From: myfirstmillionpod
Sarah Moore, a figure previously unknown to the public and lacking social media presence, has emerged as a compelling example of hustle and creativity in entrepreneurship [00:01:09]. Despite having no money or experience, she successfully acquired and grew a multi-million dollar business, eggcartons.com, purely through sheer determination and unconventional methods [00:00:21]. Her story illustrates that success is often less about pedigree and more about willpower and innovative thinking [03:00:00].
An Unconventional Start
Sarah Moore’s journey is marked by an extraordinary background that fueled her drive. Coming from a difficult upbringing with no parents and a history of being in and out of jail, she found a turning point when a family took her in and taught her fundamental life lessons [01:17:09]. She admits to paying her sister to take the SAT for her to get into college, and then “hustled her way through college” [01:31:30]. This early experience instilled in her a profound fear of disappointing those who believed in her [00:52:21].
Her path to business school was also unique; despite lacking traditional academic strengths (she noted her intelligence was “below average” and her reading level was 33% when she started college), a mentor recognized her natural inclination for business and encouraged her to pursue it, emphasizing that business allowed for a greater impact than other fields [00:53:40].
Creative Business Search Strategies
Upon hearing about “search funds” – a concept where one can acquire an existing business and become CEO with little to no money or experience – Sarah realized this path was “very appealing” to her [00:07:40]. Lacking the financial background typically associated with business acquisitions, she decided to go it alone, seeing it as an opportunity to gain experience [01:28:44].
Her search process was characterized by resourceful and unconventional tactics:
- Leveraging Free Resources She utilized a smart friend from business school to scrape a database of private companies within a 90-minute radius of her Boston apartment [01:14:50].
- Hiring Unconventional Interns She found her best interns on Craigslist, preferring them over “cookie cutter” students from job boards [01:32:55]. She attracted them by offering a “private equity experience” with full transparency, allowing them to listen in on calls with owners, brokers, and attorneys [01:54:56]. She even obtained fake IDs for them to access the Harvard library for work [01:39:10].
- Mass Outreach with a Personal Touch Recognizing the low response rate from targeted emails, she shifted to a high-volume email strategy. She guessed email combinations using common patterns and sent generic emails that appeared personalized, stating she was looking for a business fitting specific revenue and profitability criteria [02:22:31]. This tactic made recipients believe she had done extensive research [02:46:02].
- “Industry is Overrated” Contrary to conventional wisdom, she quickly realized that the industry of a business was “absolutely irrelevant.” Her focus became finding an “established and consistently profitable” business, discarding rigid industry filters [01:17:14].
Innovative Acquisition and Growth
Sarah acquired eggcartons.com, a multi-million dollar business, with “all debt” and “no money in” [00:48:00]. Her key strategies for acquisition and subsequent growth included:
- Seller’s Note Financing A non-negotiable for her was a seller’s note, where the seller finances a portion of the purchase price over time [03:09:37]. She secured a 25% seller’s note and a 75% bank note, finding banks that viewed the seller’s note as equity [03:40:00]. This required approaching over 20 banks to find the right fit [03:25:00].
- Simplifying Communication She avoided jargon like “EBITDA” and used simple terms like “income” when discussing financials with sellers, which she believes helped build trust [03:32:00].
- Redefining the Business Initially, she thought she was in the “egg industry” but quickly realized, by analyzing customer order history, that she was in “specialty packaging” [04:25:00]. Forty percent of the business’s revenue came from non-egg related products, such as packaging for crickets, bath bombs, and cupcakes [04:40:50]. Her new mantra: “anything requiring protection and separation is fair game” [04:57:00]. This insight allowed for significant growth, especially during COVID-19, when the business experienced 5-6x growth [04:26:00].
- Play to Your Strengths Recognizing her limitations (not handy, not tech-savvy), she sought a simple business she could “walk into and day one more or less get it” [02:59:01].
- Delayed Changes A key lesson learned was “do not change anything big or really anything at all the first year” [04:40:00]. A seemingly simple change to the phone system caused a week-long outage and customer concerns, highlighting the importance of understanding existing operations before making major changes [04:52:00].
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Don’t Count Yourself Out
Sarah Moore’s story embodies the idea that persistence and grit are paramount. She emphasizes that anyone who “wants to buy and operate a small business can do so” [03:10:00]. Her strategies to “increase her luck” and proactively seek opportunities included:
- Leveraging Identity as an Advantage As a woman in a male-dominated broker community, she intentionally stood out at events by wearing high heels and loud colors, making herself memorable [01:12:00].
- Publicizing Her Intentions She wore a sweatshirt that read “I want to buy your business” with her phone number on the back, and even included her picture in mass faxes sent to potential sellers [01:12:50]. This audacious approach ensured maximum visibility in an untapped channel [01:14:00].
- “Do it for the Story” She operates with a mentality that “nothing is off limits,” embracing even seemingly “dumb” ideas as part of the process [01:15:23]. This commitment signals to herself and her team that they are “all in” [01:15:31].
Sarah believes that her humble beginnings provided her with skills not taught in formal education, enabling her to “pull herself up by [her] bootstraps and make [her] life what [she] want[s] it” [01:13:00]. Her experience is a powerful testament to entrepreneurial success stories achieved through sheer will and unconventional ingenuity. Her biggest fear is disappointing those who believed in her, which keeps her motivated [00:52:21].
For more insights into her journey, Sarah plans to share information through a Q&A format due to overwhelming inquiry volume, encouraging interested individuals to use a provided form for communication rather than contacting her directly [01:18:05]. She hopes to empower others to pursue entrepreneurship as a path to freedom [01:17:24].