This month, 10 years ago, I officially became a franchise owner buying two Midas shops
I’d worked in my dad and uncle’s shops for six years before this, so the operations side I had down.
Hiring techs, ordering parts, dealing with customers, running the day-to-day.
None of it scared me.
But I’d never done an acquisition.
You can read every M&A book on the shelf but nothing compares to actually doing it.
The biggest shock came 7 days before closing.
I was gonna owe an additional $45,000 between prepaid taxes and rent. I scrambled to get a short-term loan to cover it.
Luckily, the business was heading into the best months of the year, so I was able to quickly pay it back
A few days after closing, I sat down and typed out a document called “first deal mistakes.”
Every line item I missed, every assumption I got wrong, and every point I should have pushed back.
Here’s the doc:
14 months after this first deal, I bought my 3rd shop.
You can bet I didn’t make any of these mistakes again!
Looking back, I’m very grateful I wrote this document and didn’t attempt to just remember all this stuff
I still do this today. I write down what I’m thinking, challenges I’m going through, and opportunities I see.
I’m detailed and brutally honest. No point in fluffing it up.
Your future self will thank you
Cheers!
Brian
P.S. Today I coach business owners on how to copy my growth strategy. I’ll help you skip the biggest mistakes I made. 8 spots open this month. Click here to apply if you’re serious.
