The Things You Cannot Change…

In this episode, I finally sit down face-to-face with the owners of the used bookstore I’ve been trying to buy. I walk in hopeful-I walk out disillusioned. The owner tries to convince me I can turn the business around—even though it’s in the red—but the “levers” he suggests are either already in place or too small to matter.

Privately, I talk through the real levers: pricing, store flow, organization, systems, layout, customer experience… all the opportunities they’re missing. But even with all those fixes, the price tag still doesn’t make sense.

After a lot of deliberation, I finally name what I’m really paying for: the customer base and the reputation. Not the business as it stands. And that realization pushes me toward making a low-ball offer and biding my time.

(As always, bleeps in this episode are intentional—to protect confidential business information.)

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