What if the fastest way to scale your business… wasn’t doing more? What if you could skip the years of trial and error that comes with building and launching a new service or product line? That’s exactly what more business owners are discovering: grow through acquisitions. Buying another business to add onto yours isn’t just for billion-dollar empires. It’s one of the smartest (and most overlooked) ways small business owners can grow fast, diversify their income, and increase valuation.
So how do you actually do it?
Let’s walk through a step-by-step guide based on the real-life acquisition story of business owners Jennifer Spivak and Courtney Tarrant, co-owners of The Ad Girls, who successfully acquired “Easy Scaling” and turned it into a powerful extension of their business. No private equity. No complex deal rooms. Just a smart, aligned move from one founder to another.
Here are the 7 steps you can follow.
Step 1: Recognize When Growth Isn’t About More Clients
If your business is stable, profitable, and mostly runs without you, you’re not in hustle mode anymore. You’re in strategy mode. That’s the perfect moment to pause and ask:
- What’s the real cost of scaling this business further?
- Will I lose quality, control, or passion along the way?
Growth doesn’t always mean adding more offers, clients, or team members. Sometimes, growth looks like adding something entirely new. Like acquiring a second business that instantly expands your capabilities, audience, or value.
Step 2: Decide If You’re Ready to Buy a Business
Despite how it sounds, buying a business isn’t about building your empire or flexing your success. It’s about alignment, capacity, and readiness.
Before looking at any deals, ask yourself:
- Can my current business operate without me daily?
- Do I have the mental and emotional space to lead something new?
- Do I get more energy from building or optimizing?
If you’ve already removed yourself from the operational weeds of your own company, you might be more acquisition-ready than you think.
Step 3: Shift from Business Hunter to Acquisition Magnet
Here’s where most owners go wrong. They spend months (or years) chasing potential deals. Jen and Courtney did the opposite. They:
- Clarified their vision: to own a portfolio of values-aligned businesses.
- Joined M&A-focused communities for small business owners.
- Spent time with peers who were buying businesses, not just building them.
The result? They didn’t chase a deal. A past client reached out and offered to sell. The right opportunity found them.
Step 4: Qualify the Right Fit
When an exciting acquisition offer lands on your desk, don’t jump. Evaluate it through a strategic lens. For Jen and Courtney, Easy Scaling checked all their boxes:
- It offered complementary services to the same clients.
- They had already successfully worked with the company, so risk was lower.
- The seller shared their values and was someone they trusted.
Ask yourself:
- Does this business align with my vision and strengths?
- Can I grow it using what I already have in place?
- Is there mutual trust and transparency with the seller?
Step 5: Structure a Win-Win Deal
When talking about the deal, this is where a lot of founders freeze, thinking they need to offer top dollar to win the deal. You don’t. You need to offer the right terms.
- Think beyond price: include founder transition periods aligned with the next phase of their life and offer pay-out structures that work for the seller
- Be honest about your long term goals, company culture and vision, and ask the same from the seller.
Jen and Courtney won the deal not by outbidding others, but by offering a transition that honored the seller’s team, vision, and legacy.
Step 6: Prepare for Integration, Not Just Acquisition
Buying a business is just the first step. What happens after matters more. Jen and Courtney did something most new owners forget: they slowed down, to honor what was already working. They:
- Took time to communicate with the team.
- Paused major lead gen campaigns to manage capacity first.
- Aligned systems before pushing for scale.
The result? Smooth growth, increased demand, and a strong internal culture. Don’t rush this part. Integration is where many acquisitions fall apart.
Step 7: Reflect and Repeat
Once the acquisition is complete, step back and analyze what worked.
- What would you do differently next time?
- Who will lead operations vs. future acquisitions?
- What kind of business would be a great next fit?
Jen and Courtney’s biggest lesson wasn’t just how to buy a business, it was how to buy in a way that could be repeated.
Courtney said it best: “Now I believe the next deals will appear too.” That mindset shift is how you go from one-off success to an acquisition strategy.
Real-World Tips From The Ad Girls’ First Acquisition
Here’s what made their acquisition work and what you can steal:
- Before buying, build your business so it runs without you. You can’t add more if you’re stuck in the weeds.
- Set the intention early. Jen and Courtney knew they wanted to acquire a business a full year before they did it.
- Put yourself in rooms where deals happen. Business communities are full of organic deal flow.
- Be known as a potential buyer. When a client was ready to sell, they thought of Jen and Courtney as buyers.
- Choose a complementary business.
- Lead with values, not just valuation. Their offer was accepted because it respected people and culture.
- Grow fast with what you already know. The Ad Girls used their own ad systems to scale Easy Scaling in months.
Final Thoughts: The Fastest Growth Isn’t Always From Scratch
If you’re in a season where the idea of more of the time sounds exhausting, maybe you’re not meant to build your next revenue stream from the ground up.
Maybe you’re meant to acquire it.
Buying a business isn’t a leap only for the super-experienced. It’s a smart next step for entrepreneurs who have mastered one business and are ready to multiply their impact. And it’s more accessible than you think.
You don’t need millions to grow through acquisition. You need vision, clarity, and the willingness to be in the right rooms.
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