E174: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Exits—Buy & Sell Businesses to Grow Your Agency with Jeremy Harbour

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Jeremy Harbour is a mergers and acquisitions expert. He started his first company at 14, left school at 15, crashed it by age 19, and has since bought and sold over 100 businesses. He has helped in the acquisition and merger of over 200 businesses, has helped two companies go public, and has done over 40 reverse mergers. He now runs the Harbour Club – a community for entrepreneurs, as well as The Unity Group – a private equity firm.

Episode highlights:

• Why agency owners should consider M&A for their business.
• What kind of business to look for in acquiring.
• How Jeremy went from a million in revenue to 13.5m, and 15 staff to 135… in just 18 months.
• Roll-ups: what they are and how they’re done.
• How to build a deal structure with little to no cash.
• How the conversation changes when people find out that you buy businesses.
• Why you may not want to go through a broker.
• Why some businesses are overvalued in projections—and who wins.
• What happens when the owner is still tied to a business.
• When acquisitions are the right choice.
• How you could valuate your company.
• Best advice ever received: Don’t eat yellow snow.
• Habit that contributes to success: Finding the easiest solution.
• Recommended tools: Resists tools! They’re trying for Slack at his company.
• Recommended book: The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
• Run time: 40:00

Links:

• JeremyHarbour.com
• GoDo.deals for his new book – pre-order for free info!
• Jeremy Harbour facebook
• Insta
• Twitter
• Previous books
• Slack 
• The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre

Quotes:

• “I’d take whatever I could find around the house, take it to school and start selling it to people.”
• “Maybe I should be on the other side of the table.”
• “I went on a rampage buying these businesses.”
• “The wake I left behind me was chaotic.”
• “I created this fantastic income, and this fantastic lifestyle, but no time to actually enjoy that lifestyle.”

Takeaways:

• Take a look at mergers and acquisitions as an option – it may be more available and doable than you think.
• With the right opportunity, the best time to sell a business is NOW.