August 28, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, Jonathan does something a little different: a live Q&A session with listeners and aspiring dealmakers. You’ll hear real, unscripted questions from entrepreneurs across the UK (and beyond) – and Jonathan’s direct, practical answers drawn from decades of dealmaking experience.
In This Episode
- Why traditional “day-one finance + deferred consideration” deals are becoming outdated.
- The big difference between the “vanilla” advice on YouTube and the full-flavour strategies inside Mastermind.
- Should you start with a small (£500k turnover, 5 staff) business – or aim higher?
- Why franchises are often jobs masquerading as businesses (and what to do instead).
- How to buy businesses abroad (Spain, Canada, etc.) and whether the process differs from the UK.
- What percentage of people actually buy a business after joining Mastermind – and why effort is the deciding factor.
- Why brokers are a trap for first-time buyers (and what to do instead).
- The truth about legal and professional fees – and why the business you buy pays them, not you.
- A reality check: why targeting £5–10m EBITDA in 18 months is unrealistic – and what is possible.
- What to do if management buys out the owner while you’re negotiating a deal.
- Is it better to buy near you, or can you run a business from afar?
Links & Resources Mentioned
- Three-Day Foundation Programme → dealmakers.co.uk/foundation (limited to 40 people per intake).
- Book a Clarity Call (free, no obligation) → dealmakers.co.uk/clarity
- Jonathan’s YouTube Channel → youtube.com/@JonathanJayDealmaker
- Subscribe to the Business Buying Strategies Podcast archive → dealmakerspodcast.co.uk
Key Takeaway
Every question reveals the same truth: success in business acquisition isn’t about finding a “magic formula” – it’s about having the right process, guidance, and deal flow. The people who follow the system always end up buying businesses.
Listen Now
If you enjoyed this Q&A format and want Jonathan to do more, let him know by leaving a comment or review!
And if you’re serious about buying your first (or next) business, book your free clarity call today: dealmakers.co.uk/clarity
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:29):
Hi, this is Jonathan Jay, and welcometo Business Buying Strategies,
the number one podcast for peopleinterested in buying a business
without risking any of their own cash.
Now over the next few weeks, I have somefoundation courses coming up that you
might be interested in coming along to.
Now.
This is something brand new.
It is a three day live programwhere you can spend three days
(00:53):
with me, my colleagues, my team,previous mastermind delegates.
Plus 40 people just like you inthe same situation, eager to buy
a business, needing the foundationsteps, and I will teach you during
that three day program, the blueprint,
I will teach you the complete businessbuying system and lay it out step by step.
(01:14):
So you leave the three Day Foundationprogram with a plan, and there is
a link in the podcast description.
Now we're only accepting 40 peopleonto each program, so if you want
to join us, you better be quick.
On this week's episode, we've gotsomething a little bit different now.
People always have questions about buyinga business, and I did a coffee with
(01:37):
Jonathan, a virtual coffee with Jonathanthe other week where I answered questions.
I didn't know what thequestions were going to be.
There were some.
Really fun questions and somequestions that I thought would be
helpful to you, my podcast listeners.
So what we've done is taken some ofthose questions and we've turned them
into this week's podcast episode.
(01:58):
So here we go.
Something new, somethingdifferent, a q and a podcast.,
Alish.
says, . I've done one meeting inperson and another one , with some
other business owner next month.
, They have agreed for deferred payments.
I want to fund the deal withrevenue payout and I'm not sure.
(02:21):
Oh, I think I know what you mean.
Okay.
Please advise.
Alright.
Okay.
This would be my advice andthis is, I'm speaking to Alish.
I'm really speaking to everyone here,is that what I would say is that if
you watch my videos and everything.
You probably think that buying a businessis getting some asset finance for your
day one consideration payment, and thendeferring the rest over 3, 4, 5 years.
(02:45):
Because that is said a lot across a lotof videos across a number of years, it
doesn't really work like that anymore.
It's not as straightforwardas and as simple as that.
The market has matured.
Over the last few years, and you won't beable, we might, but it's highly unlikely
that you'll be able to do a deal as, assimple and as straightforward as that.
(03:08):
So I'm told that people reallyenjoy my videos and my podcasts
and, and we put a lot of effort intothem, and I hope you enjoy them.
And if you do, let meknow if you enjoy them.
And if you don't, let me know.
If you , don't enjoy them.
And tell me why.
And we'll, we'll try and fix it.
But the thing is there's only somuch you can say in a podcast and.
I have to be mindful that myclients, my mastermind clients are
(03:33):
paying for knowledge and advice.
So I'm not gonna give thataway free, what they paid for.
I'm not gonna give away free on theinternet because that would just
be ridiculous and all my clientsbe complaining to me saying.
Jonathan, we've just paidfor that information.
You've given it away free on the internet.
So what we give away free on theinternet is the very, is like is vanilla.
(03:54):
Alright?
If you imagine an ice cream shop,I went into a lovely ice cream
shop in Windermere yesterday andI had a, uh, what did I have?
It was a coffee and.
Coffee and walnut ice cream.
Now, they had somereally delicious flavors.
All right.
Coffee and walnut ice cream,quite an unusual flavor.
You don't see that in every icecream shop, but imagine that every
ice cream was vanilla, right?
(04:14):
That's what we get.
If you just follow the advice onYouTube and podcasts, what we've got in
Mastermind, all the different flavors.
So there there's.
More than one way of doing this,Tish, but well done on taking action.
I like that.
That's good.
Taking action is the, isis the key to everything.
Uh, Phil says, Phil m. I've beenfollowing you for a few years and
(04:34):
I've been to your event in Richmond.
I think I'm at the pointwhere I can get going.
Alright, well Phil that's brilliant.
I don't know which eventin Richmond it was.
I've done quite a few 'cause Ilive in Richmond, so I do a lot
of things in, in, in Richmond.
What I would suggest you do, it'son your screen if you can see that
dealmakers.co uk slash clarity.
(04:56):
I would book in.
A 10 minute clarity call today, tomorrow,preferably today while it's on your mind.
And just have a chat with one of my team.
No obligation, but what it will do willhelp you sort out, um, the options because
we've got some different things now.
You know, if you, if you looked at what wedid like a year ago, we've got new things
now that weren't available a year ago.
So just do that, Phil.
(05:17):
Um, have a chat with with either Jamie Leeor Jeremy today and, um, uh, and they'll
be able to help you get your focus.
Yeah.
So Joanne's question that she's nowjust written here is, and by the way,
you know, if you do, if we do one ofthese in the future, this is a one-off.
I might do it again next week, I don'tknow, but this is a one-off at the moment.
Just write the questions in thechat box while, while we're doing
(05:37):
it, like everyone is, you don'tneed to send them in in advance.
Uh, Joanne says try to locatebusinesses which are not in the uk.
Okay.
Joanne, are you in, are you in the uk?
It you are looking in Europeand you get mostly brokers.
Well, we know that we needto avoid brokers, right?
We, for your first deal, a brokerdeal is a uh, is a bad one, is
(06:01):
is never gonna work for you.
But Joanne, just, just tell me something.
Where are you based?
So where do you live?
You live in Spain, right?
Okay, fantastic.
So you don't, you wanna buy businessespresumably in, in, in Spain, right?
Well, Joanne, it's exactly the sameprocess as if you are in England
(06:21):
buying businesses in England.
Our our deal sourcingprocesses don't change.
They are fundamentally the same,a few tweaks depending on certain
factors, but , fundamentally, they,they are they are exactly the same.
But we'll come back to that.
Joanne, if, if we got time today, um, HajHigh nda, oh yeah, that's a good question.
(06:43):
So Hagen is saying, what percentage ofpeople after two years buy a business?
Well, the average timeactually is six months.
I dunno where the two years comes from.
What I would say Haj is thatevery single person who follows
the process buys a business.
They put the effort in andthere is some effort involved.
(07:04):
I mean, anyone who will tell you onInstagram you know, it's get rich quick.
You don't have to do anything.
They're not entirelytelling you the truth.
You have to put the effort in.
Now I've got great examples of,I mean, Jason is one of them.
He was on Mastermind in 2018,so what's that, seven years ago?
(07:25):
And he disappeared for four years.
Didn't hear anythingfrom him for four years.
You know, was he successful?
Was he not successful?
He just disappeared forfour years, don't know.
And then he came back again and he joinedour inner circle group, which is people
who have already bought a business.
And, uh, he'd just done his firstdeal, which was a 19 million
revenue steel fabrication businessin the northeast of England.
(07:48):
And actual fact, coming back to Joanne.
He li he, he was living inMarbella, he was living in
Spain with a baby at the time.
You know, his wife had had justgiven birth to their first child,
so he was running it all remotely.
He's now at 50 million of revenue.
Now, I wasn't gonna.
Count him.
You know, using your two yearstats here, Haji, we have said,
(08:10):
well, he wasn't successful.
In fact he's one of our most successfulmasterminds in terms of scale and numbers.
Uh, but he disappeared for afew years, so there isn't a hard
and fast, um, answer to that.
Sonny.
Hi.
Sonny says hello.
Uh, . If contacting businesses andor conducting Zoom meets are not
the best way, how does it work?
If you live abroad, telephonetalk to people on the phone.
(08:35):
It is as simple as that.
Now, you will need to meet peopleface to face at some point.
I have had clients do entire deals.
On Zoom without ever meeting anyone.
But that was actually during lockdown.
When they couldn't meet anyone,they couldn't travel they
couldn't do meetings face to face.
(08:56):
I like Zoom.
I use Zoom a lot, but for yourvery first contact with the
owner, let's make it a phone call.
You don't need to go beyond, beyond that.
. Uh, Daniel says would yourecommend a smaller business at,
as for the first acquisition,
to get experience in the same sector?
Obviously when I say small,I mean one about 500,000
(09:17):
turnover and around five star.
You're probably buying yourselfa real pain in the neck there.
Daniel.
Something with five staff.
It, oh, it's just it.
It might work.
But I wouldn't be bettingmoney on it working.
You're better to gowith a better business.
(09:39):
Look, Daniel buying small businessesis are fraught with problems
because they're typically so owner.
Reliant once the owner'sgone, that relationship has
gone with those five staff.
And all it takes is one personto leave, one person not to like
you, and you're, you're down 40%.
Do you see what I mean?
It's, it the, my answer actually, I, ifyou want me, if you're pushing me to give
(10:04):
you a yes no answer, should you do it?
I said, no, I don't think you should.
I don't think you should buy asmaller business just to get started.
Because it'll be so hard to buybusiness number two when you're
struggling with business number one.
Okay.
(10:55):
Next is Harold.
, This is the franchise question.
This is for a restoration company thatstrictly deals with insurance companies.
Okay.
The franchise is given a territory.
Sure.
That's what franchises are, and whenevera claim comes through, it is given to
appropriate franchise to the appropriatefranchise pending their territory.
Exactly.
Uh, there are three staff on hand.
(11:15):
Remember what I just said about fivestaff a moment ago, but the majority of
the work is completed by high trades.
The EBITDA very healthy.
Now, you told me earlier, Harold,that your franchise business
that you're looking at wasdifferent to other franchises.
What you've just described isexactly the same as every franchise.
I know a bit about franchising.
I've, I had a business that Ifranchised into other countries.
(11:36):
Um.
20 years ago, so I knowa little bit about this.
So what you've just describedthere is not different to any other
franchise, and my advice is the same.
Stay clear avoid.
You can't change the name, youcan't change the marketing.
You pay a percentage of yourrevenue up to the franchisor.
(11:56):
You only work in one territory,so there's no opportunity to
expand unless you buy another.
Fran you basically, a franchise is a job.
Masquerading as a business,that's what it is.
A franchise is a jobmasquerading as a business.
It's not really a business.
It's a job.
So, Harold, sorry to disappoint you, butyou've got to stay clear of that Please.
Graham says, I can attest that if youdon't put the effort, you don't get there.
(12:20):
I'm coming back afterdisappearing for 18 months.
Graham, I recognize, I recognize yoursurname because it's an unusual surname.
I recognize your surname.
Good to have you today.
By the way.
If you need a little bit of help, bitof clarity around how we could help you
or maybe even what your direction is.
We've got lots of different things.
We've got Mastermind, we've alsogot a live three day live training.
(12:41):
Have a chat with oneof my team about that.
Just go to dealmakers.coat UK slash clarity.
It's up on the screen for you.
Book in a time for today.
I think there could be a few timesfor tomorrow, but just book in a time.
Have a, have a chat with, um, eitherJamie Lee or Jeremy have a conversation
with them, um, and they'll be ableto point you in the right direction
of what you what you need to know.
(13:02):
, Right now I'm gonna try and pronounceyour name, but I know I'm gonna get
it wrong, is it Chichi Says, can yougive us introductions on how to do
the buying of business in Canada also?
Yeah, we've got lots ofmastermind clients in Canada.
We, we have mastermind clients injust about every country in the world.
So we have people very successful inCanada buying businesses exactly the
(13:24):
same way as people do it in the uk.
So if you, thinking about doingMastermind, but you holding you back
because you're in Canada there's noreason for it to hold you back at all.
So book a call in with, um, withone of my people and they'll
have a chat with you about that.
Hi Sanjay.
You are a mastermind already.
Brilliant.
Wow, you've done loads.
That is fantastic.
(13:44):
Alright, the one thing I would just helpyou with, Sanjay has done you've, it
sounds like you've been on Mastermindfor, uh, just a short time, but
you've done loads, which is brilliant,but you are talking to brokers now.
Maybe you haven't got to the modulewhere we say don't talk to brokers.
You haven't got, you haven't gotthat far yet because you're saying, I
think both businesses are overvalued.
(14:05):
Do I make an offer on my calculations?
You say you're on module five.
Do all the modules before you doanything else, Sanjay, please do all the
training before you do anything else.
Because first of all, you shouldn't bespeaking to brokers for your first deal.
You, it will just messyou around and so forth.
You are right when you think thatthey're overvalued, that's what
(14:26):
brokers do, and you don't make offers.
You absolutely don't makeoffers to to buy a business.
You don't, you don't do that, butI don't think, I think you're such
an early stage of the program.
You haven't got to that bit yet.
So, Sanjay, do all the trainingfirst and then go back to brilliant.
Well done on taking the action,but get the knowledge first.
(14:47):
Otherwise your action will berunning ahead of you and the
knowledge will be catching up.
Okay.
. Mark says, what about buyingsmall businesses and combining
them into my existing business?
Every single mastermind client who ownsa business is doing exactly that, mark.
Buying other businesses and combiningthem into their existing business and
(15:09):
making their existing business bigger.
100%. And you should be doing the same.
Have a chat with one of my team,uh, at the, on a Clarity call book
in a clarity Call mark and have achat with one of my team about that
because we can help you with that.
Uh, so Phil says , one quickfurther question, if that's okay.
, Let's say I find a business, okay, Ican release the initial consideration
(15:33):
through asset invoice finance andagree to pay the rest over three years.
Remember what I saidthough, that's kind of.
Old hats.
Now, there are far better waysof doing it, just so you know.
How much should I have setaside for all initial fees?
Zero.
Nothing.
(15:53):
It all professional fees arepaid for by the company that you
are buying once you bought it.
Okay, so it doesn't comeout of your pocket at all.
So you don't just set anything aside.
Oh, right.
Sorry.
I should have read therest of the message.
Perhaps the legal fees can be deferred.
No, we're not deferring them.
It is standard practice topay those fees on completion.
(16:17):
Now, if you go and finda lawyer on Google.
They will want money on account, whichmeans basically you have to pay something
in advance because they don't know you.
You are a stranger to them.
They're a stranger to you.
The chances of you finding a goodlawyer on Google from just looking
at websites is very, very slim.
(16:38):
Those of you know, I'm speakingmaybe to uh, to Callum who's
just joined Mastermind on Friday.
What you might not realize is that we'vegot a great deal team, so the deal team
that we have won't want money on account.
Now, you might then think, what if thebusiness that I'm buying can't afford
the legal fees of the acquisition?
Let me tell you the truth about that one.
You're buying the wrong business.
(16:59):
If the business that you are buyingcan't afford its own acquisition
legal fees, then you're buying abusiness that's either too small
or it's not making enough money.
. Neil says Morning.
I'm in real estaterentals and development.
Just work for myself with my wife.
We outsource the building work.
Okay.
(17:20):
Um, I'd like to start buying businesses.
I'd like to get 5 million to 10million EBITDA inside , 18 months
with a management structure.
Alright.
Stop right there, Neil.
It's not gonna happen, which is probablythe opposite of what you wanted me to say.
You are not going to get five to10 million pre-tax profit after 18.
(17:41):
Months.
I'll tell you a more realistictimescale in a moment.
What industries would this work with?
Oh, right, so you are notgonna stick to what you know.
So real estate rentals.
I, I would, I would stick towhat, you know, I was looking at
domiciliary care, not the mostexciting, maybe manufactured right.
Okay.
Oh, so much in this message.
This is brilliant, Neil.
(18:02):
We're not looking for exciting businesses.
We're looking forbusinesses that make money.
And when a business makesmoney, that is exciting.
Do you, do you see what I mean?
Uh, it's, it's not about yippee.
I have this exciting business.
The exciting big bit is when youcheck your bank account and then
Neil goes, uh, maybe manufacturing.
I'm open to ideas.
What's your thoughts?
(18:22):
It is completely unrealistic.
If at this stage you don't know what typeof business you're gonna buy, to say that
you are gonna get to five to 10 million,by the way, 5 million and 10 million.
And we are talking about pre-tax profits.
Neil's talking about pre-tax profit,one number is double the other.
So let's make our mind up here.
Is it this number or is it the onethat's double that number that's there.
(18:44):
It is a big range.
In 18 months, it's not gonna work, Neil.
It's not gonna happen.
Now, can you get to one or 2million EBITDA in 18 months?
Yeah, very likely.
You've gotta think about this.
There's gonna be a learning curveif you are gonna buy in a business
that you have no experience of.
There's the learning curve of thatbusiness, and then there's the learning
curve of learning how to buy a business.
(19:06):
Now, I can hold your handthrough the entire process.
That's what I do with people all the time.
I'll hold your hand, I'll makesure you don't make silly mistakes.
I'll look after you.
Okay I'll make sure you don't sign thewrong piece of paper and lose your house.
And someone who's not on Mastermindhasten to add that happened to them,
I found out about it afterwards.
He sent me a message on, on LinkedInand said, you told me to join
(19:26):
Mastermind when we had a chat.
I didn't listen to you.
I thought I could do it by myself.
This is my current situation.
He lost the family house 'cause hedidn't know what he was doing and
he signed the wrong piece of paper.
And it all went horribly wrong, and bythat time it was too late to help him.
It was too late to save him.
But Neil, realistically, if you don'tknow what sector you want to buy in,
(19:46):
getting to 10 million a pre-tax profitin a year and a half, yes, by the end
of 2026, is just not gonna happen.
Have a chat with one of my people.
Okay?
And we'll help you getclear on what you could do.
So dealmakers.co uk slash clarity if youwanna have a chat with one of my people.
That's the follow up, bythe way, to today's session.
(20:08):
Right.
Loads more to do.
Hi Joanne again as thisis Joanne in Spain.
I was negotiating a deal.
With a company and the main owner slashseller discussed it with his top people.
I was negotiating a deal with acompany and the main owner said,
discussed it with his top people.
Okay.
He had to do this becausethey also owned some shares.
(20:28):
Actually, he probably didn't have to dothat because a shareholder's agreement
would give the majority shareholder,which it sounds like the person you
were talking to, the right to drag.
The other minority shareholders on a deal.
Imagine this.
Imagine this.
You own a business and you own 90% of it.
(20:49):
No, no.
Let's make this an extreme example.
You have a business, you own 99%of it, and one person owns 1%.
One of your top people owns 1%, okay?
And then you decide you wannasell the business, and the sale is
blocked by the person who owns 1%.
That, that would just be ridiculous.
(21:10):
You own 99%, you can't sell yourbusiness because this person earning 1%.
So probably he didn't have to consult,but I'll let that one go for the moment.
As soon as they heard aboutit, they decided it was a
good idea to buy the company.
Hang on.
As soon as they heard about it.
So this is the management, theydecided it was a good idea.
(21:31):
And they wanted to do the deal andconvinced the main owner to sell
his shares to them instead of me.
Okay so basically the owner hada chat with his management team.
His management team, and said,boss, can we buy the business?
And that's what's happening.
My response, Joanne, and takethis in the way that it is
intended is kind of so what?
(21:54):
Who cares?
Move on.
Next one.
Why?
Why?
Why does it matter if we all cast ourminds back to when we were younger and we
were dating, we were dating people, okay?
And you go on a date with someoneand within about an hour you're
thinking, no, this isn't for me.
What happens?
You don't stop.
(22:15):
You just go on a date with someone else,and you're probably not talking about
that one that wasn't for you years later.
I see this sometimes with,with new business buyers.
They talk about the deals that don'thappen rather than the deals that do
happen, and that means that they kind of,I'm not saying this is you, Joanne, but
some people get kind of sucked into thenegativity of the things that didn't work.
(22:37):
Rather than saying, well, who cares?
Move on to the next one.
What you need, Joe, and is deal flow.
You need to be speaking tolots and lots of owners.
The more owners you speak to, thebetter the results that you will get.
Uh,
. Danny also says, and you wouldn'tget a solicitor involved for heads
of terms obviously, will you?
Well, not obviously.
You know, you don't necessarily needto, it depends on the size of the deal.
(22:58):
If it's a larger deal than I wouldhave a solicitor at heads of terms.
Yes.
Um.
Amman says, do you get access to thedeal team and the foundation program?
No.
On our three day foundationprogram, you get what it says you
get on the foundation program.
So no, you, my, my closest contacts areonly available to my closest clients who
are my, my, um, my masterminders . Uh,Reno says, for an asset purchase, can a
(23:21):
newly formed SPV with no existing cashflow 'cause it, it's an empty company.
Obtain financing suchas asset based lending.
, You don't need to because the SPv's not getting the financing.
There you go.
Simple answer.
Um, yes uh, chichi, we've got dealteam people in Canada as well.
(23:43):
Graham says yes.
A I'm You mentioned clarity.
Yeah.
Oh, by the way if you're thinkingabout, working with us in some
respect or you need some help to buya business, then book in a clarity
call with one of the team today thismorning, this afternoon, or tomorrow
morning and or tomorrow afternoon.
And, and have a chat with us.
Okay.
Haj says, should you buy a businessnear you so you can keep an eye on it?
(24:04):
Is it acceptable to buya business far away?
Well, if you've got a choice betweentwo businesses and one is a long way
away and one is close to you, andeverything else is kind of the same,
I would be going for the one closebecause I don't wanna get on an airplane
every time I want to go and say hello.
It just stands to reason.
It's, it's like, it'sconvenience, isn't it?
And I want your life to be convenientand not to be stressful trying to do, you
(24:28):
know, a dozen things at the same time.
Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen, you've been great.
Shall we do this again?
Just send me a quick message.
If you think we should dothis again, . Those of you.
Who wants to take the next stepand do something with us then go
to dealmakers.co uk slash clarity.
Have a no obligationconversation with one of my team.
And we'll give you the options of,uh, what you could be doing next.
Well, thank you very much.
(24:49):
Have a great day, andI will see you again.
Thanks everyone.
Bye for now.
Byebye.
Hi, this is Jonathan Jay, and welcometo Business Buying Strategies,
the number one podcast for peopleinterested in buying a business
without risking any of their own cash.
Now over the next few weeks, I have somefoundation courses coming up that you
might be interested in coming along to.
Now.
This is something brand new.
It is a three day live programwhere you can spend three days
(00:53):
with me, my colleagues, my team,previous mastermind delegates.
Plus 40 people just like you inthe same situation, eager to buy
a business, needing the foundationsteps, and I will teach you during
that three day program, the blueprint,
I will teach you the complete businessbuying system and lay it out step by step.
(01:14):
So you leave the three Day Foundationprogram with a plan, and there is
a link in the podcast description.
Now we're only accepting 40 peopleonto each program, so if you want
to join us, you better be quick.
On this week's episode, we've gotsomething a little bit different now.
People always have questions about buyinga business, and I did a coffee with
(01:37):
Jonathan, a virtual coffee with Jonathanthe other week where I answered questions.
I didn't know what thequestions were going to be.
There were some.
Really fun questions and somequestions that I thought would be
helpful to you, my podcast listeners.
So what we've done is taken some ofthose questions and we've turned them
into this week's podcast episode.
(01:58):
So here we go.
Something new, somethingdifferent, a q and a podcast.,
Alish.
says, . I've done one meeting inperson and another one , with some
other business owner next month.
, They have agreed for deferred payments.
I want to fund the deal withrevenue payout and I'm not sure.
(02:21):
Oh, I think I know what you mean.
Okay.
Please advise.
Alright.
Okay.
This would be my advice andthis is, I'm speaking to Alish.
I'm really speaking to everyone here,is that what I would say is that if
you watch my videos and everything.
You probably think that buying a businessis getting some asset finance for your
day one consideration payment, and thendeferring the rest over 3, 4, 5 years.
(02:45):
Because that is said a lot across a lotof videos across a number of years, it
doesn't really work like that anymore.
It's not as straightforwardas and as simple as that.
The market has matured.
Over the last few years, and you won't beable, we might, but it's highly unlikely
that you'll be able to do a deal as, assimple and as straightforward as that.
(03:08):
So I'm told that people reallyenjoy my videos and my podcasts
and, and we put a lot of effort intothem, and I hope you enjoy them.
And if you do, let meknow if you enjoy them.
And if you don't, let me know.
If you , don't enjoy them.
And tell me why.
And we'll, we'll try and fix it.
But the thing is there's only somuch you can say in a podcast and.
I have to be mindful that myclients, my mastermind clients are
(03:33):
paying for knowledge and advice.
So I'm not gonna give thataway free, what they paid for.
I'm not gonna give away free on theinternet because that would just
be ridiculous and all my clientsbe complaining to me saying.
Jonathan, we've just paidfor that information.
You've given it away free on the internet.
So what we give away free on theinternet is the very, is like is vanilla.
(03:54):
Alright?
If you imagine an ice cream shop,I went into a lovely ice cream
shop in Windermere yesterday andI had a, uh, what did I have?
It was a coffee and.
Coffee and walnut ice cream.
Now, they had somereally delicious flavors.
All right.
Coffee and walnut ice cream,quite an unusual flavor.
You don't see that in every icecream shop, but imagine that every
ice cream was vanilla, right?
(04:14):
That's what we get.
If you just follow the advice onYouTube and podcasts, what we've got in
Mastermind, all the different flavors.
So there there's.
More than one way of doing this,Tish, but well done on taking action.
I like that.
That's good.
Taking action is the, isis the key to everything.
Uh, Phil says, Phil m. I've beenfollowing you for a few years and
(04:34):
I've been to your event in Richmond.
I think I'm at the pointwhere I can get going.
Alright, well Phil that's brilliant.
I don't know which eventin Richmond it was.
I've done quite a few 'cause Ilive in Richmond, so I do a lot
of things in, in, in Richmond.
What I would suggest you do, it'son your screen if you can see that
dealmakers.co uk slash clarity.
(04:56):
I would book in.
A 10 minute clarity call today, tomorrow,preferably today while it's on your mind.
And just have a chat with one of my team.
No obligation, but what it will do willhelp you sort out, um, the options because
we've got some different things now.
You know, if you, if you looked at what wedid like a year ago, we've got new things
now that weren't available a year ago.
So just do that, Phil.
(05:17):
Um, have a chat with with either Jamie Leeor Jeremy today and, um, uh, and they'll
be able to help you get your focus.
Yeah.
So Joanne's question that she's nowjust written here is, and by the way,
you know, if you do, if we do one ofthese in the future, this is a one-off.
I might do it again next week, I don'tknow, but this is a one-off at the moment.
Just write the questions in thechat box while, while we're doing
(05:37):
it, like everyone is, you don'tneed to send them in in advance.
Uh, Joanne says try to locatebusinesses which are not in the uk.
Okay.
Joanne, are you in, are you in the uk?
It you are looking in Europeand you get mostly brokers.
Well, we know that we needto avoid brokers, right?
We, for your first deal, a brokerdeal is a uh, is a bad one, is
(06:01):
is never gonna work for you.
But Joanne, just, just tell me something.
Where are you based?
So where do you live?
You live in Spain, right?
Okay, fantastic.
So you don't, you wanna buy businessespresumably in, in, in Spain, right?
Well, Joanne, it's exactly the sameprocess as if you are in England
(06:21):
buying businesses in England.
Our our deal sourcingprocesses don't change.
They are fundamentally the same,a few tweaks depending on certain
factors, but , fundamentally, they,they are they are exactly the same.
But we'll come back to that.
Joanne, if, if we got time today, um, HajHigh nda, oh yeah, that's a good question.
(06:43):
So Hagen is saying, what percentage ofpeople after two years buy a business?
Well, the average timeactually is six months.
I dunno where the two years comes from.
What I would say Haj is thatevery single person who follows
the process buys a business.
They put the effort in andthere is some effort involved.
(07:04):
I mean, anyone who will tell you onInstagram you know, it's get rich quick.
You don't have to do anything.
They're not entirelytelling you the truth.
You have to put the effort in.
Now I've got great examples of,I mean, Jason is one of them.
He was on Mastermind in 2018,so what's that, seven years ago?
(07:25):
And he disappeared for four years.
Didn't hear anythingfrom him for four years.
You know, was he successful?
Was he not successful?
He just disappeared forfour years, don't know.
And then he came back again and he joinedour inner circle group, which is people
who have already bought a business.
And, uh, he'd just done his firstdeal, which was a 19 million
revenue steel fabrication businessin the northeast of England.
(07:48):
And actual fact, coming back to Joanne.
He li he, he was living inMarbella, he was living in
Spain with a baby at the time.
You know, his wife had had justgiven birth to their first child,
so he was running it all remotely.
He's now at 50 million of revenue.
Now, I wasn't gonna.
Count him.
You know, using your two yearstats here, Haji, we have said,
(08:10):
well, he wasn't successful.
In fact he's one of our most successfulmasterminds in terms of scale and numbers.
Uh, but he disappeared for afew years, so there isn't a hard
and fast, um, answer to that.
Sonny.
Hi.
Sonny says hello.
Uh, . If contacting businesses andor conducting Zoom meets are not
the best way, how does it work?
If you live abroad, telephonetalk to people on the phone.
(08:35):
It is as simple as that.
Now, you will need to meet peopleface to face at some point.
I have had clients do entire deals.
On Zoom without ever meeting anyone.
But that was actually during lockdown.
When they couldn't meet anyone,they couldn't travel they
couldn't do meetings face to face.
(08:56):
I like Zoom.
I use Zoom a lot, but for yourvery first contact with the
owner, let's make it a phone call.
You don't need to go beyond, beyond that.
. Uh, Daniel says would yourecommend a smaller business at,
as for the first acquisition,
to get experience in the same sector?
Obviously when I say small,I mean one about 500,000
(09:17):
turnover and around five star.
You're probably buying yourselfa real pain in the neck there.
Daniel.
Something with five staff.
It, oh, it's just it.
It might work.
But I wouldn't be bettingmoney on it working.
You're better to gowith a better business.
(09:39):
Look, Daniel buying small businessesis are fraught with problems
because they're typically so owner.
Reliant once the owner'sgone, that relationship has
gone with those five staff.
And all it takes is one personto leave, one person not to like
you, and you're, you're down 40%.
Do you see what I mean?
It's, it the, my answer actually, I, ifyou want me, if you're pushing me to give
(10:04):
you a yes no answer, should you do it?
I said, no, I don't think you should.
I don't think you should buy asmaller business just to get started.
Because it'll be so hard to buybusiness number two when you're
struggling with business number one.
Okay.
(10:55):
Next is Harold.
, This is the franchise question.
This is for a restoration company thatstrictly deals with insurance companies.
Okay.
The franchise is given a territory.
Sure.
That's what franchises are, and whenevera claim comes through, it is given to
appropriate franchise to the appropriatefranchise pending their territory.
Exactly.
Uh, there are three staff on hand.
(11:15):
Remember what I just said about fivestaff a moment ago, but the majority of
the work is completed by high trades.
The EBITDA very healthy.
Now, you told me earlier, Harold,that your franchise business
that you're looking at wasdifferent to other franchises.
What you've just described isexactly the same as every franchise.
I know a bit about franchising.
I've, I had a business that Ifranchised into other countries.
(11:36):
Um.
20 years ago, so I knowa little bit about this.
So what you've just describedthere is not different to any other
franchise, and my advice is the same.
Stay clear avoid.
You can't change the name, youcan't change the marketing.
You pay a percentage of yourrevenue up to the franchisor.
(11:56):
You only work in one territory,so there's no opportunity to
expand unless you buy another.
Fran you basically, a franchise is a job.
Masquerading as a business,that's what it is.
A franchise is a jobmasquerading as a business.
It's not really a business.
It's a job.
So, Harold, sorry to disappoint you, butyou've got to stay clear of that Please.
Graham says, I can attest that if youdon't put the effort, you don't get there.
(12:20):
I'm coming back afterdisappearing for 18 months.
Graham, I recognize, I recognize yoursurname because it's an unusual surname.
I recognize your surname.
Good to have you today.
By the way.
If you need a little bit of help, bitof clarity around how we could help you
or maybe even what your direction is.
We've got lots of different things.
We've got Mastermind, we've alsogot a live three day live training.
(12:41):
Have a chat with oneof my team about that.
Just go to dealmakers.coat UK slash clarity.
It's up on the screen for you.
Book in a time for today.
I think there could be a few timesfor tomorrow, but just book in a time.
Have a, have a chat with, um, eitherJamie Lee or Jeremy have a conversation
with them, um, and they'll be ableto point you in the right direction
of what you what you need to know.
(13:02):
, Right now I'm gonna try and pronounceyour name, but I know I'm gonna get
it wrong, is it Chichi Says, can yougive us introductions on how to do
the buying of business in Canada also?
Yeah, we've got lots ofmastermind clients in Canada.
We, we have mastermind clients injust about every country in the world.
So we have people very successful inCanada buying businesses exactly the
(13:24):
same way as people do it in the uk.
So if you, thinking about doingMastermind, but you holding you back
because you're in Canada there's noreason for it to hold you back at all.
So book a call in with, um, withone of my people and they'll
have a chat with you about that.
Hi Sanjay.
You are a mastermind already.
Brilliant.
Wow, you've done loads.
That is fantastic.
(13:44):
Alright, the one thing I would just helpyou with, Sanjay has done you've, it
sounds like you've been on Mastermindfor, uh, just a short time, but
you've done loads, which is brilliant,but you are talking to brokers now.
Maybe you haven't got to the modulewhere we say don't talk to brokers.
You haven't got, you haven't gotthat far yet because you're saying, I
think both businesses are overvalued.
(14:05):
Do I make an offer on my calculations?
You say you're on module five.
Do all the modules before you doanything else, Sanjay, please do all the
training before you do anything else.
Because first of all, you shouldn't bespeaking to brokers for your first deal.
You, it will just messyou around and so forth.
You are right when you think thatthey're overvalued, that's what
(14:26):
brokers do, and you don't make offers.
You absolutely don't makeoffers to to buy a business.
You don't, you don't do that, butI don't think, I think you're such
an early stage of the program.
You haven't got to that bit yet.
So, Sanjay, do all the trainingfirst and then go back to brilliant.
Well done on taking the action,but get the knowledge first.
(14:47):
Otherwise your action will berunning ahead of you and the
knowledge will be catching up.
Okay.
. Mark says, what about buyingsmall businesses and combining
them into my existing business?
Every single mastermind client who ownsa business is doing exactly that, mark.
Buying other businesses and combiningthem into their existing business and
(15:09):
making their existing business bigger.
100%. And you should be doing the same.
Have a chat with one of my team,uh, at the, on a Clarity call book
in a clarity Call mark and have achat with one of my team about that
because we can help you with that.
Uh, so Phil says , one quickfurther question, if that's okay.
, Let's say I find a business, okay, Ican release the initial consideration
(15:33):
through asset invoice finance andagree to pay the rest over three years.
Remember what I saidthough, that's kind of.
Old hats.
Now, there are far better waysof doing it, just so you know.
How much should I have setaside for all initial fees?
Zero.
Nothing.
(15:53):
It all professional fees arepaid for by the company that you
are buying once you bought it.
Okay, so it doesn't comeout of your pocket at all.
So you don't just set anything aside.
Oh, right.
Sorry.
I should have read therest of the message.
Perhaps the legal fees can be deferred.
No, we're not deferring them.
It is standard practice topay those fees on completion.
(16:17):
Now, if you go and finda lawyer on Google.
They will want money on account, whichmeans basically you have to pay something
in advance because they don't know you.
You are a stranger to them.
They're a stranger to you.
The chances of you finding a goodlawyer on Google from just looking
at websites is very, very slim.
(16:38):
Those of you know, I'm speakingmaybe to uh, to Callum who's
just joined Mastermind on Friday.
What you might not realize is that we'vegot a great deal team, so the deal team
that we have won't want money on account.
Now, you might then think, what if thebusiness that I'm buying can't afford
the legal fees of the acquisition?
Let me tell you the truth about that one.
You're buying the wrong business.
(16:59):
If the business that you are buyingcan't afford its own acquisition
legal fees, then you're buying abusiness that's either too small
or it's not making enough money.
. Neil says Morning.
I'm in real estaterentals and development.
Just work for myself with my wife.
We outsource the building work.
Okay.
(17:20):
Um, I'd like to start buying businesses.
I'd like to get 5 million to 10million EBITDA inside , 18 months
with a management structure.
Alright.
Stop right there, Neil.
It's not gonna happen, which is probablythe opposite of what you wanted me to say.
You are not going to get five to10 million pre-tax profit after 18.
(17:41):
Months.
I'll tell you a more realistictimescale in a moment.
What industries would this work with?
Oh, right, so you are notgonna stick to what you know.
So real estate rentals.
I, I would, I would stick towhat, you know, I was looking at
domiciliary care, not the mostexciting, maybe manufactured right.
Okay.
Oh, so much in this message.
This is brilliant, Neil.
(18:02):
We're not looking for exciting businesses.
We're looking forbusinesses that make money.
And when a business makesmoney, that is exciting.
Do you, do you see what I mean?
Uh, it's, it's not about yippee.
I have this exciting business.
The exciting big bit is when youcheck your bank account and then
Neil goes, uh, maybe manufacturing.
I'm open to ideas.
What's your thoughts?
(18:22):
It is completely unrealistic.
If at this stage you don't know what typeof business you're gonna buy, to say that
you are gonna get to five to 10 million,by the way, 5 million and 10 million.
And we are talking about pre-tax profits.
Neil's talking about pre-tax profit,one number is double the other.
So let's make our mind up here.
Is it this number or is it the onethat's double that number that's there.
(18:44):
It is a big range.
In 18 months, it's not gonna work, Neil.
It's not gonna happen.
Now, can you get to one or 2million EBITDA in 18 months?
Yeah, very likely.
You've gotta think about this.
There's gonna be a learning curveif you are gonna buy in a business
that you have no experience of.
There's the learning curve of thatbusiness, and then there's the learning
curve of learning how to buy a business.
(19:06):
Now, I can hold your handthrough the entire process.
That's what I do with people all the time.
I'll hold your hand, I'll makesure you don't make silly mistakes.
I'll look after you.
Okay I'll make sure you don't sign thewrong piece of paper and lose your house.
And someone who's not on Mastermindhasten to add that happened to them,
I found out about it afterwards.
He sent me a message on, on LinkedInand said, you told me to join
(19:26):
Mastermind when we had a chat.
I didn't listen to you.
I thought I could do it by myself.
This is my current situation.
He lost the family house 'cause hedidn't know what he was doing and
he signed the wrong piece of paper.
And it all went horribly wrong, and bythat time it was too late to help him.
It was too late to save him.
But Neil, realistically, if you don'tknow what sector you want to buy in,
(19:46):
getting to 10 million a pre-tax profitin a year and a half, yes, by the end
of 2026, is just not gonna happen.
Have a chat with one of my people.
Okay?
And we'll help you getclear on what you could do.
So dealmakers.co uk slash clarity if youwanna have a chat with one of my people.
That's the follow up, bythe way, to today's session.
(20:08):
Right.
Loads more to do.
Hi Joanne again as thisis Joanne in Spain.
I was negotiating a deal.
With a company and the main owner slashseller discussed it with his top people.
I was negotiating a deal with acompany and the main owner said,
discussed it with his top people.
Okay.
He had to do this becausethey also owned some shares.
(20:28):
Actually, he probably didn't have to dothat because a shareholder's agreement
would give the majority shareholder,which it sounds like the person you
were talking to, the right to drag.
The other minority shareholders on a deal.
Imagine this.
Imagine this.
You own a business and you own 90% of it.
(20:49):
No, no.
Let's make this an extreme example.
You have a business, you own 99%of it, and one person owns 1%.
One of your top people owns 1%, okay?
And then you decide you wannasell the business, and the sale is
blocked by the person who owns 1%.
That, that would just be ridiculous.
(21:10):
You own 99%, you can't sell yourbusiness because this person earning 1%.
So probably he didn't have to consult,but I'll let that one go for the moment.
As soon as they heard aboutit, they decided it was a
good idea to buy the company.
Hang on.
As soon as they heard about it.
So this is the management, theydecided it was a good idea.
(21:31):
And they wanted to do the deal andconvinced the main owner to sell
his shares to them instead of me.
Okay so basically the owner hada chat with his management team.
His management team, and said,boss, can we buy the business?
And that's what's happening.
My response, Joanne, and takethis in the way that it is
intended is kind of so what?
(21:54):
Who cares?
Move on.
Next one.
Why?
Why?
Why does it matter if we all cast ourminds back to when we were younger and we
were dating, we were dating people, okay?
And you go on a date with someoneand within about an hour you're
thinking, no, this isn't for me.
What happens?
You don't stop.
(22:15):
You just go on a date with someone else,and you're probably not talking about
that one that wasn't for you years later.
I see this sometimes with,with new business buyers.
They talk about the deals that don'thappen rather than the deals that do
happen, and that means that they kind of,I'm not saying this is you, Joanne, but
some people get kind of sucked into thenegativity of the things that didn't work.
(22:37):
Rather than saying, well, who cares?
Move on to the next one.
What you need, Joe, and is deal flow.
You need to be speaking tolots and lots of owners.
The more owners you speak to, thebetter the results that you will get.
Uh,
. Danny also says, and you wouldn'tget a solicitor involved for heads
of terms obviously, will you?
Well, not obviously.
You know, you don't necessarily needto, it depends on the size of the deal.
(22:58):
If it's a larger deal than I wouldhave a solicitor at heads of terms.
Yes.
Um.
Amman says, do you get access to thedeal team and the foundation program?
No.
On our three day foundationprogram, you get what it says you
get on the foundation program.
So no, you, my, my closest contacts areonly available to my closest clients who
are my, my, um, my masterminders . Uh,Reno says, for an asset purchase, can a
(23:21):
newly formed SPV with no existing cashflow 'cause it, it's an empty company.
Obtain financing suchas asset based lending.
, You don't need to because the SPv's not getting the financing.
There you go.
Simple answer.
Um, yes uh, chichi, we've got dealteam people in Canada as well.
(23:43):
Graham says yes.
A I'm You mentioned clarity.
Yeah.
Oh, by the way if you're thinkingabout, working with us in some
respect or you need some help to buya business, then book in a clarity
call with one of the team today thismorning, this afternoon, or tomorrow
morning and or tomorrow afternoon.
And, and have a chat with us.
Okay.
Haj says, should you buy a businessnear you so you can keep an eye on it?
(24:04):
Is it acceptable to buya business far away?
Well, if you've got a choice betweentwo businesses and one is a long way
away and one is close to you, andeverything else is kind of the same,
I would be going for the one closebecause I don't wanna get on an airplane
every time I want to go and say hello.
It just stands to reason.
It's, it's like, it'sconvenience, isn't it?
And I want your life to be convenientand not to be stressful trying to do, you
(24:28):
know, a dozen things at the same time.
Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen, you've been great.
Shall we do this again?
Just send me a quick message.
If you think we should dothis again, . Those of you.
Who wants to take the next stepand do something with us then go
to dealmakers.co uk slash clarity.
Have a no obligationconversation with one of my team.
And we'll give you the options of,uh, what you could be doing next.
Well, thank you very much.
(24:49):
Have a great day, andI will see you again.
Thanks everyone.
Bye for now.
Byebye.
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