Over the past 12 years, I've been fortunate to see business ownership from almost every perspective: Built a company from zero to more than $40 million in cumulative revenue over 8 years Took that business through the sale process and learned a lot the hard way because nobody taught me anything about M&A - especially not the "Investment Bank" that solicited the sale of my company Went on a search, walked away from multiple deals Completed a self-funded search Acquired and now operate a 45-year-old business We've been documenting and organizing 45 years of proprietary knowledge, processes, and operating systems into a scalable knowledge platform as we've prepared to launch a franchise. Every stage changed how I think about starting, buying, and operating businesses. Some of the biggest lessons had nothing to do with spreadsheets, financial models, or deal structures. They came from actually starting, growing, and being in the weeds day in and day out and seeing what creates a durable business over the long term. I've started putting a lot of those thoughts into articles and resources: they are on tplcsystems.com They're simply things I wish someone had shared with me while I was searching, I had to learn the hard way A few of them include: A 27-point Checklist to evaluate how durable the business you are considering is - and gives it a grade (this is a game changer) redacted Common search pitfalls that I don't think get discussed enough redacted Why many home-service franchises end up fighting expensive paid search wars—and what to look for instead redacted What separates elite home-service businesses from average ones. Industry-specific characteristics I believe are worth considering before buying into certain trades. redacted If you're in the middle of a search—or even already operating a business—I hope at least one of these resources gives you a different way to think about evaluating businesses. If you have anything to add, agree or disagree with any of the lessons, please leave a comment I'd also be interested to hear what lessons or frameworks have had the biggest impact on your own search or operating experience.