Navigating the ETA Journey Together
The journey to buy a business can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. It’s a process filled with uncertainty, endless research, negotiations, high highs, and very low lows. For most folks, it’s a solitary path—a personal quest to find the right opportunity for you. But while each of us may be on our own journey, there’s immense value in walking that path with friends facing similar challenges. Even though we're not in it together as business partners, being able to lean on each other for support makes the journey far less lonely and far more rewarding, with the added benefit of holding each other and ourselves accountable.
1. Shared Understanding of the Struggle
When you’re on the hunt to acquire a business, few people truly understand the complexities you face unless they’re in the same position. Friends navigating their own acquisitions know exactly what it feels like to sift through endless listings, fill out NDAs after NDAs, crunch numbers, and engage in nerve-wracking negotiations. While each of us is on a separate journey, we share the same emotional highs and lows.
Being able to vent about a deal that fell through or celebrate finding a promising lead with someone who gets it makes a big difference. The bond that comes from shared experiences helps ease the weight of the challenges, even when you are not
2. Accountability Without Pressure
When you’re on your own ETA journey, finding the motivation at times can be draining. There are moments of doubt and days when progress feels painfully slow or perhaps even backwards. Having friends on a similar path creates a sense of accountability without the pressure of being business partners. That group thread sharing updates, memes, and updates helps keep the line of communication open for those times when we are uplifting one another. We have also regularly met weekly, which has helped to have that release valve.
What makes this different from a formal partnership is that there’s no obligation to stay in sync. We each have our own timelines and our own criteria for what makes the right acquisition. But knowing someone else is out there, rooting for you and expecting an update, keeps the momentum going.
3. Sharing Lessons Along the Way
The road to ownership is filled with learning curves. From navigating different financing options to understanding due diligence processes, we pick up invaluable lessons along the way. The beauty of being on this journey with friends is that we can share our discoveries and insights as if we are on each of those deals.
One of us might have a breakthrough with securing funding, while another has a strategy for negotiating a better price. By exchanging these hard-earned lessons, we’re not only better equipped to succeed in our individual pursuits, but we’re also enriching each other’s paths without feeling the burden of being in the same deal.
4. Providing Emotional Support in a Lonely Process
The search for a business to buy is often lonely. The deeper you get into the process, the fewer people truly understand what you're going through. It’s easy to feel isolated when you’re buried in spreadsheets, working through legal complexities, or facing rejection after rejection from potential sellers.
We may not be buying a business together, but we can still provide each other with the emotional support needed to push forward and help you get back up, when you get knocked down. Whether it's talking through frustrations, offering words of encouragement, or simply being there to listen, this kind of support can be the difference between giving up and pushing through.
5. Celebrating Wins Without Comparison
One of the great things about being on separate journeys with friends is that there’s no competition—only genuine celebration. When one of us finds the perfect business or closes a deal, it’s an opportunity to celebrate that success together. It is a shared success!
Making It Work: How to Support Each Other
Even though we’re on different paths, here’s how we make the journey less lonely and more supportive:
Regular check-ins: It helps to have scheduled conversations where we catch up on progress, share frustrations, and offer advice.
Honest feedback: We’re comfortable being brutally honest with each other, providing constructive criticism when necessary and being a sounding board for big decisions.
Celebrating every milestone: Whether it’s finding a promising lead, getting through due diligence, or closing a deal, we make time to recognize and celebrate every step forward, no matter how small.
Emotional support: We understand that the process is not just about numbers and business plans—it’s also about managing emotions. Offering encouragement when one of us feels stuck or demotivated is part of the journey.
Final Thoughts
The process of buying a business is often long, complicated, and isolating. But it doesn’t have to be a lonely journey. While each of us is on our own separate path, supporting one another creates a sense of community that can make all the difference. We might not be partners in the same business, but we’re partners in the process—helping, encouraging, and celebrating each step of the way. After all, success is even sweeter when it’s shared with those who understand the struggle.
