• Welcome to the search. You've probably heard some big media personalities talk about the silver tsunami.
• It goes something like this: more owners are retiring than there are buyers. Too much supply, not enough demand. Now is the time to go find a business to buy.
• AI is taking all the jobs, so this is where you need to be.
• And businesses can be bought at a 3x multiple, which is a 33% unlevered return you can't get anywhere else.

• It's a great narrative. It's what drew me to the search in the first place.
• This course is going to help you separate the marketing narrative from what can actually get done in the real world.
• You don't want to buy the first business you see because of a story. That's a decision you and your family live with.
• You need to educate yourself. This is meant to be that first bit of education.

• First of all, the silver tsunami is real. Plenty of businesses will shut down as their owners retire.
• But a lot of those businesses can't actually be bought, because the owner is the business. Their name and credibility hold it up, or more often they're wearing three or four hats.
• You can't hire someone, or several people, to replace them and still be profitable as a company.
• Here's the part people miss. Whatever is left after you replace the owner has to cover two things: your own earnings, and the loan payments. If it can't do both, there is no deal.
• That, or you get up to speed really fast and learn to work 80 hours a week. It's not a great position to be in.

Illustrative. Loan payments assume a $900K price (3x), 10% down, and a 10-year loan at 10.5%.

• That being said, there are still a lot of great deals out there at the right multiple. Businesses that truly are scalable and good.
• The whole idea is you need to kiss a lot of frogs. You need to go out and evaluate a number of deals before you find the one you want to buy.
• That gives you training and reps, so you can spot a great deal when you see it.

• That means you need a system, because you're going to be looking at a lot of CIMs and reaching out to a lot of brokers.
• That's why I built Searcher OS: so it can help you move at a faster pace.
• And get to your destination, which is buying that business.

• This course is for self-funded searchers: people buying a business with their own cash plus an SBA or conventional loan. If you're raising a fund, most of this still applies.
• Here's the road. Eight stages, from getting ready to closing. The middle six are the same stages you'll see in your Searcher OS pipeline.
• Seven short units. Each one sits on the part of the road it helps with.
• So take this course, get yourself up to speed, and good luck with the search.