What Happens After You Get the Keys

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"I've definitely had moments when I've wondered what I got myself into!"

Closing day gets all the attention.

And it makes sense, it’s exciting! The signed APA, the photo with the seller in front of the sign, we all go crazy in slack, and you finally OWN THE THING!

Then Monday shows up and a dryer eats someone's quarters.

Or you find out your bookkeeper's idea of a system turns out to be a shoebox filled with last-year’s hand-written receipts.

And that's the part that decides whether you bought a business or a job. The owners who succeed keep learning once the deal is done, because acquisition is really just the first step of the journey.

Here’s how 2 of our members are making huge strides as owners, post-acquisition. This is our version of Where Are They Now, minus the child-star drama.

You might remember Erin Blake.

She taught elementary school for 15 years, beat cancer, and decided to become an owner.

After almost a year of searching, she finally closed on a laundromat in April of this year. She just posted an update in the Academy, and we nearly fell out of our chairs.

TLDR: her revenue is up 42% in the 6 months since she took over.

(Quick legal disclaimer: earnings are self-reported, and results are not typical*)

Here's how she described her first months as an owner:

"I've been fixing washers and dryers, troubleshooting payment systems, raising prices, growing my wash-dry-fold business, introducing pickup and delivery, figuring out bookkeeping, and getting to know the homeless population on a first name basis!"

As you can see, there’s no secret playbook or flashy marketing campaign behind her success. Just hard work applying the business basics.

Pickup and delivery is the one “new” idea, and for a laundromat it's an obvious add-on. Those services can often account for between 15%-40% of a laundromat’s revenue, but only if you’re already doing the other things well.

Every fix on that list is exactly what we preach inside The Contrarian Academy and The Contrarian Boardroom. We help owners find the biggest growth levers they can pull, and have them focus on one at a time before they move on. These things aren’t sexy, but so many people overlook the small things trying to run before they can walk.

Erin just kept stacking fixes, month after month. And the results speak for themselves.

Here's our favorite line from her post:

"The biggest win isn't just the revenue growth. It's realizing that I actually know how to run and grow a business that I never would have dreamed of owning."

The lesson: Most of your first year is small fixes. Get the broken stuff working, raise prices on anything that's underpriced, and push the services your customers already use.

Back in February, we featured Tania Cyrlin. She spent 25 years in W-2 life before she bought and built Clark's Hawaii Tours on the Big Island. #dreamjob

And look, tours are a great business… right up until a cruise ship changes its itinerary.

When ships cancel, reroute, or hit the off-season, "that income disappears overnight." So Tania went looking for revenue that runs on her own schedule.

She found it in a piece of local history.

The original Kona Trolley logged 144,000+ rides before the county folded it into the bus system. Then local business owners started asking for it back, so Tania decided to step in and take over.

Kona Trolley is a brand-new business under her existing company.

It's a shopping shuttle that loops through Historic Kailua Village every hour, Monday through Friday. Rider passes and local sponsors fund it, and Kona Brewing Co., Kona Commons and the Kailua Village Business Improvement District signed on as founding sponsors.

It’s everything we tell our members to look for: existing customer base with consistent revenue. And it was a perfect second business for Tania.

"Same operating know-how, completely different business model."

She already knew how to run vehicles, drivers and schedules. And now those skills earn from locals 5 days a week, whether a ship shows up or not. After months of sponsor calls, permitting, and planning, it was time for the part that scared her most. Giving a speech at a launch event with the Mayor's office.

"Anyone who knows me knows the mic is not my happy place. I did it anyway."

The county even named October 14 "Kona Trolley Day."

She also gave a shoutout to Carter, one of our Boardroom advisors for helping with the sales process and the launch: "Having someone in your corner who asks the right questions at the right time is worth its weight in gold."

The lesson: If one customer, season or partner can wipe out your income, build a 2nd revenue stream while times are good. Start with what you already know how to run and go from there.

Erin and Tania are at very different stages, but they're doing EXACTLY what good owners do. Putting in the work, finding places to improve, and owning every step.

In Own or Be Owned, Codie breaks every business into 12 growth levers she calls the 12 Ps. The trick is to find the 2 dragging you down hardest and fix those first.

"Score. Diagnose. Fix two. Rescore."

Erin's 2 were Pricing and Persona.

When she took over, Google reviews called Crossway the cheapest laundromat in town. The book calls that the Fear Tax: money you leave on the table because charging more feels rude. So she raised prices on every machine to match the market.

Then she went after a bigger fish. A self-serve customer spends a few bucks a visit, while a wash-dry-fold customer hands you their whole week of laundry, every week. And pickup and delivery makes it even easier for them to keep coming back.

Tania's main one was Predicament.

That's the chapter about your single point of failure, the thing that breaks the business if it disappears. For Tania, it was cruise ship schedules. Her main business was reliant on tourists, and if they didn’t come, her revenue dipped.

So she didn't try to book more tours. Instead, she built a revenue stream with its own customers and sponsors, completely independent of cruise schedules.

"Any improvement not made at the constraint is an illusion."

Working harder on the wrong P feels productive and changes nothing. The Academy and Boardroom are there so you find your constraint faster than you would alone.

The Academy is built for buying. You get your Deal Box, BizScout to source deals, live calls with operators who've closed, and a lending desk that knows what a bank wants to see before you walk in. And the support doesn’t stop after you close. Erin posted her win in the Academy because she'd been asking questions there all year and getting help from the advisors and other members.

The Boardroom is built for owners who already have the keys. You get an advisor, monthly check-ins, and growth strategy sessions where someone digs into your real numbers and tells you which P to fix next. That's what Carter did for Tania. In her words, he asked "the right questions at the right time."

And if you want a taste of what it’s like to be a Contrarian, we’re coming to a city near you! This Saturday, November 14th, local Academy Ambassadors are hosting free gatherings all across the U.S.

It’s open to anyone who’s curious about buying a business or actively pursuing acquisition, not just members, so if you’re thinking about joining, this is the PERFECT chance to see what we’re all about.

Plus they’re doing raffles at each location, with a chance to win a ticket to one of our biggest events in 2027.

Ownership can feel lonely, and this is a great way to meet like-minded people, get local business contacts, and start building relationships.

Hope to see you there!

Register HERE

Buying the business gets you in the game, but the owners who win are the ones who never stop learning.

- Team Contrarian

P.S. There’s another part of Tania’s story we wanted to share…

A while back, a hurricane made it impossible to operate her business for a few weeks.

And for a lot of owners, having down weeks could spell disaster. After all, you’ve still got to make payroll and cover overhead. But how are you supposed to do that when there’s no revenue?

That’s where Jordan Gregory can help out.

If you’re in The Contrarian Academy or Boardroom, you have direct access to our loan desk. And while SBA loans and biz buying are the bread and butter, Jordan can also help in ways you wouldn’t be able to qualify for otherwise.

In Tania’s case, he was able to get her a line of credit she could draw on.

She now has access to $70K, and unlike a loan, she only pays interest on what she uses. So now, when seasonal dips (or hurricanes) hit, she’s covered. And if she doesn’t use it, she doesn’t pay a dime.

This is the kind of business strategy we can help with if you’re inside The Contrarian Academy or Boardroom.

And if you’re not? We’d love to have you.

Want to join our groups of thousands of smart business builders and buyers?

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