419: Meet The Woman Who Makes $50M With Boring Businesses w/ Codie Sanchez

Podcast: Download (Duration: 41:02 — 47.2MB)

To buy a small business, you find owners through word of mouth and your own personal profit-and-loss statement, then structure the deal with seller financing or SBA loans so you put down little or no cash. Codie Sanchez built a $50 million portfolio doing exactly this with laundromats, car washes, ice vending machines, and other “boring” businesses that cash flow from the day you close.

In this episode I sat down with Codie Sanchez, founder of Contrarian Thinking and co-founder of Unconventional Acquisitions, to break down her playbook: why boring beats sexy, the two deal-sourcing methods she uses most, how to buy a business for zero dollars down, and why buying beats starting in a recession.

Below is the full breakdown: what qualifies as a boring business, the 13-plus ways to find deals, seller financing structures, the bonds-versus-stocks portfolio framework, and the “do unscalable things first” path from side hustle to real ownership.

Key takeaways

• Boring businesses cash flow on day one of closing. No product-market fit risk, no ramp, no waiting.
• You can buy a business for $0 down. Seller financing and revenue-share deals mean the seller gets paid from future profits.
• Shutting down a business costs money too. Licenses, LLC dissolution, bank accounts, staged layoffs. Many owners would rather hand it to you.
• Source deals from your own P&L. Look at every company you pay money to and ask which are small enough to acquire.
• Buy instead of start in a recession. Locked-in debt gets eaten by inflation while you raise prices freely.
• Think bonds and stocks. Own several steady cash-flow businesses (bonds) plus one or two asymmetric bets (stocks).
• Do unscalable things first. Only then do you learn what actually scales, and you can sell the former to fund the latter.

What is a “boring business” and why do they make money?

A boring business is one you would never have dreamed of running as a kid: a laundromat, a sprinkler company, a car wash, a landscaping crew, an ice vending route. They make money because they serve the local spending that dominates real household budgets, and almost nobody competes for them.

Look at where people actually spend. Housing, cars, food, and then a long tail of local services: plumbing, HVAC, landscaping, restaurants, car washes.

Most people do not use a Silicon Valley tech stack daily. They use local businesses daily.

The cultural assumption that wealth comes from tech startups is true for a very small number of people. For everyone else who wants to provide for their family and improve their community, boring businesses are the accessible path, and you profit while providing a service people actually need.

How to find a small business to buy: the 2 methods that work best

The two highest-yield methods for finding a small business to buy are public declaration (telling everyone, constantly, that you buy businesses) and mining your own profit-and-loss statement for acquisition targets.

Public declaration: say it on every social platform and in every conversation. “I buy boring businesses.” Retiring owners, patriarchs and matriarchs whose kids do not want the company, and burned-out operators will surface through word of mouth.

Your own P&L: list every company you pay money to. Which are small enough to acquire? You cannot buy Google, and you might be able to buy the ship center down the street that you use every week. Start by getting to know that owner.

Entry-level marketplaces (Flippa, BizBuySell, Empire Flippers) work for a first deal, and they are also where everyone else is looking. The asymmetric deals come from relationships.

How to talk to a business owner about buying their company

Talk to a business owner about buying their company by disarming them first: reveal a real number or a real problem from your own business before asking about theirs. Reciprocity does the work.

The script that works opens with your own situation: “I run a couple of small businesses too. Here is a pain point I am dealing with right now.”

Then give a real number and turn it back to them: “We do about $300,000 in this one business, and labor is really tough. How about you guys? How big is this business?”

Almost everyone will tell you. Business owners want to talk about their businesses, and the vulnerability of going first makes it a conversation instead of an interrogation.

If you do not own a business yet, the same approach works with a small adjustment.

Try: “I am obsessed with businesses. I do not own one right now, and I have been looking at a bunch. Your model seems interesting, so how does it work?”

How to buy a business with little or no money down

You can buy a business with little or no money down using seller financing, where the seller receives a percentage of future revenue or profits instead of a lump sum at close. Some businesses can be acquired for literally zero dollars.

The reason this works is counterintuitive: shutting down a business costs money. Dissolving LLCs, canceling licenses, closing bank accounts, terminating services, and in states like California, laying off employees on a legally mandated schedule. That bill can run into thousands of dollars.

For a struggling owner, handing the business to someone who will run it and pay a revenue share is strictly better than paying to shut it down. Drew Sanaki is known for acquiring businesses at zero cost this way, offering the seller a share of future profits in exchange for his operating expertise.

Should you pay cash or structure an earnout?

Pay cash when you want the previous owner gone, and structure an earnout when you want them to stay. The deal structure follows what you actually want out of the acquisition.

If you are acquiring a small business whose systems you intend to replace entirely, pay upfront and take the short-term hit. Offer $50,000 now versus a larger amount spread over time, with the condition that they exit. You do not need their knowledge and you do not want their involvement.

If you need the owner’s relationships, knowledge, or operational continuity, structure it as an earnout. “I will give you $25,000 today, or $75,000 if you stay three years at $25,000 per year.” Now their incentive is aligned with the transition succeeding.

The core question before any acquisition is deal clarity: what do you actually want from this deal?

Why buying a business beats starting one in a recession

Buying a business beats starting one in a recession because you can lock in debt at today’s rates while inflation erodes the real value of that debt, and because businesses go on sale during downturns.

The mechanics: take an SBA loan or seller financing to acquire a cash-flowing business, and your interest rate is fixed. Inflation eats away at the real cost of that debt over time.

Meanwhile you can raise prices on your customers relatively freely, unlike a landlord who typically gets one rent increase per year.

Starting a business in a recession means spending capital now against uncertain future revenue. Buying means acquiring revenue that already exists, at a discount, financed with debt that inflation is quietly paying down for you.

The bonds-versus-stocks framework for a business portfolio

The bonds-versus-stocks framework treats steady cash-flow businesses as bonds and high-upside ventures as stocks. Own several bonds for reliable income and one or two stocks for asymmetric return.

A laundromat is a bond. You put in $1,000 and expect $10 a month back, indefinitely.

Nobody is taking a laundromat from $100,000 a year in profit to $3 million. The point is consistency, and owning several of them.

Contrarian Thinking, Codie’s media company, is a stock. Capital goes in with the expectation that returns accelerate non-linearly. It requires ongoing investment and it might produce a much larger outcome.

Real estate sits somewhere in between: excellent for depreciation, tax treatment, and long-term appreciation, and harder to cash flow well relative to the down payment, especially as rates rise.

Why you should do unscalable things first

Do unscalable things first, because only then do you learn what actually scales, and you can sell the unscalable business to fund the scalable one. The first venture’s job is education and capital, not permanence.

The path looks like this. Rent your own car on Turo, then ask neighbors if you can list theirs.

Buy a second car with the proceeds, then a third, fourth, fifth. Discover the model does not scale past a certain point because you are physically driving cars around town.

Then sell that business and use the proceeds to buy a used car lot or a web exchange in the automotive space, both of which have better return profiles. Assets are transferable. The skill you gained transfers with them.

Why multiple income streams beat one obsessive focus

Multiple income streams protect you from catastrophic failure, and single obsessive focus produces the largest possible outcomes. Which one is right depends entirely on your risk tolerance.

The case for focus (Alex Hormozi’s position) is that every additional business splits your attention and dilutes your results. That advice carries survivorship bias.

It worked because his one business won. Had it failed, all the eggs were in one basket.

Codie’s approach: many lines in the water, so something is always biting. No single $50 million exit, and a long series of six- and seven-figure exits that produced a comfortable life with far less sleepless risk.

The practical middle ground: one main thing at a time, plus one side project. Never start three at once. When a business shifts from “figure it out” to “manage it,” bring in an operator and move to the next growth problem.

How Codie Sanchez grew her newsletter to 120,000 subscribers

Codie grew Contrarian Thinking to roughly 120,000 subscribers primarily by adding value inside other people’s audiences (Facebook groups, Reddit, Twitter) rather than through SEO or viral distribution on her own channels.

The Facebook group tactic, done correctly: post a genuinely interesting story with real numbers as a standalone comment, no link. “I just talked to a woman who bought land in Joshua Tree for $10,000, listed 10 spots on Hipcamp at $50 a night, and now makes $13,000 a month. I was wondering how I might do this differently.”

People ask for more, and then you offer the blog post. At that point moderators cannot reasonably remove it, because members are actively requesting it.

If nobody bites on the story, you do not drop the link at all.

The email list is the focus because it is the only audience you own. Every social platform is rented.

Frequently asked questions

What is a boring business?

A boring business is an unglamorous local service or asset-based company: laundromats, car washes, ice vending machines, landscaping, sprinkler repair, trucking. They cash flow from day one of acquisition, face little competition from other buyers, and serve the local spending that dominates real household budgets.

How much money do you need to buy a small business?

Anywhere from $0 to millions, depending on structure. Seller financing and revenue-share deals let you acquire a business with no money down, since the seller is paid from future profits. SBA loans cover much of the rest. The capital requirement is a function of deal structure, not business size.

Can you really buy a business for no money down?

Yes, through seller financing or a revenue-share arrangement. It works because shutting down a business costs the owner money (LLC dissolution, license cancellation, staged layoffs in states like California). Handing it to an operator who pays a share of future profits often beats paying to close it.

How do you find small businesses for sale?

Two methods work best: tell everyone constantly that you buy businesses (word of mouth surfaces retiring owners), and mine your own profit-and-loss statement for companies small enough to acquire. Marketplaces like Flippa and BizBuySell work for a first deal and are also where every other buyer is looking.

Should you buy or start a business in a recession?

Buy. You lock in debt at current rates while inflation erodes its real value, you acquire revenue that already exists rather than spending capital chasing uncertain revenue, and businesses go on sale during downturns. You can also raise prices more freely than a landlord can raise rent.

What is the difference between a bond business and a stock business?

A bond business is steady and predictable: a laundromat generating consistent cash flow that will never 30x. A stock business is an asymmetric bet where returns can accelerate non-linearly, like a media company. A healthy portfolio holds several bonds for reliable income and one or two stocks for upside.

Is it better to focus on one business or diversify?

Single focus produces the largest possible outcomes and carries the most catastrophic downside. Diversification produces a comfortable life with far less risk. The practical middle ground is one main venture plus one side project, never three at once, bringing in an operator once a business shifts from figuring it out to managing it.