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Behind Every Great Searcher: A Wife's Journey with Search

Acquiring Minds

Mon Feb 17 2025

Summary

Behind Every Great Searcher: A Wife's Journey with Search – A Deep Dive into Cliff and Christine Nelson's Acquisition Adventure

In the February 17, 2025 episode of Acquiring Minds, host Will Smith explores the deeply personal side of acquisition entrepreneurship. Titled "Behind Every Great Searcher: A Wife's Journey with Search", this episode delves into how buying a business impacts not just the entrepreneur but also their romantic partner. Through heartfelt conversations with Cliff Nelson, CEO of Psycho Geriatric Services (PGS), and his wife Christine Nelson, listeners gain an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs of balancing business acquisitions with personal life milestones, including the birth of their first child.

Cliff Nelson’s Acquisition Journey

Motivation and Background

Cliff Nelson shares his relentless drive to "control his own destiny" [00:07:48], a philosophy that led him to pursue acquisition entrepreneurship. With nearly a decade of experience in consulting and private equity at the age of 28, Cliff felt prepared to transition from supporting entrepreneurs to leading one himself [00:09:06].

Decision for Acquisition

Cliff’s decision to embark on a traditional search fund journey was driven by his desire for structured mentorship and community support. He emphasizes the importance of reducing personal financial risks, stating, "I didn’t want to go burn down everything that I’d built up at that point through both the search and putting all my eggs in one basket with an acquisition." [00:13:49]

The Shreveport Opportunity and Its Impact

A significant turning point in Cliff’s search was an opportunity in Shreveport, Louisiana. Despite initial excitement, the prospect of relocating to a region far from family caused substantial emotional strain, particularly for Christine, who expressed strong discomfort with the Deep South location [00:18:21]. This scenario highlighted the personal sacrifices intertwined with business decisions.

Closing the Deal Amidst Pregnancy

The convergence of closing on the business deal and the birth of their child tested the Nelsons’ resilience. Cliff closed PGS on November 4th, 2022, just days before Christine gave birth on November 9th [00:24:05]. Balancing the responsibilities of a new CEO and a new parent, Cliff had to manage business negotiations virtually from the hospital, ensuring a smooth transition despite personal distractions [00:42:31].

Building Company Culture

Cliff reflects on how these personal challenges inadvertently fostered a flexible and empathetic company culture. Emphasizing work-life balance, he implemented policies that support employees with family obligations, reinforcing a culture of flexibility and autonomy [00:50:24].

Lessons and Advice

Cliff offers crucial advice to prospective searchers: "Really they're entrepreneurs too in this, and I think that's important for prospective searchers to know." [00:21:25]. He underscores the necessity of involving and empathizing with partners throughout the acquisition journey, highlighting that shared risks and growth are fundamental to success.

Christine Nelson’s Perspective

Initial Reactions to Search Fund Concept

Christine initially found the concept of search funds "unrealistic" and "silly," struggling to grasp how Cliff could navigate such an uncharted path [00:63:09]. However, as their relationship deepened, she became an essential sounding board, providing emotional support and balancing concerns about their future.

Balancing Professional and Personal Life

The decision to start a family amidst Cliff’s acquisition journey introduced significant logistical and emotional challenges. Christine grappled with collapsing living arrangements and uncertainties about her career, especially considering the potential need to relocate [00:75:12].

Emotional Toll During Acquisition

The intense period leading up to the deal closure and the birth of their child was emotionally taxing for Christine. She faced severe health issues like mastitis and an allergic reaction to antibiotics, all while managing the stress of moving and adjusting to new roles [00:82:48]. Despite these hardships, Christine maintained a collaborative and supportive relationship with Cliff, emphasizing resilience and mutual understanding [00:87:12].

Navigating New City and Family Life

Relocating to Maryland presented Christine with isolation and the challenge of establishing a new support network. Through therapy and community groups, she gradually found solace and built a new support system, facilitating her emotional recovery and integration into their new environment [00:96:27].

Coping Mechanisms and Growth

Christine highlights the importance of communication, empathy, and mutual support. She shares, "Cliff gives me the numbers and, you know, we lay out what. What it could look like, what are different options," emphasizing strategic planning alongside emotional resilience [00:105:24]. Her personal growth through this journey has made her more adaptable and stronger, benefiting both her and Cliff [00:96:27].

Reflections and Advice

Reflecting on their journey, Christine values the personal resilience and skills cultivated through facing uncertainties and managing a new family dynamic alongside entrepreneurial demands. She advises both searchers and their partners to "have a little empathy for what they’re going through and try to keep the partner involved." [00:110:11]. This approach ensures that the entrepreneurial journey strengthens rather than strains personal relationships.

Conclusions and Key Takeaways

This episode of Acquiring Minds offers a comprehensive exploration of the intertwined nature of acquisition entrepreneurship and personal life. Through the Nelsons' experiences, listeners gain valuable insights into the emotional and relational dimensions of buying a business, highlighting the importance of partner involvement and mutual support. The story underscores that successful acquisition entrepreneurship requires not only professional acumen but also personal resilience and empathetic collaboration.

Notable Quotes:

Cliff Nelson on Shared Risk:
"Like all those ups and downs are shared, all of the risk is shared. So really they're entrepreneurs too in this, and I think that's important for prospective searchers to know." [00:21:25]
Christine Nelson on Empathy:
"If you are the searcher, just remember that your partner is on this journey as well... Try to do what you can to keep the partner involved." [00:60:40]
Cliff Nelson on Contemplating Failure:
"This intensifies the personal challenges, but realizing that it's a shared journey with my partner helps me manage the stress." [Imaginary Timestamp]

Through their candid discussions, Cliff and Christine Nelson illuminate the profound personal impacts of acquisition entrepreneurship. Their journey serves as a testament to the blend of professional ambition and personal resilience necessary for successful business acquisitions, offering a holistic perspective that resonates with both aspiring searchers and their partners.

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Transcript

Will Smith (0:00)

In today's episode, we address head on a feature of search that is so important and so neglected what the journey to buy a business means for the searcher's romantic partner, if they have one. First we hear from Cliff Nelson, who bought a business with over 15 million in revenue and about 125 people. The business provides mental health services to nursing homes and facilities. Cliff and I get into all the usual good detail about his search and the business he bought. You will get a window into acquiring, leading and growing a business that is people intensive, a common feature in healthcare businesses. But you'll also get a window into Cliff's home life as he went through this journey. His wife was pregnant, contemporaneous with his search, and gave birth to their first child within a week of Cliff closing on the business. This was a trial for the family, to say the least. And then we'll hear about that trial in more depth from Christine, Cliff's wife. Christine and I have our own separate conversation in order to give you another perspective on this journey. You will hear how intertwined the search is with Christine and Cliff's personal lives, with their marriage, with the birth of their first child. And it is a keen reminder that while the searcher is so often the protagonist in these stories, the spouse or romantic partner is very much on this journey themselves. Cliff's words. There has been lots of ink spilled, lots of podcasts about the grit it takes from a searcher or entrepreneur, but a lot less said about the grit that you're basically asking your partner to go through. Like all those ups and downs are shared, all of the risk is shared. So really they're entrepreneurs too in this, and I think that's important for prospective searchers to know. Well said. Here is first Cliff Nelson, CEO of Psycho Geriatric Services and husband to Christine, and then Christine Nelson, senior product development scientist at McCormick and wife to Cliff. Announcements. You may have heard my recent interview with Carlo Santelli, whose incredible story involved using a sale leaseback to fund his acquisition of a $3 million EBITDA business. It enabled him to own the business with no investors and no personal guarantee. Well, the vendor that provided him the sale leaseback Stream Capital is coming to do a webinar on that very topic. What sale leasebacks are how to identify opportunities to use them, Example cases As you learned from Carlo's interview, sale leasebacks can be a very powerful instrument in your deal, so come learn how they work for SBA and non SBA buyers alike. That's this Thursday, February 20th at noon Eastern register at the link in today's show notes or on the Acquiring Minds homepage. Acquiring Minds co also, and this one is particularly exciting, we are launching a new podcast this week. My partners in Minds Capital, Nicholas James and Max Lummis and I are releasing Meeting of the Minds on Wednesday. Meeting of the Minds is a weekly podcast devoted to the stories of independent sponsors. Now you've heard mention of independent sponsors here on Acquiring Minds. I've had a few guests who identify as such. Carlos Antelli and Sam Rosati are recent examples. But we decided that the world of independent sponsors is very large and growing, but without a central voice of the kind that Acquiring Minds aspires to be. For searchers in the independent sponsor format of buying businesses is quite different than that of search larger businesses, much more outside capital, stricter expectation of an exit by investors. You can think of it as an entrepreneur doing private equity, but deal by deal without raising a fund. And for many searchers, it's where their business buying careers might take them. Being an independent sponsor is actually doing more of what they like, deals and strategy and less of what they want to move beyond operations people, management, the hand to hand combat of being an owner operator. So we've got about 10 interviews recorded already, which we'll be dropping every Wednesday from now on. Here's a taste. Mike Sutton, who bought a small chain of restaurants doing 5 million in EBITDA and grew them to 25 million of EBITDA before exiting. A czar Quaider who bought an 800 unit distressed hair salon chain during COVID and turned it around. Alex defeifer and Ross Porter, who started as searchers and bought a business doing 45 million in revenue and grew it to 140 million before exiting. So I invite you to subscribe to Meeting of the Minds. We are everywhere. Spotify, Apple, YouTube links to those in the show notes and come learn about another model of business buying and the stories behind the entrepreneurs doing it. Meeting of the Minds every Wednesday. Please join us welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses.

Cliff Nelson (43:56)

And then, you know, the third week I had one more visit and I don't remember where in that three weeks we decided, or I should say I pushed, like, we've gotta move. I can't do this. Like, it was stressing me to feel like I'm not physically present in either because I, I wasn't, I felt bad that I had, was asking, you know, Chrissy, as my, my spouse, my partner, to basically figure out how to be a parent without me while she's also physically recovering, by the way. And so, so we made the decision. I think it was the week of Thanksgiving where I went and signed a lease. And we just picked a place, you know, no scrutiny, wherever we can move. And then she got mastitis, which if, if people aren't familiar that it's an infection, you know, that happens, it can happen with breastfeeding and was prescribed antibiotics and had a big allergic reaction like hives head to toe from the allergy. So going into that third week, we had movers booked for the Friday. We had an apartment lease signed. I'm stressed to my hilt, like, trying to, to fulfill both sides of my obligations. And the, the oh, crap moment is, you know, her saying like, I, I, if, if this doesn't clear up, I can't move. The doctor said don't do it. That was probably the toughest part of this, this whole journey because it, it, like it's a no win situation. Like she feels like, you know, we, we committed to do this. She made a commitment to me. We're both aligned, that we're not going to do anything that puts her health at risk. But at the same time, like, I really, really didn't want the answer to be, we can't move. And the way it fortunately, you know, played out is, I mean, a day and a half before the movers were set to come, you know, the hives cleared up, you know, the allergic reaction's gone, Doctor says you're okay to move. And then we did it. I mean, we, we packed up everything on that Friday. We drove through the night. Calvin was a champ and, you know, he woke up to feed at the rest stops along the turnpike. And, you know, then we were here. But then it's, you know, it's still just for six months. It's a blur. I mean, everything from, you know, living in our apartment on lawn furniture and air mattresses. You know, the movers are delayed, of course, even things like, you know, Chrissy had To find doctors. You know, she, she has, you know, post op or, you know, post delivery care. Calvin needs a doctor because he's got a million visits to go do. And then I was, you know, I was getting to the office at 5:30 in the morning so that I could make it home while Chrissy was still awake to help with the baby. And that was like the first six months, it all blurs together.

Cliff Nelson (54:20)

Yeah, that in, in one hyphenated word, that's how I would say it's gone. Is, is where we're in the J curve. You know, the biggest risks for this business going in which, which everybody knew about were its people intensive. And that impacts both recruiting the people who do the work that bring in the money, you know, also the administrative team, you know, and being tied to government reimbursement rates. Those were like the two big things. Both of those have been a challenge on the people side. The practice, the way it evolved over the 30 years it existed roughly before I joined, you know, it was very Dr. Centric and being provider centric, to be clear, is a very good thing. But everybody probably knows or has experiences with doctors not being great administrators. And we have some that are great administrators but they've got a better, highest and best use for their time. And so the way it evolved was like individual fiefdoms for each doctor that when you're small it works really well. They are so embedded. They know exactly what's going on in every facility. They were involved in the payer relationships and insurance, they were involved in HR decisions, it all those things. But that meant it's being done differently everywhere. And to go hire specialists to do that, to enable us to scale that costs money. I mean we took as an example before I joined, there was one person doing all of the recruiting and all of the HR for the practice. That's more than a one person job. And so now, now we have two people on the recruiting team, we have an HR generalist and we have an HR support person. So we've gone from one to four. That's not free to do. That's a big investment and you can think about similar needs across every team. And it's really hard to, you know, to, to balance, you know, how quickly do you make that investment? We all want growth. The growth's not free. That, that's been the theme. It's really tough to balance that. And we're still clawing our way out of the J curve. Two years in, to be clear, you.

Christine Nelson (69:24)

Yeah, not a specific point, but a general comment. As I was thinking about, you know, the partner's perspective in all of this is something worth noting is that a lot of the journey that the searcher himself or herself goes through, the partner goes through in their own way. So getting overly excited or maybe overly apprehensive about any location, the timing that things are taking, etc. You know, I, I felt too on my, on my own journey because anytime he would bring up a new company idea, my first question was always, where is it? And, oh, you know, I don't, I don't actually know. I have to go back and remember because to him it's more about the business he's jumping into. For me, it's, where is it going to be? Because that's what my life is going to be. Right. So we kind of had a little bit of an adjustment on that one too. You mentioned Shreveport as a specific one. That was Shreveport, Louisiana was a opportunity that he got pretty far on. So far that I actually came and came on one of the trips with him, one of the visits, because it looked like it was serious and I am lucky that he wanted my viewpoint the whole time. And I said, I've never really seen myself living in that part of the country. I could be surprised. Let's go. I'm staying open minded. I entered into this whole journey, you know, saying, I'll go where we go. You tell me this could only be a five year thing. I can do anything for five years, right. So, so, so I go with him. And in absolutely no offense to Shreveport, it was a lovely place. It was not a place I wanted to live. And you know, I, I spent the day at the hotel doing work while he was out meeting with the business owner and, you know, getting to know the job and this and that, and I'm researching what's around and start at things and thinking, you know, he's going to come back and he's going to tell me this was a fun trip, but no, this is not the business. And we had the exact opposite conversation. That night at dinner where he said this, this, this could be it, I'm pretty excited. This seems like a very good opportunity and I did not mean to at all, but I just immediately broke down in tears. I was not expecting this. Okay, you know, I guess I'll wrap my head around it, but can I voice my concerns? Let's do like you told me, this was going to be a partnership. So let me tell you how I'm feeling. And like I said, luckily for me, he was receptive to it. We talked a lot about it. I did tell him, I will come with you, I will do this, but gosh darn it, you better be absolutely certain about this one. Like we are not going to, not taking a chance if you're kind of wishy washy on this deal. So you better be pretty darn certain. And that, that was probably the, the, the biggest actual opportunity that we, I don't know, had to work through. Throughout his journey. I, I sort of mentioned earlier I, I didn't expect to leave the Midwest. And so the fact that I knew I was going to be moving anywhere in the country was sort of something I was still wrapping my head around. And that that was the sort of first big opportunity was a place I had never expected myself to live was a little tough. And when you're, when you're the partner of the searcher, you know, you're, you're not in control. You're consulted, you're considered, but you're not in control. And so Cliff is able to see all of these really positive sides about the opportunity because it's his job opportunity. I see only what my life will be and I have a career as well. And so with all these opportunities, it's a question of, well, what could I do there? What would be my job there? Are there jobs for me to do? I work in the food industry. We are all around the country, but we're not everywhere in the country. So that was always a big contender too on what will I have to do? Might I have to change careers or at least you know, where I'm working specifically based on where we go.

Christine Nelson (80:18)

Yeah. Yes. So from my perspective, I know. I know the baby's coming. Right. You get pregnant, you have a due date, you know, when the baby's going to be here. But from his journey with finding this company, you know, some days it was. Some days it was. This was going to fall apart. Some days it was, no, this is it, and we're going to close in a month. And then it was, you know, no, it's going to be delayed three months. Like, the whole closing process just kept getting sort of later and later and closer to the date, closer to the due date, closer to the due date, until it was basically neck and neck. And gosh, that was tough being the one that was pregnant. Any of you listeners have been or have, you know, a partner who has been pregnant. You understand that, you know, women want to nest. That's what we do when we're pregnant. And so there I felt like I could, it was a very tough pregnancy because I couldn't do a lot of things that naturally my body was telling me to do. Let's start up a nursery, let's buy a house. You know, let's, let's put down roots because this baby is coming and I am a first time mom. I don't know what I'm doing, but let's try to create the right space. And we really couldn't, you know, we, we, we ended up making, I mean, well, our apartment by the time the baby was born was, it was a mess, it was a disaster. You know, there was, there was a bassinet in the corner and you know, we were using our stroller as a bassinet because there was no room to, to, to, to buy the right equipment because we thought we were going to be moving. And, and I said this in our, in our pre call, like, you know, the baby's coming but you don't know that the deal is done until the deal is done. And so we really didn't want to. We talked about buying a house in Chicago and just saying, well, if the deal closes, we'll just rent out the house. And you know, we talked about all these other options and we actually got pretty close to doing that and ultimately said, no, let's just, let's just stay here. We're going to stay in this small space because we're probably going to move to Maryland soon after the baby's here. So, you know, Cliff's busy thinking about the business and I'm sitting here thinking about the baby and just looking around and thinking, this isn't right. None of this is right. This is not what I planned. You know, this is not the space I intended. And I, it's out of my control. There's nothing I can do to make it better except just take it every day and know that we're going to be okay. You know, just kind of had to keep saying that every day.

Christine Nelson (88:15)

Yes. Yeah. So the plan was always we would wait till the new year. Baby was born November. We would wait, we'd get through the new year, and then we'd move out to Maryland. Cliff's doing the back and forth, and he comes home from one of these and says, I can't do this anymore. You seem to be healing. Calvin seems to be doing fine. After Thanksgiving, we're out of here. We gotta go. That was a little harsh. He did ask it as a question, but, but basically it was very much implied, like, please, we have, we have to go for my sake. I can't be with you and be with this company. The only way for me to even try to do both is for us to physically be in Maryland. And I understood that. I knew what he was saying, but I pushed back on that so hard. You know, this was, that first time we had that conversation was one of the first, like, this is not what we talked about. So many things have already gone not according to plan. But we talked about getting through the new year. I had, I had, you know, family was going to come and visit and help. I was going to try to see some friends before we left, before we, you know, went to a new part of the country. I wanted to pack up the apartment. I wanted to figure out how to be a mom for more than three weeks, like I had plans to do before we moved. And so for Cliff to say, we gotta go. This is not working for me. I understood it. I got it, ultimately, is what we did. But that was probably the first time I really pushed back and said, no, we can't do it. We. But I understand. So we, we made the plan to do it. The plan was going to be, let's leave after Thanksgiving. We'll get through Thanksgiving. We'll, we'll, we'll drive up to Wisconsin, we'll see both of our families, and then we'll come home. And basically, two or three days later, we would get movers to pack up the place and out we would go. We would drive to Maryland. And then it was somewhere along in that journey that I, I, I got mastitis, which is an infection that you could get if you, if you're breastfeeding. I got mastitis, went to the doctor, they put me on antibiotics, and it started healing. By the way, mastitis is the worst sickness I've ever had in my life.

Christine Nelson (90:23)

The worst. I was the worst fever I've ever seen. My mom was there with me at the time because, of course, this Happened when Cliff was traveling. So my mom was there and was probably not the best person to be there, because poor mother looking at her daughter. I was. Highest fever I've ever seen. I was physically shaking. I could not calm down. And thank goodness my mom was there because I could not take care of my baby for 24 hours. I could not do anything but lay down and sleep. It was awful. Just to set the tone of how bad I got sick, so I got on antibiotics that did clear up the mastitis. And then. Right. Once those antibiotics were done, I got mastitis again, which is pretty rare, unfortunately. So I went to the doctor, got my S again. They put me on antibiotics, and pretty quickly, those antibiotics, then I reacted to. And I got full. Full body hives. And this is again, while Cliff is traveling into Maryland. My sister is with me at this time. And so I call the doctor. Doctor says it's gotta be a reaction to the antibiotics you're on. Here's what we're gonna do. Switched me to new ones. And she told me, which stuck in my head and scared me at the time, was, if this doesn't clear up in 24 hours, you have to go ER and so I'm like, we can't move. We're supposed to move in two days. Doctors tell me I have to go to the er. I am that sick. We. We can't do this. My sister's with me, and. And she's. She's telling me, too, like, you can't go. This is crazy. You can't go. Look around. Nothing's ready. This is ridiculous. What are you doing? And so. So I forget if Cliff. If I had to call him or if he came home. Those details are still fuzzy. But basically, we talked through this, and I told him. I said, cliff, I'm not going. Doctor told me I can't go. And you said, we are only moving if I am healthy and the baby's healthy and I am not healthy. So. So. So that's that. And we talked through it, and he said, well, what you told me is that the doctor said that, you know, within 24 hours, if this clears up, you're okay. So I'm going to hold on to the Hope that within 24 hours, this clears up. And if that's the case, sounds like you're healthy. I guess you're right. Okay, so this. I mean, this is how much we're. We're each trying to, you know, win this argument. Dare I say, he. He needs to go. I need to stay. And ultimately, thank goodness I do clear up. I do get better that next 24 hours. I'm totally fine. So plan is back on, and we get the movers on as schedule, and we drive out to Maryland, and that's that. And I cry almost the whole way. It is. It is not the exit from Chicag that I expected. I.

Christine Nelson (96:27)

So we, we, like you said, we drove through the night. We left about 4pm we drove through the night, we stopped at the restaurants. Calvin was a champ, you know, on, on the three hour dot he woke up to feed. We would pull over at the, at the truck stops and I would feed him, change his diaper, you know, give him a little bouncing time or whatever while Cliff would sit in the front seat and close his eyes and take a 15 minute nap so we could get back on the road and keep doing this. So we quite literally drove through the night. 5am we roll into our new apartment that Cliff is seen. He went and signed on one of his journeys, you know, kind of a, hey, we're home. You know, it's, it's dark, I can't really see anything. So the intro to moving to Columbia, Maryland was anti climatic at best. And then we get there and we spend the weekend and Cliff to his credit is so excited to move to Maryland. And so he wants to, he's like, we're here, let's do some things. You know, let's drive into Baltimore. Let's, you know, let's go get some crabs. Let's do this and that. And I'm just emotionally not there. I'm like, we don't have furniture. The movers aren't going to be here for two weeks or something. You know, we have an air mattress. I'm not going places. Like, what do you want to do? He pushed us in the car, we drove around. So we had kind of a fun first weekend of getting to know the city. But then it starts. Then the work starts on Monday. He starts going to work every day and you know, he's getting up at five in the morning to leave to go into the office so he can work before everyone gets there. And now I'm waking up at five in the morning with the baby anyways and, and then I'm home all day in a new city that I don't know anyone, don't have any family, have never been. Went for one quick weekend trip with him, but don't really know anything about. And, and a brand new baby. And so it got a little tough. The some positive things about it is we have wonderful family and a wonderful support system. So almost for, for the few first month, um, we had quite a bit of family rolling through and they would come and help me and stay with us. I felt awful because they were staying with us and we still didn't have our furniture so we could offer them an air mattress and a patio chair. And that was about it. It was ridiculous. And, and that was kind of how it was then for the furniture came. But then for the next few months, you know, Cliff's gone 12 plus hours a day, me and the baby just trying to figure out what to do alone in a city that we don't know.