Real World Lessons in Acquisitions and Deal Making With Paul Lajoie [Ep.207]

What if the smarter path to building wealth online isn't launching a new business… but acquiring something that already works? In this episode of The Opportunity Podcast, we sit down with Paul Lajoie, a CPA turned acquisition entrepreneur who has bought more than 25 businesses over the past two decades. Paul breaks down his experience starting businesses from scratch vs buying established businesses. The difference is night and day. Paul's success rate in buying businesses is 92%. When starting from scratch? Just 25%. A large part of Paul's success is his buying criteria. He focuses on businesses that have been around for at least ten years and have already survived economic downturns. He looks for proof of resilience, not just potential. He also opens up about the early mistake that nearly derailed his first deal. Running out of working capital was a hard lesson, but one that shaped how he approaches every acquisition today. We also discuss why the structure of a deal can matter more than the purchase price, how seller financing works in practice, and the importance of diversification in business success. If you're an online business owner thinking about buying instead of building, or an entrepreneur searching for a smarter path to financial freedom, this conversation will challenge how you think about growth, risk, and long-term wealth. Topics Discussed in this episode: Paul's experience going from being a CPA to buying 25 businesses (02:15) Buying vs building from scratch and why Paul prefers acquisitions (05:11) Paul's acquisition criteria and why deal structure matters more than price (07:01) Paul's advice on seller finance deals and how he finances his acquisitions (15:37) Due diligence best practices and major red flags to avoid (20:05) The niches Paul favors and how to protect businesses from AI (23:17) Why diversification is critical for long-term success (32:11) The realities of absentee ownership and the importance of working capital (36:17) How Paul manages multiple businesses at the same time (51:37) The best professional advice Paul has ever gotten (53:22) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcasts Empire Flippers Marketplace Create an Empire Flippers account

You can listen to Real World Lessons in Acquisitions and Deal Making With Paul Lajoie [Ep.207] online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Real World Lessons in Acquisitions and Deal Making With Paul Lajoie [Ep.207] is an episode from The Empire Podcast - Buying and Selling Websites | Investing in Online Assets and Businesses by Justin Cooke and Joe Magnotti.

This episode is 56:12 long.

This episode was published on Feb 24, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Empire Podcast - Buying and Selling Websites | Investing in Online Assets and Businesses when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.