Alan's acquisition of a $20m+ business was extremely nerve-wracking, but now he's thriving as a small business owner. The deal almost fell apart multiple times, and an SBA rule change (now fixed) almost derailed it at the last minute. Alan had invested an enormous amount of time and money in the transaction. The thought of all of that going down the drain, especially due to forces outside anyone's control, was enormously stressful, as you can imagine. But Alan persevered. He communicated constantly, sometimes sending multiple updates per day to keep everyone in the loop. He's now a few months into ownership, and things are going well (knock on wood). We caught up last week, and he shared how nice it is to focus on growing the business rather than on the transaction. If you're like Alan (deeply motivated, deeply thoughtful, possessing an almost paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will) and you're searching for a business to buy: 1) We'd love to meet you 2) You're going to make it, one day or another Alan was going to buy a business, and do it well, come hell or high water. It was an honor to be a small part of the journey. (For the full story, check out the episode of Acquiring Minds that just came out) redactedI'd love to share some encouragement (or at least, learnings) with others who are in the search.