The end-to-end mechanics of buying a small business. Sourcing the deal, running the conversation, valuing it honestly, structuring it creatively, funding the down payment, surviving due diligence, closing, and the first 90 days after you own it.
This is not the entry course. The entry course gave you the doctrine and the menu. This course gives you the mechanics — every step, in sequence, taught by someone who has actually done it across 130-plus businesses over four decades.
The doctrine. The menu. The framework to figure out which kind of business is yours.
By Jeff Kemmer. 40+ years. 130+ businesses. JD — does not practice law.
Most people who decide to buy a business have the same problem: they know they want to do it, but they don't know how. They don't know where deals actually come from. They don't know what to say in the first conversation. They don't know how to value a business without becoming an accountant. They don't know how to structure a deal when the seller's number doesn't work. They don't know how to fund a down payment without writing one big check. And they don't know what to do in the first 90 days after they own it.
The Buying Playbook teaches all of it.
Eight modules. Taught in the sequence the work actually happens — from developing the operator's lens through the first 90 days of ownership. Every module is anchored in a real deal Jeff has personally done. Every framework has been tested across real businesses, real sellers, and real closings.
By the end of Module 8, you won't be wondering how people buy businesses. You'll know exactly how it's done.
The entry course is seven video modules — roughly 65 minutes total — that establish a doctrine, open a menu, and give you a framework to figure out which kind of business is the right one for you.
By the end of the course, you'll have a shortlist of two or three paths that fit your capital, your time, your risk tolerance, your operating type, and what you actually like doing all day.
This course was built for one person: the W-2 employee who has thought seriously about owning a business but hasn't pulled the trigger — and isn't sure which direction to pull it in.
You've completed the entry course.
You've done Module 6's self-assessment. Your shortlist includes buying an existing business. This course is the next step — the mechanics the entry course deliberately held back.
You have at least $25,000 in liquid capital.
Not because that's the purchase price of the business you'll buy. Because that's the floor for having real options in a real acquisition process. The Playbook teaches you how to stretch that capital further — but you need to be starting from a real number.
Your operating type is Operator or Deal Maker.
If Module 6 identified you as a Builder or Marketer, buying an existing business may still be your path — but go back to your shortlist first. The Playbook is built for the person whose instincts run toward deals, operations, and systems — not content creation or product development.
You're ready to do the work.
Not someday. Not when conditions are perfect. The Playbook teaches mechanics, not motivation. If you're looking for someone to convince you to act, this isn't that course.
How to look at ordinary businesses and read what's actually going on behind the counter.
Before you can source a deal, you need to see deals. Jeff teaches the operator's lens — a learned habit of looking at a storefront, a service route, or a local business and reading the owner's underlying situation rather than just seeing a business. In Module 1, Jeff walks through building a 40-business list in a single geography and category, driving the entire route in one day, and asking one simple opening question — "How long have you been running this place?" — that identified three sellers ready to move out of the whole list. Also covers the four filters every worthwhile deal needs to pass: the owner is genuinely ready to sell, the business has real cash flow, the business isn't fully dependent on the owner, and the price is reasonable for the category.
Where deals actually come from — and how to work all five channels.
Five real sourcing channels, taught with the mechanics behind each. Direct outreach — building a list and making first contact by walking in, calling, or writing. Brokers — useful for learning early, but structurally incentivized to close deals rather than find good ones. Industry roll-ups — targeting a single category across a geography, illustrated by the pizza shop acquisition where later deals started coming inbound after the first few closed. Distress — a respectful, non-predatory approach to owners facing foreclosure or financial pressure, illustrated with a vet clinic and grooming business saved from bank foreclosure. Network — cultivating accountants, attorneys, bankers, and fellow operators who refer deals over time. The best operators use all five. Module 2 teaches you how.
What to say, what to listen for, and why most deals close weeks or months after this meeting.
The first meeting with a seller is a discovery process, not a pitch. Jeff outlines three things you're trying to learn — why they own the business, what's going on in their life, and whether they want anything to change — and shows you how to learn all three by asking questions and listening for 20 minutes before you say anything substantive. Revisits the almond orchard story from the entry course in full detail, showing the actual questions that preceded the deal. Covers four signals that tell you a seller is genuinely ready to move — tired language, an upcoming life event, the owner losing track of their own numbers, no obvious successor. And explains why most deals don't close in the first conversation — they close through a disciplined, patient follow-up cadence over weeks or months.
How to price a small business without becoming an accountant — and how real deals actually get shaped.
Valuation is a negotiation problem, not a math problem. Jeff introduces Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) and category multiples as the baseline analytical tool — then shows how real deals get shaped around what the seller actually wants. Illustrated with a pizza shop deal structured around the seller's retirement account goal rather than a straight multiple, and a two-magazine acquisition where combining the businesses created more value than the seller's separate asking prices reflected. Also covers asset-based valuation for businesses with real underlying assets, risk-adjusted SDE for businesses with fragile earnings, and a clear framework for when to walk away from a seller's number entirely.
How to fund an acquisition without writing one big check.
The assumption that buying a business requires a large personal cash reserve is wrong. Jeff walks through the real funding structures behind his own acquisitions — borrowing against a business's own inventory (a fertilizer supply company where the inventory itself secured the financing), vendor and equipment financing tied to future output, and a lease-only assumption where a failing software business was acquired for zero purchase price. Also covers SBA loans and seller financing as standard tools. The key insight: most real deals combine two or three funding methods. Module 5 teaches you how to build that stack.
Five deal structures beyond cash-down-plus-note — including the full mechanics of the coffee shop deal.
The core structuring module. Five structures, five real deals. The standard structure. A performance bonus and earn-out for a software business where the seller needed to see what the buyer could do before committing to a price. The Grand Slam — the full mechanics behind the coffee shop deal referenced in the entry course, including the $40K down, the $100K option, and the timing of the option exercise. A build-prove-buy-out partnership structure for sellers who don't trust an unproven buyer, illustrated with an agricultural service business. And a revenue-share licensing arrangement for sellers unwilling to part with an asset outright, illustrated with a dormant product line. Module 6 gives you the decision framework for matching the right structure to the seller's specific reality.
What to check, what to skip, and when a finding means walk — not restructure.
Due diligence is risk discovery, not a checklist. Jeff covers four categories — financial, operational, customer, and legal/compliance — and walks through the e-commerce portfolio deal from the entry course in full detail. The red flags in the bank statements. The platform access that didn't match the seller's claims. The customer reviews that contradicted the testimonials. The moment Jeff decided to walk. Also covers a safety-consulting business where a single due-diligence question changed the deal structure entirely. Closes with a clear framework for what to skip, what never to skip, and how to tell the difference between a finding that kills a deal and one that just reshapes it.
Getting the deal across the line — and what to do once you own it.
The five closing documents: purchase agreement, promissory note, asset transfer documents, employment and non-compete agreements, and closing documents. The typical 30–90 day closing timeline and what happens inside it. Then the bulk of the module — the first 90 days of ownership, organized into three buckets: fix immediately, fix soon, and leave alone. Illustrated with three contrasting examples — the pizza shop roll-up where the lesson was to learn before consolidating, a dormant agricultural sales office restarted by putting customers first and revenue second, and an equity-for-services stake where the priority was delivering visibly while still learning the business. The throughline that closes the entire course: most acquisition failures happen either from not walking away when they should have, or from changing too much too fast after closing.
By the end of the Buying Playbook, you will have:
A sourcing system. Five channels, mapped to their scripts and contact patterns. A framework for building a deal list in any geography and category. A first-contact approach that opens conversations without burning them.
A conversation framework. Three things to learn in every first meeting. Four signals that tell you a seller is ready. A follow-up cadence that closes deals over weeks and months — not just in the room.
A valuation method. SDE and category multiples as your baseline. Asset-based and risk-adjusted approaches for the deals that don't fit the baseline. A walk threshold so you know when the seller's number simply doesn't work.
A funding toolkit. Five methods for structuring the down payment. The stacking principle — how real deals combine two or three methods instead of relying on one. The deal types each method fits.
A deal structure library. Five structures beyond the basic approach. A decision framework for matching structure to seller. The full mechanics of the Grand Slam deal — the one the entry course referenced but didn't fully explain.
A due diligence process. Four categories. What to check in each. What to skip. The walk-versus-restructure decision framework with the trust hinge that makes the call.
A first-90-days plan. Three buckets. Three contrasting examples. The discipline that distinguishes operators who keep what they bought from the ones who undo the deal after closing.
$27. One time. Lifetime access.
That's the entry course. Seven modules. The Path Selector PDF. No subscription. No renewal. No premium tier with extra content behind another paywall.
30-day refund. No questions asked.
If you buy the course and decide within 30 days it isn't for you — for any reason — you get your money back. No hoops. No "tell us why." No waiting period. The refund policy exists because the course earns the right to stand behind itself.
Copyright 2026. Shortcuts to Wealth. All Rights Reserved.