Buy, Don't Build: How I Acquire Businesses for Growth

With James Sinclair

By the end, you know where your next business is coming from, what you'll offer for it, and how the seller gets paid out of the business's own cash flow.

A 14-page workbook, and nine video lessons that help you put it to work. Where I find businesses to buy, how I negotiate, how I pay for them with as little of my own money as possible, and what I do in the first 100 days.

£199Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £199

You're buying the 14-page workbook. The 9 video lessons come free with it.

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Why I'd rather buy than build

Organic growth takes time. When you buy a company you usually get a management team, a customer database and customers trading straight away. Buying companies is one of the ways I've exponentially grown our business.

The best ones come to you first. Owners lose the energy, effort and enthusiasm, or the children want nothing to do with it, and plenty of them would rather not put the business on the open market. They ask their suppliers, or someone in the trade they trust. You want to be that person, in a one-horse race, not bidding against everyone else.

Then it's the negotiation and the money. I start at zero, get the seller to name their number first, and use vendor finance wherever I can, so the seller is paid over time out of the business's own cash flow and my cash goes into making it better. If there's no vendor finance in it at all, walk away.

This course is how I do all three, with four of my own deals taken apart on the flip chart: Rossi Ice Cream, Marsh Farm, Lee Valley Farm Park and a play centre I got for free. The workbook turns it into paperwork you can use: the approach letter, a negotiation prep sheet, a deal worksheet and the 25 things to do in the first 100 days.

Business buying deals are like buses. There's always another one coming along.

From lesson 5: the Rossi deal on the flip chart

From the lessons

Now, remember I had no money, but I had the idea and I had the desire and the hunger to get it over the line.

Lesson 6, How I Took Over Marsh Farm

What's in the workbook

Fourteen pages: a toolkit you'll reuse on every deal, then a section for each part of the course.

The five-name list: five businesses you already know that would fold into yours, who you know there, and the signs the owner wants out.Page 2
The approach letter: fill in the blanks, handwrite the envelope, sign it in ink, and log every letter you send.Page 3
The negotiation prep sheet: your desired outcome, where you walk away, your opening position, their number, what the seller actually needs, and packages A to D.Page 4
The deal structure worksheet: paid on day one, paid over time, debts you take on, the security the seller asks for, with a worked day nursery example filled in.Page 5
The first 100 days: all 25 actions as a checklist, with the ones that need advice first marked.Pages 6 and 7
My investing rules: ten yes-or-no checks to run on any business before you put time or money in.Page 8
Where the deals come from: ten sources, from your own trade body to insolvency practitioners, and your three moves this month.Page 10
The art of negotiation: my rules in the order I give them, from "start at zero" to "get it in writing".Page 11
Four real deals: Rossi, Marsh Farm, Lee Valley and the play centre: what the seller needed and how I paid.Pages 12 and 13
After you buy: the 25 actions in order: day one, the first month, the first 100 days, and your day-one list.Page 14

Plus a page to test your strongest target against my rules, and space to note, deal by deal, what the seller needed and how I paid.

Workbook page: The approach letter — The approach letter

Workbook page: Negotiation prep sheet — Negotiation prep sheet

Workbook page: Deal structure worksheet — Deal structure worksheet

Workbook page: The first 100 days — The first 100 days

Workbook page: My investing rules — My investing rules

Workbook page: Four real deals — Four real deals

Six of the fourteen pages, as they print.

The nine lessons

Four of these are my own deals, taken apart on the flip chart. Watch a lesson, then do that section of the workbook.

01
Buying Companies
Why I buy instead of build: zero money down where I can, vendor finance, and why it has to fold into what you already run.
02
What Makes a Great Business to Invest In
My investing rules: scale, capital, margin, residual income, regulation, and love, want and need.
03
Where the Deals Come From
Your trade body, suppliers, insolvency practitioners, landlords, listing sites and the handwritten letter.
04
The Art of Negotiation
Start at zero, get their number first, be ready to walk away, and get every promise in writing.
05
How I Bought Rossi Ice Cream
A loss-making brand: £100,000 down, £650,000 over four years interest free, and what the sellers actually needed.
06
How I Took Over Marsh Farm
A council farm park losing money. I had no money, so I took over its problems and its pension costs.
07
How I Got Lee Valley Farm Park
About 60 acres with a zoo licence, closed for about two years, taken on a 100-year lease by tender with very little money down.
08
How I Got a Play Centre for Free
Found on Rightmove Commercial, the rent brought down, and a day nursery planned under the same roof.
09
25 Things to Do in the First 100 Days
The bank account, the locks, the domains, the landlord: my 25 actions after buying a business in trouble.

Use these on Monday, before you've watched a video

Most of this needs no homework. These come straight out of the workbook, ready to use, so you can start on your first deal this week.

The five-name list

Five businesses you already know that would fold into yours: how they fold in, who you know there, and the signs the owner wants out. Most of my best deals came because people in my sector knew I buy businesses.

Write it before lunch

The approach letter

Fill in the blanks, print it on your own letterhead, handwrite the envelope and sign it in ink. A letter in the post is still my top tip for buying companies.

Send the first one this week

The deal alerts

Set up email alerts on the commercial property and business-for-sale sites, then give them 10 to 15 minutes a day. I go through them every day.

Set them up tonight

The negotiation prep sheet

Desired outcome, walk-away point, opening position, their number, what they actually need, packages A to D. Fill it in before you sit down with any seller.

Use it at your next meeting

The deal structure worksheet

My worked example is filled in: £1m asked, £750,000 offered, £200,000 on day one, £550,000 over five years. Put your target's numbers next to it.

Run your target through it

The day-one checks

Whose name your domains are registered in, who has keys and passwords, and a seed email in your customer database so you'll know if it walks. Worth doing in the business you already own.

Check your own today

By the end, you'll be able to say

Six things you'll be able to say and mean once you've done the workbook and the lessons.

I know five businesses that would fold into mine, and their owners know I'm a buyer.
I've sent the letter.
I know what I'll offer before I walk in, and where I'll walk away.
I can lay out a deal where the seller is paid over time from the business.
I know which of the four deals mine looks most like.
I have a day-one list, with a name next to every job.

What happened when they put it to work

From reviews of my books and podcast, and from owners who've worked with me. This course is new, so none of these are reviews of it yet.

...it's only when I discovered James Sinclair it dawned on me how little actual business experience most of them have. ... James teaches business and marketing from the position of someone who runs multiple real life, bricks & mortar businesses

Andrew J. GardnerReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

James showed me what was possible - we were around £400,000 per annum and he just made me push to the next level and we're now turning over £1,000,000!

Carmel JaneOwner, Carmel Jane Photography

I was on the podcast a few years ago, when I was only making £20k per year. I went away and implemented some of the knowledge James shared. Since then, I've done £100k, £80k and £100k. Thank you.

David GottThe Lovely Car Company. Podcast guest

A great read for any business owner, I have taken a lot of great ideas from this book. I have used the rules of your business on page 43 within my company already and it has made a big difference.

Darren TaylorReviewing The Millionaire Clown

In the process of growing my start up I think about what James would say. Sales before operations, E+M=S, you want a business with margin, a business with scale, high barrier to entry, the 4 company philosophy, invest 50% of profits into slow pounds etc etc.

Josh WoodeReviewing the Business Broadcast podcast

James speaks from a place of passion and experience. He's built a fast-growth, profitable bricks-and-mortar business and a dynamic team culture. His talks are fast paced, funny, irreverent and packed with value.

Daniel PriestleyEntrepreneur and best-selling author

What you get

The 14-page workbook: the approach letter, the negotiation prep sheet, the deal structure worksheet and the 100-day checklist
Nine video lessons that help you put the workbook to work: why I buy, what I buy, where the deals come from, how I negotiate, four of my own deals taken apart, and the first 100 days
Watch on any device, print the workbook

14 days to change your mind

If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

James Sinclair teaching a room of business owners

Who's teaching this

You're getting me

I run over 40 businesses: a £55m group of companies, over 3,000 staff and one million customers a year.

Every lesson is me, on camera. I'm teaching what I actually do in my own businesses, with the real numbers and the real mistakes.

The frameworks are mine. Start at zero, get their number first, the handwritten letter and the 25 actions for the first 100 days. They're how I buy businesses for my own group.

I started with a clown suit and a party business. Everything in here is what I learned getting from there to a group I don't have to manage.

Who it's for

You already run a business, and you'd rather bolt on one that's trading than build the next one from scratch.
You know a few owners in your trade who've lost the energy, effort and enthusiasm, and you want to know what to say to them.
A seller wants a number you haven't got up front, and you want ways to pay it over time.

Questions

How do I watch it?

On any device, as soon as your login arrives by email. The workbook is a PDF you print.

How long do I have?

Pay once, keep it. The workbook and the nine lessons stay yours for good.

Is this the Business Masterclass?

No. This is nine lessons you watch at home. The Masterclass is two days in the room at Ashridge House, 19 and 20 January 2027. Every course points there in the end.

Is this legal advice?

No. Buying a business means contracts, leases, staff and debts, so get your own solicitor and accountant on it before you sign anything. The first 100 days lesson carries a not-legal-advice note on screen, and the workbook marks the steps that need advice first.

What if it's not for me?

You have 14 days. If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt email within 14 days of buying and you get the full price back. Your access switches off when the refund goes through.

Buy the next one

A 14-page workbook with the letter, the prep sheet, the deal worksheet and the 100-day checklist, and nine lessons that put it to work, with four of my own deals taken apart.

£199Pay once, keep it

Buy now, £199

You're buying the 14-page workbook. The 9 video lessons come free with it.

Secure card checkout. Your login follows by email. 14 days to change your mind.

Buy, Don't Build: How I Acquire Businesses for Growth

Why I'd rather buy than build

What's in the workbook

The nine lessons

Buying Companies

What Makes a Great Business to Invest In

Where the Deals Come From

The Art of Negotiation

How I Bought Rossi Ice Cream

How I Took Over Marsh Farm

How I Got Lee Valley Farm Park

How I Got a Play Centre for Free

25 Things to Do in the First 100 Days