📫Direct Mail Franchise making $299k/yr!

Here’s what we have for you today:

Cool Business Idea: 

🚢 Disrupting Cruise Ship Shore Excursions

Confusing Corporate Sayings:

“This is a great opportunity for you to shine”

Professional Translation
“We’re here to help you advance your career and grow as an employee.“

Corporate Pivot Translation
“Nobody else wanted this trainwreck, so now it’s your time to ‘shine.’“

Sam’s Perspective (1st Time Buyer)

🆕 Status Update: This week, I spent some time digging into a few business opportunities that stood out. Here are some highlights and my thoughts:

• Boat Tours Business in Pinellas County: This one checks a lot of boxes. It’s highly rated (TripAdvisor’s 2024 Traveler’s Choice Award and 600+ five-star reviews), operates in a prime location near popular waterfront spots, and has two boats running successful guided tours. My only hesitation? The owner lives out of state and isn’t heavily involved, which makes me wonder about the hands-on work required to keep it running at the same level. Still, it’s a strong contender.

• Mobile Healthcare Service in Vero Beach: A decade-old business with a solid patient base and repeat referrals. The Nurse Practitioner owner wants to stay on post-sale, which could be great for continuity. But it does make me question—if they’re still invested in the day-to-day, why sell? Understanding their reasoning would be key here.

• Medical Clinic and Medspa in Tampa: This one is a personal favorite. It’s turnkey, with an experienced team already in place and over 6,000 client visits in 2023 alone. The year-over-year growth is impressive, and the clinic offers a mix of cosmetic and regenerative services. My main question: Why are the current owners selling? And would they want to stay involved in any capacity?

• Private Money Lending Company: A long-standing hard money lender with $15–$20M in loans on the books. This one’s a future play for Tyler and me if we ever have the capital for it. The seller’s willingness to help with a long-term transition and financing could make it easier to step into, but it’s definitely a big leap.

These businesses each bring unique potential, but as always, the next steps come down to asking the right questions and doing the due diligence. For now, it’s about narrowing the list and figuring out which ones align with the long-term vision.

Tyler’s Perspective (Experienced Buyer)

🚨 Status Update: Happy New Year everyone. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to reflect on this past year. It’s important to recognize the things you did that were helpful and applicable moving forward, as well as the things you did that were not helpful and that you don’t want to do moving forward this year. We’ve talked a lot about systems and creating systems for your lead process and diligence process, and this is the perfect time to tweak or possibly revamp those systems. The beginning of the year typically comes with an extra burst of energy so make sure you take advantage of it. As tedious and monotonous as it may seem, taking the time at the beginning of the year to sure up your processes and goals for the coming year can pay huge dividends. Just keep going.

💰 Deals < $500k 💰

Business Name: Pack & Ship Business
Revenue: $200,485
Asking Price: $259,000
Profit: $97,681 (Profit Margin = 48.7%)
Location: Sarasota County, FL
Established: 2015

✅ Pros:

• Prime location in a busy commercial plaza ensures steady foot traffic.

• Diversified services, including mailbox rentals and printing, offer stable and recurring income streams.

⚠️ Con:

• Growth potential may be constrained without significant investment in online marketing.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Introduce freight shipping and logistics services to attract business clients.

• Develop an e-commerce platform to sell packing supplies and expand digital presence.

💰💰 Deals $500k - $2m 💰💰

Business Name: Direct Mail Franchise
Revenue: $1,100,703
Asking Price: $949,000
Profit: $299,091 (Profit Margin = 27.2%)
Location: Palm Beach County, FL
Established: 2018

✅ Pros:

• High customer renewal rates create dependable cash flow year over year.

• Strong franchise backing provides operational support and a trusted brand reputation.

⚠️ Con:

• Franchise fees and royalties slightly reduce profit margins but come with established support.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Expand digital marketing services to complement traditional direct mail offerings.

• Optimize operations in affluent South Florida territories to capture untapped market segments.

💰💰💰 Deals $2m-$10m 💰💰💰

Business Name: Roadside Maintenance & Pavement Repair
Revenue: $2,939,214
Asking Price: $2,895,000
Profit: $1,344,982 (Profit Margin = 45.8%)
Location: Virginia, US
Established: 1985

✅ Pros:

• Unique niche as the only private operator with specialized ditch-cleaning equipment.

• Long-standing contracts with state and municipal clients provide stable revenue streams.

⚠️ Con:

• Heavy reliance on specialized equipment increases operating costs and requires careful asset management.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Expand into neighboring states to increase market reach and leverage equipment capacity.

• Introduce complementary services like stormwater management consulting to boost revenue.

**If today is your first day reading, go to Chapter Recaps to get up to speed!

The Lean Startup: Ch. 12 Part 4

Welcome to the first time in 2025 the people of The Corporate Pivot get what they have been waiting for! The return (and finale) of The Lean Startup.  We are going to discuss how Entrepreneur is a job title & becoming the status quo. Eric brings up people should be allowed to find the kinds of jobs that suit them best. Entrepreneurship should be considered a viable career path for innovators inside large organizations. But, if that's true you (as the entrepreneur) should be held accountable via the system of innovation accounting and promoted and rewarded accordingly. 

The larger team eventually will be needed to grow it, commercialize it, and scale it. Ideally the sandbox will grow over time and there may be opportunities to enlarge the scope of the sandbox. Working in the innovation sandbox is like developing startup muscles. You should allow the former innovators to become the guardians of the status quo. 

The transition to becoming the status quo is hard for the innovators to accept. Eric brings up the more radical the suggestions he made, the more likely it was that the reasonable compromise would be closer to his true goal. Responding dramatically is unhelpful though. He’s found that every suggestion should be suggested to the same rigorous scientific inquiry that led to the creation of the Lean Startup in the first place. Through this process you will be faced with a very common question: How do we know that “your way” of building a company will work? They are sensible questions, especially when the titans of the industry run a far different organization.

How do we know that the problem is due to a special cause versus a systemic cause? If we’re in the middle of adopting a new way of working, the temptation will always be to blame the new system for the problems that arise. 

“Ultimately, the Lean Startup is a framework, not a blueprint of steps to follow. It is designed to be adapted to the conditions of each specific company. Rather than copy what others have done, techniques such as the Five whys allow you to build something that is perfectly suited to your company.”

Read more at corppivot.com!