Introductions + Acquisition Criteria

Because you need to be very, very, very specific in what you're looking for. If you don't know with very good specificity, then you will have a lot of crap that comes in that you'll waste time with.

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Thank you. So I was just asking Deanna if we had introduced everybody and I apologize for being a few minutes late. I actually had the good thing about this room and the people that are sharing with you guys is that we are all doing deals actively. And so this morning I had, interestingly enough, there was a guy that was introduced to me by another client for a consultation. I do that this $25,000 half day consult as kind of a way to get deals right. So he was referred to me. I did the half day consultation. He was doing about $20 million a year in revenue at the time. We talked and I said, you know, hey, if there's anything I can do to ever help, let me know. And he said, I think I'm good for right now. And I was kind of disappointed because you always hope that those might turn into something. But he did take what I shared with him and he turned that into a company that's doing about $100 million a year right now. And he asked me if I could be available this morning. I've got this event. He said, no, it's really, really important because we're in the middle of our fourth acquisition and and I really know that we don't know what the hell we're doing based on how the first three have been going. And I was like, okay, well, I can help with that. So we talked this morning and, and reached an agreement. The, the four acquisitions that he's done are doing about $60 million a year in addition to the 100 he's doing in his company. And we talked and agreed on a 10% of gross revenue deal. So that's kind of fun, right? That's, that's a 10% of his interest in those companies and his interest is around 50%. So he's getting about 30 million of that. And that's a 10% equity deal on revenue, which is one of the things that we'll talk about when we talk about how to structure these deals to be sure that you actually get paid. Because I have a whole collection of companies that I could share with you that I own equity in that you would be like, oh, that's so awesome. You must be doing great. I'd be like, no, I haven't received a penny ever. But I've received my share of the profits. Not right, because I didn't structure them right. And so you get to learn from all the mistakes that we learn from. But also we're actively doing this. If you're thinking about selling Friday, we just closed a deal on an exit. That exit was to a company that is a bigger company that's doing roll ups of smaller companies like the one that we sold. The offer that came in about three and a half weeks ago on that company was $8 million in cash. We closed on Friday on a deal at 18 million. So if you're interested in talking about how we negotiate those deals up, I'll share that with you as well. And then last but not least, this is all in the last two weeks. Okay. And last but not least on the acquisition front, just so I can give you kind of one of each of the things that we're doing. We had a tax practice that has about 70 accountants that work for it doing taxes for people. And one of my portfolio companies wanted to, or we're actually rolling up tax companies and they're selling for in the neighborhood of a 2ish, like 1.5 to 2.5 range on revenue. These companies, so this is a company is doing about $5 million a year. When they brought it to my, my business partner brought it to me, said I got it, it's great. The deal is this. They want about, for 50% that we wanted to acquire. They want about $2.8 million. And I said, okay, cool, so can I negotiate it now. And he said, yes, you can. I said, okay. I said, what would you like to pay? He said, I mean, I think it's pretty fairly priced. I'd love it if we could get it at 2.5. And I said, okay, let me see what I can do. So I got on the phone with the guy, talked with him and said, hey, man, looking at your company and kind of seeing where you are, it looks like you would probably be on the lower end of the scale because you haven't had steady growth. Well, he hasn't had steady growth because he did two acquisitions and the expenses of the acquisition between the interest payments on the debt, which is an expense that goes against profits, and the one time fees that were involved in closing the deals were dragging profits down. But I want to use that number. And I said, well, I mean, that's the number. I mean, sorry, that kind of is what it is. What can I do? It's almost like a law that we can't more than this. And he's like, man, I just, I don't know. I said, but look at this. We're going to be able to bring you in this company a whole bunch of clients. I mean, if we don't triple this business over the next few years, I don't even know what I'll do. I said, we'll probably just give it back to you. And he said, well, okay, let me, let me, let me think about that. But I need to get some money up front. And I was like, here's the problem. Problem with that. If I give you money up front, it's really going to cost you and me a whole lot more because we could put that money towards growth. So, I mean, I know it'd be, you're making decent money now. How much money are you going to make this year? He said, about $400,000. I said, okay, that he's going to take home. I said, okay, that's cool. And the profits were, I think about a million, million, two, something like that, almost a 50% margin. And I said, okay, well, why don't we do this? How about if we say that you're going to continue to get the $400,000 and we do a 50, 50 deal, you release 50% of the equity in the company to us. And I don't think that we need to put any money in because right now we've actually been going slower than we would normally go with the kinds of clients that we can refer you because we haven't got anybody to do that. Work, we're fully. So we'll turn on the spigot and we should be able from cash flow to significantly increase the value of the company. So he said, okay, well then how much upfront can I get? I mean, because I'd really like to get something. And I was like, I mean, the problem with that is that, remember, like, we want to grow. He's like, okay, so this is over a 19 minute conversation. The interesting thing is that my business partner gave the deal to me and we started talking and I said, let me talk with him. And he had scheduled. My business partner had scheduled a call with our CEO, our, my business partner, our COO and our head of sales and me to talk to the guy. And I said, the challenge with that, and this is something that you guys ought to all remember. Challenge with that is that if I get on the phone now and I'm negotiating the deal and all these other people are on the phone, this guy's going to have an ego crisis. He's going to have to say, my company's worth this. And I'm not going to be negotiating because they also introduced me as. Roland is our negotiator. I'm like, don't say that, don't say that. So I said, let me talk to him by myself. My conversation with those guys was 19 minutes before I got off the phone with this guy. I get on the phone, I have the 19 minute conversation and our final agreement is that he's going to give us 50% of the company for no money, out of pocket, $0, no buy in, nothing. Just going to hand it to us. So I called my business partners and I said, hey man, I think I've got something that you're going to like. But, but I'm not sure. I just want to run it by you. And he, he's like, well, it took 18 minutes longer than I think it should have taken you. I was like, all right, fine. So all of these deals are deals that happened in the last two weeks. That's just a small smattering of the kinds of deals that you can do. You guys can all do those deals too. And that's really what this is about. Okay? So whether you're here because you want to sell, whether you're here because you want to help people sell, because you want to buy, because you want to help people buy, or because you want to take your knowledge, skills, experience and connections and turn them into equity and companies. I do that every single day. Everybody who is going to be sharing with you does doing that every single day, all of the coaches that we have do that. We are here to serve you during the next two days. This is a very different kind of event than you might be used to because there is no schedule. You are going to create the schedule. We don't script this out. We're here just to help you. So what we're going to do is we're going to crowdsource from all of you. What are the biggest challenges and issues that you've got, kind of like a mastermind would do. What are the biggest objections that you hear from the people that you're talking to? What are the biggest objections that you have in your mind that you think are stopping you from doing this? And we're going to work through every single one of those before these two days is over. And I want to.

I want to echo that. If you can't imagine giving somebody a percentage of your company without receiving cash, it is very hard for you to convince somebody else to do that. So you have to know at your core why somebody would want to do it so well. You're like, that's a great idea. Like, I should totally do that. And that's been, like, my number one mindset for myself is I know that I would happily let somebody have, like, if Roland said to me, adam, I want, you know, 50% of everything you own, and you don't have to give me any money, and I won't take any money either. We're just going to do it and grow it. I'd be like, okay, because he's amazing, and it's a no brainer to do something like that.

Right.

And so you have to get it into your head, what would it take to do that? I just negotiated rolling by accident, and.

And I do this, too. So both Deanna and Adam have ownership of Epic because they're both amazing, and I wouldn't want to do the business without them. I could do the business without them. Wouldn't be nearly as much fun. And I live what I do. As you should, too. Right. On both sides of that. So there's.

You can.

You can definitely see the value. That's the cool thing about this. Like, there is no trick here. It's an actual good thing for everybody. One of the few things that I found in life that is actually good for everybody, you know, right up there with tobacco and cigarette smoking. So that's what we're going to do over the next few days. And have you introduced yourself to the crowd? Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, I'll Let Deanna introduce our coaches who are amazing and here to answer any questions that you've got. And you should grab them and hug them for about three minutes before you ask them a question. Do it awkwardly. Yeah. Wrap your leg around a little bit. But. But they're here for you to help you. Okay. And. And let's introduce them now so you guys know who they are.

If you're one of our coaches, stand up. I've seen two of you so far this morning. Who else? Sorry, Jalitza.

Yeah, absolutely.

And then Chris.

And we'll do that here.

Christopher. Is Daniel in the room? Christopher's there. All right, Jalita, let's do this. Let's introduce. Once you come up, Christopher, introduce yourself. Daniel was in the room, I think.

I haven't seen him yet.

Okay.

Adam will beatbox and introduction music for you guys.

All righty, guys. Good morning. My Felix Amora and I'm one of the CFP coaches consulting for equity coaches. I am located in Dallas. My main industry is construction. Go figure. But that's like the area of expertise that.

That I go after.

Like anything that has a home services related opportunity, I go after and I teach people how to basically consult for equity and get a piece of a pie by leveraging your son of genius. So if you guys have any questions and concerns, I'm going to be sitting there. Come talk to me because I will be more than happy to serve you. If you're not joining her calls every week. You should be on her calls.

They're really good.

Thank you, Deanna. Thank you, Roland. Thank you, Adam. Howdy, y'. All. There we go. Very good. My name is Christopher and I am your epic coach. I'm thrilled to be here with y' all this week. I've been mingling with a lot of you this morning and here's my outcome for you earlier. We're talking about Q and A and getting all your questions and comments answered. That's what I'm here for. And over the course of this week, you're in for a very, very special treat. If this is your first epic event, you are in for a wonderful delight. In the past two years, I've done 20 acquisitions. Not because I'm so great, but because this program is so great. So I'm a walking testimony of this program and thrilled to help you all achieve similar successes. Thank you.

Awesome. Thanks, Christopher. Okay, so let's just kind of take the temperature of the room a little bit. How many of you have done a deal, whether it is an acquisition or an exit or a consulting for equity type deal, raise your hand. Okay, great. A lot of you guys. Cool. Awesome. So we're going to talk a little bit about deals. How many of you have a deal that you're. I know you do. That you're interested in talking about here so that we can kind of work through it live at 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay, cool. Okay. About maybe 10 people. Great. So we will be doing some of that too. We'll also be doing some role play to help you if you are having challenges talking with sellers or if you're having a challenge talking with some of the people that you might be looking at that would be a buyer for your company. But we're going to start out with you guys writing down for us all of the takeaways that you would like from the next two days. So what would you like to leave here knowing how to do or having accomplished over the next two days? Because that's what we're going to try to do for you. We're going to gather all these up. You've got pads on the table, I think, right? Yep. And pens. Write it down. And then. And think about this for a minute too. What do I really want? What could I leave here with that would actually be needle moving and game changing for me? And I want you to write it down. And if it's eight things, that's fine. If it's one, that's fine. Deanna, table.

If you don't want to write it.

Down and you have your laptop up.

If you scan the QR code, it goes directly to our form. You can fill out your challenges there as well.

That's Deanna trying to get out of work. Yeah. So. So the goal, though is that over the next two days, we'll collect these and then we want to try to do our best to make all of these things happen to get you the takeaways that you're looking for. I just don't think there's any better way to serve people than to find out exactly what they need.

I agree. And you guys at home do the same thing. Please write them down. Either get them to Bailey, or I think there might be a link.

You have a link in there?

Yeah, there's a link. Okay, that'll be great. And this is the biggest thing about what we do here, guys like, you know, me, Roland, Deanna, we spoke about this when we started doing these events. We don't want this event to be something that you turn up and then you walk away at the end of it. And. And you try and, you know, piece it together yourself, or you kind of half got the answer. You want. Like, we want you to make sure that you go, oh, I know what I'm doing. I know exactly what I'm doing or who I need to talk to. And that's. That's our big dream for this, is that you're actually doing it.

It's also more fun because we can stand up here and go through the slides of the training that you already have in the portal, but that's already in the portal. So let's make this kind of special. You guys took the time and effort and expense to come out here. We really want you to get a lot out of it. So we're going to give you about two minutes to really do think about what you want as takeaways, and then we'll be right back. So let's get started again. And where's our catch box? The pitch box? Catch box? Yeah.

Ahead of the curve, I believe.

Oh, almost. But this person was going to get it for sure. Okay, so as we go around, this is a heavily participative thing, so wherever you are, we will find you. So don't think that you can hide from us. And this is called a pitch box, and it has in it a microphone. It is padded on all sides, even the top, so you can't hurt yourself when you're throwing it or catching it. We're going to throw it around the room. The only thing I would ask is that you be a little bit aware of the chandeliers, because we wouldn't want to buy another one of those. And again. And then when you're talking, talk with it right here. This is the top. And just hold it about that far away. And it will work. Don't have to say, is it on? It will ultimately be on. He turns it off while it's in the air. Okay, you're glad that he does that. Okay, so that's that. Just be aware also when you're throwing it around, aim high, because there are drinks on tables, and we don't want to get people wet or burned or frozen or any of those kinds of things. Again. So.

Yeah, again.

So what we want to do to start is just to kind of see what are some of the takeaways that you guys came up with? We've got them all. And did we collect them, Dee? Did we collect them? Okay, so pass them to one person at the table. Pick the person that is the most attractive and pass it to them.

And while you guys are doing that. While you guys are doing that, I'd like to get a little bit of a read of everyone in the room. Hey, guys, give me a sec. So how many of you are here from Epic Board? Raise your hand just so we can see.

Awesome. Okay. Epic Board is our mastermind where we work on deals. We're meeting for two days after this event to just go over deals and things like that. Just in case you guys are wondering what that is.

Perfect. How many of you are here from Consulting for Equity?

Okay, good. And Epic would be the other acquisition here for Epic. Great format, Page. Okay, cool. Awesome. And we also have, I think, our roundtable folks here. How many people are here from roundtable 1, 2, 3. I've got a lot of you guys. Okay, cool. Awesome. Great. So lots of different groups that we get together because all of these objectives that we have when we're buying, selling, and growing and getting equity in businesses are relatively tied around the same kinds of actions. So this event will help with all of those things. But let's. I'm gonna let Adam pick, and we'll go around and just find out a couple of the things that folks want as takeaways that might give you guys ideas, because I think it's good to hear what other people want to because you might be like, oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that.

Okay, so who here wants to share, like, their. This big takeaway they'd like to get this week?

Perfect.

Birdie Reverse.

Nice. Thank you. Sorry about that. Yeah. So I'm Bert Berky Amsing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I'm a Canadian. But I'm here to get one very specific thing, which is a partner in the States, an American who has access to the incredible credit system that you have here. You talk about Ty Crando and Credit Suite. I usually work with Ari Page in growing funding. Growing out of Florida. Great. But there is a lot of business money available. I can't access it. I know a lot about it, but I can't access it. And I need a partner to help me to get that first acquisition and get my E2 visa, move back to the States, all that kind of thing.

Raise your hand if you like the idea of being a business partner, and you just have to be an American is the only criteria. Raise your hand if that's. That's it. There you go.

They're the people I need lots of. Raise your hands. Okay. And if you want $250,000 in your SPV right from the beginning, before you even close a Deal. I stop pitching, Bernie.

Okay.

Okay, now I'm pitching my joke. I was going to let them have their hands up and I was going to say, and how many of you want to use your personal credit to help Birdie get his money?

Actually, this is a really good example of how dangerous it can be in an acquisition to speak too much. There's a real power in just wait and see what everyone's doing and then go for it. I mean, this is a really good lesson.

So raise your hand if you're interested.

In partnering, just so Buddy can see who you are. Can you, can you guys all make a commitment to at least go and say hi to Bertie and vice versa?

Yeah.

Does that sound good?

Yeah. The other thing is, and same thing online, if you guys are interested in chatting with Bertie, you can just put it in the chat and then Bailey will make sure that that connection happens. But that's the other thing that we really want to have happen here. And one of the reasons that it's great to be here, even if you're not here in person, to be here through the, through virtual, is that there's a lot of people that you can partner with. And one of the biggest ways, like somebody asked me yesterday on a call, they said, what are your three things that you would go back and tell your younger self? And one of the things which I learned the first part from Sarah Blakely, who founded Spanx, is to partner with your weaknesses. Right? So partner the people that will plug the holes in your weaknesses. What I have added to that is you can also hire those people if you don't want to partner. And you can also find contractors that will do that if you don't need that. Maybe, maybe it's a weakness or a gap that can be plugged with some sort of short term education, or that it's a very discreet set of services that you just need done for a little bit of time. You can hire contractors to do that. You can probably find people in this room that might be able to do that with you as well. So, uh, partner, contract, or hire your weaknesses, definitely a good thing. And there's a lot of smart people who have done really cool things. I know several people in Epic Board and Roundtable, which are higher level things that, that have significant businesses and amazing skills. And those of you who I don't know yet, I'm sure there's lots of you who do too. So be sure that you do talk to people in the room.

And actually this could be a fun one. Do me a Favor, raise your hand. There's two types of partners. Typically one partner is somebody who is looking to be an operator. They want to be hands on and, you know, they want to receive the money for doing that. And the other kind of partner is more of a higher level, stay off the org chart partner. And I find that those two are really good opposites to bring together. Where you've got somebody who doesn't have time but does have access and resources, and then you have somebody else that has time but doesn't have necessarily the access or the resources. So with those two partners, raise your hand if you feel that you are more of an operator and looking for a partner to help you. Raise your hand if you think that's you.

Cool. There's one. Anybody, one person is going to be inundated with. And I, I do want to.

You already got him out.

Brett's like, I got this guy works with us.

No, I'm joking. And then, okay, raytown. If in general you're looking for partners that you could work with, let's see the hands raised for partners. Okay, so that's almost all of you. Lunchtime today is a great time. I see this every time. Epic. They sit down and everyone just, oh, what do you do? How are you doing? By the time you finish the introduction of who everyone is at the table, it's time to come back in the room. Want to get you guys to lean into as you sit down and be like, hey, before we introduce everyone, just so you know, I'm looking for a partner. This is who I am, and this is what I'm looking for. You will have very productive lunch meetings if you bypass what I like to call. And I love Americans, but the American niceties, where it's like, oh, you see the game? What do you think of the event? How do you think about. And you do this whole long talk and then you get into business, just lean into the British way of just sitting down and be like, yes, I'm here today to do this one thing.

Okay? So the very first thing, wherever we are in this, in this journey that we're taking, is knowing what it is that we are looking for with a good amount of specificity. So that comes down to acquisition criteria. That's the place that I want to start. Who here has specifically their acquisition criteria? Where it's very easy to say, if you meet me and I'm talking to you and I say, so what is it that you're looking for that you can tell me succinctly exactly what you're looking for with specificity and quickly raise your hand if you can do that. Okay. Not. Don't be shy.

Put your hand.

Actually put your hands up. Like this is a. Like, it's not that much more lift from here to here. Okay, good. Okay, thank you. So I want to hear. I'm going to go back here to start. Can we throw the pitch box? That's a long way.

You've got me.

We'll do a handoff. Okay, great. And I'm going to get this over. Lots of heads. There we go.

Nice one, Yelitza.

Yulita didn't trust me. She was like. It was going right to her hands. Okay, so let's say your name so everybody knows who you are, and then tell me your acquisition criteria. Oh, it's not. You can't put it on the table and it just works magically. You actually have to hold it like that.

Is a microphone in here?

It is, yes.

Well, good morning, everybody. My name is Tatsurpent Schultz. I'm here because we are having trouble trying to find those companies. We have been looking mostly online.

Okay, I'm going to interrupt you and I will do this to make things move around.

Around.

This is the attorney in me. Okay. Isn't it true? No. So the first thing is, what is your acquisition criteria? I'm right here, right now. I'm an investment banker. I've got 100,000 companies I represent across all sorts of things. Okay. I'm here to help you. Tell me what you want. Give me it in 60 seconds or less.

Anything related with health companies that can be like. All the deals can be done online, like tests online, or like anything that can be done online. And also that can survive another crisis like the COVID So I've got a.

Great company for you. I've got a toe fungus, natural pathic healing that's done through Tibetan bowls that we move wood things around and the tones heal. Toe funguses. That business has done $26,000 over the last four years. Is that one that would fit your Criteria?

You say 25.

Done $26,000 over the last four years total combined.

No, that wouldn't work for me.

Oh, okay. So what's one part of your acquisition criteria that you didn't tell me yet?

So, like between maybe 1.5, 2.5 million per year.

Oh, great. I've got another one. And they do 1.5 million a year. They've been losing about 400,000 a year also. Is that something that fits your.

No, that wouldn't yeah, I'm playing with you.

So. And thank you for being a good sport.

Should be at least not around. If this one 1.5 million, it should be at least 500,000 a year.

Okay. So they're doing 1.5 million at a 33% margin. They've got 500,000 per year. They do have some challenges. There's about $6 million of debt that is owed to the partners because they had a lot of losses when they were getting started. Is that okay?

No. Yeah. No.

Okay, great. So thank you. Let's give her a hand. Okay.

I wasn't expecting so many questions. I appreciate that because it makes me think faster.

Yeah, she said I wasn't thinking very much. She said I wasn't expecting so many questions, but I appreciate it because it makes me think. Because you need to be very, very, very specific in what you're looking for. If you don't know with very good specificity, then you will have a lot of crap that comes in that you'll waste time with. And we'll show you how to build filters so that you can filter out the stuff that you don't want. The stuff that you don't want, by the way, might be good for other people. And so then I want you to think about not just the leads that you're getting in that work for you, but the ones that don't also represent opportunities. In fact, in the room, I think you will probably find that some deals or some leads that you have created in the past are actually of interest to other people. And you can pass those leads off and either receive a finder's fee. You can do it because you're a good human, if you want, or you can do it and say, hey, I just want a small part of the deal. Right. So that's something. Who else. Who else has their acquisition criteria down? General.

Right.

Ready? There we go. Okay. Say your name and what kind of things you're looking. Say your name and then tell me exactly what you're looking for. All right. My name is Chris Ross. I'm looking for a US based digital marketing agency that has management in place with SDE or EBITDA of a half a million dollars or more. Okay. SDE or EBITDA of half a million dollars or more. Yes. Okay. I know a lot of those there. There's a few of them right now that are available. They are asking a lot for it. You know, they're not. They're just kind of like, you know, hey, if. If you make me a. A crazy Offer, we'll definitely sell. Would you like to talk to those people? No. Okay, so what are you looking for specifically in terms of the mental state of the potential seller at these digital marketing agencies? Someone who's looking to exit within the next 12 months and is serious about doing it, but not completely overvalue their company. Okay, great. So you're looking for somebody that is a bit motivated. Yes. Okay, great. So that's an important thing to think about too. And I'll tell you that most of the people when I'm doing the deal breakdowns online that have that. That have deals do not have motivated sellers. And if you don't have a motivated seller, it's probably because you don't have enough deal flow. And we're going to talk about deal flow because then what happens is you're like, I can I see that for a minute. When you don't have enough deal flow and you start working on a deal, it's like, I've got this one deal and I have to make it work. Right. I might not get another one. And so, you know, I know it's not motivated, but I can deal with that, you know, And I know that it's not as profitable as I want, but that's okay. I can make profit. Right. And you end up talking yourself in to doing this deal that is crappy. Right. And I don't want you to do that. The solution to that is have a bunch of deals coming through on a regular basis of motivated sellers. But you need to know, how do I identify that motivated seller? Right. How would you think you might go about identifying a motivated seller and say your name one more time so I can.

Chris.

Chris. Okay, cool. So I would probably immediately think to ask the person, how soon are you looking to sell? How soon are you looking to sell? You know what? If somebody makes me a crazy offer, I'll sell. I mean, if it's a dumb offer, I'll absolutely sell today. Then my next question, I think I would kind of go with one of your criteria is, okay, you give me your price. If you agree to my terms, then maybe we could continue to talk. So you may ask for $10 million, but I want $10 million. What are your terms? Okay, I'll pay you the $10 million over the next hundred years. Ah, that sounds crazy. But you know what? That's something I actually say to people. And it can be very fun, right? Or totally piss them off, but usually it's kind of fun because they're like, oh, that's insane. I'm like, kind of like what you're asking for the company, right? Yeah. So it really helps. Don't feel like this should be. You should have fun doing this. You should have fun and you should not be afraid to say things like that. Okay, so that's great. So now you're looking for motivated sellers. So who. Can I have that? Thank you, Chris. So, and let's give Chris a hand. Thank you. So who wants to say, how are we going to identify who is a motivated seller? Who wants to share that? Give me. I, I want to. Everybody's over here. You guys need to get, you guys.

Have to have an on site.

Who's going to volunteer? I'm going to pick you.

If you don't, he's like looking at you, he's like, alex, go for it. You do, you do. You got this.

All right, what's the question again? So I've got a digital mind. I've got it. Well, first, what's your acquisition criteria? I'd be looking for a company in healthcare that is doing similar 1.5 to 2.5, 400 and above in profit motivated seller. And he's trying to think, what are all the things that he's picked on other people.

Exactly. Yeah.

Good.

That's called learning. I know, I like it. Good. And I'd want someone to, I'd even contemplate the idea of keeping them as an owner or as an operator inside of it. Someone who'd want to still operate the company but just want to take the equity out of the company. Okay. How would you determine if they were motivated or not? I'd go find out if they're getting a divorce. Okay. All right, fair enough. So the first question that you're going to ask is, hey, before we start talking, how's the love life? How'd your marriage go? Right. I also look at the age of the individual. In all seriousness, looking at, you know, someone who's, I'd probably target businesses that were where the owner is probably 50 to 60 years old. Okay. And why would you do that? Because they're probably, they've been in the business. They probably are looking at a next exit strategy. They're looking at the next phase of their life. So probably target that. I think that's a really good thing. Right. That you can think about. So contextually, when you're having conversations with people, those are questions that you can ask. You can say, now you wouldn't say, so you look kind of old and tired. How's your health? No, you don't want to do that. But you do know that if you're talking to somebody who is a little bit older that they might be interested in succession. And so you can say, hey, so just out of curiosity, tell me, what's the succession plan on the businesses? You know, are you planning to continue to do this for a long time? Have you thought about retiring? And whenever you do that, what's going to happen with the business? That's a fair question. Right? And it's not. It's actually engaging. It says you're interested in the people, which is really cool. It lets them talk about themselves, which is also good. And it's going to give you some vital information. I love that. That's really good.

So I got something you guys love. Once you have that piece down, you can think, where do those people hang out? So I actually know a great place to meet people that are looking to have a secession plan to hand it.

Over is cruise ship. Told you not to keep going to the nursing homes though.

I mean it's so good. But they often just signed it on what they're doing. No, I'm joking. Cruise ships are great people that tend to go on cruise ships. They tend to. They want to see the world, they want to travel, they want to do it in style. They've got the money to be able to do it. Especially if you're going on the more expensive cruise ships. Celebrity Royal Caribbean. We actually run our mastermind on cruise ships specifically for this purpose. And while we're on the ship, we'll wander around and we'll meet some old couple. It's like, what do you do? Nine times out of ten they own three or four different businesses or different locations of the same business. And we'll say to them, oh, so you can hand it to your kids.

Kids.

That's the best line ever. They go, no, my kids are useless. They don't know what they're doing. They could never run this company. And before you know it, you're in a discussion.

Christopher, would you kind of give us an idea of what your acquisition criteria is?

Hey, I'll get ready with yalls notes. Here is my acquisition criteria and I want you to write this down. My name is Christopher.

Put your own name.

I'm an investor looking for digital and e commerce businesses.

So what I'd like for you guys to do is to create your template by what Christopher is saying. So if you want to send all your deals to Christopher, you can say my name is Christopher. But if you also want deals for yourself, Just say my name is and then insert your name. Right. And then the second thing he said.

Was digital and E commerce businesses, whatever.

Type of businesses that you are looking for from an industry standpoint.

That do at least $3 million in top line.

Revenue, top line revenue requirement, with at.

Least 15% net profit, profit requirement or.

Profit margin requirement, either of those is fine. You might want both of those. I would argue that it's good to have both because you want both to know that it is at least at a profit margin that you can work with. And I'll tell you this, and somebody asked this just yesterday and thank you for allowing me to interrupt because I know it's hard to know where you left off is that a poor profit margin in a profit company that meets your criteria otherwise can represent a tremendous opportunity. So don't let the crappy margin that they have scare you away because very, very often you can come in now and you're buying. That's the true gem. Because you're buying a company that is undervalued because their profit margin, because they're inefficient in how they allocate their expenses or their resources. And so their margins may be 10%, but you see that you can get them to 25 or 30. That means you can triple if you could go from 10 to 30. And we know that valuation is based on multiples of profit. If you can increase that profit effectively by two times. Right. That's pretty crazy. That means that you're going to increase the value of the company by that much right off the bat or relatively quickly. So you're buying at a discount now, which is our ultimate wonderful thing to happen. Go ahead.

Sure. Okay. So in the template I share with you.

Stop interrupting him. Go ahead.

My name is Christopher. I'm an investor looking for a digital or E commerce business that does at least $3 million in top line revenue, 15% net profit, has been in business for at least five years, has at least five team members, and that's what I started with, of course.

So. So why do you guys think that he wants the business to have been in business for a certain period of time? Shows amount of stability. Yep. Okay, that's good. And trajectory. Right. So now we have actually some year over year growth to compare to. Right. Why do you think that he wants there to be at least five people? Lots of rumbling.

Yeah. Stay off the org chart.

Stay off the org chart is 1. What did you guys say? Doesn't want to buy a job. Yeah. So the reason that you would like to have people who are employees is a couple of fold. One is that one of the primary places that you're going to be able to find an operator for the business that will allow you to stay off the org chart is to take somebody that's on the existing org chart. If the existing org chart is the seller as the CEO, the seller as the chief marketer, the seller as the chief performer of services, and the seller as chief accountant, there ain't nobody there, right? So having some level of employees under the person who owns the company is going to be very helpful in you finding an operator for the company. The second reason is that if you pick five is I would argue maybe a little small mines 10. But the reason that we like to have some employees more than two or three or four is that there's probably some sort of management that is in place, meaning that there may or may not be written SOPs, but there are standard operating procedures, but there probably are ways of doing things. We call it tribal knowledge if it's not yet been documented. But it means that there's some system somehow, somewhere that's in the company that can be unearthed. So we like it for finding an operator and we like it because there's some level of people that means that you're not going to have to do the job. Okay, go ahead. So, so now say that all just right now. So, Christopher, I have 100,000 companies that I represent my database. I am here right now ready to help you. What can I get you?

Looking for an E commerce or digital business that's doing over $3 million in top line revenue, 15% net profit, has at least five team members in business for at least five years.

Awesome. I love that. Thank you. So let's give Christopher a hand. That's the level of specificity that I want you guys to have. It's great critical that you have that down. When I ask you what is your acquisition criteria? You need to be able to spit it back at me just like he did. Okay? So I want you to take five minutes. It's so critical. I want you to take five minutes and write your acquisition criteria down exactly as he said. And then as you see people at your table finishing, I want you to share your acquisition criteria with each other. And I also want you to do this. If you are listening to somebody tell you their acquisition criteria, I want you to take the position that you have a hundred thousand companies available across the board. Many of them are defective in some way and I want you to say, well, I've got a company that does this and see if you can help them poke holes in their acquisition criteria. Okay. You saw me do it with a couple of folks right away, right? That's going to help you dial that in. Is there anybody here that had a problem developing their acquisition criteria? Raise your hand and we'll help you right there. Yes, sir. Okay. Say your name and the challenge that you had. Hi, my name is Timor Altman. I'm from Boca Raton, Florida. My problem is how do I choose one? How do you choose one? I keep every time I start, okay, I'm looking for X businesses and the X starts getting replaced with like a running wheel of ideas. And that's a problem. How many of you are having that same challenge? You got too many things. We got one over here. You are not alone. Okay, so I'm going to ask, is Jalitsa in here? She's outside. I'm going to ask Christopher. Get the pitch box. Where's the pitch box? Let's get that. Christopher. Christopher, how do you've bought 20 companies, I think 16 of them were within, like four weeks of graduating EPIC. What do you do to help yourself? Focus on the thing that you can say when somebody says, what are you looking for?

Write this down. The fun starts with one. Just pick one. That's it.

When I started, the programmers having a hard time picking one, I know it's not going to help him. He's going to be like, well, yeah, great. That's like, you know, exercise and eat less that we know what to do. We just don't necessarily do it. Let's see how he solved it. And then I'd love you to add perfect.

When I first joined the EPIC program, I had three acquisition criteria because I was so hungry for deals. That was too confusing. I told my friend earlier it was too confusing with what I was looking for and how I was articulating my criteria to prospects. So then I just picked one. And how did I pick one? Wasn't rocket science, Wasn't some type of formula. I just said, what do I have the most experience with? What's the fastest path to cash? And then I selected E Commerce. Now, once you do a few deals, like I was telling one of our members earlier, then you become industry agnostic like Adam, Indiana and Roland and myself are. But in the beginning, just pick one and go all in until you get your first deal done.

And just so you guys know, because all of these things don't work out, how did the E Commerce deal turn out?

The first one went really well.

Okay, what happened?

Well, in the first one, it was actually consulting for equity deal before we even had that language. And what was a great opportunity about that is I got equity and a consulting fee day one, which was amazing, but it was a little bit too small. And so then I learned Rollins acronym cld. Crappy little deals, which I don't want for y'. All. My wish for y' all is y' all have great deals. And that's when I dealt my acquisition criteria even further. Need at least five team members and E commerce businesses I was looking at so I wouldn't have a job. And so every deal I learned.

Okay, and thank you. So there we go. So Adam has something that he said he could perhaps help you with tomorrow. So and the others of you that raised your hand, which.

So I have adhd. Anyone who says, just pick one of anything that's I'm just gonna say, yeah, sure, and then not do it. So what I found that works better to me is I have multiple acquisition criterias. They are all as detailed as Roland suggests that people create. And it's almost like a little spreadsheet. I've got a form in my phone that lets me know, this is the deal.

This is the deal.

This is the deal. I don't look for a specific deal. I just look to network with business owners and help them. So my default is I just want to go to places where there are business owners. I want to talk to them and help them. And like, the deal that came up recently that I've got for anyone here that wants to do is a $50 million hotel in Dallas. I don't want to do the deal. Like, I really don't want to do the deal. I've spoken to some people in Epic already and kind of, like, passed it on, and I've even had them say, do you want to be a part of it? I was like, I really don't. It's. It's not anything I'm interested in. What I do is I just do that all the time, and I just pass the deals out. I throw them to people in Epic board, and I move them on. And then every so often, one comes in and it matches my acquisition criteria. At that point, suddenly, I don't need to pass it on anymore. It comes to me. So be very specific. But it's okay to have a bunch of different ones and just look for as many as you can, because I'm sure Roland wouldn't say no if you wanted to send them a Deal that doesn't match, so.

Yeah, exactly. Thank you. So, and if you're online, I didn't ask you to do this, but would you post your acquisition criteria in the chat, take exactly what Christopher said, those different points and post it in the chat? So I think the potential solution for those of you who want to have it all is to be industry agnostic, as Christopher mentioned, but very deal specific. The other thing that you can do is be contextual. So let's say that you've got four different things that you would like to buy. An E commerce company, a SaaS, a service based company and a consulting company. Okay, cool. Well then if you're in the context of talking with people and you see that they might have, they might skew towards one of those things, then I would recommend that you do pick one of the things that you have identified. So let's say that you've identified five things, right? Or I think I give you four. Right? You've identified four things. Then when you're talking to somebody and you're like, so the first thing you should be asking is other people about themselves because that's the best way to be interesting, right? Ask people about themselves. You'll be the most interesting person in the room. So what do you do? Well, I, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I came up on this and we worked with selling some stuff online. What did you sell online? We sold trash can liners online. Oh great. That's really cool. Tell me a little bit about that. It's so interesting. It's not, but you're going to ask about it no matter what and they're going to say, yeah, we did this. And then we went on and that was cool. And then we started actually selling the containers and then we were like, we're going to own the kitchen and blah blah, blah. So now what are you going to talk to that person about? Ideally you're talking to them about either E commerce or maybe if you're looking for a digital marketing agency and it's not bad to say to, but you could say, hey, right now I'm an investor and I'm looking really hard to invest in the areas of E commerce and services. Do you know anything? Do you have any access to anybody that is doing anything in those two industries? Okay, so Tamara, I don't think you have to pick one. I think it's good to have specificity. Okay. And so that's a really good, I think, distinction to make. Now your other criteria though will govern what you're going to do for me. I've got a minimum floor of deal size, and if the deal is not above that floor, I won't do the deal. So you should all have that specific acquisition criteria now so that you can say that too. So, Tamar, what is your acquisition criteria? Assuming that you're industry agnostic?

Okay.

So can I give you one? All right. Hi, my name is Timur. Actually, let's not pick one industry. Let's do everything else. So. Hey, Tamar, how's it going, man? Good to meet you. What do you do? I, Roland, I am a digital marketer and a founder and investor. I'm currently looking for businesses to acquire that do at least $1 million in top line revenue at 15% profit margin and have a team of at least five people. Okay, great. Did we miss one, Christopher? I didn't, I didn't. You told me to be industry agnostic, so I skipped over. But how long has it been in business? Ah, right. Has to be at least three years because e commerce businesses tend to kind of like pop up and like they can be like a fully viable business within a year. Okay. And I don't, as a, as the person that just met you, I don't care about that, but I do care that you tell me that it's three years. So get those criteria down. Like you don't want to miss those. Okay. Now I think that's fine. The only thing I would say is you dropped yourself into a category in my mind because you said you're a digital market. Yeah. So now I'm just thinking about you as a digital marketer. I'm not thinking about you as an investor. It's not a bad thing because I have a lot of respect for digital marketers, but I'm thinking, oh, so he probably wants digital marketing companies because he didn't say when he was looking point. Right. So I think what is better is to say, or what you might think about saying instead is, you know, I'm an investor and right now I, I acquire companies, I help build them up, and then I sell them. Right now I'm looking for businesses in this and that industry. Okay. That's an easier way to do that. Okay, that's great.

So something I've learned, if you want to keep yourself off the org chart, say what you do, not who you are. Yeah. So I've learned if I don't define.

Yourself by what you do. Yeah.

So I, I've learned like if I say I'm an investor, they instantly ask me for money. If I say that I'm a founder, they instantly assume I've already got a company and they're interested in that. But if I say at the moment, I kind of just kill my time buying and selling companies. I like buying them cheap and helping them grow and increase their revenue. And I find that's a really fun place to be in right now. And I'm just purposely vague. And that gets them to be really like, oh, could you do that for me? And that's the better conversation.

I still like. And we will differ in our opinions, so. And neither of us is right or wrong. Okay.

Roland's right.

I. I still like saying I'm an investor after years and years. It's because I used to say I'm a deal maker. I used to say I buy and sell companies. But sometimes people take that as being arrogant. And so if you're an investor, it's completely inoffensive. It's not bad to offend people and polarize them to get what you want and repel what you don't either. Okay. But I think that that can be a good way to. I think that if you say investor, then it does also open up the possibility that they know somebody that's looking for some money, and people that are looking for money are looking for money to do something with the money. And the something that they want to do with the money might be something that you either could do for them so that they don't need the money and we cut out the middle person, the government that owns the money. Right. Or you might know somebody that you could connect them with to get the thing done, or somebody that you could hire to do the thing that they want to use the money to do for a whole lot less money than the equity value that you could get in a CFE deal. So I do think that, like, for me, investor is good because it keeps all of those open. If I'm saying I buy and sell companies now, I might, in their mind, fall into the category of a broker, or I might fall into, well, the only thing I can give this person is a company that I know that can be bought or sold, when in fact, you might be able to get equity in a company by providing valuable things that they would want money slash an investor for. You had a question? Okay, tell us who you are so everybody knows. And what's your question?

I'm Gretchen Roberts. I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee. And I think you just answered my question, because I've had this stumbling block around. If I say I'm an investor, they're going to look for money. But you kind of just answered that maybe you could go a little bit more into that because I'm sure other people feel feel the same way when I say I'm an investor and I want to do zero dollar dao acquisitions and or consulting for equity. How do you message that?

Sure, Great question. How many of you are curious as to the answers to that? Okay, great. Fantastic. So one thing that you said is an unfortunate mistake that I made in allowing our marketing team to title my book, which is the book is titled zero down and it really should be zero out of pocket. It is a critical distinction because we're never really looking to do zero down deals. We're not opposed to it, but we're not looking to. We're looking to acquire companies. Okay. So I would much rather have been the book have been $0 out of pocket deals. They said that's too many words. So we're going to call it zero down and then they printed it, which I would not have allowed had I known. But that creates that little bit of challenge. So try not to ever say zero down because in the mind of the people that you're talking to, that means no money. Right. It means I'm trying to do something that maybe is even unethical. I don't know, you know, you're not going to give me any money for my company. It'll rule out a whole lot of conversations. So always focus on now. You don't have to tell them that, by the way. It's not. I'm an investor that does zero out of pocket deals. No, I'm an investor. One of the ways that I do deals, I know in my mind is with no money out of pocket. And that's going to be the way that I'm going to try to make this happen. But that's not relevant to them. All that's relevant to them is that they get the benefit they seek. The benefit they seek is either the money they think, but that's not actually it. What are you going to do with the money? Right. That's the thing that you ultimately want to focus on. And then can I get them that? So let's see. Adam, do you want to handle that or Christopher, I want somebody to help her with clarifying that.

I'm going to go with I can help you. So one of the things, just like you, the reason I've avoided investor mostly is because I find that people do bring up money. But that doesn't mean I avoid it altogether. If anybody asks me to clarify, I will go into it and say, I'm an investor. I love negotiating before someone knows we're negotiating. So you guys will see this time and time again, I'll go into something without even attempting to buy.

It's like, oh, what do you do? Oh, that's great.

Is that something you're going to be doing forever? Are you planning on selling the business? I'll try and have as much of a negotiation discussion without letting them know we're negotiating, so that by the time we negotiate, I already know all the information.

Right.

So if I can get out of somebody, hey, did. Did your profit get affected last year? Some people talking about that, they don't know we're still operating at 15%.

I'm like, great.

You know, I just, like, I take off as much as I can as early as I can. And one of the ways that I do that with your. Your issue is I asked people if they've ever heard of the marshmallow test. And how many of you guys do not know the marshmallow test?

Raise your hand.

Okay, so you're going to love this. This is a psychological experiment where they got children. And they said to the children, here's a marshmallow. I'm going to leave the room for two minutes. If I come back and the marshmallow is still there, you will have a second one. And I say to people, I tell this story, and I'm like, what they did is they then followed up with those children 15 years later to see what became of them. And all of the children that waited for the second marshmallow were incredibly successful. They had good careers, they made good money. They had learned the power of delaying gratification to get a bigger result. All the children that ate the marshmallow straight away were not as successful in life. So I love telling this story. Often when I first meet people, I'll tell them, yeah, you know, I graduated in psychology. That's like my favorite subject. And we'll have this whole discussion. I said, yeah. What's fascinating about business owners is I find you can often tell a good business owner from a bad one based on whether they would fail the marshmallow test. Like, I know a lot of people as an investor that sell their company, and they're so desperate to get the marshmallow today that they miss out on having two marshmallows over time. Just out of interest, how do you see yourself? And that's what they'll say. They'll say, oh, me Oh, I love getting two marshmallows later. Great. Because that's actually my favorite way of buying a business. I love making sure people get the most amount of money they possibly can for their business, even if that means they get no money down.

Okay, so let's. Let's role play for a minute. Stand up, if you will, so everybody can see you. So I will be. Well, you tell me. You choose in this. Let's talk about what's the challenge that we're trying to overcome?

It's an identity problem. Yeah.

Okay. So that's. I don't know who to say I am when I'm talking to somebody.

I feel like. When I say I'm an investor, I feel like I need to bring money to the table.

So you're out of here. Integrity with what you're saying, therefore, that's going to come through both internally and extra.

Yes.

Okay, so what would have to be true for you to believe that you were an investor? Is the only type of investor someone who brings money to the table?

No, because what you just said earlier about how. What. What do you need the money for? And then I can bring it down that path. That was a big light bulb, I think.

Great.

Yeah. And that.

That is. I'm glad that's helpful. So. So now if I'm having a conversation with you and I'm like, okay, so, Gretchen, my name is Roland. Wonderful to meet you here. What is it that you do?

I'm an investor.

Oh, cool. So you invest in companies. You must have a big fund that you work with, a lot of cash.

Well, what do you need cash for?

I need cash so that I can grow my company.

What kind of growth are you trying to do? Where are you at today?

I want to make a lot of money.

Okay. Where are you at today?

I'm right here with you. God, I'm a difficult prospect.

What kind of revenue are you doing today?

We're doing about 5 million a year.

And what are you trying to get to?

We'd really like to get to 50.

In how short of a time?

I mean, I'd love it to be tomorrow, but realistically, we've got a plan I think we can do. If we get the funding that we need, we can probably get there within three years.

What are you using the funding for?

So we need to invest in capital equipment, we need to hire labor, and then we need money to purchase media.

Well, I could actually help you with all that. That's the kind of investing I do.

Oh, great. So then we. I actually Have a deck. Should I send that to you?

Absolutely.

Okay, fantastic. Now, see, that's a yes, because I don't want to go. And she's like, I did good, because the deck is going to ask for money. Yeah. No question about it. But I told her three things that I'm looking for that she might be able to get me. So what three things did I say?

Capital equipment employees. And I forgot the third one.

Money for media money, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so capital equipment. There's a lot of ways to get capital equipment, Right. We might be able to find other people that have it. We might be able to find it for a lot less money than they think they can. Right. Particularly tech companies. One of my buddies that I'm on the advisory board for his fund goes into all the companies before he invests and looks to see if they have all brand new Macintoshes on brand new desks. And if they do, it's a no because they're spending the investors money on all of those things and cereal bars and foosball machines. Whereas the scrappy people like Bezos for years had doors on top of a couple of things. And that was the desks at Amazon. Right. I think he was relatively successful. Right. So the cool thing is that when you allow them to have the conversation they want to have first, it relieves the pressure that they've built up in themselves because they're probably scared to death to tell you, too. Right? Think about that. They're probably scared to death to tell you, too. And if they're not, then they're desperate to get the money. They're doing the raise because they think. Because they know they need the money to do the things they want. So now you're not stopping them from letting that pressure off because what they've got in their mind when they're talking to you is all they see you as, as a checkbook. And they know that the way to the checkbook is to give the deck. That's what they've always been told. So let them do that. Now I follow up with you. I'm like, hey, so, Gretchen, you know, I sent you my deck 14 minutes ago and I haven't heard back from you with how much money you're going to give me. But what'd you think?

Looks great.

Fantastic. So are you going to invest?

So no.

Well, that's disappointing.

Here's the thing, I. This is hard.

It's okay. If you do it here.

Yeah.

And you get comfortable with it, then you'll be able to do it live Let me help coach you on that.

Okay.

Are you ready to invest?

I am ready to invest. Fantastic.

Don't say no because you are.

Okay, I'm ready to invest.

Okay, awesome.

But what I have to invest is a little different from what you have in mind.

Okay.

So what I can do is I can help you get those things and I'm stuck.

Okay, so. So it's because you don't know enough yet, right, about the company. You need to ask some more questions.

Yeah.

So listen, I looked at your deck and the use of proceeds says that you need this for three things. You've got some capex that you want to acquire. Tell me a little bit about that. Well, I need some machines to do this, I need this, I need that, any of that. Okay. And. And where were you thinking about getting those? So, I mean, we're going to go to the thing store and we're going to buy those. Okay. And you're going to buy them new? Yeah, I figured I would. Okay, great. Okay. And what about the media spend that you need? How much money do you need to Invest? I need 500,000. Great. Okay. Where are you going to invest that? Well, I'm going to use it to buy Facebook ads. Great. So are you going to spend $500,000 the first day that you get that same thing with the equipment? Are you going to need all of that equipment today or is that what you think you need over the next X months or years? Because very often investors make the mistake. I mean, not investors, companies make the mistake of raising too much money. Right. So you can actually become an advocate to them and say, listen. After you ask these questions, you can say, listen. Based on what you said, it doesn't sound like you need a million and a half dollars right now. It sounds like to do what you need to do today, you need 500,000. And the 500,000 is going to be used to do 1, 2, 3. Right. So if I could help you get what you need for today without having to give up as much of the company as you're thinking about, is that something that would be interesting to you? Right.

Magic.

And then work through those questions and then you become a value advisor. One of the best tricks that's actually good for everybody because those are the only kinds we like to do that you can do is become a valued advisor in the conversations you have with the people who have the companies that you're trying to get an interest in, whether it's to acquire or to get a piece of on a consulting for equity Basis because it changes the conversation. Now they're talking to you peer to peer. The walls come down and you turn in their mind from a big bag of money into a human and an advisor who's actually out to help them. You also invoke the principle of reciprocity. Right. Where you're giving something to them that's about. So what you could then say is, the way that I typically invest in companies is I work with them, just like the conversation we just had. And we very often find that the company is going to give away too much equity too soon to get money that might or might not be needed immediately, might or might not be deployed, and might not ever be needed. If we bootstrap up, we don't know. So I'll typically come in on an advisory basis, work with the company to help them get the things they want. You might need some money, and I can help you figure out what is your capital acquisition plan in terms of dollars. But also, there are lots of ways that we can get these resources without having to come up with money right now that will allow you to keep more equity in the company because equity is the most expensive thing that you will ever give away. Okay. Would you feel comfortable having that conversation?

Yeah.

Okay. So does that helpful? Yeah. Okay. Does that help you guys? That.

Yeah. Yeah.

So that's.

That's.

That's a hand for you, but not yet. Hey, Gretchen. So what do you do for a living?

I'm an investor.

Fantastic. I need money. I love meeting investors like you. That's why I came to this networking event. Cool. I need a million and a half dollars. Can I send you my deck?

I would love to see your deck. What do you need the money for?

Fantastic. Okay, see, now what do you need the money for? Is the question that solves the integrity issue for you. Right. The congruence of I'm an investor, but I don't have cash.

Yeah.

Okay. Do you think you'll ever need cash in the future?

Yeah.

Okay. You will, right?

Yeah.

But do you need cash in every deal?

No.

So how do you find out if you need it or don't need it?

You ask questions.

Yes.

And then you provide value.

Yes.

Give her a hand.

I think.

I think one of the phrases that.

Is just going to help everyone to.

Remember is want versus need. They want cash is not necessarily what they need. And as an investor, it's your job to identify what they need and offer that because they believe cash is the root to getting their needs solved. But actually, you're the whoever Catches it.

Say your name. I'm Denny. I'm an investor looking for service businesses in the Pacific Northwest. Doing 1 to 3 million dollars in revenues and with 10 to 15% net profit and been in business for 3 to 5 years and have been fairly flat but looking to grow and have at least 10 core employees. That is perfect. That's perfect. Really? That's really great. Awesome. Okay. Somebody from here. How about you, sir? I'm not. You're not able to say. No problem. All right. Hi, my name is Ryan. I am a business owner and investor and consultant. I am looking for businesses in the niche manufacturing, services and distribution space with revenue or with ebitda of over $600,000, team of three to five people and have been in business over three to five years. Looking primarily in sunny states, Spain and Portugal. Nice. I love that. Perfect. Okay, so I feel pretty good about that, but I want to be sure that you do. Is there anybody online or here that feels that they don't have their acquisition criteria dialed in because you need to have that dialed in as we go through the next things.

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I'll see you there.