Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Elliot Holland.
The managing partner of Guardian Due Diligence. Here’s a breakdown of the key topics and highlights:
Key Themes & Highlights
-
Buying Small Businesses vs. Franchises
- Holland explains the differences between purchasing a franchise and acquiring an independent business.
- He highlights the risk-reward balance, noting that franchises offer a structured model, while independent businesses can be more lucrative but require deeper due diligence.
-
Financial Strategies for Business Acquisition
- He discusses the SBA 7(a) loan program, which allows buyers to acquire businesses with 90-95% financing, making ownership more accessible.
- Holland explains how leveraging financing can turn a small investment into a million-dollar business.
-
Due Diligence & Avoiding Bad Deals
- He emphasizes the importance of financial diligence to ensure buyers don’t acquire failing businesses.
- Holland shares red flags to watch for, such as misleading financials and sellers masking poor performance.
-
Masterclass for First-Time Buyers
- Holland introduces his Business Buying Masterclass, designed to educate entrepreneurs on the acquisition process.
- He provides one-on-one coaching, helping buyers navigate financing, negotiations, and deal structuring.
-
Success Stories & Case Studies
- He shares examples of clients who successfully acquired businesses, including a 24-year-old entrepreneur and a 60-year-old investor.
- Holland highlights how his expertise helped buyers secure financing, conduct due diligence, and close profitable deals.
About Elliot Holland & Guardian Due Diligence
Elliot Holland is a Harvard MBA, private equity investor, and business acquisition expert. He founded Guardian Due Diligence to help first-time buyers confidently purchase profitable businesses. His firm specializes in financial diligence, ensuring buyers make informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Through his masterclass and consulting, Holland empowers entrepreneurs to build wealth through business ownership.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show. I'm Rashwan MacDonald, the host of
Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
(00:25):
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. My next guest is managing partner
of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial firm focused on
helping everyday entrepreneurs confidently acquire profitable small businesses. A Harvard
(00:48):
NBA and former private equity investor, he is on a
mission to close the ownership gap by giving first time
buyers the tools and insight to make million dollar decisions
with clarity and confidence. Let's find out how his company
can impact your bottom line. Please weapon the Money Making
Conversation Master Class. Elliott Holland, how you doing, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How are you well, Elliott? When I first hear something
like this about buying small businesses, he know, we've immediately
get the word franchise. Are we talking about that when
we start this conversation or you're talking about something different.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I'm talking about everything, So franchises and non franchises to me,
franchises or special instances of regular businesses. You start a
subshop over in the West End in Atlanta, you get
really good your subway. I'm just talking about buying any of.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Those, Okay, So is there an advantage to that because
they tell me, like buying a franchise is turn key,
and then you go into a business, there's a lot
more of the learning curve that you may not be
ready for, even though you see the opportunity. Help me
out with that, Elliot.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Sure, I think it's degrees of confort with risks. So
I would say that in level of difficult buying a
non franchise business is harder, probably more lucrative, buying a
franchise is a little bit less difficult, probably a little
bit less lucrative on average, and then real estate and
other investments will probably fall in a bucket that's a
little bit less lucrative and a little bit less risky
than that. So it just depends, It depends on your
(02:17):
risk appetite. So here's the thing. When you buy a franchise,
you get the FDD and you get help from the mothership.
So you kind of have like a training wheel scenario, right,
you kind of get a walk into it and learn.
But here's the thing with a non franchise business. The
owner of that business, the employees of that business, and
all the study you do about that business before you
(02:37):
buy it and be close to that same manual if
you play your cards ro cool.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Before we get deeper to the interview Elied Holland, let's
get a background on you to make sure you're an expert.
Tell us about your educational background and your journey.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I'm a kid from rann Arbor. In fact, both
my parents did similar work as myself, helping black business
owners and Detroit get financing to buy their first businesses.
I came down to Atlanta. It's in Morehouse College. I
did the due A degree program with Georgia Tech. I
did some consulting. After that, I got into Harvard Business School.
This keep shirt that I have on and then I
(03:11):
got into the business of buying businesses private equity, so
I worked on Wall Street doing that. I very quickly
learned that the game of buying businesses was a whole
lot better you owned the equity, and so I spun
out of the private equity company I was working for,
convinced a mentor to help work with me to buy
businesses under the name elsewhereth Partners. So we bought three
(03:33):
companies into that business, and then when he effectively retired,
I spun out and went out and tried to buy
businesses myself. I was a bit earlier Sean, so I
was in twenty fifteen. The market wasn't as frothy as
it is now, and so I kind of tipped and
fell and bumped my head. So I had to take
(03:53):
a year off of twenty seventeen, and because we're talking
to my audience, I had to move back in with
my mom six seven years after Harvard Business School. And
I looked at these unique skills I had about buying
a business, and how can I both help people and
monetize those skills. And the solution was Guardian due Diligence,
a way for people to find businesses that they want
(04:13):
to buy, but go through my due diligence services to
make sure they're not a limit. Because you can't take
them back, just like the used car lot. And so
I started guarding due diligence at twenty eighteen, and then
last year I launched a masterclass around helping people who
are just thinking about should I buy a business and
moving them educational wise until they're ready to pursue acquisition
(04:34):
all the way through to closing the deal. And so
that's a quick synopsis to media.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's a good one, a very good one, because the
journey is important because you're about to tell us how
we could make money.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
In the simplest foreign businesses are priced at a multiple
of cash flow. Let's do the easy thing. So four
times cash flow for small businesses is about it. What
does that mean for a business that has profit, so
revenue minus costs of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
or we call it a quarter million dollars, the price
will be about a million dollars to purchase that asset.
(05:05):
And the world that I live in, there is an
SBA seven a loan that will give you ninety to
ninety five percent of the money you need to buy
the business. That's as soon you get lucky, and it's
the ninety five percent rever scenario. What that means is,
with fifty thousand dollars, you can buy a million dollar
business that is throwing off a quarter million dollars of
(05:27):
profit a year. If you spend four to five years
paying off that debt, you will take your fifty thousand
dollars and make a million dollars. That is a twenty
extra turn if you can only get ten percent leverage. Now,
people who buy houses recognize the bank's going to tell
you how much you turn your one hundred thousand dollars
into a million. That's why I'm here talking to you today.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
My buy the business may be smarter than starting one
from scratch.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Down the percentage of success. So you're talking to you
a four or five time failed startup. Dude, try a
whole bunch of stuff that didn't work. If you think
about it, ninety something percent of startups don't work. Now,
you should cut your teeth on a startup because it's
low investment. This shouldn't be the first thing you do entrepreneurially. However,
(06:13):
if you have your teeth, then you kind of have
you done some stuff. Businesses that I look at that
have been around for five ten years have employees they
stick around with the ninety percent dance of probability. The
loans that I'm talking about, the SBA seven a loan
has a default rate under five percent. So if you
(06:33):
wanted to go to Vegas and I told you the
crap table had a ninety five percent chance of success
for Sean, and I think you bet. I'm not saying
it's full proof, but I'm saying it's a bet worthy
of consideration.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Absolutely. I'm talking Elliott Holling that he's the managing part
of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial firm focused on
helping every day entrepreneurs or people like you who are
listening want to change your life financially to confidently acquire
profitable small business conversations. Not you see something, We're gonna
just dump you off into a business and you're gonna
(07:04):
make a miracle return out of it. He's talking about
profitable small businesses. Now, what I keep doing in this
conversation is I'm just a guy who's seen homes all
my life. I drive out, I see it for sale sign,
so I go, oh oh, I can go on Zillo,
Nikked Telby. But in this zip code, they tell me
all all do comps? Now, how do I find out
(07:26):
what businesses are for sale?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Elliott Rashan, I feel like I might have paid you.
What a perfect question. So the zillo in my world
is called biz by sale. I call it the McDonald's
are buying the business. It might not be the best
burden you ever had, but you probably started there. So
you go to busbuy sale dot com and there are
hundreds of thousands of businesses for sale, each represented by
(07:48):
a broker, a business broker, and you can say, hey,
I like this one here, I'm gonna send it lie
information to the broker. I'd like to find out more
about this. They will send you a non disclosure agreement
and then you get the package on the business. And
so it's not all that different. You just go to
a different place to get the information.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So look at it, Rashon McDonald just say, I'm just
gonna throw all it down. I got maybe fifty thousand dollars.
Can I do anything with fifty thousand dollars? In the
conversation of Alan hap it with you, Elliott Hollom.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Absolutely, you can go buy a million dollar business. You
can go find a manufacturing business off a fault Induster
or down in in East Lake or wherever in Alpharetta
that's doing a quarter million dollars a profit and you
can go put an offer in to buy that business
with your fifty thousand dollars. And here's the nice thing, Rashaan,
(08:39):
This ain't you going to get financing from some special
bank in New York? Uh huh? The SBA seven A
program is a bank is a program that any bank
on your block, the one you already banked with, can
work with and work with you to get. Meaning that
the closest bank to your house is the exact bank
you can go use to make this transaction happen. This
(08:59):
is not or the high falut folcus for everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
What would you say will be a safe business to
try to buy for a person who will not go
in and do any of the work. That's me? How
does that sound to you? And how do you walk
how do you walk me through the steps?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So you would want a business with contracts? You want
a business like a like a property management company where
there's two to three year contracts, where it's a simple
office where they're doing the simple maintenance grass cutting on
a whole bunch of houses. People who are rented houses.
You already said you know a real estate a bits,
so this is a real estate business, but it's a business,
(09:39):
and so that would be a good one. Any businesses
with contracts digital marketing company sometimes have long term contracts,
some other service businesses. But what you want is both
the business with contracts for seine and one where there's
somebody in the business is probably not the owner who's
like a number two who's ready to step up into
the owner seat or not the owner seat, but the
president's CEOC and they don't have the money or the
(10:02):
interest to take all the risks you do that, but
they have the skills and knowledge to run the business.
And basically you'd work with that person to execute the
transaction in the way where you wouldn't have to go running.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I'm talking to Elliott Holland now. When you submitted your
information to me for this interview, Elliott, your business title
was chief deal closer.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I'm the chief deal closer?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Why?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Because I'm working week to week for hours to help
people get through the process, and so I'm the chief
deal closer. That's what I'm doing in that business.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Let's talk about this masterclass. What is it exactly?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
It is a way for you to not have to
go through all the hardships I had to go to
to learn how to buy a business in a streamlined
way with the person that's available online, so you don't
have to go to this fancy place to leave your city.
We do all the classes online, but it is essentially
most people wake up one day, like you said, I
(10:57):
used to buying houses. I'm looking at stocks. I heard
this thing about buying buying a company. Maybe I want
to do that. But the thing is, there's not any
schools for that. You can't just go downtown in your
city and figure out how to do it. I have
a class to help walk you through. I just got
interested in the process, so I know what I'm doing.
So here's examples of how to get it done. And
(11:18):
then and I'm weekly one on ones. Hey, Elliott, I
looked at these four deals. I have these three issues,
these three things I need to figure out. We're going
to talk through each one of those things one on one,
so that by the time we go through six months
of one on ones, it's likely you're going to have
a deal closed. And that's way quicker than twelve to
eighteen months it takes most people to get their first
deal done.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Now that that's important to have that whole process. Now,
what does your team look like? Are you a team
of one, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
No, I'm a team of ten. So the weekly one
on ones are me because you need somebody that has
all the knowledge. Now, people like that doesn't scale. I'm
not trying to create the world's biggest company. I'm trying
to create the world's best at this specific thing, working
one on one. I have accountants on my team. I
have consulting on my team. I have people in the
industry to do all the ad hoc stuff that's around
(12:08):
the core business acquisition that are on my team. So
we have the full list of people you need to
get this done. I'm just the main person helping you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I got to have my house in order in order
to look at this opportunity. So, Elliott, what do I
have to look like before I even step up. I
might have fifty dollars dollars, but that doesn't mean that
I should be giving it out because I don't have
the tools to be able to maintain even I might
(12:37):
cause that company of the clothes because they don't have
my act together. So talk to me about Rashawn McDonald
and what he has to have straight in order to
participate in his business.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So the number one thing you have to have is
the time to go spend three to nine months looking
for a business to buy. Here's why, Rashan. If you
find it Beyonce of deals, the Michael Jackson of deals,
you will find investors for that business. I guarantee it.
And if you can't find them, when your deal is
that good, come talk to me and I'll help you
find them. So the number one thing is go find
(13:11):
a knockout amazing deal. Then I would say you don't
need fifty thousand dollars because there's an infinite amount of
investors that want to invest in good deals. You need
to have a little bit, have a little ten thousand
dollars in the bank, something borrow some get some from
a friend. Right, need to have your credit house and order.
You cannot get that without having your credit house and order.
(13:31):
It doesn't have to be the greatest in the world,
but it can't be the worst. And you need to
have your entrepreneurial chops. This is a process like a
sales process. Where you're gonna have to get used to
a lot of no's, a lot of wonkiness. Business brokers
can be a pain in the buck. Sellers can be crazy.
And so if you want to feel good every single
day with the work that you did in the business
(13:52):
buying acquisition process, that's not this. This is how to
get rich, but you gotta be willing to take some punches.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I used Rashan McDonald's a exam as an exam. Do
you have any other examples? Lead to a couple that
can look to both of them different that you can
show how they've come into your business format. Participate in
your master class and this is the results of that.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Sure, So Clinton townsend another more house grad. I helped
him buy a manufacturing business in New York earlier this year,
and so Clinton came in. He was interested in buying businesses.
He had done some research, but he got into the
process and he was having some issues with the financing
piece and some issues with due diligence he used us
for due diligence, and then during the financing piece we
(14:51):
kind of helped coaching through some of those nuanced things
that banks can do to try to stumble you up
and not give you the money. And we pushed through
and now use the proud owner manufacturing business and he's
looking to buy more. I'll tell you another. So there
was a Lucas Phillips bought a automotive after parts manufacturing
business in Jersey. He was twenty four when he bought
(15:14):
the business. Young, so you don't have to be old
with a whole bunch of seasons. He was twenty four
he bought the business. He had the idea, he had
some sort of experience with investing, his family had some
I'm not gonna lie about that. But he needed due diligence,
so he used us for that. But he also needed
discretion help withshan So with the house, you can go
(15:35):
get an appraisal on somebody will tell you what the
value is. And the small business, a lot of that
work you have to do yourself. And so he helped
him get comfortable with the decision he was making to
make that purchase. And now he's made two or three
add on purchases. The business is four or five times
bigger than it was when he bought it, and he's
doing really well. And I could tell you about a
sixty year old person that I helped buy a business
(15:55):
last year, just to give you twenty four to sixty.
It's the age.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Range all over, which I like because I always tell
people on this show, don't allow age to be an
ex qus to pursue your dreams. So let's hear that
sixty year old story. Because I let people stop at forty,
stop at fifty sixty, they try to cheek out retirement.
I'll tell you, no, live your dream and don't let
nobody tell you what you can't do. Lit's hear that
(16:19):
sixty year old story.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah. So Ed found me through my YouTube channel crazy Enough,
and he came to me and said, hey, look, Elliott,
I had two businesses before, and I had a health
situation that made me put those two businesses down. Now
I've gotten past the health Scareed, and I want to
get back in the game. And now I'm buying versus
building and I need your help. So we walked through
three different acquisition attempts that he was going through, and
(16:43):
the best one was a manufacturing company in Kentucky, So
we helped him think about how to do it. We
actually helped him get his team together. He had some
members on his team that really needed to get out
of there on the first one. That we got some
better people in the mix on the second, and we
were able to get him the confidence from financial due
diligence perspective. Again, a business owner does not make you
(17:04):
a forensic accountant. We are forensic accountants. We are like
detectives for numbers. So he gave the comfort that the
business was making the money that they said it was making.
He closed that deal, and now we're Sean. I'm working
on two more deals for him right now. So he's
not just not doing this.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Man's going for it, which I love because all deals
are like good deals.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So I come to you is what is a bad
deal in how the spot won before is two date before.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
The easiest way is that people won't let you look
at the books. So they wanted to look at the
books in two seconds. Wow, So my books are good,
you can look at them forever, Rashan, because I know
they're solid. Right, if my car is good, you can
take it to whatever mechanic you got. But if my
business on my car is junk, no, no, no, man,
we're not taking off a lot. Got to make a
deal here. That's the first sign. The second sign is
(17:54):
a lot of people will mask terrible financials with a
one time situation, or we just don't overspend on financing accounting,
and just make sure that if you're not the kind
of person that understands how to look at instead of
small company messing financial books, you get somebody like myself,
or there are others to do what's called a quality
(18:15):
of earnings, which is essentially a mini audit on a
private business ahead of buying it, so you don't get had.
Because there's a lot of bad examples of people getting
in a lot of trouble, almost all of them did
not do financial diligence.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You know, hey, I made mistakes to laed. You know,
we want to pray, we want to hope, we want
to they wouldn't they look like nice people?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I've never been played in my life before. Why would
I get played now?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That's right? Now we're talking one.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Thing I know. Once you signed that contract, brother.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
You'll own the hook. That's it, and that's key. Just
like once you drive that car off that lot, that's
your car.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's your car.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
That's your car.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
That's just your car. And let me tell you something else.
So I mentioned earlier that a business is valued at
four times proper plus or minds. So here's the thing.
If I'm a seller, for every dollar of bogus profit
that I convince you as in there as I don't
get one dollar for it, I get four. You know
how motivated even a reasonable person is to lie in
(19:21):
that scenario.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right right right, especially when they know the truth.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, and they know it better than you.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So you know, like I said, you know the homeowners,
they are supposed to get an inspected to respect the
home before you buy the home. Same situation there, You
bring an account it, you bring your legal team in.
You do inspect the background, the history. So don't assume
just because they're nice people, or they wouldn't do that.
(19:50):
They don't look like those type of people. See the books.
See the history of the books, not the current history.
You know, find out why the books went down. You know,
like you might be buying a descending business. You know,
it might be profitably, we'd but what was it four
years ago? What was that number four years ago was it?
What was the staff, what was the atmosphere, what was
(20:12):
the community? I always tell people I buy a home,
I drive in the neighborhood in the morning, in the afternoon,
late at night, I just sit on the streets sometimes
just to see, yep, what kind of traffic floor is
going back? That's what you have to do. That's what
he's talking about. Due diligence.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Due diligence.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yes, and that's important that I say it, And it
is coming from an expert, because you're a subject matter expert.
I'm just a good storyteller and saying that's due diligence.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So the same thing. You might want to do the
same thing in the business. So there's the accounting stuff
that I'm going to help you do. But you may
want to sit so a lot of sellers can tell
you all I only spend ten hours in the business
a week. Well maybe you want to sit out there
for two or three days and see if they're not
spending sixty hours in the business each week.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Wow, elliot, how could we reach you by friend?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
So Guardian due diligence dot com The business buyingmasterclass dot
com and then search Elliott Holland YouTube. That's my main
social channel. I've got over three hundred amazing videos to
coach you and talk you through all of this. Those
are the best places to findment.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Well, let's continue talking here because one of the terms
out here all the time, the big no money down
oooh with that business blind myth. Talk to me, brother,
is that true? No money down?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
No, it ain't true. It's like a unicorn, you know,
with skittles coming out the back. Now now, does it
occasionally happen on some high hill with the rainbow going
over it and Jesus preaching on top every once in
a while, But typically I'm not selling my profitable business
for no money down. And so here's what I tell you.
I had a business partner that like no money down deals,
(21:49):
and I spent several years trying to figure that out.
I lost. You will lose. The thing is you can
find one if you have ten times the amount of
months that you probably have to actually figure it out.
If you're looking to do this in six to twelve months,
figure out how to either save the ten percent down,
get it from other people, talk to anybody in the industry.
(22:11):
There's plenty of third party investors that love these deals.
Get ten percent down, ninety percent leverage, just like a house,
and go get in the driver's seat again. If you
buy a business for ten percent down and pay off
the debt ten x your money. Opportunities like that don't
come for nothing. You got to put a little skin
in the game.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Now, know you're based here in Atlanta, but I've been
here in New York, I've been here in other states.
How does that work for you? Who exactly am I
talking to l Elliot Hollam.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You're talking to a brother from anaver to live twenty
years in Atlanta, and we do business online. So I
have clients all across the states. I have some in Europe,
I have some in North Africa, and I go to
conferences so you can see me in person. So and
I'm easy to catch. My email or my phone number
on the bottom of my website, so I'm not not
(23:01):
hard to catch, just the regular dude helping people buy
businesses because.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I'm just I'm just trying to connect the dodds with
you know, with the world I know, which is real estate,
home ownership. Okay, And it sounds that they have restricted
areas of opportunity. This is where you're supposed to do
business in this state. This is where you've been licensed.
Now you're telling me, is it the wild wild West
out there in the business buying world?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yes, but it's also the safe, safe West. So the
nice thing about finances is that there's only two accounting
standards in the whole world. There's GAP this US and
this IFRS. That's the rest of the world. Once you
understand those two, or once I understood those two, I
can do deals anywhere in the world where somebody on
the team speaks English, because the numbers are the numbers.
(23:48):
So what I tell you is that one of the
great things about today's world is you don't I don't
have to be located where the business is. Your lawyer
doesn't have to be and when you start, you don't
have to be a lot of the stuff you can
get remotely. Now, you still want to go drive around
the business once or trice with Sean, like you said,
but that doesn't mean you have to live there before
you start your process.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, you know the whole thing about business. You know,
first of all, this is an educational conversation for me,
and I have to be honest with you. I have
no idea, I have no clue. I did an expert,
and this is what this conversation is. I've had several
people on my show who've talked about buying businesses, but
(24:28):
never at the level of confort that you're talking. And
I want to go back to you know, see no evil, ill,
no evil. Your parents did this for a living. How
did they influence you and do you go to them
for mentorship, advice or why? How much do they play
in your life today? Sir?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, absolutely so. I tell people I don't have white privilege,
but I have two professional entrepreneurial parents privilege, and that's
a big step up. So I knew how business ownership
looked when I was young. I still talked my mom
every week about stuff's going on in my business, and
she can give me advice. I lost my father at fourteen,
so unfortunately he's not around anymore, at least on this planet.
(25:10):
But I think a lot of what influences me is
I knew it was possible, not just for my parents,
but in Michigan at a lot like Atlanta, there's a
long legacy of black business ownership of very successful businesses
at the forefront of all these industries. And so I
just knew that I came from that claw, and I
wasn't scared to go try my hand at.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It now and closing the hair, Why did Elliott Holland
lead big money to empower first time owners?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Because people need an on REMP when you don't grow
up with a silver spoon in your mouth saying hey,
just go to a fancy Ivy League school and then
all these things will fall into your player. Just go
work on Wall Street and everybody, if there's investing that
ain't gonna work for us. Right, I'm talking to my
HBCU folks. I'm talking with folks that might not have
gone to college. I didn't say you need to go
to college to do this. I'm talking to everyday folks.
(26:01):
And for me, it ain't all that exciting to help
rich people get richer, you know, to help everyday people
get rich. Now, that gets me up out of bed
every moere and that gets me taking like nine calls
early running calls. It gets me doing podcasts. So you
can probably see it in my eyes. This matters to
me a whole lot more. So forget the money on
that absolute basis, let me do the work that needs
(26:22):
to be done just like my parents did.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well know again, as we close out, let us know
how to reach out to your Elert Holland.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Guardian Due Diligence dot com, the Business Buyingmasterclass dot com,
and the search Elliott Holland and YouTube that's my main
social and you'll find me there with over three hundred videos.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, Managing partner of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial
firm focus on helping everyday entrepreneurs are people confidently acquire
profitable small businesses. But again caveat, you must have the
time and you must have your act together. Just don't
jump out that this is not buy the house. You're
(26:59):
not flipping on home. You flipping employees, you flip for
a lifestyle, you flipping a community. And so as a
lot goes into these business decisions that you want to
bring it to your life. But if you make the
right decision, like Elliott said, it can be a home
run not only for you, but create a legacy for
your family. Elliott Holland, thank you for coming on Money
(27:20):
Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
For God, I thank you cool.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
(27:46):
leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Welcome to the show. I'm Rashwan MacDonald, the host of
Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
(00:25):
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. My next guest is managing partner
of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial firm focused on
helping everyday entrepreneurs confidently acquire profitable small businesses. A Harvard
(00:48):
NBA and former private equity investor, he is on a
mission to close the ownership gap by giving first time
buyers the tools and insight to make million dollar decisions
with clarity and confidence. Let's find out how his company
can impact your bottom line. Please weapon the Money Making
Conversation Master Class. Elliott Holland, how you doing, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How are you well, Elliott? When I first hear something
like this about buying small businesses, he know, we've immediately
get the word franchise. Are we talking about that when
we start this conversation or you're talking about something different.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I'm talking about everything, So franchises and non franchises to me,
franchises or special instances of regular businesses. You start a
subshop over in the West End in Atlanta, you get
really good your subway. I'm just talking about buying any of.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Those, Okay, So is there an advantage to that because
they tell me, like buying a franchise is turn key,
and then you go into a business, there's a lot
more of the learning curve that you may not be
ready for, even though you see the opportunity. Help me
out with that, Elliot.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Sure, I think it's degrees of confort with risks. So
I would say that in level of difficult buying a
non franchise business is harder, probably more lucrative, buying a
franchise is a little bit less difficult, probably a little
bit less lucrative on average, and then real estate and
other investments will probably fall in a bucket that's a
little bit less lucrative and a little bit less risky
than that. So it just depends, It depends on your
(02:17):
risk appetite. So here's the thing. When you buy a franchise,
you get the FDD and you get help from the mothership.
So you kind of have like a training wheel scenario, right,
you kind of get a walk into it and learn.
But here's the thing with a non franchise business. The
owner of that business, the employees of that business, and
all the study you do about that business before you
(02:37):
buy it and be close to that same manual if
you play your cards ro cool.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Before we get deeper to the interview Elied Holland, let's
get a background on you to make sure you're an expert.
Tell us about your educational background and your journey.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I'm a kid from rann Arbor. In fact, both
my parents did similar work as myself, helping black business
owners and Detroit get financing to buy their first businesses.
I came down to Atlanta. It's in Morehouse College. I
did the due A degree program with Georgia Tech. I
did some consulting. After that, I got into Harvard Business School.
This keep shirt that I have on and then I
(03:11):
got into the business of buying businesses private equity, so
I worked on Wall Street doing that. I very quickly
learned that the game of buying businesses was a whole
lot better you owned the equity, and so I spun
out of the private equity company I was working for,
convinced a mentor to help work with me to buy
businesses under the name elsewhereth Partners. So we bought three
(03:33):
companies into that business, and then when he effectively retired,
I spun out and went out and tried to buy
businesses myself. I was a bit earlier Sean, so I
was in twenty fifteen. The market wasn't as frothy as
it is now, and so I kind of tipped and
fell and bumped my head. So I had to take
(03:53):
a year off of twenty seventeen, and because we're talking
to my audience, I had to move back in with
my mom six seven years after Harvard Business School. And
I looked at these unique skills I had about buying
a business, and how can I both help people and
monetize those skills. And the solution was Guardian due Diligence,
a way for people to find businesses that they want
(04:13):
to buy, but go through my due diligence services to
make sure they're not a limit. Because you can't take
them back, just like the used car lot. And so
I started guarding due diligence at twenty eighteen, and then
last year I launched a masterclass around helping people who
are just thinking about should I buy a business and
moving them educational wise until they're ready to pursue acquisition
(04:34):
all the way through to closing the deal. And so
that's a quick synopsis to media.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's a good one, a very good one, because the
journey is important because you're about to tell us how
we could make money.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
In the simplest foreign businesses are priced at a multiple
of cash flow. Let's do the easy thing. So four
times cash flow for small businesses is about it. What
does that mean for a business that has profit, so
revenue minus costs of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
or we call it a quarter million dollars, the price
will be about a million dollars to purchase that asset.
(05:05):
And the world that I live in, there is an
SBA seven a loan that will give you ninety to
ninety five percent of the money you need to buy
the business. That's as soon you get lucky, and it's
the ninety five percent rever scenario. What that means is,
with fifty thousand dollars, you can buy a million dollar
business that is throwing off a quarter million dollars of
(05:27):
profit a year. If you spend four to five years
paying off that debt, you will take your fifty thousand
dollars and make a million dollars. That is a twenty
extra turn if you can only get ten percent leverage. Now,
people who buy houses recognize the bank's going to tell
you how much you turn your one hundred thousand dollars
into a million. That's why I'm here talking to you today.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
My buy the business may be smarter than starting one
from scratch.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Down the percentage of success. So you're talking to you
a four or five time failed startup. Dude, try a
whole bunch of stuff that didn't work. If you think
about it, ninety something percent of startups don't work. Now,
you should cut your teeth on a startup because it's
low investment. This shouldn't be the first thing you do entrepreneurially. However,
(06:13):
if you have your teeth, then you kind of have
you done some stuff. Businesses that I look at that
have been around for five ten years have employees they
stick around with the ninety percent dance of probability. The
loans that I'm talking about, the SBA seven a loan
has a default rate under five percent. So if you
(06:33):
wanted to go to Vegas and I told you the
crap table had a ninety five percent chance of success
for Sean, and I think you bet. I'm not saying
it's full proof, but I'm saying it's a bet worthy
of consideration.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Absolutely. I'm talking Elliott Holling that he's the managing part
of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial firm focused on
helping every day entrepreneurs or people like you who are
listening want to change your life financially to confidently acquire
profitable small business conversations. Not you see something, We're gonna
just dump you off into a business and you're gonna
(07:04):
make a miracle return out of it. He's talking about
profitable small businesses. Now, what I keep doing in this
conversation is I'm just a guy who's seen homes all
my life. I drive out, I see it for sale sign,
so I go, oh oh, I can go on Zillo,
Nikked Telby. But in this zip code, they tell me
all all do comps? Now, how do I find out
(07:26):
what businesses are for sale?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Elliott Rashan, I feel like I might have paid you.
What a perfect question. So the zillo in my world
is called biz by sale. I call it the McDonald's
are buying the business. It might not be the best
burden you ever had, but you probably started there. So
you go to busbuy sale dot com and there are
hundreds of thousands of businesses for sale, each represented by
(07:48):
a broker, a business broker, and you can say, hey,
I like this one here, I'm gonna send it lie
information to the broker. I'd like to find out more
about this. They will send you a non disclosure agreement
and then you get the package on the business. And
so it's not all that different. You just go to
a different place to get the information.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So look at it, Rashon McDonald just say, I'm just
gonna throw all it down. I got maybe fifty thousand dollars.
Can I do anything with fifty thousand dollars? In the
conversation of Alan hap it with you, Elliott Hollom.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Absolutely, you can go buy a million dollar business. You
can go find a manufacturing business off a fault Induster
or down in in East Lake or wherever in Alpharetta
that's doing a quarter million dollars a profit and you
can go put an offer in to buy that business
with your fifty thousand dollars. And here's the nice thing, Rashaan,
(08:39):
This ain't you going to get financing from some special
bank in New York? Uh huh? The SBA seven A
program is a bank is a program that any bank
on your block, the one you already banked with, can
work with and work with you to get. Meaning that
the closest bank to your house is the exact bank
you can go use to make this transaction happen. This
(08:59):
is not or the high falut folcus for everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
What would you say will be a safe business to
try to buy for a person who will not go
in and do any of the work. That's me? How
does that sound to you? And how do you walk
how do you walk me through the steps?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So you would want a business with contracts? You want
a business like a like a property management company where
there's two to three year contracts, where it's a simple
office where they're doing the simple maintenance grass cutting on
a whole bunch of houses. People who are rented houses.
You already said you know a real estate a bits,
so this is a real estate business, but it's a business,
(09:39):
and so that would be a good one. Any businesses
with contracts digital marketing company sometimes have long term contracts,
some other service businesses. But what you want is both
the business with contracts for seine and one where there's
somebody in the business is probably not the owner who's
like a number two who's ready to step up into
the owner seat or not the owner seat, but the
president's CEOC and they don't have the money or the
(10:02):
interest to take all the risks you do that, but
they have the skills and knowledge to run the business.
And basically you'd work with that person to execute the
transaction in the way where you wouldn't have to go running.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I'm talking to Elliott Holland now. When you submitted your
information to me for this interview, Elliott, your business title
was chief deal closer.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I'm the chief deal closer?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Why?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Because I'm working week to week for hours to help
people get through the process, and so I'm the chief
deal closer. That's what I'm doing in that business.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Let's talk about this masterclass. What is it exactly?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
It is a way for you to not have to
go through all the hardships I had to go to
to learn how to buy a business in a streamlined
way with the person that's available online, so you don't
have to go to this fancy place to leave your city.
We do all the classes online, but it is essentially
most people wake up one day, like you said, I
(10:57):
used to buying houses. I'm looking at stocks. I heard
this thing about buying buying a company. Maybe I want
to do that. But the thing is, there's not any
schools for that. You can't just go downtown in your
city and figure out how to do it. I have
a class to help walk you through. I just got
interested in the process, so I know what I'm doing.
So here's examples of how to get it done. And
(11:18):
then and I'm weekly one on ones. Hey, Elliott, I
looked at these four deals. I have these three issues,
these three things I need to figure out. We're going
to talk through each one of those things one on one,
so that by the time we go through six months
of one on ones, it's likely you're going to have
a deal closed. And that's way quicker than twelve to
eighteen months it takes most people to get their first
deal done.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Now that that's important to have that whole process. Now,
what does your team look like? Are you a team
of one, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
No, I'm a team of ten. So the weekly one
on ones are me because you need somebody that has
all the knowledge. Now, people like that doesn't scale. I'm
not trying to create the world's biggest company. I'm trying
to create the world's best at this specific thing, working
one on one. I have accountants on my team. I
have consulting on my team. I have people in the
industry to do all the ad hoc stuff that's around
(12:08):
the core business acquisition that are on my team. So
we have the full list of people you need to
get this done. I'm just the main person helping you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I got to have my house in order in order
to look at this opportunity. So, Elliott, what do I
have to look like before I even step up. I
might have fifty dollars dollars, but that doesn't mean that
I should be giving it out because I don't have
the tools to be able to maintain even I might
(12:37):
cause that company of the clothes because they don't have
my act together. So talk to me about Rashawn McDonald
and what he has to have straight in order to
participate in his business.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So the number one thing you have to have is
the time to go spend three to nine months looking
for a business to buy. Here's why, Rashan. If you
find it Beyonce of deals, the Michael Jackson of deals,
you will find investors for that business. I guarantee it.
And if you can't find them, when your deal is
that good, come talk to me and I'll help you
find them. So the number one thing is go find
(13:11):
a knockout amazing deal. Then I would say you don't
need fifty thousand dollars because there's an infinite amount of
investors that want to invest in good deals. You need
to have a little bit, have a little ten thousand
dollars in the bank, something borrow some get some from
a friend. Right, need to have your credit house and order.
You cannot get that without having your credit house and order.
(13:31):
It doesn't have to be the greatest in the world,
but it can't be the worst. And you need to
have your entrepreneurial chops. This is a process like a
sales process. Where you're gonna have to get used to
a lot of no's, a lot of wonkiness. Business brokers
can be a pain in the buck. Sellers can be crazy.
And so if you want to feel good every single
day with the work that you did in the business
(13:52):
buying acquisition process, that's not this. This is how to
get rich, but you gotta be willing to take some punches.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I used Rashan McDonald's a exam as an exam. Do
you have any other examples? Lead to a couple that
can look to both of them different that you can
show how they've come into your business format. Participate in
your master class and this is the results of that.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Sure, So Clinton townsend another more house grad. I helped
him buy a manufacturing business in New York earlier this year,
and so Clinton came in. He was interested in buying businesses.
He had done some research, but he got into the
process and he was having some issues with the financing
piece and some issues with due diligence he used us
for due diligence, and then during the financing piece we
(14:51):
kind of helped coaching through some of those nuanced things
that banks can do to try to stumble you up
and not give you the money. And we pushed through
and now use the proud owner manufacturing business and he's
looking to buy more. I'll tell you another. So there
was a Lucas Phillips bought a automotive after parts manufacturing
business in Jersey. He was twenty four when he bought
(15:14):
the business. Young, so you don't have to be old
with a whole bunch of seasons. He was twenty four
he bought the business. He had the idea, he had
some sort of experience with investing, his family had some
I'm not gonna lie about that. But he needed due diligence,
so he used us for that. But he also needed
discretion help withshan So with the house, you can go
(15:35):
get an appraisal on somebody will tell you what the
value is. And the small business, a lot of that
work you have to do yourself. And so he helped
him get comfortable with the decision he was making to
make that purchase. And now he's made two or three
add on purchases. The business is four or five times
bigger than it was when he bought it, and he's
doing really well. And I could tell you about a
sixty year old person that I helped buy a business
(15:55):
last year, just to give you twenty four to sixty.
It's the age.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Range all over, which I like because I always tell
people on this show, don't allow age to be an
ex qus to pursue your dreams. So let's hear that
sixty year old story. Because I let people stop at forty,
stop at fifty sixty, they try to cheek out retirement.
I'll tell you, no, live your dream and don't let
nobody tell you what you can't do. Lit's hear that
(16:19):
sixty year old story.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah. So Ed found me through my YouTube channel crazy Enough,
and he came to me and said, hey, look, Elliott,
I had two businesses before, and I had a health
situation that made me put those two businesses down. Now
I've gotten past the health Scareed, and I want to
get back in the game. And now I'm buying versus
building and I need your help. So we walked through
three different acquisition attempts that he was going through, and
(16:43):
the best one was a manufacturing company in Kentucky, So
we helped him think about how to do it. We
actually helped him get his team together. He had some
members on his team that really needed to get out
of there on the first one. That we got some
better people in the mix on the second, and we
were able to get him the confidence from financial due
diligence perspective. Again, a business owner does not make you
(17:04):
a forensic accountant. We are forensic accountants. We are like
detectives for numbers. So he gave the comfort that the
business was making the money that they said it was making.
He closed that deal, and now we're Sean. I'm working
on two more deals for him right now. So he's
not just not doing this.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Man's going for it, which I love because all deals
are like good deals.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So I come to you is what is a bad
deal in how the spot won before is two date before.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
The easiest way is that people won't let you look
at the books. So they wanted to look at the
books in two seconds. Wow, So my books are good,
you can look at them forever, Rashan, because I know
they're solid. Right, if my car is good, you can
take it to whatever mechanic you got. But if my
business on my car is junk, no, no, no, man,
we're not taking off a lot. Got to make a
deal here. That's the first sign. The second sign is
(17:54):
a lot of people will mask terrible financials with a
one time situation, or we just don't overspend on financing accounting,
and just make sure that if you're not the kind
of person that understands how to look at instead of
small company messing financial books, you get somebody like myself,
or there are others to do what's called a quality
(18:15):
of earnings, which is essentially a mini audit on a
private business ahead of buying it, so you don't get had.
Because there's a lot of bad examples of people getting
in a lot of trouble, almost all of them did
not do financial diligence.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You know, hey, I made mistakes to laed. You know,
we want to pray, we want to hope, we want
to they wouldn't they look like nice people?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I've never been played in my life before. Why would
I get played now?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That's right? Now we're talking one.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Thing I know. Once you signed that contract, brother.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
You'll own the hook. That's it, and that's key. Just
like once you drive that car off that lot, that's
your car.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's your car.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
That's your car.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
That's just your car. And let me tell you something else.
So I mentioned earlier that a business is valued at
four times proper plus or minds. So here's the thing.
If I'm a seller, for every dollar of bogus profit
that I convince you as in there as I don't
get one dollar for it, I get four. You know
how motivated even a reasonable person is to lie in
(19:21):
that scenario.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right right right, especially when they know the truth.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, and they know it better than you.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So you know, like I said, you know the homeowners,
they are supposed to get an inspected to respect the
home before you buy the home. Same situation there, You
bring an account it, you bring your legal team in.
You do inspect the background, the history. So don't assume
just because they're nice people, or they wouldn't do that.
(19:50):
They don't look like those type of people. See the books.
See the history of the books, not the current history.
You know, find out why the books went down. You know,
like you might be buying a descending business. You know,
it might be profitably, we'd but what was it four
years ago? What was that number four years ago was it?
What was the staff, what was the atmosphere, what was
(20:12):
the community? I always tell people I buy a home,
I drive in the neighborhood in the morning, in the afternoon,
late at night, I just sit on the streets sometimes
just to see, yep, what kind of traffic floor is
going back? That's what you have to do. That's what
he's talking about. Due diligence.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Due diligence.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yes, and that's important that I say it, And it
is coming from an expert, because you're a subject matter expert.
I'm just a good storyteller and saying that's due diligence.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So the same thing. You might want to do the
same thing in the business. So there's the accounting stuff
that I'm going to help you do. But you may
want to sit so a lot of sellers can tell
you all I only spend ten hours in the business
a week. Well maybe you want to sit out there
for two or three days and see if they're not
spending sixty hours in the business each week.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Wow, elliot, how could we reach you by friend?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
So Guardian due diligence dot com The business buyingmasterclass dot
com and then search Elliott Holland YouTube. That's my main
social channel. I've got over three hundred amazing videos to
coach you and talk you through all of this. Those
are the best places to findment.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Well, let's continue talking here because one of the terms
out here all the time, the big no money down
oooh with that business blind myth. Talk to me, brother,
is that true? No money down?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
No, it ain't true. It's like a unicorn, you know,
with skittles coming out the back. Now now, does it
occasionally happen on some high hill with the rainbow going
over it and Jesus preaching on top every once in
a while, But typically I'm not selling my profitable business
for no money down. And so here's what I tell you.
I had a business partner that like no money down deals,
(21:49):
and I spent several years trying to figure that out.
I lost. You will lose. The thing is you can
find one if you have ten times the amount of
months that you probably have to actually figure it out.
If you're looking to do this in six to twelve months,
figure out how to either save the ten percent down,
get it from other people, talk to anybody in the industry.
(22:11):
There's plenty of third party investors that love these deals.
Get ten percent down, ninety percent leverage, just like a house,
and go get in the driver's seat again. If you
buy a business for ten percent down and pay off
the debt ten x your money. Opportunities like that don't
come for nothing. You got to put a little skin
in the game.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Now, know you're based here in Atlanta, but I've been
here in New York, I've been here in other states.
How does that work for you? Who exactly am I
talking to l Elliot Hollam.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You're talking to a brother from anaver to live twenty
years in Atlanta, and we do business online. So I
have clients all across the states. I have some in Europe,
I have some in North Africa, and I go to
conferences so you can see me in person. So and
I'm easy to catch. My email or my phone number
on the bottom of my website, so I'm not not
(23:01):
hard to catch, just the regular dude helping people buy
businesses because.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I'm just I'm just trying to connect the dodds with
you know, with the world I know, which is real estate,
home ownership. Okay, And it sounds that they have restricted
areas of opportunity. This is where you're supposed to do
business in this state. This is where you've been licensed.
Now you're telling me, is it the wild wild West
out there in the business buying world?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yes, but it's also the safe, safe West. So the
nice thing about finances is that there's only two accounting
standards in the whole world. There's GAP this US and
this IFRS. That's the rest of the world. Once you
understand those two, or once I understood those two, I
can do deals anywhere in the world where somebody on
the team speaks English, because the numbers are the numbers.
(23:48):
So what I tell you is that one of the
great things about today's world is you don't I don't
have to be located where the business is. Your lawyer
doesn't have to be and when you start, you don't
have to be a lot of the stuff you can
get remotely. Now, you still want to go drive around
the business once or trice with Sean, like you said,
but that doesn't mean you have to live there before
you start your process.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, you know the whole thing about business. You know,
first of all, this is an educational conversation for me,
and I have to be honest with you. I have
no idea, I have no clue. I did an expert,
and this is what this conversation is. I've had several
people on my show who've talked about buying businesses, but
(24:28):
never at the level of confort that you're talking. And
I want to go back to you know, see no evil, ill,
no evil. Your parents did this for a living. How
did they influence you and do you go to them
for mentorship, advice or why? How much do they play
in your life today? Sir?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, absolutely so. I tell people I don't have white privilege,
but I have two professional entrepreneurial parents privilege, and that's
a big step up. So I knew how business ownership
looked when I was young. I still talked my mom
every week about stuff's going on in my business, and
she can give me advice. I lost my father at fourteen,
so unfortunately he's not around anymore, at least on this planet.
(25:10):
But I think a lot of what influences me is
I knew it was possible, not just for my parents,
but in Michigan at a lot like Atlanta, there's a
long legacy of black business ownership of very successful businesses
at the forefront of all these industries. And so I
just knew that I came from that claw, and I
wasn't scared to go try my hand at.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It now and closing the hair, Why did Elliott Holland
lead big money to empower first time owners?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Because people need an on REMP when you don't grow
up with a silver spoon in your mouth saying hey,
just go to a fancy Ivy League school and then
all these things will fall into your player. Just go
work on Wall Street and everybody, if there's investing that
ain't gonna work for us. Right, I'm talking to my
HBCU folks. I'm talking with folks that might not have
gone to college. I didn't say you need to go
to college to do this. I'm talking to everyday folks.
(26:01):
And for me, it ain't all that exciting to help
rich people get richer, you know, to help everyday people
get rich. Now, that gets me up out of bed
every moere and that gets me taking like nine calls
early running calls. It gets me doing podcasts. So you
can probably see it in my eyes. This matters to
me a whole lot more. So forget the money on
that absolute basis, let me do the work that needs
(26:22):
to be done just like my parents did.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well know again, as we close out, let us know
how to reach out to your Elert Holland.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Guardian Due Diligence dot com, the Business Buyingmasterclass dot com,
and the search Elliott Holland and YouTube that's my main
social and you'll find me there with over three hundred videos.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, Managing partner of Guardian Due Diligence, a boutique financial
firm focus on helping everyday entrepreneurs are people confidently acquire
profitable small businesses. But again caveat, you must have the
time and you must have your act together. Just don't
jump out that this is not buy the house. You're
(26:59):
not flipping on home. You flipping employees, you flip for
a lifestyle, you flipping a community. And so as a
lot goes into these business decisions that you want to
bring it to your life. But if you make the
right decision, like Elliott said, it can be a home
run not only for you, but create a legacy for
your family. Elliott Holland, thank you for coming on Money
(27:20):
Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
For God, I thank you cool.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
(27:46):
leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
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