Anyone do a search while they maintained their full time job?

October 24, 2024

by a searcher from INSEAD in New York, NY, USA

I'm interested to connect with anyone who did/is doing a search while they maintained their full time job. Similarly interested to meet with folks who may have tried that and then shifted to a full time search, or who didn't transact and went back to a full time job. I'm starting to weigh my options and appreciate any insight on the good/bad/challenging!

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Reply by a searcher
from University of Minnesota in Duluth, GA, USA

I'm a part-time searcher while working full-time and raising a 1 and 3 year old. It's definitely very doable, as long as your job has some flexibility. You'll need to be able to meet with brokers/sellers during business hours, and I've spent a few late nights scrolling through BizBuySell and doing reach-outs. But I've been under contract twice (unfortunately both fell through during DD, unrelated to this being part-time) and I haven't felt like that's too much. And personally, I felt like it would be more stressful to have the pressure of quitting my job. As it is, I know that if I don't find something or a deal falls through, I will just keep working my 9-5 until something gets across the finish line.

Reply by a searcher
from University of Virginia in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Thank you for tagging. In my first acquisition, I did not leave my full-time job until the day the deal was funded. While we of course were very transparent in the SBA application and with the seller that I was going to leave my job and go in as a full-time operator, I feel that being employed during the search strengthened my position in financial negotiations. When you are full-time searching, it's everybody's guess how you finance your journey. When you are employed in a lucrative position, everyone tends to assume there is little to worry about your ability to follow through the deal, so I leveraged that.

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