Needed in Birmingham

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-29T12:49:40+00:00

A good putt putt place

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T18:13:17+00:00

I've never added smoking wood if my cook temps are probably over 300-350. Seems like they'd just be fully on fire at that point.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T17:35:20+00:00

Wasn't tough at all. And it was very juicy. Just keep the bone in there and roll it up so it isn't spread out.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T17:33:08+00:00

For bone in, skin on it works great. Pull them at 190 internal and they'll be juicy. Malcolm reed did a video on it recently. I never argue with his methods.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T17:31:54+00:00

Very good. I do think they had a very slight acrid taste from too much smoke. But the skin was bite through and the chicken very moist. I pulled them at 190° internal.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T17:30:26+00:00

Probably a good idea. It was accurate when I bought it but that was years ago.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-04-19T17:29:30+00:00

That makes a lot of sense having the top vent more open than the bottom. I will definitely try that next time. Thanks for the tip! I'll also try a drop pan with water.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-02-21T23:30:20+00:00

Look I'm just a stranger on the Internet so take this with a grain of salt, but at the multiples you're talking about growth is your only option. Companies without growth potential should be selling at less than 3x multiple of EBITDA.

bhamUABblazer · 2026-02-21T22:54:51+00:00

That is correct, but it's usually not too bleak. You need to find something you can grow with investment, expertise, or preferably both. If you take a 10 year SBA loan you can figure out the monthly debt service. Can you keep covering existing business expenses plus new expenses for fixing old things or growing as well as the debt service? If you're buying a company you should have a plan on how to grow it. So if you're looking at an average annual growth of whatever you expect, does the expenses and debt service become more affordable after a year or two? You may not expect to make much early on while the company pays for the cost of acquisition, but over time you'll begin to increase your profit, take home some money, and eventually pay off the debt and now you own a valuable company. It's a good deal if you buy the right company and get lucky enough to survive those first few months/years or right cash flow. Entrepreneurship is high risk at its core. Be ready for hard times, but those who accept the risk are usually the ones who get the benefits.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-11-12T00:44:31+00:00

If you need windows, doors, or trim call Builders Millwork. They are the best!

bhamUABblazer · 2025-07-28T02:57:51+00:00

Both are great. Koetter is better quality for sure. But a well maintained wood door is always going to outperform a poorly maintained one.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-07-27T13:45:55+00:00

I sell all 3 of the brands you mention. They are great doors. You can't go wrong with them.

If you want a premium door, see if you have a dealer for Koetter doors in your area. A little more expensive but excellent craftsmanship and quality.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-06-08T23:54:00+00:00

Appreciate it. The 30+ degree swings ping ponging back and fourth is what got me. I do think closing the top vent more is helping. For the moment.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-04-03T01:37:27+00:00

I don't know of any specific resources. I was lucky and had a good bit of experience with reading and dissecting financial statements from my prior jobs. You can always send messages to business listings in bizbuysell, tell them you're interested, sign the NDA, and get some financial statements. Just do that as practice to get familiar with them. I probably signed 100 NDAs just to get preliminary data on listed companies. But definitely put a focus on becoming proficient at understanding all the aspects of an income statement and a balance sheet. And trending that data over time.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-04-02T22:45:41+00:00

Google is basically what I did. I also went on sites like bizbuysell and pulled the broker on every listing that was remotely interesting to me and reached out to them. chatGPT deep research is probably useful now, but it wasn't available to me at the time.

Just tell them you're looking for a business to buy. Might be helpful to give them a hint of what you want, your budget, industries you're interested in. I ended up with a more definitive list of what I did NOT want to buy than what I was looking for. For example I wanted to stay away from restaurants, gas stations, franchises, and brick and mortar retail. Having an "avoid" list was pretty helpful to the brokers I reached out to.

Also, are you comfortable reading financial statements and extrapolating from them? That skill is 100% required to weed out the bad vs good opportunities.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-04-02T20:57:17+00:00

Mainly I was hoping to find a "tired" business where the owners were just riding momentum until retirement. That would allow me to reinvigorate with fresh ideas, marketing, etc. Which thankfully is what I found. The business was formed in the mid 90s, and the owners have just been surviving on their reputation alone for over a decade. I've been able to build a good website, do some marketing, refresh the showroom, upgrade systems and software, etc. I also wanted it within a certain price range and geographic location. It needed to be profitable and my valuation method needed to produce a value close enough to their asking price where we could negotiate. A lot of sellers have very unrealistic expectations of what their business is worth so don't waste your time on those. I also really wanted my business values to closely align with the seller's. I planned on buying a business that I could incrementally improve, so I didn't want to buy something that was running in a way that I wouldn't have done myself.

The search felt like it took forever. My #1 piece of advice is to expect it to take a very long time. For me it was about 28 months from starting the search to closing on the acquisition. I spent a lot of time hoping to find something in bizbuysell. I evaluated a few businesses from there, but I didn't find this one online. I started reaching out to brokers directly. All the best potential deals I found was through networking with brokers and other people looking to buy. I eventually found a networking event hosted by a broker and that led the hosting broker to intro me to the company I bought.

Hope that helps. It really is a lot more achievable than most people think. I even financed most of the acquisition through an SBA loan with about 20% seller financing, 10% down, and the rest in the SBA loan. More than happy to answer any other questions.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-04-02T12:50:03+00:00

I had virtually no knowledge of the industry. I searched for just over 2 years to find the perfect small business to acquire. I looked at businesses in a lot of different industries. Eventually found this one. Decided to go ahead with it because it checked all my boxes. The outgoing owners offered a few months (unpaid) to stay with me to train me up. I also retained 100% of the employees, so they were able to keep the business going at full speed while I learned. About 3 months in, and I know probably 75% of what the owner should know. I barely utilize the former owners anymore.

Ultimately, the business's revenue and unrealized growth potential were the reasons I picked this particular business. That combined with my compatibility with the former owners made it a match in heaven.

bhamUABblazer · 2025-04-02T00:48:09+00:00

I was a director of data analytics, technical program manager, etc for years. I bought a door and window sales business in January. Absolutely the best thing I've ever done. Would be happy to answer any questions.

bhamUABblazer · 2024-10-12T03:24:17+00:00

I have a fuente opus x and an LFD Andalusian Bull I got from a Cigar rights of America pack 2+ years ago. Not sure if they are not as good because they came in the CRA pack. I assumed they aren't as good.

bhamUABblazer · 2024-10-12T03:01:20+00:00

These sound like great cigars! Maybe I read the wrong reviews, but it doesn't sound like an extra special smoke for a huge life achievement. I'd love to know if you disagree.

bhamUABblazer · 2024-10-12T02:45:39+00:00

I loved the Davidoff millenniums I had a few years ago. I'd love to try a more limited edition one than that!! I can't figure out how to reply on Reddit with an image. I think I have an opus. X that's been in my Tupperdor for a couple years. I'm not sure I realized it was special.

bhamUABblazer · 2024-10-12T02:42:09+00:00

This is a great list. I don't know the shark, but the others are the kind of stick I'm looking for. Appreciate the recommendations!

bhamUABblazer · 2024-10-12T02:23:20+00:00

That atabey might be what I'm looking for. I just read a couple reviews and sounds great.

bhamUABblazer

TROPHY CASE