Will (William Brown) announces he sold his elearning business to a private equity firm after a ~6–7 month sale process. He reflects on six years of building the company, reports roughly $16.3–16.4M in total platform sales with net margins never below ~32%, notes peak monthly revenue near $1M and a projected year of about $6–7M, and describes the sale as stressful but life-changing. He names the new owner (Carl), says Carl made roughly $7–8k profit on day one, and outlines next steps: continued coaching and writing a freely distributed book.
Questions this video answers
About six, almost seven months.
Six years.
About $16 million (roughly $16.3–16.4M).
Never below 32% (he states the net margin was "like never below 32%").
He mentions touching on about $1 million in a month (best month earlier that year).
Chapters
Hey guys, it's Will. And just a few hours ago, I can't believe that I'm saying this by the way, but yeah, just a few hours ago.
I sold my business to our private equity firm. We finally, after a long.
Six almost seven months process, the sale finally closed. I got the wire and yeah, I just thought if there's ever a time to make a YouTube video, you know, it's the, the day that you sell your first company to a private equity firm for millions of dollars. You know, it's just, it's just crazy. So I'm going to make a proper in depth video of the whole process. You know, how I was able to sell it, how I kind of built it to sell, how I found a buyer, how I negotiated the, the price, the multiple that, that we achieved and all of that stuff. A bit more of a kind mystical video.
But for today I just kind of want to just stamp the moment, you know, and just have this video as just a moment of celebration to just mark the occasion and share the occasion with, with all of you guys as well. Because this is, I mean not many people build a, I mean one of my mentors, Dan Bradbury, always says in, in his mastermind, you know, know, almost Nobody gets to 7 figure per year net profit. And I achieved that in my elearning company, which is pretty cool, let alone anybody then sells the business for multiple seven figures.
To a, to a, to a big fund or a firm or a private equity firm or a VC fund or whatever. You know, you kind of like. So.
It'S, it's a crazy feeling. I feel like, I feel like my baby has been adopted. You know, it's just, just a wild feeling after so long. You know, six years of starting the business, building the business, refining the product, hiring the team, you know, scaling to, just touching on, on a million a month. We, we, we got to just ear earlier this year which was our best month that we've, we've ever had. But yeah, I mean this year we were tracking for like 6, 7 million for, for the year. So not like, not, not the biggest business on kind of planet Earth, but.
But pretty significant. So how do I feel right now?
So I built the business across the six years to I think in total in like all time actual sales money. Hitting the, the stripe and the PayPal, we did about $16 million, slight 16.3, 16.4 area and the net margin throughout the whole business was like never below 32%. You know. So a massive chunk of that I was able to kind of keep for myself and I've invested it in, you know, real estate and other. Other bits and bobs and I've been able to. I've been able to achieve like a lot of. A lot of dreams, you know, through. Through this business. It's changed my life. Absolutely changed my life, man. Like, I wanted to own millions of real estate, did that. I wanted to have seven figures in cash, did that. I wanted to live in a hot, sunny country, Was able to achieve that goal.
And have a lot of fun in the process, work with some awesome people. You know, we've built such a good company, like such a good product, such a good team. We've helped so many people. It's just insane. And this is just like, it feels so strange, like I don't own the company anymore. Like, and it's. It's cool because since we closed technically yesterday we closed on day one, we were able to make the new buyer, the new owner, Carl, like 7, 8, $8,000 in profit on. On day one for him. So I think he's going to do really well. He's going to grow the company to heights that. Oh, who's calling me?
Not sure who that is, but yeah, the new buyer, Carl, he's going to be able to take the company to whole new levels, I think. Because this is the thing, like, I think anyone who owns a business, you've got to keep learning and growing, right? So you build a business up to where you're able to get it to and you hit like a ceiling. You know, for anybody watching this that owns a business or you can start a business, you usually get to like a ceiling and you just can't figure it out to go further. You know, then you've got to like hire a coach, join a mastermind, buy a program, and then you get that next level knowledge. And it's like you learn all that stuff that brings your company up, brings your revenue up, and then eventually you hit another ceiling and then you have to learn more. You know, it's like Alex and Ozzy says, not knowing how to make a million a month is costing you a million a month. Or he might have said like per year. I'm not sure.
But.
And I just feel like, you know, I got the company to a stage where I just done everything that I ever wanted. You know, I got all the money that I ever wanted, all the wealth that I ever dreamed of. Really my dreams were kind of smaller back when I was starting out, but every, every goal kind of that I ever set for that Period of my life, which is now kind of behind me. I. I achieved. So I just kind of got the business to a stage where I was just done with it. I just didn't need it anymore, didn't find it fun anymore, didn't want to grow it further. And then, thanks to one of my. My mentors, Dan Bradbury, he helps me understand that, right. It's time to. To sell it and let somebody else with that skill set come in and buy the business, take it to the next level that they can get it to that you either couldn't or don't want to get it to, and that's okay, you know, so. Yeah. And that's another thing as well. Thank God for the people that I've had around me, man. Like, thank God for Dan Bradbury, because without him, I never would have even known that I could sell a company. I've never in my life heard of anybody selling an online course company, let alone for millions of dollars, to a. To a private equity firm. In fact. No, I take that back. Sam Ovens sold his kind of technically online course business, didn't he? Not to a private equity firm, but. But nonetheless. So can you sell these businesses? Yeah, absolutely. You can. I have some. Ovens has. Sure, there's somebody else out there that sold a course business, but this is something that I want to help other people to do. You know, I want other people to know, number one, any business can be sold. Any business can be sold. The only question is the buyer and the price. Right? Because somebody out there might give you $5,000 for your business. Very, very small amount of money, but someone would. Would give it to you. So technically, you can't sell. Just all comes down to the buyer and the price. So any business is. Is saleable. That's one thing that I've learned that I always want to share with people. But it just feels so weird that, you know, any money now that is earned by the company is, like, not mine, you know, I'm. I'm out. I don't. I don't own it anymore. It's such a strange feeling, you know, it just feels so weird to.
Oh, it's just overwhelming to think that I'm like, I'm set for life now, you know, I don't need money anymore. Like, I don't need.
Money, you know, it's such a strange feeling. I mean, more would be great, you know, I'd like to buy a private jet and buy a mansion on the. On the Palm, you know, behind me, get one of These mansions over here, you know, that'd be awesome. But I don't need it, you know, I've got enough, you know, and it feels so good to be able to say, like, I've got enough, you know, I've got all the real estate, I've got all the cash. I've got all the other bits and bobs, all the other little assets here and there, which is really cool. I've got. I've got everything I ever wanted.
What a strange thing to say. What a strange feeling. You know? I am man.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, God. I had my back since day one.
Crazy. But anyway, so, yeah, so today, now I don't own a business. I don't own a business anymore. I'm retired. I'm not retired because I do. I do the business coaching still, but. And I'm writing a book as well, which I'm super excited about because I love writing and I. It's just going to be. I want to make a book that gives everything away and people read it and they're like, man, that is the most valuable book I've ever read. It's not a lead magnet. It's not to get clients, it's not to make money. I'm going to give the book away for free on just like a just pay for shipping kind of thing.
So that in itself is. Is going to be awesome. You know, I can't wait to do that. But I don't own a business anymore, so. Yeah. So what does it feel like to sell a company to a private equity firm for millions of dollars? It feels pretty good. Stressful. So stressful, the process. Months of emails, hundreds of hours of calls, tens of thousands spent on accountants and lawyers and advisors.
So, you know, we're gonna close tomorrow, but no, now we got to do this right. We're definitely going to close next week. Now we've got to change the contract. We're definitely going to close like in two or three days. Oh, we've just got to change this. What. What a. What a stressful, overwhelming process. Time consuming, but what a. What a learning process. And I can't wait to share this with. With people in the future. So, yeah, I'm just going to take today just to relax now and just kind of digest it and just go downstairs, have a coffee in the cafe, write in my journal, go to the beach, do some reading and just try and digest it all and just relax and just enjoy like.
The first day of being retired. I'm not retired. I kind of am, but I'M kind of not. So anyway, I'll. I'll stop kind of blabbering on now. I just wanted to mark the occasion, be real, share what's in. In. In my head, get it out in video form. And hopefully, you know, this gives you guys somewhat of an early insight into what it's like to set goals and achieve them. You know, it's a. It's a great feeling. It's a great feeling, and I hope that you guys are able to build great businesses and, and sell them as well. And.
