Acquiring Minds Podcast Summary

Episode: "When You Buy a Glorified Job, Not a Business"

Host: Will Smith
Guest: Tato Corcoran, Owner of Brandt Molded Marble
Original Air Date: December 24, 2025

Overview

This episode features the gripping, candid story of Tato Corcoran’s acquisition of a tiny manufacturing “business” in Milwaukee, which turned out to be more of a “glorified job” optimized for the previous owner’s lifestyle than a true, systems-driven enterprise. With no manufacturing experience, Tato endured brutal financial and emotional challenges in her first months—at one point crying daily—but managed to more than double revenue in 18 months, hitting $1M in sales by 2023. Tato lays bare the realities of small business acquisition, hiring struggles, lessons learned, and her path from chaos to cautious optimism.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tato’s Background & Entrepreneurial Path

• Grew up in SF Bay Area, spent nearly a decade as an executive assistant at Salesforce.
• Always entrepreneurial; early side hustles in eBay selling and flipping items (05:09).
• COVID led her to Milwaukee, exposure to real estate investing, discovered business acquisition via podcasts and Cody Sanchez’s material.
• Sought business acquisition as a faster route to financial freedom compared to slow-cashflowing real estate. (13:52)

Quote:
“Real estate is such a long-term game… If I can buy businesses that cash flow, you know, 4x what my real estate does… that’s my road to freedom.” — Tato (13:52)

2. The Search: Direct Mail and Market Dynamics

• Employed aggressive, personalized direct mail—thousands of handwritten-style letters with her picture—to business owners (16:46, 26:03).
• Contrary to the narrative of a seller’s market, she found many small owners had no buyers or suitors.
• Many owners were shocked to get a genuine inquiry. (20:04)

Quote:
“I always put my picture on every piece of direct mail because I immediately stand out that I'm a young girl… I got so many calls that started with, ‘Is this real?’” — Tato (18:52, 20:04)

The Secret to Lists

• Used Reference USA/Data Axle (via public library access) for highly accurate, segmented business owner lists. (26:46)
• Advocates for regular envelopes, handwritten addresses, and emotional, respectful appeals in direct mail. (25:13)

3. The Acquisition: Brandt Molded Marble

Discovery & Initial Reluctance

• Broker pitched a small manufacturing shop that didn’t interest her at first. Owner was ready to shutter (31:57–32:53).
• Incentive was mostly the real estate value (building + land); brought a commercial real estate friend to gauge value (31:52).

Business Snapshot at Purchase (40:38)

• 3 employees (one about to leave); revenue mostly $300–500K (often closer to $350–400K).
• Equipment and facility not maintained; prices hadn’t changed in years.
• The “business” was essentially an owner-operated job, not a scalable company.

Quote:
“He didn’t have a business… he had a job that paid him okay and he had a couple of loyal people working for him. That’s not a business.” — Tato (40:03)

Deal Terms

• Seller wanted $1.3M (including real estate); Tato offered $750K, focusing on real estate value (46:20).
• Used a real estate, not business loan. Her down payment: ~$125K, but total up-front and subsequent investment ballooned due to unexpected expenses and bleeding cash.

4. The Nightmare Unveiled

Post-Close Reality (50:18)

• Acquired during peak supply chain disruption: raw materials skyrocketed, labor shortage acute.
• Business hemorrhaged cash for 7–9 months, losing ~$10K/month (70:08).
• Debt radically changed cost structure; new owner inefficiencies compared to “owner-involved” prior operator.
• Equipment, facility, and staffing were all worse than anticipated; prior owner’s “efficiencies” were really just deferred maintenance or ignored costs (54:17).

Emotional Toll

• Nonstop stress; “cried every day on the kitchen floor” the first four months (73:46).
• Constantly scrambling for cash; maxed out credit cards, lent on property, sold a house to fund continued operation (64:53).

5. Transformational Hiring Insight

Early Attempts

• Big failures with Indeed, staffing agencies. Paid $15K to an agency for three hires, all of whom failed to perform/had to be fired (73:02).

Breakthrough: Tapping the Immigrant Community (75:59)

• Pivotal moment: posted translated job ads in Milwaukee Latino Facebook “Compra Venta” groups.
• Lands Christian, whose work ethic, reliability, and management potential transformed the team. He became shop manager; began hiring exclusively from immigrant networks.
• Created a durable, refer-a-friend hiring pipeline and learned Spanish herself to bridge communication.

Quote:
“He made me feel like I could do it. We just had this bond… Since then I have only hired immigrants. And it has completely changed my business and my entire life.” — Tato (76:12)

6. Rebuilding and Growth

Restructuring

• Gave equity to stepson Noah to keep key know-how (consistent with “owner-involved” business).
• Shifted entirely to an all-Latin, Spanish-speaking labor force; added a bilingual woman for diversity and translation.
• Is now mostly “staff stable” but aspires to be “overstaffed” to buffer against attrition. (88:10)

Financial Results (88:10)

• First year: More than doubled top-line revenue, hitting $1M+ (from prior ~$400K ceiling).
• Moved from months of losses to posting a profit in 2023 (though still paying herself a modest salary of $1,500/month, reinvesting all profits in growth capacity).
• Achieved this with minimal customer attrition, despite having to raise prices 40%+.

7. Lessons, Psychology, and Looking Forward

Notable Wisdom

• Buying “a job” vs. a business means you’ll have to build pricing, systems, and much more from the ground up.
• Big price increases, while necessary, can be achieved with honest communication—especially if supply is sticky.
• The business you buy isn't the business you inherit; debt, market context, and staffing change everything. (54:01)
• Owner “efficiencies” are often luck, accrued knowledge, or deferred pain, not transferable systems.
• Growth is not always a silver lining—profitable growth is much harder than simply generating more sales (67:45).

Emotional Arc

• From daily tears to cautious optimism; still hard, still emotional, but now feels “empowered” by the journey.
• Finds fulfillment and personal growth, despite significant financial and emotional cost. (101:57–104:27)
• Strong relationships with employees (“I care too much… I grow attached to my employees. I love them.” (94:41)).

On Being a Woman in Manufacturing (97:28)

• Encounters constant disbelief and disrespect. Must repeatedly assert credibility.
• “You show up every day and you take it in the face… But you figure out how to not only grow accustomed to it, but how to thrive in it.”

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Direct Mail Search (20:04):

  “I got so many calls that started with like, is this real? Are you really looking to buy… businesses like this?”

• On the Business She Bought (40:03):

  “He didn’t have a business. He had a job that paid him. Okay… That does not by any means mean that you own a business.”

• On Hiring Immigrants (76:12):

  “Since then I have only hired immigrants. And it has completely changed my business and my entire life.”

• On Early Pain (73:53):

  “I had pretty much cried every single day leading up to that, just like, in general, but this was like full blown… I was on the kitchen floor just bawling.”

• On Personal Growth (104:10):

  “I have never grown more as a person than I have in the last 18 months. I honestly don’t know if I would have grown this much… in two decades had I stayed where I was.”

• On Women in Manufacturing (97:34):

  “I go to work every single day with all men… To grow how I want to grow, I have to sell to all men. But you figure out how to not only grow accustomed to it, but… how to thrive in it.”

Key Takeaways

• Buying a lifestyle business often means you inherit a “job,” not a turnkey operation.
  Underestimate what's needed—especially around staff, pricing, and systems—at your own peril.

• Real estate value can be a risk hedge but doesn’t eliminate operational pain.
  Tato's deal structure limited her downside but didn’t save her from near-disaster post-close.

• Hiring can make or break operational transformation.
  Leveraging underserved hiring channels (immigrant and non-traditional labor pools) was transformative.

• Expect emotional extremes, long learning curves, and personal growth.
  The hardest stretches fostered the most growth; emotional attachment and stress are part of the journey.

• In “sticky” niche markets with few suppliers, strong service and communication can offset knowledge or credibility gaps.
  Tato’s honesty, responsiveness, and willingness to learn bought customer patience as she rebuilt.

Structural Timeline

• 00:00–16:46 — Tato’s background: tech career, COVID, leap into real estate, discovery of business acquisition through podcasts.
• 16:46–29:56 — Direct mail campaigns, search process, and the path to finding Brandt Molded Marble.
• 29:56–54:17 — Deal specifics, due diligence misses, shock of “buying a job,” early post-close financial/labor crises.
• 54:17–76:12 — Supply chain, customer/pricing challenges, first calamities, key emotional moments.
• 76:12–88:02 — Breakthrough in hiring, building an all-Latino team, learning Spanish for communication.
• 88:02–104:31 — Results to date, financial status, mental health, being a woman in the trades, reflections on the journey.

Final Reflection

Tato’s saga is an unvarnished look at the pitfalls and possibilities of small business acquisition. Her story offers caution to would-be acquirers: Don’t mistake a “job” for a business, and never underestimate the storm that can follow a seemingly simple transaction—especially when you lack industry experience. Still, her perseverance, adaptability, and people-first approach demonstrate how transformation is possible with grit and learning-by-doing.

To connect with Tato:
Message her on LinkedIn—she’s “very easy to find because my name is so weird.” (104:31)