What are, Cody, some of the most common mistakes people might make when they're buying that small business?

Well, number one mistake, do not make this or you'll never do another deal, is simply this, do not buy an unprofitable business, especially for your first one.

The first thing I see is, my father always said, don't fall in love with something that can't love you back. People do this too often in acquisitions.

They'll get sold the dream of buying a business. So our rule is, you have to have four different categories in order to buy a business.

Has to be profitable. How profitable? Enough to pay you, enough to pay your operators salary, because we want you to work on the business, not in the business, and enough to do debt service on the business, which typically includes some growth capital, the money that allows you to continue to grow the business.

And if you have those few things, you will win in business buying over time.

Uh the second mistake I see a lot of people make is they buy businesses that are uh far away from them. So I like your first business to be close to you. If you have to go check on something in the middle of the night, geography is important.

I like your business to be one in which you own it outright. Be really careful about partners in the beginning unless they are putting money in the table, real investment terms.

And the third thing I see is people buy businesses in industries that they think are sexy, but they don't fully understand them.

So I really want people to have some sector or subject matter expertise, and typically you can find an industry where you can get quick subject matter expertise, like laundromats that's not overly complicated to start with.