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An Unedited Buyer's Perspective

Todd and Amy Nelson of Diamond Laundry Service

 Have you ever thought of buying your own business?  I never had.  I was happy in my safe little box working for someone else and never thought another thing of it.  My husband on the other hand, he thought about it often.  When his job became a little less stable, the time seemed right to him.  Suddenly I was receiving e-mails from him telling me to “take a look at these”.  I was scared to death.  I was thinking “No, we can’t do this.  We don’t anything about owning a business!”  I humored him by going with him to The Firm Business Brokerage to discuss possibilities.  A daycare center or a commercial laundry were two of the options presented.  A laundry didn’t seem that interesting, but a daycare seemed like too much liability.  They were both established businesses and the prices were similar.  Maybe the laundry wasn’t such a bad choice.

Next, we found ourselves meeting with one of the owners of Diamond Laundry Service.  Jaye McCoy came across as a very decent, honest woman who knew her business and was very upfront with any and all information about Diamond Laundry’s history including financial history.  So far, so good I guess.  Next up is looking into financial backing.  We wanted to use our own bank.  The Broker was up for that, but also recommended a couple of institutions that she had dealt with in the past that were small business friendly.  Ok, I guess.  Let’s see what happens.  We then met with Nathan Christ from Access Bank maybe a week later.  We talked about ourselves and why we wanted to own a business.  He talked about his bank and what they considered to be our best assets.  Financials are always tricky. 

In the end, we got the funding we needed to purchase Diamond Laundry Service.  Enter fear!  We started second guessing ourselves and started second guessing the business.  Ring, ring, ring.  Hello Cortney, we are out! 

Another meeting with Cortney, and ok, we are calmed down now and we are back in.  I think we were back out and back in at least one more time, before we finally reached the comfort zone and were convinced we were doing the right thing.  March 7, 2014, we signed all the papers at Access Bank.  What an exciting day!  We are now business owners.  The best part is, we are not left to our own devices.  Bernie and Jaye McCoy worked with us for a full three months teaching us the ins and outs of Diamond Laundry Service. 

Fast forward to now.  We have owned Diamond Laundry Service for 10 months now.  We have come into our own.  At least I should say my husband has.  Todd runs the day to day operations of the business.  I still work my in the box, safe and secure job, but now there is so much more out there.  It is a big learning curve, but so worth the rewards.  Every thought of owning your own business?  Maybe you should.

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The Firm makes no warranties or representation in consideration to the information provided above. All communication regarding this business must occur directly with The Firm Advisors, LLC. The Firm is not a real estate brokerage and does not sell real estate. The Firm solely advises on exit strategy.