Section 1
Where deals come from
Compare broker platforms, direct sourcing, professional networks, and owner referrals.
Course
Sourcing deals
Where listings come from, how to work brokers, and how to widen a search without wasting a season.
Course purpose
Who this course is for
This course is for a buyer who has defined a target and now needs a repeatable way to find and screen opportunities. It assumes you want a qualified pipeline, not a larger pile of unrelated listings.
Businesses reach buyers through broker listings, owner networks, professional referrals, and direct outreach. Each source has different information quality and incentives. The course explains how to use those channels without treating a listing summary as verified fact.
Fast screening matters because the cost of a weak deal is not only money. It also consumes attention that should be spent on better opportunities. A consistent first pass should test business model clarity, operating history, stated earnings, asking price, transferability, and obvious financing problems.
Brokers represent the seller. That does not make the relationship hostile, but it does mean the buyer must prepare questions, control disclosures, and verify every material claim elsewhere.
A useful pipeline records the source, fit, next question, owner, and disposition for every opportunity. That history prevents repeated work, shows where qualified deals originate, and makes the search process easier to improve.
Course outcomes
What you should be able to do
- Build a pipeline across brokered, off-market, and referral sources.
- Apply the same quick screen to every new listing.
- Document why a listing advances or leaves the pipeline.
- Prepare for a first broker call without giving away the buyer's limits.
Section 2
The first listing screen
Reject obvious mismatches before investing time in a detailed model.
Section 3
Working with brokers
Understand representation, incentives, NDAs, and the purpose of an initial call.
Section 4
Off-market sourcing
Build a focused outreach process around the acquisition target rather than sending generic messages.
Section 5
From interest to CIM
Organize the early sequence from inquiry and confidentiality through the first information package.
Inside LearnHouse
The course deliverable
The paid course includes a screened deal pipeline and a first-call preparation script. The pipeline records why each rejected listing failed, which builds faster pattern recognition over time.
Before you start
Complete Finding Your Fit first so the screen has a defined industry, geography, capital range, and operating profile.
Continue the work
Related guides, tools, and courses
Business acquisition guidePlace sourcing inside the complete buying sequence.Valuation calculatorRun an early asking-price and earnings check.Market ScoutRun the market scan the course teaches on any US address and read the public record behind it.Deal SourcingThe off-market list: SBA charge-offs and lending records by state, county and ZIP.Continue to evaluating businessesLearn what to do after a listing passes the first screen.
What you are and are not buying
Before you open a course you can have all of your money back, for any reason. Opening it delivers it, and after that the purchase is final.
That guarantee covers the instruction. It does not cover whether you buy a business, or what any business you buy earns or sells for. Nobody can honestly promise that, and anyone who does is selling you something.
There is no time limit on the first half of that and no exception to the second. Open nothing and ask, and you get everything back. Open it and it is yours.
Results vary. Nothing here is financial, legal, or tax advice.