The Destination Is More Important Than the Journey


Originating and closing deals is fun, highly rewarding and very exciting.

The journey can be a thrill-inducing roller coaster, but it’s nowhere near as important as the destination – the final result – you are seeking…

Which is to buy, own and profit from a small business oozing cash flow.

I was thinking of this Tuesday night while travelling with my business partner Adam Markley from Miami to Baltimore.

Together with the Dealmaker Wealth Society (the soon-to-be new official name for Ninja Acquisitions) team, Adam and I hosted our fifth Dealmaker Mastermind meetup on Monday, Dec. 2.

Engaged Dealmakers at Conference

Engaged and ready-to-work dealmakers

More than 50 of our top dealmakers attended the event and several were presented with tombstone awards on deals closed in the past few months.

Carl Allen, Richard Tunnah, and Adam Markley Dealmaker Conference

From left: Me, Partner Program member Richard Tunnah and Adam

The next morning, Adam and I had meetings on several deals we are closing before flying home.

For a domestic flight along the East Coast, the journey was more difficult than usual.

We had a connection in Charlotte, North Carolina. At 11 p.m. we began to taxi to the runway on our connecting flight into Baltimore when the captain – an American Airlines veteran – announced…

“Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, the plane has a technical problem. It can’t take off.”

A big problem I would say, wouldn’t you?

The captain continued, “There are three options…”

“One, maintenance is on the way to fix the problem, but my gut feeling is it’s not fixable right now.”

You have to trust the captain’s decades of experience, right?

“Two, as the airport is about to close, the flight may be rescheduled for early tomorrow morning.”

Darn it. Adam and I had a busy day scheduled Wednesday in Baltimore.

“Or three, we use another plane and hope we can get it checked, fuelled and boarded in time.”

The captain rolled the dice on option three and we made it back to Baltimore at 3:30 a.m., about three hours late.

We were tired but we got there. We reached our final destination.

That’s what matters.

While the journey was frustrating (actually, it was darn entertaining at times), all that mattered was that we got home, safely. We achieved our outcome.

When it comes to doing deals, that’s all that matters too.

You find a deal. You agree to terms. You raise the financing.

Maybe the first financier says no. Do you give up? Heck no. Keep going.

Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the incandescent light bulb. But did he really fail? No!

He achieved his outcome. He actually said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 .”

Colonel Sanders was rejected 1,009 times.

Did he quit? Hell no!

Neither should you.

As you zero in on the deal closing, hurdles may present themselves.

Your job is to leap over them. Trust the process and get the result, no matter what.

Adam and I needed to get to Baltimore Tuesday night. We would have driven as a last resort.

We weren’t so concerned about where our journey took us so long as we got to our ultimate destination. The result. The outcome.

When it comes to buying, owning and profiting from a small business, that’s what you need to really care about too.

Until then, bye for now.

Carl Allen

Carl Allen
Editor and co-founder, Dealmaker Wealth Society

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