🧐What I Learned Last Week
Week ending Friday November 11, 2022
What I Learned Last Week curates the most interesting content relating to business acquisitions, operations, entrepreneurship, finance, and more. WILLW is a publication of The Business Inquirer.
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Hello Friends!
This issue of What I Learned Last Week is brought to you by Scott Oldford.
Scott Oldford is one of the top online business mentors and advisors and he also owns dozens of businesses that collectively generate tens of millions of dollars a year in multiple niches, countries (and even languages), across the world.
In his new "Investing with Scott" newsletter, he gives you a behind-the-scenes look into acquiring, building, and scaling businesses based on his experience of helping 100's of Entrepreneurs scale past 7 & 8 figures.
As an Entrepreneur since he was 7 and by 16 having a million dollar business while ending up a million in debt and now by 31, becoming a decamilionaire, he has a massive amount of insight, understanding, knowledge, and wisdom for scaling and building businesses.
You can check it out right here, perfect for Entrepreneurs and Investors alike.
📰 Articles
Permanent Equity published a great article outlining the challenges of hiring a service provider for your SMB.
In the beginning, a business is a small team just getting work done and proving themselves to the market. Sell, execute, repeat. But pretty quickly, you start to have needs, from the mundane (like tax prep) to business drivers (like advertising). There are thousands of service vendors ready to “solve your small business problems,” and most of them are awful.
MISTAKING RED FLAGS FOR RED CARPETS: THE TROUBLE WITH SERVICES FOR SMALLER BUSINESSES
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HeyCounsel published a checklist for onboarding a startup advisor. I think the same concepts could apply to a board member, a mentor, an SMB advisor, and more.
Advisors come in all forms and functions. An advisor can be a friend you call on to be a sounding board, a family member who lifts your spirit when you are down, or a co-worker or friend from a past job or career. Advisors can also be strangers who are industry experts or thought leaders who, in your dream scenario, would be employees of your company. With that being said, not all advisors become equity advisors. This checklist is specifically designed to help you determine what to do when you decide you’d like to bring on equity advisors to level-up your company.
The Short Startup Advisor Onboarding Checklist
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David LaMore of Maverick newsletter writes about the importance of finding your personal competitive advantage when pursuing a search. I liken this to finding PMF. You have to find an acquisition target that’s right for you.
But I’d like to present a different perspective on competition in the search fund ecosystem and how it can help us find the right business for us. We can do just that by focusing on our core competencies and genuinely understanding ourselves. Once we know those competencies, we must march forward and apply them to our search in an authentic way that will then resonate with business owners. The combination of deep introspection and listening to owners’ needs will lead you down the path to success – that’s certainly something I am betting on in my search.
Finding your competitive advantage
🧵 Twitter
Build the right processes into your accounting function…
Glad to see someone say this in public when others are only talking about this in private…
Some great cautionary tales and the importance of due diligence…
This is the reality of how acquisitions happen…
Not enough of these negative outcomes are being highlighted. Here’s the link to the interview https://t.co/eU0ccl0VvB…
A good reminder…
🤔 Thoughts, Events, Other
Year-End Tax Webinar
Armanino will be hosting a free webinar on November 29th to discuss year-end tax strategies for SMBs and business owners.
Tuesday November 29, 2022, 10 am PT/1 pm ET
Learning Objectives:
Discover year-end strategies for privately held businesses
Discuss state and local tax changes, as well as year-end strategies
Evaluate the current M&A landscape
Year-End Tax Strategies for Privately Held Businesses and Their Owners
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MicroConf
The 2023 MicroConf has been scheduled for April 16-18 2023 in Denver, CO. MicroConf is the premier conference for bootstrapped SaaS startups that are aiming to build, launch, and grow their business.
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Zelle
I am not a big user of Zelle but it appears that freelancers and SMB owners are migrating to the payment method due to its exemption from IRS reporting rules.
The news: Some gig workers and small business owners are reportedly using Zelle to dodge a tax rule that requires Cash App, PayPal, and Venmo to report users’ business payments that exceed $600 in a calendar year to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and provide these users with a 1099-K tax form, per Bloomberg.
Key context: A Zelle spokesperson told Bloomberg that Zelle payments are not subject to the rule because it’s a network that doesn’t hold any funds. The spokesperson noted that small businesses use Zelle because it’s attached to their bank accounts, which simplifies money management. They declined to comment on other reasons why some might use Zelle over other services.
Some small businesses see Zelle as a tax haven from the government’s updated tax rule
🛠 Tools & Resources
I want to share some tools & resources that I have found helpful. Please note that some of these may contain affiliate links. This means that I may receive compensation if you sign-up and use them.
Cerebro Capital - Cerebro has a network of 1,500+ lenders who can provide debt financing for your acquisition, refi, etc. $500k minimum.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing. They do the outreach and send you relevant, actionable deals directly into your inbox.
Curators - Proprietary deal sourcing. You need targets that fit your investment criteria, and Curators delivers week after week - we even update your personalized database on a daily basis with new information on best-fit targets.
BizNexus - Proprietary deal flow, deal aggregator, and exit prep. Local Boston company and I consider the founder (Adam Ray) a friend.
PrivSource - Deal aggregator for lower and middle-market listings.
The Website Flip - a newsletter that sends content sites for sale to your email inbox. They send deals each Wednesday and Friday.
Kumo - Find every deal in one complete platform. Spend less time sourcing deals and more time closing them. Kumo aggregates 180K+ business listings into one easy-to-use platform.
ProjectionHub - Access to 50+ CPA-developed financial projection templates. 25% discount using code “duedilio” at checkout.
Logology - Best automated logo & brand identity tool I’ve come across.
DeepBench - Access a cutting-edge expert network. $200 discount.
OpenPhone - The best VoIP phone solution that I have found. I use this for DueDilio. You get a $20 credit if you sign-up.
Eloquens - Knowledge marketplace. I’ve purchased a few templates from them.
Deal Flow Scout - Peer-to-peer deal flow exchange. Free, open, transparent.
Deal Sourcing Guide - A directory I put together of online marketplaces, brokers, DFY deal flow, and more.
That’s all for this issue of What I Learned Last Week!
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Important Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided for informational & educational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. This newsletter may link to other websites and certain information contained herein has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, it has not been independently verified. The Business Inquirer makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. References to any companies, securities, listings, investments, or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any business, tax, or investment decisions. Content in this newsletter speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.