Ep 166: [Content Website Case Study] Buying A 6 Figure Niche Website & What It Takes with Devin

166 Audio Jaryd Krause (3:17)

Jaryd chats a lot about the process of buying an online business and has been totally with Devin through the journey of buying his first ever website. But is curious as to why Devin wants to earn an income from buying an online business, for example. What is his motivation?

Devin says, after everything he’s tried, it made the most sense to buy a website business because he was looking for flexibility in his lifestyle. So basically being able to work and move around how he wanted to. As a family man he wants to be able to be present daily and have that opportunity. So, when he found out about the possibility of even making money online and owning a website, it intrigued him immediately.

Jaryd Krause (4:12)

Cool. How did you find out about this? Did you come across? Like maybe you'll make some income online from starting a business? Or like how do you get to the route of going, I might buy one and then jumping in the community and doing so?

Devin (4:26)

It was random, I explored the possibility of owning, you know, brick and mortars and franchises. And it was actually close to getting into that space before COVID shut everything down in 2020. So that made me want to look at other options. This randomly I was on YouTube one day and one of your videos popped up and I watch one watch a couple more. I became like interested.

So, it's funny because I had run across Empire Flippers before I guess they like Two years ago, maybe. And I didn't know what it was, I was like, are people really paying this? Are people really? You know, having businesses online? I just didn't know. I didn't have the knowledge to really move forward. So, I kind of stayed away.

Jaryd Krause (5:13)

Right. so, you were looking at buying an offline business a franchise, right. And so that was that was what pre COVID? Or during COVID? Or tell us about that?

Devin (5:27)

So that was pre COVID. It started out like late 2019, like, fall winter, and it was moving along pretty well. And it was actually close to closing the deal. And then, things shut down in March of 2020. And it just made the most sense to walk away from the deal. We it was so much uncertainty surrounding, you know, what's going to be open, what's not going to be open, how are we going to try to navigate a space? That's new for me, with these limitations that, you know, we just don't know about?

Jaryd Krause (6:00)

Yeah, wild times, I sold a business app, basically, in March 2020, an econ business that I was like, I'm glad I saw like, I didn't know COVID was a was because over in Australia, we're pretty far and it was an Australian econ business, we're pretty far removed from what was really going on. And yeah, I got lucky selling at the right time. Yeah, but Wild Times.

And I want to come back to at the end of our conversation, I guess, the difference between what you know now about possibly buying a franchise versus an online business, because I think you'll have some different, different insights, now that you've gone through the process of buying or so let's backtrack a bit more. You're like, yeah, I want to earn income.

So you can travel and be flexible with the family and all that sort of stuff still? So that's the main motivator? What were you doing prior to the whole, let's try and buy a business franchise online business?

Devin (6:59)

Yeah. I worked in professional sports, both abroad, and here in the US. So, I was involved in that for around 17 years, and my mindset really started changing, you know, with, with COVID. And this made me want to spend more time my family not devoted so much time to my profession, as well as my family. But as the as my kids get older, and I really wanting to be president daily, so I wanted to have that option to be here or be wherever we wanted to be together.

And, just presented that opportunity. So that's really what maybe shift my focus to being, you know, well know what, maybe I can create an income, you know, find a good business and move away into something else, and possibly do things on my own terms. And if I want to get back into professional sports, then that's what I can do. But on my own term.

Jaryd Krause (7:56)

Yeah. Cool. That's, it's interesting to hear. I mean, it sounds like was basically from college, 17 years in pro sports, it sounds like you really, really got to see how it operates, and what the limitations may be working in that industry that you don't want to have to subdue to in the future. Is that what you're alluding to?

Devin (8:17)

Yeah, I mean, people don't realize, like how much can say professional athletes, their schedule, and their day to day is dictated, you know, and I am kind of somebody that has devoted my time to that, you know, on both sides, and they'll coaching and playing and, I wanted to be in control of my day to day and not have somebody else, you know, control that because, you know, sometimes it's short notice on when somebody wants you to be somewhere and what they want you to do, and sometimes there's no regard for your schedule what you got going on, personally.

Jaryd Krause (8:51)

Yeah, yeah, I'm curious. This isn't so much a business question. This is more about just life. How did your life change in terms of how you felt about life differently when you ended pro sports and started doing your own thing like what was good or bad about it for you? Because I've had this happen in my life where I was, I went from I need to be at the job site this time, and I need that I've got these responsibilities on the phone and off the phone.

And having holding that accountability was like and then shedding it was like oh. It was a wait for me gone, but I'm curious, like, different industries for you like, what did that do for you, even before you bought a business? Having?

Devin (9:35)

Yeah, I mean, for me, I had taken a year off and 2017 to 2018, from July of 2017 to like, June of 2018. I didn't do anything, you know, and it was just kind of, decompressing my family. We had just moved back, you know, permanently stateside, and I just needed that time, you know, away from everything. So, I had a feeling of what it was going to be like, but for me, really when I made the decision to stop, and, do my own thing, it really like made me buckle down and focus on like what I wanted.

Because I always aspired and things I wanted to do outside of sports, but I just didn't have the time. And I would just always put things off, I would focus on it for a couple of weeks or a month or two, and then, something will come up, and I'll just put it on the back burner. But I knew like if I want to do this full time, I had to, like, stop that, at least, you know, momentarily, in order to pursue what I really wanted to do, online and professionally, like, away from way from sports. But it made me feel, it was a weight off my shoulders, because it was something I always wanted to pursue. And once I finally made the decision, you know, I felt good.

Jaryd Krause (10:54)

That's cool. Yet, some people, I think there's a big difference between somebody ending one thing, and not having something to go on to, like you've had this period of time in your career where it sounds like you've wanted to do that staff, or do some things that you know, the bigger the bigger project of the careers been more prevalent, and time and resources going towards that. But I know that some people that have a career or a job or a life, whatever you want to call it, and then they just end it because they're done with it, they've got nothing to go on to it's like it can be messy or hard for them.

So, it's good that you had that aspiration to move into something, whether it was going to be business or not. I think that's something important for people to understand. Like, when you buy a business, what are you going to like I went and travelled straightaway, right? What are you going to spend your time doing when you do have downtime? So, you're not just going crazy and feeling non-productive and not feeling good about your life. And then you've got family, you know, you can pull that straight into that, which is awesome.

So, let's move now into the, into the buying the buying phase, you discovered this random dude on YouTube didn't know if he was a, you know, a scammer or not. And then you went and sort of went through some stuff and build a bit of trust. And when this could be the route? What happened from there? Like in terms of learning, like, what did you? What were some of the best things you learned through the community? I guess.

Devin (12:34)

Yeah, this journey was, is pretty interesting to move from, just watching videos, to joining the community. And, for me, the biggest thing was, I didn't feel like I was being sold something, you're selling something but not selling something, you know, if you understand what I'm saying. You're, of course, focusing on like, the possibilities than, trying to sell somebody a product, which you run across a lot online. But, for me, the community was just like, accountability, like, I'm used to being accountable, like, alright, you have a task, you need to get it done.

And, you know, being able to, like, have somebody to, like, nudge you along, and say, you know, what, you're heading in the right direction, it's going to take time. You know, I think that's the most valuable thing for me. And then to see other people's stories, you hear about other people, you know, purchasing businesses, and different types of websites in the community. And just also, like, just engaging in those conversations and seeing, you know, some of their struggles, and some of their wins.

You know, that really keeps you keep you motivated to, you know, keep pursuing what you want, and being open to finding the right business for you. And I feel like that's, that's what happened with me.

Jaryd Krause (13:54)

That's really cool. Yeah, sometimes for me, I forget that there are a lot of people that will listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos and see people are buying a business cool, but that sphere is still there of like, hang on is really like people actually buying businesses like is this real? So, I guess being like some people I see when people join not just yourself but other people that joined the group.

And like okay, this we're celebrating somebody buying a business they see these posts, they're like, Oh, this is the thing now like it's just goes I'm in the right spot to make it happen because it is happening here. When you're on the outside, especially for me not even seeing as it's I can see that that like oh is this really this is really a thing and by flippers. All these other brokers, you can buy them but people really like is it really happening?

So, let's talk about the process to honing in, I guess, on the right business for you. How did that evolve for you? What did you do when came in to buy a site, did you know exactly what you wanted? And did it change? And if so, why? And how did that evolve for you?

Devin (15:07)

I didn't really have an idea what I wanted when I first joined the community, but I did know that I didn't want to have like drop shipping or E commerce or anything like that. So, I just didn't want to put in the work for that, you know, some people do. I did. And it just seemed like a lot of moving parts. And as I'm watching the videos, and this learn more about different types of businesses online, and, running across different ways things and monetize.

It has allowed me to hone in and narrow in on what made the most sense for me. I didn't want to have to rely on sales to generate income. So, finding a site that was focused on display ads, income, this made the most sense. Of course, I do want some affiliate sales on my site, but I don't want that to be the priority. So that's how I came to what I was looking for. And how I navigated the process.

Jaryd Krause (16:07)

Cool. To get there, how long was the the journey of like, joining to purchasing? How long was that?

Devin (16:22)

I would say it was at least about five, six months. I joined around August, September at the latest. And yeah, I mean, and I ran up to, end of January before I found something.

Jaryd Krause (16:37)

Cool. Well, congratulations on buying business. I want to dive more into that. It's been exciting thing for you washing the income every day. And all that stuff is so cool. It's so it's a really cool thing, isn't it?

Devin (16:54)

Yeah, definitely. You know, it's definitely a process learned a lot. And, it’s kind of moves fast when you're looking at good businesses. So, you got to be prepared to put in the work and find and make a decision pretty quickly. But it's been it's been great, you know, finding what you want, and seeing how it can grow. And I was monetized again, those earnings coming in every day. You know, it feels good.

Jaryd Krause (17:18)

Yeah, for sure. So, people hear this and they go, right, five, six months, I can buy a business within five to six months, a lot of people don't understand, like, you've got to put, you've got to put the work in Right. Like you've got to learn first learning how to do the due diligence is like going through all the videos, and then you're like, alright, like, how long does that take? Experimenting with due diligence? And then once you start to get good at due diligence, and you understand that do it? Well, you've still got to submit a lot of due diligence is to me to review.

To knock back many, you realize why are these being knocked back? And what does a good one look like? And it evolves into us buying the right one for you. Tell me about that, you know, doing due diligence and submitting it to review and how many that you submitted? And, or did even without me knowing, like, Tell us a bit more about that? Because that's a big whole process. Right? You said, Well, it's a process. So, let's decompartmentalize out of it.

Devin (18:17)

Yeah, I mean, due diligence was overwhelming. When I first looked at it on my own. I had no idea what I was like, what is this? What is that? And I tried to fill in like two, from a business I was looking at, early on. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Let me just go back through the videos again. And it's triggered.

But I would say I probably submitted around seven or eight to you. But there was another five or six that I did on my own completely, like all the way through. I would say there was probably another seven or eight that I did without, reaching the point of talking to the seller.

Jaryd Krause (19:04)

Yeah, myself personally now, I don't talk to a seller, unless I'm about 80% chance you're going to buy it. But that has happened because of, how many businesses you think I've looked at I don't even know and done due diligence on. But as a beginner, I think it's good. I think it's good that you go through a lot and you get to the point that you need to speak to the seller, but don't because when you do go through a more you do it, the quicker allows you to realize her like I can start to see after looking at multiple the more businesses you look at, you start to see the trends of a good one versus a bad one. Right? Like what was some of the trends that you saw that you like, I don't like this about the science versus the ones he like, Oh, this is what I do like about the science.

Devin (19:57)

Yeah, I think you know early on I'd say I was confused. Because I would look at the revenue and look at the income coming in and say, you know, what, this has to be a good business is making money. Let me look at it, and then I will send it to you like that. Let me show you why. But I think early on, I just think the revenue split, it was leaning too much towards you know, like affiliate also think some of the websites that I looked at that weren't great, were just like, relying on one single source.

Really single source dependent on maybe traffic, you know, whether it was coming from Pinterest or, you know, different social media platform. So that was, that was something I really learned because even though the revenue is it might be doing great, you know, if that one revenue at that one stream is cut off, then you're stuck, with a dud. So, I mean, finding websites that just weren't focused on, you know, one thing that could really, you know, if that goes away, or if you get hit with a Google update, and something goes wrong, then that one single source, you know, you could be in trouble for a little while.

Jaryd Krause (21:23)

Yeah, that's it, and sometimes it's not recoverable, depending on the site, which is scary. The biggest thing that I see is when people are looking at a business, and I feel sorry for some people now that when I do due diligence reviews, that I can be so transactional about it, I forget how much work people are put into the business. And you know, like you said, you like, but Jarrod, this is like, look at the traffic and look at the money it's making. And like, it has to be good. It has to be good.

And I'm just pointing out like this. Yeah, it has to be good. I'll just point out like, why it's, I want to tell you, No, don't buy it, I sort of run you down the garden path, you discover, Oh, I get it now that I forget that sometimes I'm pretty brutal with people that first come into the community. So those who are newbies, I apologies, because I can just go, like, stop, like, let's just look at this.

And this is why. But it's easy for me to see it because I see it constantly. And yeah, it, would be tough being in the beginner phase of going through the due diligence as a newbie again, That's the part.

Devin (22:49)

I said it was because there were a few I felt good. I said, this has to be a good business. And by the time we got down to like, off of one page, it was like, Nah, let me show you. This is not that this is for you. You do not want this business. It helped me move forward. But it was straight to the point. And I was like, Okay, after the first time, I was like, Okay, I get it. You know, it didn't bother me at all.

But I went in with a different mindset every time now that I, every time I brought a new business and due diligence, I've had a different mindset about it. I was like, well, let's see what he's done. Think about this one. And I'm not going to lean too much into it, because I think it's a good business. But let's see, if he feels it's a good business.

Jaryd Krause (23:40)

Yeah, that's good. You see, that's you identifying, I'm not going to, when you say lean, that word makes sense to me as then I won't get emotional about it, and get excited about it. Let's first stay transactional about it, which I think this process happens for some people in their heads. It's never we've never had a conversation or articulated before. But that is so damn critical about you picking up on that yourself. And I think if investors can do that, I think that's what can make you a better business as you go.

A lot of these businesses got knocked back by the due diligence we did. And I'm teaching you to learn how to see it. And then once you do it so many times it becomes transactional. I can be quite transactional. And I think that repetitiveness really helps you to disassociate with becoming emotional about it, but I'm so glad that you articulated that and mentioned that because that's, I think that's the goal. Like that's the real goal to become a great investor.

Devin (24:49)

Yeah, I mean, like when I missed out on the one business opportunity for that one website that we were looking at before, it didn't bother me at all. I said, Okay, you know, on to the next one, and That's when I really knew I was like, Okay, we're in a good space. The next one will be fine. We'll be prepared, you know, to move on it quickly, I'll be prepared to move on it quickly. So, it made me, you know, be sharper, and just be more on top of things.

Jaryd Krause (25:15)

Yeah, and you were, you know, you were like, we had submitted some offers, and got knocked back. And we're like, well, or missed out. But yeah, I want to mention a little bit about the business, figure wise, and then I would love for you to tell us a bit about why you like this business, and why we went for this business, so people can sort of start to see, what is a good business look like? So, roughly secured it for mid six figures. And roughly, it's making what, per month, just like, just under the five-figure range per month.

Devin (25:59)

Yeah, just under five figure range for a month, it really stood out because, you know, then something that isn't a niche impact, you know, Evergreen, awesome nation. And, you know, it had so many possibilities to build on, I felt like the content was really good, the article was ranking really well, for the domain ranking that it had. So, I just felt like the possibilities was really, really there to build on, had good display ad-revenue, and not so much affiliate.

Has some, but I've really felt like, you can kind of add more, and, you know, that will bump up the revenue as well. And just to produce the produce content, you know, people are always going to have pets, you know, they aren't really changing often. You know, pets don't change, you know, as often as some other things. So, it's really content that sticks.

Jaryd Krause (27:00)

Yeah, I'm thrilled with the site he bought, it's such a good business, it really is. And the more that we look at it now, more will like, like, even after you done this, we're like, it's good. it's so solid. So, tell us about the hardest part was going through the process of doing due diligence. The good bit was getting that accountability and getting confirmation what's good versus bad in terms of business.

Now zooming out, if you were to zoom out from where you're at right now, Devin, and you to think about the franchise opportunity, and where your life would be if you had bought the franchise, versus where you're at now, where you're projected to go with this online business or a portfolio? What are you noticing? Like, where would you be with a franchise? And Where you were looking to get with the online business? What's the difference? Is that I guess?

Devin (27:57)

Yeah, mainly the franchise. You don't really no, because it's been so many struggles, you know, with people find a worker. So, you know, it could be a situation where I could be in the franchise actually having to work. That's not something.

Jaryd Krause (28:20)

Strike from one sports creative fit almost two decades to flipping burgers.

Devin (28:28)

So yeah, it's something that, I don't know, I think, I would have figured it out, you know, eventually, but moving into this online space. My goal is to have a portfolio of different websites right now. It's has me in a good space, because, again, it got me what I wanted, you know, just to be, be here every day, the present. So, I feel like I'm heading in the right direction, I found a really good website, you know, the previous owner has been really helpful, really insightful.

And, he put a lot of time into building something good. You know, that's always a plus, to have that relationship. And he's been great. We actually spoke today. So, he's been great. And try to give me some guidance on, things he's done well, to help the site grow. I think that it prepared me moving forward, so when it's time to find another one, you know, I'll be ready to go.

You know, already have everything in place, know what I want to do know what I'm looking for, and be ready to get the ball rolling immediately. I feel like a lot to the learning process right now. When I let run the processes over, I think I'll be better at recognizing businesses and know running what I have.

Jaryd Krause (29:57)

Cool. it sounds like the relationship you've built with the seller has been very valuable. How did you go about that? Like how, like, how did you open up to building relationship with them through the due diligence? What did that look like? And how did you connect? Like, what were some of the things that you think you did well?

Devin (30:16)

Yeah, I think, just the call we had really making it personal, you know, I really took the time to show my appreciation for his time, you know, telling me in depth about his business, and just really try to use that time to get to know him and his story, and explain to him I. I feel like we made a good connection in that call. And I always, you know, kept it, person to person, it's a transaction, but it's two people making the transaction. So, I tried to focus on that.

Once we were in negotiation, he really offered to help, for extended period of time, and it was something that he, you know, presented, so I feel from there, our relationship has just grown, you know, and he's been really helpful, you know, through this process of, from migration to when I was in control, and taking over everything.

Jaryd Krause (31:19)

Yeah, that's excellent, like really good work on a, what I picked up there is, is focusing on his story, you know, and connecting with his story, and that's a really good tip for people that wanting to build a relationship, so you can make a transaction good, but just about actually wanting to connect and be a better human.

I think that's really, really good. advice there. So, you mentioned quickly, you know, buying another one, what, what's your sort of end goal? What's the portfolio look like? For you, say, in 5 years or 10 years’ time, what are you hoping to achieve here?

Devin (31:59)

Yeah, I hopefully I'm looking to buy and grow and hold, you know, I'm not really interested at least right now, you know, trying to build to sell, I want to hold good websites, good quality sites that I can have for a long time, hopefully, I can, you know, have two or three that are, you know, in decent size.

And the one I have now that's pretty, pretty good size for me. So even ones that are have less traffic and less revenue, could possibly work as my second and third options, you know, for sites and a portfolio. But two or three, would be great.

Jaryd Krause (32:38)

Well, congrats on buying your first business. This one is definitely one for a long-term hold, if you wanted it to be. So, I think it's a really good foundational investment for your portfolio. And looking forward to seeing more from you in the future. And yeah, thanks so much for coming on. Devin, really appreciate it. And I know everybody else listening has to say thank you.

Devin (33:00)

Yeah, definitely appreciate you, having me on and allowing me to share my process with everybody.

Jaryd Krause (33:06)

Thank you so much.