Heyo,

All right at any given point, I have 5 to 10 friends that are in the middle of buying a business. They range from small online deals to large home service companies.

In a few of these instances, some of them are looking at essentially buying a job. And that's okay. They are very clear on what they are looking for and which kind of lifestyle they're trying to develop.

Where this becomes problematic is when people don't realize they are buying a job. They can easily get into a hamster wheel of Entrepreneurship that never ends.

One of the scariest things in entrepreneurship and business ownership is getting 5, 10, or 15 years down the line and you never quite turn the corner. Years ago I found myself in one of those businesses here are a few things I did to get myself out of that situation.

First, I realized that the trajectory I was on was not going to make me happy. It's critical to understand where you are in order to actually go anywhere. If you are in denial of your current situation your only prolonging the inevitable.

Second, I went through all my options which of course included quitting the business or job that I was in. In my case, I had to quit my business which was a candy manufacturing business and brand.

This hard reset forced me to take a few steps back to learn the skills I needed to learn in order to be where I wanted to be 10 years from then. I literally was making $10 an hour as a 30-year-old with my friend's company in order to learn e-commerce.

With that experience, I launched multiple businesses and bought multiple online businesses which led to several exits. My per hour at that one job ended up being higher than any other per hour I've ever made in my life.

Third, as you have your options laid out in front of you be realistic about those options and figure out the quickest path to get to where you want to go.

Fourth, surround yourself with like-minded people. Some are slightly ahead of you and some are significantly further ahead than you.

I can trace back much of my success with those two businesses to the help of two mentors who never knew they were my mentors.

By 2021, Steve had invested in over 25 different search fund deals. That’s a lot. He’s also got an incredibly successful entrepreneurial background with multiple exits.