Ever found yourself pondering the true worth of a business? Peter Harrison, the brain behind Tampa Business Brokers, joins us in a compelling narrative that unravels the mysteries of business valuations with a spotlight on restaurants and bars. From his firsthand experience with an undervalued sale of his own wireless store to guiding others through understanding their enterprise's real value, Peter's journey is as educational as it is inspiring. Our engaging chat reveals how aspects like gross sales, rent, and liquor licenses can sway a restaurant's market value, and why a successful Sarasota eatery run by a power couple is setting the benchmark for business profitability and transparency.
Navigating the world of business sales can be as intricate as composing a symphony, and in our episode, the harmonies of strategy and challenge come to life. Peter and I explore the savory and service-based sectors, dissecting how franchises stack up against starting fresh and why home service businesses are catching the eyes of savvy buyers. The chorus of our conversation emphasizes the allure of recurring revenue through maintenance agreements, making it music to the ears of potential entrepreneurs and investors. Our dialogue serves up a main course of actionable advice, whether you're looking to acquire a bustling bistro or cash in on your startup's success.
Balancing the scales between personal life and the high-stakes game of business brokerage, Peter shares his philosophy on cultivating relationships with teachable clients and parallels the deep emotional investment of selling businesses to real estate transactions. We peel back the curtain on the precision and dedication needed to craft high-quality confidential business reviews and the agility of boutique firms in responding to client needs. Wrapping up, Peter imparts his wisdom on the art of managing expectations and the impact of genuine client reviews on successful brokerage outcomes. So tune in and let this episode be the guidepost to your next business venture or the sale of your cherished company.
Pete Harrison is a professional business intermediary specializing in business brokerage. After years of experience buying and selling his own businesses, Pete became prompted to help sellers attain fair market prices, as well as help buyers, make more satisfying business purchases. His firm has been successfully implementing and executing proven sales processes, as well as assisting with appraisals, negotiations and the marketing needs of small business owners since 2003.
Pete offers business brokerage services that span over 40 different industries, including Food & beverage manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, publishing, medical facilities, educational facilities, sports & recreational entities, marketing firms, construction and more.
Additionally, Pete specializes in new and used franchise re-sales.
Ever found yourself pondering the true worth of a business? Peter Harrison, the brain behind Tampa Business Brokers, joins us in a compelling narrative that unravels the mysteries of business valuations with a spotlight on restaurants and bars. From his firsthand experience with an undervalued sale of his own wireless store to guiding others through understanding their enterprise's real value, Peter's journey is as educational as it is inspiring. Our engaging chat reveals how aspects like gross sales, rent, and liquor licenses can sway a restaurant's market value, and why a successful Sarasota eatery run by a power couple is setting the benchmark for business profitability and transparency.
Navigating the world of business sales can be as intricate as composing a symphony, and in our episode, the harmonies of strategy and challenge come to life. Peter and I explore the savory and service-based sectors, dissecting how franchises stack up against starting fresh and why home service businesses are catching the eyes of savvy buyers. The chorus of our conversation emphasizes the allure of recurring revenue through maintenance agreements, making it music to the ears of potential entrepreneurs and investors. Our dialogue serves up a main course of actionable advice, whether you're looking to acquire a bustling bistro or cash in on your startup's success.
Balancing the scales between personal life and the high-stakes game of business brokerage, Peter shares his philosophy on cultivating relationships with teachable clients and parallels the deep emotional investment of selling businesses to real estate transactions. We peel back the curtain on the precision and dedication needed to craft high-quality confidential business reviews and the agility of boutique firms in responding to client needs. Wrapping up, Peter imparts his wisdom on the art of managing expectations and the impact of genuine client reviews on successful brokerage outcomes. So tune in and let this episode be the guidepost to your next business venture or the sale of your cherished company.
Pete Harrison is a professional business intermediary specializing in business brokerage. After years of experience buying and selling his own businesses, Pete became prompted to help sellers attain fair market prices, as well as help buyers, make more satisfying business purchases. His firm has been successfully implementing and executing proven sales processes, as well as assisting with appraisals, negotiations and the marketing needs of small business owners since 2003.
Pete offers business brokerage services that span over 40 different industries, including Food & beverage manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, publishing, medical facilities, educational facilities, sports & recreational entities, marketing firms, construction and more.
Additionally, Pete specializes in new and used franchise re-sales.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:
Welcome out there. This is episode number 157 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, mike Sedita. Today we are joined by Peter Harrison. He is with Tampa Business Brokers and he is the lead broker at the firm Pete. How are you doing today?
Speaker 3:
Good Thanks for asking. Appreciate you having me on today, Mike.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for being on the Good Neighbor podcast. We love to talk to people that are embedded in the business community. The Good Neighbor podcast, if you're not aware, was started in 2020 during COVID, as a way for business owners to really get their message out to the community and still remain socially distant. Because we're doing this via our podcast platform and over the last four years, the Good Neighbor podcast has grown into a national brand. We have Good Neighbor podcasts from Miami to Denver and Philadelphia and everywhere in between, and I'm lucky enough to be the guy here in Tampa that gets to talk to business owners like you. So, with that being said, tell me a little bit about Tampa Business Brokers.
Speaker 3:
Well, first off, it's tampabusinessbrokercom, Broker singular. You're just a singular broker, singular broker. Yeah, but we can get it all done. We focus on businesses anywhere doing revenue from $400,000 to $20 million, so we can certainly handle pretty much any size business.
Speaker 2:
I think you threw me because I asked where are you guys located?
Speaker 3:
Well, we have a couple of different offices. Our main location is located in New Tampa on Amberley Drive, but my office is wherever I'm at or wherever this phone's at, because we do everything electronically and with apps these days, like most people do. So my office is anywhere where the client is at.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you how long are you a lifelong Tampa resident?
Speaker 3:
I've been doing this for 23 years. I am originally from New York and we've been doing this since 2003.
Speaker 2:
2003. So tell me a little bit about your background. You're originally from New York. What part of New York? Westchester County, okay. So you navigated the Tappan Zee Bridge quite a bit to fight the sunshine slowdown in the morning. I've done that quite a few times, or taken the Metro North to get up there, that's right, and you've been doing this since 2003. How do you get into this? What is the path that gets you into being a business broker? Were you a guy that owned businesses and just said hey, I know a way to do this.
Speaker 3:
I did. I owned a chain of wireless stores here in Tampa Bay area. We were simply cellular and our internet presence with cellulardealscom started in 1998. So I had a lot of internet experience and a lot of retail experience. I had a lot of internet experience and a lot of retail experience and then when we put our company for sale in 2001, I had interviewed a whole bunch of business brokers. I didn't like any of them and then it took me about a year to sell it myself and I wanted to help other people value their business after that, because I was taken advantage of, because I didn't understand basic valuation. We were bought out by a hedge fund and we were taken advantage of in because we didn't understand the dynamics and valuation, and so I wanted to learn how to do this, to help other people with valuation so they don't undersell what they have and so they know their value when they meet.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you this from the from interviewing the business brokers was it strictly not understand or not being aware of, like, what vertical I'm in and what my X earnings is, that I should be getting versus what they were offering? Did you feel low balled?
Speaker 3:
I would say with the business brokers. It was more presentation and personalities didn't seem like a good fit. They weren't meeting the needs of of the seller, which was me at the time, so I did it myself. But, you know, learned a valuable mistake and that's how we've been doing this for 21 years successfully doing this for 21 years successfully.
Speaker 2:
And what would you say in 20 plus years of doing this, is the biggest thing. When, like when you're talking to people and they come in like I mean, a big one is. A lot of times it's like like a borrower restaurant, right, like I own a borrower restaurant, I want to get out. I don't own the building, I just own the business is the biggest misconception you run into where they think, hey, it's worth five X of my earnings, or like they just they miss value I have no idea.
Speaker 3:
So restaurants have a 90 percent failure rate. Most of them fail within the first year. Yeah, same with bars, and everybody wants to own one. So they're the lowest hanging fruit as far as selling a business. But most of the time they're losing money is the reality and their asset sales. So if they're not showing a profit on their tax returns which most of them are not a real profit because they're taking the cash or they're living directly through the restaurant and paying all their bills we sell it simply as an asset sale. We can help people get out of these all day long, but they have to understand that they're most likely never going to get the money that they put investing into that or building that, and that's a hard nut and a lot of people end up going out of business because they think it's worth more than it is or emotionally they can't separate and we deal with that. But we show them the reality. We'd show them how, what they go for and how long it's going to take. And either they're on board or they're not.
Speaker 2:
And do you think in your experience in 20 plus years, do you think part of that is everybody not everybody, but a lot of people who go into the restaurant business are like a guy who has a corporate job and has money saved and always wanted to open the local pub and be Sam Malone from Cheers and decided they were going to do this. They get in over their head and their ego just gets in the way and they don't really know how to actually operate a food and beverage type industry.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's great, and I wrote that word down right before you said it which is really important, which is the word ego, and that's, you know, a lot of these sellers. They can't get past that, that ego, and you have to humble yourself unless you just want to lose everything. Most people don't want to work that hard for restaurants. You have to love it, love it, love it Same with bars or whatever job it is and want to be there all the time Owning a business and never, never, showing up buying something that doesn't exist. If that did, I would have won every single one. Yeah, absentee business doesn't really work.
Speaker 2:
I think people think I'm gonna buy a bar, I'm gonna go sit at the end of the bar watch my team run it and it's just gonna churn money, and then they realize all my nights and weekends are now out the window. I'm living basically in this spot Because I grew up my brother was a chef. He worked in the restaurant business not owning a place but working in restaurants and I just saw the lifestyle. It is a hard food and beverage is a hard lifestyle to live.
Speaker 3:
You have to love it. You have to love it and if you don't, it's definitely the wrong business, because the hours are relentless and you have to love it. And if you don't, it's definitely the wrong business, because the hours are relentless and you have to love customer service. You have to always want to approve them on your product, on your offerings, and you know there's a lot of really successful restaurant people. But you've got to put in the time and the effort and really want to do it. No manager is going to do what a seller is not going to do or owner is not willing to do. So you got to keep that in mind. You want to be hands-on owner operator in those businesses.
Speaker 2:
The crazy thing about that too is someone also thinks hey, say, you're in a successful restaurateur, I build successful restaurant A, and a lot of times people think it's like a franchise where, hey, I just pick it up and cut and paste it somewhere else. But what people I don't think realize like local people that are just like independent sole proprietor type shops is that the local restaurant chain has vetted and has a team of people that are researching locations and checking where things are going and getting in the property at the right price and doing what they do. It's tough to just pick up and take a second place and make it just like the first place because the area is different, the traffic might be different, like there's so many variables that go into making something successful and that's why 90% of them fail in the first year. Do you find the hardest thing?
Speaker 2:
I mean it's got to be difficult when you're going into a room with someone who's got an ego they were the bar owner and you're sitting there literally with a calculator going okay, your bar taps are worth $2,000. Your facility, you know your silverware is worth another thousand. Like you're literally doing an inventory calculation and then you give them a number and if they don't own the building, I mean, then they probably have a lease that they still have to pay off and it's basically paying off the inventory to to pay the remainder of the lease, is it? Is it like, uh, it's gotta be watching somebody get humbled that way? It's got to be tough to do that, or is it something you?
Speaker 3:
just kind of go in and do Great question. You know there's so many restaurants that have sold, so really it's a matter of what's your gross sales, what's your rent. Okay, if those are all out of whack, then it's an asset sale and it's basically, you know, worth the value of the assets, not the build-out necessarily. But right, restaurants without good numbers, you know, without a liquor license 50 to 100 grand you know once at a time so we're talking that's the, that's the.
Speaker 2:
I mean they're low hanging fruit. I understand what you're saying. They're low hanging fruit because there's so many of them, but that's the tough one, that's the 90% failure rate. You're probably selling the same restaurant In 20 years. You could have probably sold the same restaurant 15 or 16 times.
Speaker 3:
Four times in one year on a bar in downtown Tampa.
Speaker 2:
Man Four times. All right, so give me the other end of the spectrum, other end of the spectrum. What's a business right now that you maybe have in inventory or you're working on, that you can tell the listeners who are hearing this. This is what's out there and this is something that you would like to see somebody get into, because it is something that has legs.
Speaker 3:
I'm not going to give all the details, but I have a very successful restaurant in Sarasota. Sales are around a million. It's a husband-wife team and they're doing everything correctly. And that one you know probably going to list between 800,000 and 900,000. But it's a restaurant that's profitable, that's successful, five-star reviews, everything is on the table as far as, like you know, they're not hiding any numbers. There's no cash component. What you see is the real numbers. So those are much, much easier to sell than somebody like a pizza joint. They're stealing all the cash. Yeah, so that's a good one. You know it's not up on our website yet. Everything is confidential and all buyers obviously have to sign a non disclosure. But that that's a good one. And you know it yields a working owner operator and his wife over $400,000. And it's priced. You know about two times earnings.
Speaker 2:
And what about another industry right now? What's like, do you do a lot of? I mean, are you? I would think a franchise is tough just because the franchisee is beholden to the franchisor.
Speaker 3:
In some, way we're doing a franchise right now. I'm not going to say what it is, but it's in a mall and obviously you've got franchise fees, you've got transfer fees, you have marketing fees, then you have your leases. So there's more fees but there's more control because it's a franchise. But they're hard to sell. On a resale they're even harder. Usually the first person pays the most because they usually do the build-out, have to pay the initial franchise fee. If you're going to do a franchise, a resale is a better way to go. But if you've got any kind of business knowledge and experience, start from scratch. Start from scratch all day. I mean, you don't you know, learn how to go work in a, in a, in an industry, or a food that you want to learn how to make. If you want to learn how to make the best cookies, or or or or pizza, go work in the industry. Make sure you love it and then and then take it from. There is my advice Go work in it for a little bit.
Speaker 2:
Go ahead. What other industries are hot right now? I mean, are there, you know? Is home service like?
Speaker 1:
businesses. What else are?
Speaker 2:
you looking to sell right now?
Speaker 3:
type of business Home service anytime you can get in that home with AC, with electric, with plumbing, roofing, any of those bundled service. If you're a landscaper and you also do pressure washing and you also clean pools or you can add these things. So any of these service based companies for sure are popular and people, people like them a lot are uh popular and people, people like them a lot.
Speaker 3:
uh, the main thing, with the service is you need to be licensed. Uh right, or you know you need a gc license and things like that. So that's, that's, that's the only uh issue do you, do you work with any?
Speaker 2:
and I'm just thinking of some people that I know that are looking um like do you have any? Like water treatment type companies like mom and pop?
Speaker 3:
water companies and we are working on some now as well. They're not currently on the market but, yes, those are good Because once again they're in the home. We've got a water treatment in our house and they're, you know, every few months they're coming out adding salt, making profit on that right, replacing the filters every six months. They're coming out adding salt, making profit on that Right, replacing the filters every six months. So those are good. Any type of thing where it's going to need that service and water filters are a solid business. We like selling those.
Speaker 2:
It's funny. There's a couple of AC companies. There are a couple of big AC companies in Tampa. I'm not giving anybody any free plugs, but there is an umbrella company that has been over the past I don't know year or two buying some of these AC companies to bring them all underneath one group and this isn't a there's not a plug for anybody specifically, but the neighborly group of companies. They have a ton of arms underneath there. And then there's another company that's buying a lot of these water filtration companies that are going out and treating the water and doing all those services. Because the nice thing about that stuff is it's not just a one and done, it's a replace the unit. And then, hey, we're in here every month to do service or maintenance or whatever we're doing, maintenance agreements are key.
Speaker 3:
You sell a customer maintenance agreement and then you know you're back there no matter what and you're billing that card every six months for that maintenance agreement.
Speaker 2:
So we talked a lot about you, know how you got here and you know what you're doing day to day with some of the businesses and the pros and the cons and some of the pitfalls when you're not looking and evaluating businesses for their earnings. What do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:
I'm a musician, so I'm a horn player and I travel and I play in all over with with an entertainment agency and they book us gigs and that's my passion is music.
Speaker 2:
So you're, you're a brass guy. What instrument Trumpet player Are you doing? Stuff like Jazz Fest is coming up in New Orleans, do you do stuff that big?
Speaker 3:
I do jazz festivals. I just did the St Pete Jazz Festival last month with singer Alexis Cole. That was last month part of the St Pete Jazz Festival.
Speaker 2:
Are you playing with the same squad, like are you going out there with the same group of guys, or is it just you show up? Here's the set list, here's the music and we go a little of both.
Speaker 3:
Sometimes it's the same guys, some of the guys are the same. Uh, the set list is always a work in progress, but yeah, all the above and the set list always changes. But yeah, we, we do all that. That's, that's my passion and, uh, it's what we love to do. Is, uh, music? You know when we can do it, but uh, I love this too.
Speaker 2:
So so let me ask you this question from your musician standpoint. If you were a guitar player, I would ask you how many guitars do you have? If you were a guitar player, I would ask you how many guitars do you have. If you were a golfer, I'd ask you how many sets of clubs do you have? Do you have different trumpets? I mean, I know there's different. You know accompaniments that you can use when you're. I'll show you. If you see my oh, look at that.
Speaker 2:
So those are all things you're playing and using when you're doing shows.
Speaker 3:
Mostly those are just stuff for display, but oh yeah, my other ones are you know in cases and stuff, but so, but how many?
Speaker 2:
like, if you go to a show to play, how many are you bringing with you? I usually bring in one or two, one or two, all right. So, uh, and the one or two one, do they have different sounds?
Speaker 3:
yep, uh, one of them's, uh a flugelhorn which looks a little different, and the other is just my normal everyday horn that I like to play on gigs.
Speaker 2:
So well, listen, I'll tell you for me. In in elementary school I took the trumpet only because my brother took the trumpet. He was older than me and it was kind of a hand-me-down trumpet, right. And I, you know, I was probably like eight and I think the only thing I thought was funny was using the spit button to spit out my saliva, that's how good of a musician I was.
Speaker 2:
That was about all I could come up with. That's got to be really cool. So you've been doing that your whole life, yep, since 1979. Since 1979, back when you were a single guy Yep, I was 10. Oh, okay, so you were definitely single when you were a single guy. Yeah, I was 10. Oh, okay, so you were definitely single when you were 10. So, all right, so we're not that far apart in age, we're pretty close in age. So was there a time when you were a young single musician on the road?
Speaker 3:
Never really did on the road.
Speaker 2:
thank God All right, because there could have been a whole bunch of stories.
Speaker 3:
Not really on the road like that, but I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah, I mean no, I've never had to like live in a van or anything like that.
Speaker 2:
That's all right. Well, okay, so listen, it's something you get enjoyment out of. So, besides the trumpet, I mean, what part of Tampa do you live? Are you living in that same Amberley area?
Speaker 3:
We're in the North Tampa area, Carolwood area now.
Speaker 2:
Okay, all right, nice, very nice. So, but are you? You're not a beach guy Like people in Tampa? If they're beach people, they try to be over in that Pinellas area.
Speaker 3:
I'm not a beach guy. Do you have a gig over there?
Speaker 2:
No, not really. I used to like out to Jones Beach. Did you drive, did you?
Speaker 3:
head out Toe Bay Beach for residents of Oyster Bay.
Speaker 2:
Very nice.
Speaker 3:
Very nice.
Speaker 2:
So one of the things I like to ask entrepreneurs is because it's a good example for other entrepreneurs has there been a time in your life in your business, career, personal life however, you want to shape this answer where you were hit with the setback, where you're just kind of like you know what it may have been, when you were selling your business and things didn't work the way you wanted to and you kind of circled the wagons. But what would be that time where you were going through something? Life threw you lemons and you turned them into lemonade and you got through it.
Speaker 3:
Well, in 2006, I blanked, I sold zero, which hadn't happened. Then I had to get a regular job for a few months, which was hell.
Speaker 2:
I had to work for tech data for three months, right, uh, I hated every minute of it and you were still doing things on the side and when something hit you were like here's my paper, but trying to and but that was just that killed me.
Speaker 3:
but I was able to get over that and, um, you know, just get better at what I do. I learned stuff on every single deal. We've done hundreds and hundreds of deals and I learned something every, every time I go in. So it's always a work in progress. It's not easy, but I love it. I don't mind working whenever answer the phone whenever I've just got. I've just gotten to hone my skills with sellers, with buyers, and I'm at a point where I only choose people I want to work with and I say no to a lot of stuff. That's the key knowing who your clients should be or who they shouldn't be. I want to work with people that are easy to work with. That I like, and I want the same, and you know, I want people that are good sellers and good buyers, like anything.
Speaker 2:
Well, yeah, I mean, listen, there is a whole component to the for being an entrepreneur. The work-life balance is kind of muddy, the lines are kind of muddy right, so like you're kind of doing your thing, but choosing to be and work around people that you enjoy their company or enjoy their presence in your sphere makes life much more enjoyable. I always use the term addition by subtraction and I've had I've run into it with clients where I would bring somebody on and within the first you know week I could just tell this person was just going to be difficult, everything was going to be an issue. It was easier to cut bait in week two than actually get the revenue that this client was going to generate, because you know what Life is too short Life's too short.
Speaker 3:
I know we learned that and I have no problem. We're blessed that we're in a position that we can say no to as much stuff as I don't want to do because it's not the right fit. And if I know it's not the right fit, I'm not going to be able to sell it because they're not listening to me. The most important thing is a seller or a buyer is to be teachable. Most people are not teachable. Most people think they know everything. Now, I definitely don't know near everything and I realize each day how little I know.
Speaker 3:
But I understand my industry. I know the dynamics. I know valuation. I know how this whole process works. It's not rocket science. I can see 50 steps ahead, but most of these people are so emotionally wrapped up in oh, I spent 200 grand building this place out. If I don't get it back, you know I'm not going to go with you or whatever it is. They have to be listening to reality and if they don't, I say go throw it up there yourself. Here's the list, here's where to put it and go ahead, list it yourself. You deal with it.
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean there are some parallels between buying and selling businesses to being like a real estate agent, because there is a lot of emotion when someone's selling their house.
Speaker 2:
They don't want to give it up. Similar with the business, there's a lot more bells and whistles that go along with your side of it. My question to you, though, is is the goal going in, like, all right, you come and meet with me and I start to tell you about my business? Do you have in your head or do you keep like a checklist of like a Q and a that you go through with somebody so you could do the evaluation where you get to say like and say we jive, say like the connection is cool, we know we could work together, and you're going through the list, do you look at it and go, hey, look, even though this guy's cool and I want to work with them, this is going to be a hard sell. Do you have the ability to do that when you're going in? And the second part of that question is is the goal at that point for you to get to say to me hey, mike, I need to be the exclusive listing agent on your business. Is that how that works?
Speaker 3:
Well, I wouldn't even take a listing. That's not exclusive. Okay, thousands of dollars to market, not including my time, so I got no interest unless I'm exclusive. Now I'm happy to co-broke with another broker from my network. I'm happy to do that. But yes, I need exclusive. I need to have control, complete control, otherwise you don't need me.
Speaker 2:
And then I mean I know there's. You know I've talked to other business brokers in the past. I mean there's sites out there where there's the listings and when you get a new business in that you're going to sell a new restaurant that's going under, that you want to help get rid of it, you have the exclusive. You list it up on this site and then every other business broker or entrepreneur or guy who wants to be a rock restaurateur can go to that site and come to you and say you know, hey, pete, tell me about this business you're selling. Give me the look under the hood?
Speaker 3:
sure so? So that's a great question. Everything today is automated. One of the biggest sites is bizbuysellcom and everything's automated. So when the leads come in, they go right into our CRM, an electronic NDA is sent to their cell phone. They can sign it with their phone. Yeah, it's all automated. As long as they answer the questions correctly and they're qualified. It's a small business and they sign the NDA. They show me the proof of funds, they show me their photo ID or upload their photo ID to the portal. I'll send them what we call a CBR, which is the confidential business review. It could be anywhere from 10 to 50 pages. It'll have the sales, the demographics, the description, everything in it the location. It's a complete package. So that's what sellers really like about us and I think that's what makes us special is the quality of our presentations. That's what we do and that's a huge help. You know that's what we do and that's a huge help.
Speaker 2:
I mean, that is that's. That was going to be my next question. You already, you already knocked it out. There was, you know, getting that verification of funds. I would think, besides the NDA, everybody's got to sign the NDA. We got to know you're not going to run this all over the place, but the verification of funds has got to be a big one because so many tire kickers right Like people that want to tire kickers 99%.
Speaker 3:
You know you got to talk to 100 people to get one. Yeah, how it is. But if they don't jump through the hoops in the beginning with the things I asked for, I'll never be able to work with them. So that's one of the reasons why we make them sign an NDA proof of funds, photo ID. You got to jump through those three. You've got to be vested, you've got to invest Before I even talk to you. And then if I talk to you and you don't seem like somebody that would be the right fit for me or the seller, we're not going any further. Yeah, that's it. So a lot of the stuff just ends. You know people click on something that they're interested but they never do the rest of the things. Or they'll do some of the rest of the things but not the rest, and there won't be our buyer. But that's okay. It's a weeding process, right, and I don't need to sell a hundred businesses a year. I'm happy to do 30.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, well, and that was actually my next question, so you're setting them up and knocking them down here is you know? You said you got shut out in what 07 or 08? 06, I think 06.
Speaker 3:
I don't remember what it was. I mean, it was whatever it was, and I just couldn't sell anything that year yeah well, the market was coming to a crescendo that was about to burst, and shortly thereafter.
Speaker 2:
So what do you need, like I mean on average. You said 30 deals a year. 30 deals a year seems like a lot, I mean yeah.
Speaker 3:
I've been a top producer, you know, since we've been in here, most people, you know they're lucky if they do 10, but it depends on the size. Some of our deals are a couple million, some of them may be a couple hundred grand. So those smaller little restaurant deals or smaller deals, you can knock those out in a month, right. Your deals in the millions they take a year, sometimes two years, and sometimes they don't even sell so let me ask you, you sort of, you sort of touched on this, I'm sorry, go ahead no, I mean, I'm just.
Speaker 3:
I'm just saying you know, so you have, you know, some smaller stuff and some larger stuff. You always want to have that smaller stuff as well to pay the bills. Then those larger ones will pay the big bills. We want to be able to help everybody Small businesses because that's what we're known for, that's our bread and butter. I don't want small businesses to say, oh, I'm too small for him, because we've helped hundreds and hundreds of them, but we like it all.
Speaker 2:
I think people, especially small business owners, want to come to somebody because, look, if I'm an HVAC guy, I know HVAC, I don't know how to properly evaluate my X level of income earnings. That's going to evaluate my business. I'm coming to you specifically for that. And a little hand-holding I'm assuming there's a little bit of psychiatry that goes into what you do A lot of emotion that you're doing.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, tons of that. There's always therapy. Managing the deal, it's people, right? So it's not just numbers and money. These are people's lives. There's employees. There's a lot at stake, right? So you have to be cognizant of all that and how to handle all that. You have to know how to handle the transition with the employees and you have to you know manage all aspects of the deal landlord issues, deposit issues, other attorneys can be in the way, accountants can get in the way.
Speaker 2:
Attorneys are always in the way, pete, always in the way. So let me ask you this as we wrap this up if there's one thing, if I'm a business owner I'm listening to this and hearing you talk about your success and the things you do what's the one thing that's going to separate Tampa Business Broker from the couple dozen other, or more business brokers out there? What is the one thing you want people to take away?
Speaker 3:
Well, I would say you know, read the reviews online. They're real. I don't have 100 family members working in the business or anything.
Speaker 2:
You don't have a networking group that promotes you, to tell everybody how great you are.
Speaker 3:
No, I don't do any of those we don't need to. I'm blessed that my phone rings off the hook all day and I'm saying no to lots of things. It's nice to be in a position like that, but it took a long time. But what separates us is we're a small boutique firm. I answer my phone all the time. It rings boom.
Speaker 3:
That's real estate in general and business in general. You got to answer your phone. If you don't show up, if you don't respond to emails, we're quick. And if I can't answer the phone, I do text. I'm busy or there's different software so you can schedule calls with me and things like that.
Speaker 3:
But to be available to be able to answer that question, to answer that phone at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night you know the seller's freaking out or something like that, or the buyer's freaking out on a deal You've got to be there, You've got to answer your phone and we can make decisions. You know we're a small company. We can make decisions right here. If somebody says, hey, can we do this on this or maybe change this agreement here, or hey, I'm working with this buyer already, Would you mind excluding him from the agreement or give me a reduced rate if you work with him, Because I've been talking to him for two years. You know we're flexible. We're flexible on certain things and I think that's really important, but we're not pushovers and we're not going to be taken advantage of. We're not the cheapest, we're not the most expensive, but the proof is in the pudding. How many deals have you done? What are you closing today? And you're only as good as your last deal, and my last deal was on 4-2.
Speaker 2:
And today's 4-23.
Speaker 3:
Oh, it's been three weeks, man. We got two closing next month, but these deals go at their own pace. They don't go as fast as I want them to go, it's not a straight line?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it's not. Things go up and down. When you've got franchises and landlords, we're at their mercy, right? So every deal is subject to. You know, if there's a franchise subject to franchise or approval or landlord contingency, there's always some certain contingencies that need to be met and those may be on beyond our control. There also must be, maybe, an SBA. It has to be SBA approved. So there's a lot of things that have to go right, but we want to manage the deal, manage the deal flow and manage the expectations and try to do the best we can on every deal.
Speaker 2:
So so, folks, if you're listening to this and you know you've been in this family business, if it's dry cleaners, a bar and restaurant, you know local HVAC company and you're saying to yourself, look, I'm ready for my golden parachute HVAC company. And you're saying to yourself, look, I'm ready for my golden parachute, you need to contact Pete Harrison, tampa Business Broker. Tampabusinessbrokercom. 813-469-7957. Pete, thank you so much for being a good neighbor. What's that?
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much for having me and inviting me to be with you guys. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2:
Oh, we appreciate it and listen. I have a feeling you and I are going to talk offline about some things that are going on. I think we could actually have a good partnership here with some of the clients I work with and and possibly some of the folks you're representing. So stick around for part two of this podcast to be determined. Pete, thank you so much. You have a great day. Thank you, mike.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast PASCO. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppascocom. That's gnppascocom, or call 813-922-3610.