How Small Businesses Can Rethink Pricing, Reduce Complexity, and Charge What They’re Worth
Release Date: 11/28/2025
Why Buying the Business Doesn’t Make You the Boss
Bought The Biz
Episode 20 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks with guest, Evan Stewart Buying the business is the easy part. Leading it is not. In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi sit down with Evan Stewart, owner and CEO of Direct One, a 70+ employee commercial print and direct mail company. Evan shares what it really felt like stepping into a production-heavy business, realizing he was the least knowledgeable person in the building, and learning that authority isn’t granted at close. It’s earned. They unpack the realities searchers don’t always see coming: fragile legacy systems,...
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Buying Was Easy. Operating Was Earned.
Bought The Biz
Episode 19 | Garth Fasano When I bought Top Dog, I thought I was buying a boring, predictable business. A classic ETA play. What I actually bought was responsibility—hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll, outcome-based contracts, and no safety net. In this episode of Bought the Biz, I walk through the early days after acquisition, the mistakes I made as a first-time operator, and the moments that forced me to grow into real ownership. If you’re in the middle of operating and it feels heavy, this episode is for you.
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Laid Off and Served Papers. Then Bought a Business
Bought The Biz
Episode 18 | Christi Loucks with guest, Raj Kankaria Getting laid off and served divorce papers in the same moment usually ends a chapter. For Raj Kankaria, it started one. In this episode of Bought the Biz, Raj shares how personal chaos forced clarity and ultimately pushed him into buying and scaling Lone Star Attorney Service. We unpack the real operator lessons that don’t show up in glossy acquisition stories: hard people decisions, implementing EOS when emotions are high, and leading with gratitude instead of ego. This is a raw look at how adversity sharpens leadership and why the worst...
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Rebuilding an Acquired Business for the AI Era
Bought The Biz
Episode 17 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth is in the hot seat. After acquiring a cash flowing call center business through a traditional ETA search, Garth made a decision that most operators never plan for and many would avoid. He transformed the business from a people heavy services company into an AI powered SaaS platform. Garth and Christi walk through the full journey. Why the original acquisition made sense. What made the business unique. How advisors and board members pushed the thinking forward. And why the rapid acceleration of AI forced a...
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Is an MBA Worth It for Buying a Business?
Bought The Biz
Episode 16 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks So was an MBA actually worth it if your goal is to buy and run a business? In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi unpack the real value of business school through the lens of entrepreneurship through acquisition. Drawing from very different MBA experiences, they talk candidly about what translated into ownership and what simply did not once they were responsible for payroll, people, and real consequences. They explore where accounting, leadership development, and structured thinking helped, and why grit, resilience, and figuring...
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Getting Paid, Staying Sane: Working Capital, Late Payments, and the Reality of Cash Flow
Bought The Biz
Episode 15 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks Cash flow is where the theory of small business ownership meets reality. In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi dig into one of the most uncomfortable but unavoidable parts of owning a business: getting paid. They unpack working capital, late payments, collections, unpredictable revenue, and what it really feels like to manage payroll and personal income when you leave the W-2 world behind. Garth shares his unusual experience acquiring a business with negative days sales outstanding and what that taught him about working capital...
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The Weird Stuff You Inherit: Policies, Holidays, and Other Surprises After Acquisition
Bought The Biz
Episode 14 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks When you buy a small business, you don’t just inherit customers and revenue. You inherit habits, unwritten rules, and some truly bizarre surprises. In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi reflect on the strange, funny, and occasionally uncomfortable things they discovered after stepping into ownership. From nonexistent holiday policies and global teams disappearing for surprise days off, to informal “rules” about remote work, sick days, and even gaming on the job. They talk candidly about the tension between wanting to run a...
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Carrying the Weight on PurposeWhy Buying Seay HR Was the Best Decision of Marci LaRouech’s Life
Bought The Biz
Episode 13 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks with guest, Marci LaRouech In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi sit down with Marci LaRouech, the new owner and CEO of Seay HR, a sixty-year-old HR consulting firm. Marci opens up about the emotional shift that hits the morning after closing a deal—the moment when the weight of ownership settles back onto your shoulders. For Marci, that weight isn’t a burden; it’s what gives this work meaning. She shares why acquiring Seay HR has been the best decision of her life, even though she thinks about the business constantly. Marci...
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How Small Businesses Can Rethink Pricing, Reduce Complexity, and Charge What They’re Worth
Bought The Biz
Episode 12 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi get uncomfortably honest about pricing. How do you know when it is time to raise prices, change your model, or simplify your packages. How do you do it in a small business where every client and every dollar feels personal. They compare complex outcome based and consumption models with simple retainers, talk through real changes they have made in their own companies, and share the messy parts of bringing legacy clients up to current rates. They also dig into how to frame new services, build...
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Guardrails for Diligence, Financing, and Saying No Even When You Want the Deal
Bought The Biz
Episode 11 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi break down what they wish they had known before signing their acquisition documents. From surprise lender pullouts and nineteen percent debt to due-diligence must haves and emotional landmines, they share the real pre close challenges that don’t make it into the search fund playbooks. They walk through financing pitfalls, why your lender becomes an actual partner, how to build (and stick to) your no go list, and why you should never negotiate against yourself in the final weeks. If...
info_outlineEpisode 12 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks
In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi get uncomfortably honest about pricing. How do you know when it is time to raise prices, change your model, or simplify your packages. How do you do it in a small business where every client and every dollar feels personal. They compare complex outcome based and consumption models with simple retainers, talk through real changes they have made in their own companies, and share the messy parts of bringing legacy clients up to current rates. They also dig into how to frame new services, build confidence in the value you deliver, set clear guardrails for your team, and communicate price increases without feeling like a villain. If you are an ETA owner or small business operator who knows your pricing needs to change but keeps putting it off, this one is for you.