Marcus’s individual position statement, written privately with Mediator.ai. See the full example for context.
What’s happening
I’ve worked for Joe for twelve years. I was twenty-two when I started. He’s been getting tired for a while now; his wife has been pushing him to retire. Last month he finally said it: he wants out within two years, and he wants me to take over.
I want to buy the shop. I’ve been thinking about this for three years.
The numbers are what they are:
- Joe wants $350k for the business (goodwill, equipment, customers). His building is worth another $220k.
- I have $40k saved. My in-laws have offered $30k. My bank said they’d lend me about $150k on an SBA loan with my house as partial collateral.
- So I can realistically put together around $220k. Joe wants $570k.
This only works if Joe finances a big chunk of it, and I know he knows that.
Where I’m at
I’ve run this shop in all but name for the last four years. I know the customers. I know the equipment. I know what Joe’s going to say before he says it. I’m not coming in cold; I’m already running the place.
What I’m worried about is three things.
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Joe’s son. Every time Joe mentions the sale, his son starts talking about “fair protection” for Joe — five-year non-competes, lockouts, clauses I’d have trouble unpacking without my own lawyer. I get it. Joe’s son wants to protect his dad’s retirement. But I’m not signing something that locks me out of my own trade for a decade if Joe’s customers drift away.
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The fleet accounts. Joe has four commercial customers. They’re about 40% of revenue and honestly some of them are “friends of Joe” as much as customers. If they leave when Joe leaves, I’m holding a business that suddenly generates a lot less than the number I’m paying for.
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The name. “Joe’s Auto Body” is on the sign. I’m proud of that name — it’s why I work there. But I’m also paying for it if I keep it, and changing it feels disloyal. I haven’t figured out what I want here.
What I want
- A structure where my monthly payments fit my real cash flow. If the business generates $120k net after Joe’s salary, and I take over, I need to cover my own pay, a loan payment, and Joe’s seller-financing payment, and still have room when a fleet account leaves for a month. That means payments spread over at least seven or eight years, and flexibility on timing if revenue dips.
- Some protection on the fleet accounts. If two of the big four leave in the first year because Joe left, that’s not “Marcus running the shop into the ground” — that’s the deal not being what we thought it was. I want a price adjustment or a pause on payments if that happens.
- A non-compete I can live with. Limited in time (say, three years), limited in geography (say, twenty miles), and — importantly — tied to the deal actually going through. If Joe stops getting paid because the business collapses and I have to walk away, he shouldn’t be able to use the non-compete to kick me out of my own career.
- A transition period. Joe at the shop one or two days a week for the first year, specifically for fleet-account handoffs. Paid fairly. I want him to be the one saying goodbye to those customers in person.
- Permission to take my time on the name. I don’t want to commit either way this year.
What I’m not willing to do
- Borrow more than my house is worth. I have two kids. I’m not going into this underwater.
- Sign a five-year statewide non-compete. If this doesn’t work out, I need to be able to feed my family.
- Pretend the fleet accounts are a sure thing. They’re a handshake relationship, and that relationship is with Joe.
What I’m afraid of
- That I’ll sign, two of the fleet accounts will leave, and I’ll spend five years grinding just to keep up with the payments I agreed to.
- That Joe’s son will push through clauses Joe doesn’t even really want, and we’ll end up with an agreement that Joe signs because he’s tired and I sign because I’ve waited twelve years for this.
- That Joe will keep coming in, informally, “to help,” after the transition period ends, and I’ll never fully be in charge.
What a good outcome looks like
I own Joe’s Auto Body. I know what I owe Joe, over what period, and what happens in the scenarios that actually scare me. Joe retires without worrying about his payments. His son is satisfied that his dad is protected. Nobody signs anything they’ll resent in three years. I run the shop for the next twenty-five years and when I retire, maybe my own head mechanic buys it from me.