As I have gradually grown my sign rental business, I have been eyeing my main competitor locally. Even with my bias removed, my signs still look fresher and brighter. When I saw his business listed on Craig’s List at 4 times more than I would have paid, I mentally wished him luck and mentally moved along.
But, with my curiosity piqued, I did have to check back-in a couple of times. As the listing still came up on Craig’s List, I felt compelled to at least send him an email. The email exchange was cordial. He wanted more than I would give, so we agreed to stay in touch.
As his business got slower and his resolve got weaker, we started talking again. He hinted at coming into my price range. I kept pretty reserved. I playing the “lower” game as he gave me the price range he was in. After a little work, I agreed to raise my “bottom” price if a couple of things were included that previously were not offered.
The only thing left was the “visit” to the office/warehouse. It wasn’t pretty, but it did what he needed it to do. The big negative for him is he is outside of town with a 1/2+ drive to get to his customers. (The pictures below are of the inside of his warehouse.) When I left his shop, we shook on the agreement. There was much to be worked out, but we agreed to the framework.
The visit took place on a Tuesday. By the end of the week, we had a list of what would be included at certain points in the transition. As we entered the second week after our “agreement”, a couple of things happened:
- In certain cities you need to have a contractor’s license to pull sign permits. The present owner did not want to bother with the expense of paying for another license. So, trying to be flexible, I did it under my account. It did get approved, but it took a few days.
- While I visited his warehouse, someone came to look at fixing the garage door. And, last week when I was prepared to go forward with the purchase, the garage door was still broken. So, while I now see this as a good thing, it certainly did drag things out a while longer…
- My 1/2 of my present shop has its monthly bill paid off by a debt owed me. The person paying the debt was also prepared to allow me to use part of their back yard to store the signs I would be purchasing as part of the business. When I inquired as to what the cost would be with this, I received a “we will work it out”. Not that we wouldn’t have worked it out, but I wanted to decide if the cost was fair before his yard was full rather than after I had no choice.
- I was sleeping very restlessly the past weekend. I didn’t like it, and I knew something was bothering me. I tried to pin it on a few things. The only thing it would stick to was the upcoming financial outlay. (AKA buying the sign rental business)
Before I went to bed the night before we would have gone forward, I sent an email to the present owner. I let him know I was having second thought. I let him know I still wanted to buy a few signs (20-30). I was still chewing on the idea of going forward with the original deal. (I realize I am probably putting myself in the best possible light here. I did not ask for the original deal minus a few thousand dollars. I asked for a new deal with a shuffling of items included thus voiding the existing deal.)
His two responses were more concise then my original email:
“No I would not consider that.”
and
“So after coming down to my shop, shaking my hand and telling me “I wanna move forward with it” and I pull my for sale ads down, you are having second thoughts and wanna back out the week we are supposed to start?”
Do I feel badly he was banking on me going through with it? Yes, I do. Do I think he was being a little hypocritical? Yes, I do. When the “handshake” took place, I believe he was also taking a responsibility for maintaining his business at a minimum level. Meaning, since sign rental businesses are judged by the number of signs out on rental, a drop of 25% in rentals could be perceived as a “fail”.
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As I reread this and prepare to post, I have not had any moments of regret. My “guy” who would have been doing all of the signs for me has been continuing to work his other job. He has got my sign-related projects done. (In some cases at a barely acceptable pace.) I do not see how I would have been able to perform all of the necessary tasks to keep the existing sign customers happy and find new ones. I believe I avoided a very large rabbit hole I would have thrown even more money down beyond the original purchase.
Moral: IF you shake on it and feel badly, the deal isn’t done until it is done. It is better to walk away rather than let your conscious torment you for many months or years to come. (If it would have worked out, this moral would be null and void. But, the present path will never allow that to happen.)
