealing money, right?
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An employee stealing money, so they never documented it.
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Or they may have a family member that's on the books, or they have all these paid trips, so
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called board meetings that they're going to The Bahamas, right?
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So, you know, sometimes we have to kind of look at things at a different lens and use, you
19:47
know, common sense.
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And it's kind of harsh to say it, but you know, it's just something you wanna look at.
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So even before you start analyzing the numbers, if you ask a business owner for, you know,
20:01
their last year's financial statements and they don't have it, it's a problem.
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It usually means they haven't paid their taxes.
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A lot of companies that don't have plain books, they can't pay the taxes because the books have
20:12
to be constructed and completed in order to pay the taxes.
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So, you know, that's something you have to be very careful from a financials perspective.
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So getting past that now, you wanna be able to benchmark the company against other businesses,
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right?
20:29
So just forget the litmus test, what I shared, right?
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So now you have financial statements, right?
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So remember I spoke about understanding the market, understanding what the players are,
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understanding the industry.
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So you should know that in the industry, you're looking at what the labor cost is, right?
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So if you're looking at the P and L statement and the labor cost of the company you're buying
20:50
is higher than what's typical in that industry, then you have to figure out, so why is it
20:56
higher?
20:56
Like why are you paying more for your employees than other companies in your space?
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Are your employees that much better?
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And usually what's the case is a long term employee who's been with them for a long time
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and close friend, family member, and they just become family.
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They don't want to get rid of the employee.
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And just from me doing this for a long time, you can kind of get a sense of where this could
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be going, right?
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So now you're a buyer, you're buying this business and your goal is to cut costs, right?
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So you know, why would you as a buyer retain an employee that's over significantly overpaid?
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If you attempt to cut that employee salary, they're gonna walk away.
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And now you have to take time to find another employee, Right?
21:45
So you could start reading the tea leaves before you start getting into the details.
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Right?
21:51
So you want to look at the rent as well.
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Right?
21:53
What are they paying on rent?
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Is it typical for the rent in industry?
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You want to look the insurance as well.
21:59
So part of reviewing the financials is benchmarking, you know, how often is the
22:03
inventory turnover?
22:05
Like you can look at a financial statement and figure out how well a company is operating and
22:10
how much debt they have in the balance sheet and so on.
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Can you talk a little bit about where you get these ratios from?
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Like how do you find out what typical labor is for a marketing consulting firm or something
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like that?
22:24
Is your bank the one you get it from?
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Like where do you get this information?
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So it's well, you know what?
22:30
Melinda, it's funny.
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I just I'm just I'm, like, laugh I'm laughing now because we are subscribed to one of the
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data sources.
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It's called Vertical IQ that we use.
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There's others that we use as well.
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This is my go to, but I'm laughing because the data is now in ChatGPT.
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Like, you could actually put the you could actually put, hey.
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I'm looking to buy a laundromat.
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I'm looking to buy a car wash.
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Right?
22:57
What's a typical labor cost, right?
23:00
Or what are all the percentage costs associated with industry?
23:02
And chatty bitty will just, you know, pretty much everything's available now on the
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internet, right?
23:08
It's funny because I'm laughing, Just dawning me that.
23:12
So normally when I'm going in an appointment, right?
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So I've sold different types of companies.
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And sometimes I may not have sold a company a year or two, I'm speaking with a client, I have
23:21
to kind of refresh my mind.
23:23
Okay, well, what are the multiples in the industry?
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Like, know some of the multiples, but because I haven't really been in that space for a while,
23:30
I will log in to my industry report database, and I'll pull up everything that I need to re
23:38
educate myself in a space.
23:40
You know, what are the multiples, what the players are, like what are the parts and
23:43
services usually offered and so on.
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And a few weeks ago, I like, you know what, why don't I just put all my questions in ChatGPT?
23:53
And it was actually pretty close to the reports I'm paying for.
23:58
So the moral of the story is that everything you want is actually at your fingertips.
24:03
So if you're looking to buy XYZ business, and I mean, there's some attorneys that are against
24:10
this, you you wanna be careful what you put in chat GBT and there's some settings you can
24:15
change in there so you can not share information to everyone, but you can run a lot
24:21
of analysis with some of the data that you have.
24:23
And, you know, there's a whole other conversation and create an AI agent and so on,
24:28
but everything So is available to us the stuff that the big companies like Bain and all the
24:34
big foreign stuff they have, like you have it at your fingertips right now, believe it or
24:39
not.
24:40
Wow.
24:41
I mean, I think that's a really important point.
24:44
And it also sounds like those companies haven't thought about how AI was gonna eat their lunch.
24:49
So that's interesting too,
24:51
It's so much data in this.
24:53
It's insane.
24:54
And I was just totally amazed.
24:55
I was actually looking at the deal and I put it in there and the numbers is, you know, it's
25:01
very, very close to my reports that I'm paying Wow.
25:05
So, yeah, we have everything at our fingertips.
25:09
So let's talk a little bit about due diligence.
25:11
Like, much due diligence is enough?
25:14
Because I feel like people who wanna buy a business are either rushing or they get stuck
25:21
by paralysis analysis.
25:26
Once you submit that letter of intent, I really think I wanna buy this business, when do you
25:34
stop?
25:34
When do you be like, okay,
25:36
all right.
25:38
Can I give you a dating analogy?
25:42
Please.
25:44
A hiree analogy.
25:45
I like to make things really simple so people can follow.
25:48
How many times you have to interview an employee?
25:51
How many times do you have to go on a date before you figure out, okay, this is the
25:54
person?
25:55
You truly never ever know until you actually, you know, get into that relationship.
26:02
So until you buy the business, you don't know.
26:04
It's like peeling back an onion, every layer, learn a little bit more about the business.
26:09
So the answer to your question, it depends, right?
26:12
There's no, it's when you feel comfortable enough.
26:16
Now with that being said
26:17
Guys then see you across the room in a bar and you say, that woman right there, I would marry
26:23
that woman without a prenup, right?
26:25
You gotta do your due diligence.
26:29
Gotta do, but the point I'm making is that I'm gonna get, I will answer your question.
26:34
Okay.
26:35
But the point I'm making is that you have to, you're gonna cover your checklist, right?
26:40
You're cover all the items you wanna cover, but you have to pull that trigger.
26:44
You have to go to your gut, you have to go to your intuition, you have to go to your call in,
26:50
you wanna say some prayers before you sign off.
26:53
You know what I mean?
26:54
You have to feel it in your heart like this is it, right?
26:58
And a lot of times, so I speak a lot of buyers, Melinda.
27:02
And, you know, I always have buyers start with your motivation.
27:07
Like why are you buying a business to begin with?
27:12
Right?
27:12
I want to know what's you to invest in a company, right?
27:16
We want to see if you can close on a transaction, you want to see how driven you are
27:22
to get this done.
27:23
Because that's what it's going to take for you to close and buy this, close a piece of real
27:27
estate, buy a piece of property, buy a first car.
27:30
You know what I mean?
27:31
It's like something has to be in you like, I am going to make this work.
27:35
Okay?
27:36
Like you have to have that it factor, right?
27:39
Do you
27:40
I'm have gonna answer your question.
27:42
Go ahead, go ahead.
27:44
You're gonna say something.
27:46
Go ahead, you go.
27:49
Okay, so when it comes to running a business, there's different aspects of the business they
27:54
wanna review.
27:55
And due diligence can be very laborious, it can be very emotional.
28:00
You're essentially telling someone that a baby's ugly.
28:02
I mean, that's basically what it is, right?
28:04
They hand you their baby, check out my baby, and you're gonna say, Well, I don't like this,
28:09
I don't like that, dah, dah, and because of this, I'm gonna pay less.
28:11
That's basically what due diligence is.
28:14
You're validating the information that was presented to you originally, right?
28:19
And everybody wants a deal.
28:21
Buyers want a deal and they want to make sure that you're getting what you're paying for.
28:26
So when it comes to due diligence, there's financial due diligence, which is the numbers,
28:33
financial statements, making sure everything is presented was correct.
28:36
So if the owner said that they're making 2,000,000 a year, we need to see a tax returns,
28:41
we need to see proof that you're making that, you wanna see your profit loss statements,
28:46
everything, we wanna get all information, bank statements.
28:49
So part of the due diligence is verifying the numbers that's presented as accurate.
28:56
So that's the first checkbox, right?
28:58
So when you're buying a business is based upon a multiple, right?
29:04
So whatever that bottom line number is, you wanna make sure that that's in line with your
29:09
original offer.
29:10
That's the very first thing.
29:12
The second aspect of the diligence is the legal due diligence, right?
29:17
So do they have the permits to even operate?
29:21
Do they have any pending lawsuits?
29:24
Right?
29:24
Understand if you're buying a tech company, do they even own the technology that they operate,
29:29
that they're using, right?
29:30
So there's multiple aspects there as far as the legalities of the business and so on, you know,
29:37
is any Phantom stock is any other any other owners that you should be aware of that owns a
29:43
company?
29:43
Are there any, you know, if it's a piece of, it's a property that's tied to the business,
29:50
you know, you wanna look at the lease, right?
29:53
So if you need that location to operate from, do you have a long enough lease?
29:56
You buy the business, there's only one year left in the lease, then you're gonna be out of
29:59
business in a year, right?
30:01
So you wanna do all the legal review of that company that you're reviewing.
30:06
Then you have your HRoperational due diligence, right?
30:11
So, know, talking about time of leave, you know, are your employees actually employees?
30:17
Do you have illegals working for you?
30:19
Do have any sexual harassment charges?
30:22
Right?
30:22
There's employees that are working that have back pay, you wanna check the vacation.
30:26
What if you buy the business now and your key employees owed like two months worth of
30:31
vacation, didn't take vacation for the last ten years and you buy the company on vacation now,
30:35
right?
30:36
So you wanna understand the payroll and where everybody's at with that.
30:39
Then you want to do the IT as well, reviewing their technology, their technical stack, what
30:46
systems they're using, you buy the company, and then they have a transcription that's gonna
30:51
renew for $50.
30:52
You're stuck, right?
30:53
You want to see, okay, well, what's the story there?
30:55
Right?
30:56
Back with the legal due diligence, you wanna review any contracts, you know, that it costs
31:03
the seller may have, right?
31:05
Let's say they have agreements to service a particular customer for the next ten years at a
31:10
certain rate.
31:11
You wanna review his contracts at a renewable.
31:14
They're doing business for the city.
31:15
Is that assignable?
31:17
So in the beginning, you wanna get a idea.
31:22
You're not gonna be able to do a full due diligence in the beginning, but, you know, once
31:26
you feel comfortable with what you collected, then you can move forward.
31:29
You can put your offer in.
31:30
I'm sorry.
31:31
Put I'm sorry.
31:32
You could start working on the contract.
31:34
And it's it's a dance.
31:35
Right?
31:36
So the seller is gonna relieve provide a little bit more information.
31:40
You ask more questions, go back and forth until, you know, you feel comfortable with
31:44
everything that's presented and you buy the company and you close.
31:47
But true and fact, know what mean?
31:50
Like, a lot times you know it's in your heart.
31:51
That's why when I started this segment here, I said the person that you're dealing with, is it
31:56
a man or woman of integrity?
31:58
You could tell in the first sixty seconds of a conversation if this person you wanna do
32:02
business with.
32:03
They don't have to you know, you wouldn't even get to that point of due diligence.
32:06
You could get a feel that I don't something is telling me I don't need to be working with this
32:11
person.
32:12
And on on to the next one.
32:16
Well, think that is a really, really good point because at the end of the day, transactions are
32:22
human to human.
32:24
You gotta like the people, you gotta trust the people, you gotta believe they're not selling
32:28
you a lemon or a Trojan horse.
32:29
I mean, you gotta believe that about the people.
32:36
Typically, long does it take from the time someone calls you and says, look, I'm looking
32:41
to buy a business, I wanna buy a growing concern, restaurant or something.
32:47
How long does it typically take from the time you get a phone call to somebody handing
32:53
somebody the keys typically?
32:54
Is it ninety days?
32:55
Is it one hundred and twenty days?
32:57
Is it is it all over the
32:59
on the circumstance, okay?
33:01
So in my line of work, I primarily represent the business owners that are selling their
33:05
company.
33:06
I do have some buyers that, and companies, strategics and so on that are looking to buy
33:12
companies.
33:12
So if it's a case where I have a business on a market that I'm selling for sale and a buyer
33:18
calls me up and, Hey, I saw you have this business for sale.
33:21
I'm interested.
33:24
You know, we wanna get them beyond disclosure agreements.
33:28
They'll probably get the SIM, which is a write up.
33:30
It's called a confidential information memorandum.
33:34
They probably take about two a week or two to review it, meetings with the owner within a
33:38
month.
33:40
You know, let's say they are the best fit to buy the business.
33:43
So let's say within a month, we get a formal offer from the buyer, then about three months,
33:48
two to three months of due diligence spoken about.
33:52
So I would say roughly, if anything works, and we hit all the milestones about four months,
34:00
that's when there's already a business available to buy, right?
34:05
So they they see the company and I'm inquiring this company.
34:10
And so I would say four to six months.
34:14
Now, if it's a case where they don't have a business yet, you know, you're talking about
34:19
months of searching and that can that can take time depending on what they're looking for.
34:24
So we would help them, you know, find a company.
34:27
Wow, okay.
34:28
That's interesting.
34:30
So what would you say, I mean, you have such a wealth of knowledge because I feel like you've
34:35
worn like every hat in business.
34:38
What would you say is the best business advice that you have ever been given?
34:44
I would say if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
34:52
You know, I feel people talk and say stuff and, you know, they don't follow it by action.
34:59
So whether you're dealing with customers, clients, you know, other business owners, other
35:03
people you're doing contracts with, like, you know, people say they're going to do stuff and
35:08
you don't follow through with it, you know, in business practice, you know, that's a big no
35:12
no, right?
35:13
You want to work with people that their word is bond and they mean what they say, it all starts
35:20
with action and following through.
35:23
And you see it in a very small scale, like you meet someone today and you have a great
35:26
conversation, you hit it all up and say, oh, let's have a follow-up call in two weeks, or
35:31
let's, I'm gonna send you that proposal I mentioned, and the proposal never comes.
35:37
Like how one person does one thing is how they do everything.
35:42
So in that first, I remember I met T.
35:45
Hoff Ecker years ago and he's the author of the book, Millennium Mindset.
35:51
And he said he can judge someone's character in their future just within sixty seconds, just
35:57
the words that they say, how they say it, and the inflection and so on.
36:01
So we all are humans.
36:03
We all connected by one energy source.
36:05
And I don't want to get too foo foo, but essentially in business, back in the days, was
36:11
done in a handshake.
36:13
You could feel that one's energy.
36:15
Can we shake in this?
36:17
Right?
36:17
Are we good?
36:18
We gonna break bread?
36:19
In some cultures, like they don't start business unless they break bread.
36:24
If we can't eat in my house or your house, if I can't meet your family, we're not doing
36:28
business.
36:29
Right.
36:30
So, you know, I think this being a good person of good character and integrity, it starts from
36:37
there and just watching how people move, right?
36:40
Are they actors or are they real people?
36:42
Sure.
36:43
No, I think I think you're 100% right.
36:47
And, it was funny.
36:49
One of some one of the other business broker experts that spoke at my conference the other
36:53
day, he said, listen, if somebody tells you their inventory, go look at it.
36:58
So that was the best advice he said.
37:01
So I think your advice coupled with his advice, I think you guys are out here saving souls and
37:06
saving businesses one business at a time.
37:09
Melinda, we have a say in our business.
37:11
We believe that business is personal.
37:13
We want our clients look at us as people, you know, even though you're transacting through a
37:18
machine, we're talking to a computer right now, there's a person on the next side of it.
37:23
So we want to be relational.
37:25
We want to be able to connect.
37:27
We want to be a resource, you know, so I feel in business like this be you, be yourself, be
37:34
who you are.
37:35
You know, don't be afraid.
37:37
There's a lot of opportunities out there.
37:39
Get the right help, get the right advisors to help you.
37:42
That's one of reasons I started my other company, M and Network.
37:45
We have a team of 50 advisors in that company to help folks with their due diligence, help
37:49
them get funding for their deals, help them with their contracts, CPAs to help them do
37:53
their due diligence.
37:54
I I wanted to make sure that if someone's going through a deal, they got the right support,
37:59
they get the right team.
38:00
But for me, it all stopped like, in these days, you know, we met, right?
38:05
You came, like, we had a conversation, It's like, I gotta meet this guy in person.
38:09
I gotta see if this guy is a real deal or not.
38:11
And you came.
38:12
I do the same.
38:13
I was speaking with a colleague, when was it?
38:16
November, something like that.
38:18
Someone I wanna do business with.
38:19
I said, I'm coming on the train.
38:21
Did I drive?
38:22
I took a train here.
38:23
I'm coming on a train to DC.
38:24
I wanna meet you in person.
38:25
I wanna see who you are if it's a real deal.
38:27
Like, is this something about meeting people in person?
38:30
If you're gonna buy a business, take the you know, drive, fly out, meet that person, that
38:37
business or in person, get a feel for who you are.
38:40
They can't hide.
38:41
You can hide behind a computer, you can't hide in person.
38:44
Well, I also think there's something to be said for meeting somebody in person, but there's
38:49
also something to be said for them having a social media footprint too.
38:53
Like, what do other people say about them?
38:55
Who else has interviewed them?
38:56
Like, where else have they showed up?
38:58
What books have they written?
39:00
What conferences have they spoken at?
39:02
Like, are they who they say they are?
39:04
Because I do feel like the internet has created this ability for people to pretend to be
39:09
experts of all kind, right?
39:10
You know, so it's like, I do think it's a both and.
39:14
I wanna come, I wanna meet you, I wanna look at you, I wanna see who are the people you know,
39:18
right?
39:19
You know, do you have friends that I like to be around?
39:21
You know, that kind of thing.
39:22
And then you say, okay, this is somebody that I'm gonna open up my Rolodex to that I'm gonna
39:26
expose to my audience to support.
39:29
And you're right, we met by Zoom first and then you had an event and I was like, I'm going,
39:36
okay, I'm gonna go meet this person.
39:38
And now you're like my fam.
39:41
So again
39:42
Tell me.
39:42
What's the experience when we met?
39:43
He's like, yeah.
39:44
What what what's the experience when you when you met?
39:47
What you know, when I met you, I was like, he is who he says he is.
39:51
Here.
39:51
You know?
39:52
He's meeting people.
39:53
He's connecting people.
39:54
He's looking good.
39:55
He's smelling good.
39:56
Yeah.
39:56
Okay.
39:56
I'm here for it.
39:58
Because people who don't know how to purport themselves, there are people who don't know how
40:02
to present themselves well that you would trust to put in front of one of your clients, right?
40:07
Yes, yes.
40:08
So there's a lot of it, you know, there's the nonverbal and the verbal communication.
40:14
And in reverse, if you're buying a business, that seller actually puts you in high regard if
40:20
you take time to come out.
40:21
And remember, you have to think about this business, you have to think about it and say,
40:25
this is their baby, this is their child, right?
40:27
And everyone wanna talk about how great their child is, right?
40:30
So if you take the time to come out, they're gonna show you that baby.
40:34
They're gonna talk about that baby.
40:36
And you are coming while others are not.
40:39
Everyone is sending emails.
40:40
They're doing the spam emails and the robocalls, but you're taking your butt to go
40:45
visit the business owner that just puts you ahead of the pack.
40:49
You want to get in front of them.
40:51
If you have tickets for the ball game, hey, invite them to tickets.
40:54
We play golf, invite them to play golf.
40:56
Like you want to get in front of them.
40:57
You want to get those deals, there's no money down, that's what you got to do.
41:01
Right.
41:02
Somebody's got to believe in you enough to basically be your partner and not just tell you
41:07
something.
41:08
So no, I think what you do is amazing and I'm so glad to have you in my network, part of
41:15
Small Biz Lady Enterprises and hopefully we'll help more and more people sell businesses and
41:21
buy them because that's what we want.
41:23
We don't want people starting from scratch in the back of their house.
41:27
It's too hard and it takes too much time.
41:29
There's too much financial risk in doing that.
41:31
So I just want to encourage everyone to think about buying a business.
41:37
Yes.
41:37
That's it, buying a business, buy a franchise, do not start from scratch.
41:41
Not with your first business, that's for sure.
41:43
But Kyle, thank you so much for being a guest on the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
41:47
You have been an amazing guest.
41:49
We appreciate you.
41:51
Are Kyle Griffin.
41:52
You are the CEO of M and A, the Mergers and Acquisitions Network, and the NYBB Group, which
41:59
is a business brokerage based in New York City.
42:01
Thank you so much, Kyle, for being here.
42:04
And for the rest of you, thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the Small Biz
42:09
Chat podcast.
42:11
You know here at the Small Biz Chat podcast, our mission is to end small business failure.
42:17
We bring you guest experts to give you advice that you have to pay lots of money for.
42:23
And we had an amazing guest today.
42:25
And for any of you that are looking for support with your business, particularly your sales
42:29
systems, I invite you to head over to smallbizladyuniversity.com.
42:33
We're gonna be opening up a brand new cohort of the Sales Accelerator Boot Camp really soon.
42:39
So I want you all to go and check that out at smallbizladyuniversity.com.
42:45
Well, with that, I just leave you with this.
42:48
You never lose in business.
42:50
Either you win or you learn.
42:52
God bless everybody.
42:57
Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
43:02
Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
43:07
more fantastic information and interviews.
43:10
You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
43:14
website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
43:18
Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.