Wall Street has one rule: Never start what you can buy. Here’s everything you need to know about buying a biz in 2025: While 90% of startups fail, 80% of acquisitions survive the first year. 88% of people worth $30M+ have done at lease one acquisition. That means the best way to get rich isn’t to start a business like they love to tell us. The best way to wealth with the highest degree of certainty is through acquisitions. Right now, the average small business owner in the US is 67 years old. When you’ve run a business for 10+ years, you're bound to be exhausted. These owners are motivated to sell by what I call the 7 D's: • Departure • Divorce • Disease • Disagreement • Distress • Death • Dullness They’re desperate to exit the game but don't know how. Most people think they need millions in capital to buy a businesses. But they don't realize 60% of all business sales involve seller financing. Instead of going to a bank for a loan, the seller becomes your bank. You put some money down, and they get paid over time from the business profits. There are 3 reasons why a seller would agree to this: 1. Cash Let’s say the bank offered the seller $750,000 for their biz but you offered the seller $1.15 million paid over time. They’ll make an extra $400,000 by being the bank. 2. Taxes Lump sum payments hit the seller with massive tax bills. Installment payments spread over 10 years means lower tax brackets and potentially hundreds of thousands saved. 3. Speed Bank loans take 3-9 months to close. Seller financing can close in 2-3 weeks. Now which businesses to target? Ones under $10 million in revenue with at least 15% profit margins. Blue-collar service businesses fit this bill - HVAC, landscaping, cleaning services. They're cash-flowing, recession-resistant, and boring enough that private equity ignores them. BUT, before searching anywhere, create what I call a deal box. Define exactly: • How much cash flow you need annually • Maximum purchase price • Geographic preferences • Industry focus • Must-haves and can't-stands If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it. Next up, how to find businesses to buy? 1. Venmo Challenge Pull your payment history and filter out friends and big companies. What's left are small businesses you already pay - cleaning services, handymen, landscapers. 2. Personal P&L Review. Open your credit card statements and look at small businesses you spend with. These are owners you can reach out to. 3. The 9-5 Strategy: One of our community members bought her coworker's $1.5M business with full seller financing after he decided to retire to go skiing with his wife. ↓ ↓ ↓ As a thank you for sticking around to the end, I want you give my "Deal Clarity Workbook." It helps you figure out what business is right for you. Grab it here: https://lnkd.in/enPdVi_D