Closing...

First, I am super excited to announce that I have successfully closed on a wonderful small business. Out of respect for the employees who don’t yet know, which is explained below, I am not announcing the name of this wonderful company.

The process of getting to the closing table was quite trying. First Bank of the Lake demanded many things, and the seller’s attorney made it hard to get the Asset Purchase Agreement, lease, and seller note into an acceptable form. Not that I can blame the Bank as they are risking 25% of a multimillion dollar loan, but the process was not at all smooth. Refilling out forms was a Ground Hog day scenario, and coming up with last minute additional things needed was lots of fun.

To provide an example, at 5:30 pm on the day before closing, they sent my attorney the instructions for wiring the injection funds to the bank’s attorney. Closing was set for 11 am, and of course at 5:30 pm my bank was closed. Being that my bank is over an hour and 20 minutes from my house and closing was an hour from the bank, I had to show up at my bank shortly after they opened and request a transfer, and then rush to closing. I was only a few minutes late to closing, but of course even though I submitted the request for wiring the funds, all they could guarantee was that it would happen that day. This process made the distribution of funds not go through until after 10 pm that night.

Another great example, was while in route to the bank mentioned above, I got an email from the closer at First Bank of the Lake requesting additional documents. This was absurd, and I had no way to provide said documents either in route or once I got to the closing table. So, I took the position that I would provide those after closing was done, and ignored them for the time being.

Closing was a strange affair, with an almost surreal feel. I signed so much paper, that I am unsure of what I actually signed. Some of the important documents I had seen before, but so there were so many documents that I just had to keep signing. My attorney had four large stacks of paper to go through. Two of which were for both the seller and I, and the other two were for me alone.

We went thought the first two stacks and then let the seller, his attorney, and business broker go, while I stayed and kept signing. It took about two and a half hours.

The seller and I decided not to tell the employees right before the holiday weekend so that they would not have to worry over a long weekend about the change, so are instead telling them on Tuesday. So while I own the company, it still doesn’t quite feel like it. I keep thinking I am going to wake up from this dream and be stuck in my old job, with a boss that fake cares about me and lies constantly.

On the way home from closing, I get a call from my Attorney, and apparently I filled out some documents incorrectly. Therefore, the first thing I got to do when I got home, was not to go out and celebrate with my family, but instead print, sign, and scan more forms.

Acquiring a business, even one from an honest seller at a fair price, is not for the faint of heart. The process was quite stressful and infuriating at times, but I currently still think it was the best path for myself. I am super excited to get into the day to day and begin figuring out how I not only sustain the business, but grow it.

Without my family, it would not have been possible to even begin this process, much less see it to fruition. My wife was a constant sounding board, and provided me with much-needed calming, humor, and righteous indignation when applicable. My eldest son, stayed engaged with the process and was constantly asking me questions and helping me to think through the answers. While my youngest gave me the leeway to work on the process near constantly over the past five and half months. My younger sister was also immeasurably helpful, as I constantly pinged her with ideas and questions. Thank you.

Also thank you all, many of you have reached out and corrected my mistakes, provided sage insights, and/or just words of encouragement. I plan to continue this newsletter, as I have several things that I have not gotten to yet, and would like to share with you all. It is likely that this newsletter will shift as I run this wonderful company to be more of a small business operational newsletter. One of my potential growth strategies is however to grow through acquisition, so who knows what the future holds.