Early side-hustles tried and lessons

What if the thing standing between you and total lifestyle freedom… was just one business acquisition?

A former respiratory therapist and a software developer – no entrepreneurial experience, no roadmap, no idea what they were doing – decided to bet on themselves anyway. And now? They're running a lean team of 11 VAs from wherever in the world they feel like being that week.

Guatemala last month. St. Kitts for their anniversary. Belize next. You get the picture.

In this episode, Jaryd Krause sits down with Alan and Mel, a husband-and-wife duo who tried every side hustle in the book – financial lending, credit repair, online teaching – before discovering that buying an existing online business was the shortcut they'd been exhausting themselves looking for.

They used SBA financing to acquire a $1.2M business with just $65K out of pocket. They inherited 2 VAs and a chaotic operation. They were working 60-hour weeks at the start. And then – systematically, strategically – they rebuilt it, scaled it, and sold it. Profitably.

Now they're already under LOI for their next deal.

Here's what makes their story different though. Neither of them had ever owned a business before. One was in healthcare. One was in tech but still didn't think you could buy something you couldn't physically touch. They were scared, skeptical, and figuring it out in real time.

Sound familiar?

If you've ever wondered whether someone like YOU could actually pull this off – this episode is your answer.

Hit play. You'll want to hear this one.🎧

Episode Highlights

06:09 The $0 Down Deal Structure Most Buyers Don't Even Know Is Possible

15:13 How They Bought a $1.2M Business With Just $65K Out of Pocket

18:26 Why Taking 6 Months to Close Was the Smartest Thing They Ever Did

24:09 From 60-Hour Weeks to 5: The Exact Strategy They Used to Replace Themselves

29:00 The Layoff That Forced Them All In – And Accidentally Changed Their Lives Forever

33:33 They Sold the Business… and Got Bored in Two Months. Here's Why They're Back

35:33 The Raw Truth About Mindset That Most Business Coaches Are Too Polished to Say

42:12 The Wealth Loop Nobody Talks About: How One Business Funded an Entire Real Estate Portfolio

Key Takeaways

➥ You don't need industry experience to acquire a business – the learning happens after you buy, not before.

➥ SBA financing can get you into a $1.2M business with as little as $0 down if you negotiate the deal structure right.

➥ The fastest way to scale an acquisition is to document every bottleneck, then hire to eliminate them one by one.

➥ A longer closing timeline isn't a red flag – it's free due diligence that lets you watch the business perform before you own it.

➥ The moment you stop working IN the business and start building a team around it, everything changes.

➥ Buying a business where the owner is burned out is a hidden goldmine – lower price, massive upside, ready to scale.

➥ Online businesses have no glass ceiling – unlike physical businesses, growth isn't limited by location, rooms, or geography.

➥ Business cash flow funds real estate. Real estate equity funds the next acquisition. That loop, repeated, builds serious wealth.

➥ Mindset isn't a buzzword here – it's the actual difference between people who pull the trigger and people who stay stuck researching forever.

➥ Freedom isn't something you find after you build the business. It's something you design into the business from the start.

About Alan & Mel

Alan and Mell are a husband-and-wife duo who’ve turned online business acquisitions into a lifestyle of freedom and adventure. Alan, with a background in education and technology, and Mel, a former respiratory therapist with an MBA from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business, combined their skills to acquire three online businesses—recently exiting one successfully. Their profits helped them purchase two Airbnb properties and build a third in Belize. Thanks to the flexibility of their online ventures, they recently spent a month in Guatemala and El Salvador with their daughters for a World School program. Now, they’re under LOI for their next deal and on track to acquire three new deals within the next year.

Connect with Alan & Mel

➥ https://risingphoenixfund.org/home

➥ AI content creation platform: https://wordgenius.ai/

Resource Links

➥ Connect with Jaryd here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarydkrause

➥ Buying Online Businesses Website - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com

➥ Download the Due Diligence Framework - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/freeresources/

➥ Sell your business to us here - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/sell-your-business/

➥ Google Ads Service - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/ads-services/

Buy & Sell Online Businesses Here (Top Website Brokers We Use) 🔥

➥ Empire Flippers - https://bit.ly/3RtyMkE

➥ Flippa - https://bit.ly/3wGa8r5

➥ Motion Invest - https://bit.ly/3YmJAmO

➥ Investors Club - https://bit.ly/3ZpgioR

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