I’m finally back in the U.K. for a rather long stint after two weeks in Baltimore, home of Dealmaker Wealth Society.
After catching up with the family and taking Josh to see our mighty Burnley FC beat Leicester City FC 2-1 (Up The Clarets!!!), I spent the week generating more content for our new bolt-on acquisitions program Dealmaker Empire Builder – coming soon!
My son Josh and I at the Burnley vs. Leicester City soccer match.
I’m so excited about the Empire Builder program. It’s going to allow seven-figure business owners to scale like crazy by acquiring three types of businesses…
This will launch sometime this spring, so stay tuned.
Aside from that, I’ve spent most of my time packing boxes.
You see, I just moved to a new house this past weekend and my wife wanted me to get a good head start. (And we have a ton of stuff.)
My wife is very particular with our stuff and didn’t want a packing service to help, so we packed as a family. Even Josh helped (he’s a dealmaker like me – he charged $10 per hour!).
The removal guys just hauled all the boxes for us.
It’s been a complicated move so far. We didn’t have an actual moving date until last week – and then had to move almost immediately.
In the U.K., buying a house is a two-step process…
Once the legal documents have been tied off and the monies are in place, you go through an “exchange of contract” and the completion (closing) date is entered in the contract. It locks everyone into the deal and allows for time to pack, move, change addresses, etc.
It’s been 12 years since I last moved. I forgot how stressful it all is.
We were supposed to move on Jan. 14, then Jan. 28. Finally they settled on Feb. 1.
Why the delay? It’s the chain.
There were four families moving on the same day. Everyone had to be aligned and my buyer was still tying off the legal documents with his buyer.
My wife was freaking out. She hates the uncertainty of it all.
But all we could do is wait it out.
The issue wasn’t with us. It was with our buyer and his buyer. There was nothing we could do.
My wife asked me over the weekend, “Why were you so calm about it all? Why weren’t you freaking out like me?”
Simple. I only focus on things that I control.
I can’t control the weather. I can’t control a presidential election. And I couldn’t control what was happening between my house buyer and his buyer.
If I could have controlled it, influenced it, made some big moves, I would have. But I couldn’t.
In your life, only focus on things you can control.
If you want to lose weight, eat healthy and go exercise. Simple.
If you want to improve a relationship, spend your time and energy on it. Simple.
If you want to leave the corporate world and be the proud owner of a small, profitable business, then go buy one. Simple.
You can control every part of the process. You can create a deal specification. You can originate deals. You can meet sellers, build rapport and request financial statements.
You can model up the valuation and deal structure. You can make offers. You can negotiate a win-win deal.
You can raise financing based on the business assets and cash flows and even pay the seller over time from the business’s profits. You can hire a contingent CPA and lawyer to do due diligence and close the deal for you.
And you can install a general manager to operate the business so you don’t have to.
You can control all those steps in the process.
So go do it and stop worrying or focusing on things you can’t control.
I will see you next week with another “week in the life” installment.
Until then, bye for now.
Carl Allen
Co-founder, Dealmaker Wealth Society
