We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Hobby or Hustle? We Review a Wild $5K Decoy Business

Hobby or Hustle? We Review a Wild $5K Decoy Business

2025/6/25
logo of podcast Acquisitions Anonymous - #1 for business buying, selling and operating

Acquisitions Anonymous - #1 for business buying, selling and operating

AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
B
Bill
C
Chelsea
H
Heather
M
Michael
帮助医生和高收入专业人士管理财务的金融教育者和播客主持人。
M
Mills
Topics
Michael: 我在推特上发起了一个征集,寻找最疯狂的商业 listing,结果发现了一个加拿大的鸭诱饵制造业务,售价仅为 5999 加元。这个价格实在太低了,让人怀疑这究竟是一个真正的商机,还是仅仅一个清理车库的甩卖。虽然 listing 上显示该业务年收入 50 万美元,利润 2.5 万美元,但财务报表是 2018 年的,这让人对业务的真实情况产生了疑问。我个人认为这可能是一个被低估的机会,或者只是一个卖家想要快速套现的手段。 Mills: 我对鸭诱饵业务有所了解。通常,猎人会使用静态的鸭子模型来吸引猎物,而这种运动鸭诱饵通过拍打翅膀来增加吸引力。虽然这个产品本身并不独特,市场上有很多类似的产品,但如果价格合适,仍然可能是一个不错的机会。不过,我担心的是,这种业务的利润空间可能很小,而且竞争激烈,需要仔细评估。 Chelsea: 我对这个 listing 也感到非常困惑。5999 加元的价格实在太低了,很可能是一个笔误。而且,2018 年的财务报表也让人怀疑业务的当前状态。我猜测这可能只是卖家想要清理库存,或者这个业务已经不再盈利。对于买家来说,需要非常谨慎,仔细核实业务的各项数据,避免掉入陷阱。我认为5%的利润率太低了,需要谨慎考虑。

Deep Dive

Chapters
The podcast hosts discuss a peculiar online business listing: a duck decoy manufacturing business in Canada priced at $5,999 CAD, boasting $500,000 in gross revenue (2018 data) and $25,000 in earnings. They question whether it's a legitimate business or a garage cleanout.
  • A Canadian duck decoy business listed for ~$4,300 USD.
  • 2018 financial data used in the listing.
  • Speculation about the business's true nature: hobby, real business, or inventory liquidation.
  • Discussion of low profit margins (5%) and the risks of such businesses.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

So I went on Twitter and I said, "Hey, give me the craziest business listing that you've seen lately." And I got 30 responses. It says retirement. Maybe the person needs like money for a flight. I'm just going to sell my business so I can go to Bora Bora. One day I will find a diamond in the rough on Craigslist. Our most popular episode.

of this podcast for the first couple years was we interviewed a guy and he came on and he talked about how he found a business on loop net and he bought it and six months later how happy he was

Hey everyone, it's Bill. And I want to tell you about maybe the most exciting sponsor we've had in a long time on the pod. It's called Capital Pad. And it is the thing that I wish existed when I started my journey of operating and investing in small businesses. So Capital Pad is a marketplace for acquisition entrepreneurs. That is people who want to buy a business and need capital to list their deals and solicit capital from other people who want to invest in

in acquisition deals. So if you want to back somebody buying a small business, Capital Pad is the place to do it. And if you want to buy a business and need capital, you can go on Capital Pad to be introduced to investors. So the really great thing too, from the investor side is that Capital Pad takes care of all of the details that can get hairy with small business acquisitions.

They handle standardized terms, standardized governance, standardized distributions, all upfront in black and white. Basically, Capital Pad professionalizes investing in small businesses. And the returns can be really, really good. I'm so stoked they exist. It's founded by my friend Travis, who is a phenomenal entrepreneur in his own right.

So if this sounds like something that's appealing to you, if you want to buy a small business and need capital, or if you want to invest in small businesses, go check out CapitalPad.com and tell them that Acquisitions Anonymous sent you.

Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous, internet's number one podcast about buying and selling small businesses. Today's episode was a crazy Canadian deal that involved hunting and four co-hosts. So it was really fascinating because the business, as you'll discover, was for some reason priced at like 0.1 times earnings. So like a 10th of the annual earnings was what they promised in this deal. So super fun. Here's the episode. All right. So I got one for you guys. So here's what I did last night.

I went on Twitter. I don't know if you guys are aware. I tweet a lot. So I went on Twitter and I said, hey, give me the craziest business listing that you've seen lately. And I got 30 responses. Twenty nine of them were spam porn bots. But one guy, one guy did respond with a deal. And it's up in Canada.

And I'm not sure if it's really ridiculous or not, but it looked cool. And a real person responded. So let me try to share it. This is from buyandsellabusiness.com, which is not, this is the first time we've ever looked at this listing site. A village wealth company. And then they misspelled wealth. What is this? W-E-L-L-T-H?

What the hell is going on here? It's actually a really good company in Canada. I know the founders. This is like Chuck E. Cheese started a business listing service. All right. So the picture on the front is a duck.

And it appears to be a fake duck. And the title is a unique and successful hunting decoy manufacturing operations. Our motion duck decoy products are the result of our latest development collaboration with the hunting experts in Canada and the United States. Rotating plastic molded wings attached to a heavy duty direct drive water seal DC motor, which produces motion that creates an unstoppable natural attraction.

Powered by a single six-volt sealed lead-acid battery, this motor rotates the spinning wings at just the right speed. The on-off switch is conveniently located on the outside of the duct decoy body beneath the duct's tail. Our motion duct decoy offers unrivaled durability. So the business is for sale for $5,999 Canadian. So, Heather, how much is that in real money? I have no idea. I don't know the conversion. I don't have that information.

foreign exchange calculator in my head. So the business is for sale for 6,000 Canadian, let's say 5,000 US dollars. They last year of their completed statements was 2018. Their gross revenue is $500,000 and they make $25,000 a year. They are selling a hundred percent of the business and they are retiring. And that's it. The business is for sale for like a 0.25 earnings multiple.

It looks like it. So, Mills, you look like somebody that would own a gun. What does this business do? I actually... I know these decoys. They're... So...

I don't have one of these, but I've seen them. Whenever you duck hunt, you set out decoys. And most of them, 99% of them, are just ducks that sit in the water. And they have a little lead weight on them and a string. And you call the ducks. And when they come in, they see your decoys. And then they land. And when they go to land, you shoot them. This is a step above that. And this is a moving decoy that flaps its wings. And this...

then it confuses the ducks even more. And they, they want to come land by your decoys even more. You would intersperse these with like a regular decoy. What's weird to me is that this is not unique and proprietary to them. Like these, these exist. You could Google search this and there's tons of people who make them. I don't think it's, you know, protected by any intellectual property or anything like that. Maybe some of the design is unique, but it's,

moving decoys, especially duck decoys that flap their wings is not unheard of. And the components they're showing a picture of the components probably come from China because it's little electronic components. A little electric motor with the... Yeah. Like you import these little electronic components and you assemble them. It's, you know, they call it manufacturing, but it's probably pretty close to just kind of assembly because you probably ordered the duck decoy

I assume it's plastic parts from somewhere, and then you bring it all together, and you put it together and sell it online, I suppose? Or I don't know if they're wholesaling it as a manufacturer. Yeah, they don't tell us. No. Chelsea, you look at a lot of deals. What do you think is going on with this listing? I'm so confused. I don't know because I almost feel like...

It has to be a typo because that's just not any money. Maybe they meant $50,999 Canadian dollars. I did check the conversion. This $5,999 Canadian dollars is like $4,300 US dollars. It's getting cheaper every minute, Mills. So maybe it's like a two. Maybe they want a two times earnings multiple. That would make more sense. It says retirement. Maybe the person needs like money for a flight. Yeah.

I'm just going to sell my business so I can go to Bora Bora for, you know, I'll never come back. I don't know. This is, I'm just confused. I mean, the business is almost 25 years old. So, I mean, it sounds more like a, and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but like kind of like a hobby because 500,000 in revenue after that long in service is

Like, is it possible that this person is just making them right? Like, I don't know that there's a team given that it's,

I don't know. I'm just confused by a lot of things. I feel like someone's got a garage full of these parts. That is literally what is in my head. Yeah. They put them together and they're hoping they can, someone can buy it and keep, keep going. It's like, you're just buying them out of the inventory they have left so they can make room for their four wheeler. I don't know. These things are, they range from like about $65 to maybe, you know, 90 to a hundred dollars. So, I mean, there's, they're selling a shocking amount of these to me, right? You know,

So it makes me wonder if maybe there is some kind of wholesale relationship. Oddly enough, I have a friend here in Columbia who owns an e-commerce business that does pretty well. And all they sell is duck decoy bags, which is a really specific kind of mesh waterproof. Because like these things, you're pulling them out of the water and you put them in a bag, but you can't like put them in a duffel bag. And I might send it to him. It's kind of interesting. Yeah.

It's very related. So I have a friend and I was speaking positive of a business like this. I have a friend who basically was not your all in kind of entrepreneur guy. And he went and basically started a business similar to this in his garage, has some Chinese parts, has some domestic parts, manufacturers, these things. He started doing it himself and he started hiring people. And now he's got a team of about eight people.

And his garage just turned into this like 4,000 square foot warehouse that's got to be air conditioned in Texas. And he's like doing pretty well. Like he's making low six figures every year. And it was started as like a side hustle. So like, I really like this as a path. I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs. So you're like, I want to buy a business. I was like, why don't you consider one that you can own?

like either start or do from your garage and like have invest $25,000 to start it rather than, and no offense, Heather, take out a $5 million loan, right? You're not the, there's some people that that's just not right for. And I like this kind of business for that type of person because I've seen it work for my buddy and for other people

Hey, everybody. If you've listened to the show, you've probably heard us talk about franchises. While franchises can be a great path to business ownership for the right person, like there's a lot of pitfalls and it's important to be really careful as there are certainly good franchises to be in and bad franchises that you don't want to be in.

Connor Gross is a friend of the pod and a resident expert on franchises. And Connor not only owns and operates his portfolio of multiple franchises, but he's also a franchise consultant and helps others work through while picking the right franchise for them. So as he's sponsoring today's episode, everyone should totally click in the show notes below to join Connor's newsletter and attend one of his gateway to franchise ownership workshops. If you're ready to move and move quickly, schedule a call with Connor and his team today. I will.

I like the concept. I guess I'm just confused because we're talking like a 5% margin, correct? I'm not doing the math wrong, am I? Well, I think here's the other thing. Last year of completed financial statements was 2018. Correct. I'm very confused. I didn't notice that. But that was seven years ago.

Right. I don't understand what we're buying. I don't understand much of anything. Maybe it's seasonal. You know, this business could be seasonal, but maybe it's like every seven years. Like a locust thing or something. Yeah, like the cicadas. Yeah, it's very strange. They do have a website. It's a Facebook page. Okay. So is it possible that you're just buying...

What you're buying is... I mean, you could buy the domain apparently for $4,000. If it comes with the domain, it's a steal. It doesn't. That's another $4,000. It's $4,000 and then you pay $4,000. You're $8,000 in on this business and I'm not sure what the business is. It doesn't look like they have an e-commerce presence based on what we're seeing. No. It smells like you're buying the leftover parts, designs, maybe an old customer list. It wouldn't surprise me if...

if this was the type of business that a guy started with 10 or 15 customers, his buddies were, and he was selling to local stores and stuff like that. And then eventually those local stores all switched to buying these directly from China or someplace like that and cut them out. The thing wound down to basically nothing after being somewhat thriving for a period of time. It was one of those businesses that just kind of died on the vine. That's what it feels like. And like, it probably was a great, to your point, like the value of side hustles, you know, it was probably a really great side hustle for this guy because

And, you know, they were able to help fund their hobby and probably connected them to a lot of other people in the hobby. I think with businesses like this, you can catch them before they die on the vine. You know, like I don't think a hobby business like to your point earlier, Michael, I don't think a hobby business means it's not viable. You just want to buy it while it's still a viable, you know, thing that has like blood throwing flowing through its veins. Yeah.

Well, anything that you like, most side hustles are because someone and this is my opinion, is because someone just doesn't know how to scale it. Right. It's a different skill set to scale a business. I think with this one, regardless of the business, I think buying a business with 5% margins is.

is dangerous. Like that's, that's very quickly could have, especially with the tariffs that these are parts coming from overseas. Like I can't imagine you'd have any money left over. Yeah. And so anyway, this, this, I like that someone answered your call, Michael, and you asked for the craziest deal. Yeah. I have questions. No disrespect to the beautiful business owner. I'm sure. Like, I don't mean to speak ill of it, but like,

I just don't understand. Heather, what do you think the chances that this listing, when they saw gross revenue, this person listed all of the revenue they did in history of owning the business for 20 years? Very possible. Gross, gross revenue. Didn't say gross annual revenue. Gross cumulative. That's actually a good point. You're right. That could be. Yeah. It's true because it says annual earnings. So it's like since 2001, right?

They have sold $500,000. I bet that's what it is. Cause like to your point Mills, if they're that cheap, that's a lot of units. Maybe they sold those units over all that time, 10 years. Yeah, probably this. And I think this is like clean out my garage kind of listing. Please. Let's talk for a second about like the clean out my garage, you know, business deal in certain cases, if you're a strategic buyer, I wish Bill was here. Cause he did something like this once and,

But if you're a strategic in some way, shape or form, like you could, you could get, you know, bottom dollar pricing. You could buy this stuff, especially if it's been sitting for seven years with no revenue and,

And if you have some, if you're like my friend who owns the duck decoy bag business, you could get it for 20 cents on the dollar and you don't have to sell that many to break even. We've had a member growth requisition very similarly in two situations came across these kinds of this and you get a really good price. Again,

I just think that you don't, we don't know anything about this business, but for the listeners, 5% margins is dangerous. Yes. There's one takeaway. Chelsea's like run away from 5% margins, please.

I just put it on the record that you guys need to be careful of margins. But I think you're right, Mills. This could be like a garage sale fine for somebody, right? If you knew he should have just listed or whoever this is should have just listed what the inventory is, you know, how much of it and what it is. And, you know, it could retail for X and I'm just trying to get rid of it for 6,000. Yeah. It's like listed on Craigslist or something. Yeah. Right. That could work. You guys ever look on Craigslist in the business section?

No, didn't know they had one. Oh, it is fascinating. 99% of it is like, you know, use kitchen equipment and stuff like that. But occasionally you get these off the wall things where somebody is like, I want to sell my print shop, you know, or whatever. And it's a, it's kind of the sample, you know, the sample size is not great in terms of what you find and the quality is not good, but I'm like,

the contrarian in the back of my mind says like one day i will find a diamond in the rough on craigslist and so i check it periodically and you know you might be able to buy like booths from a restaurant you know that need to be reupholstered but also there could be like a great you know manufacturing business in there so i remind you mills just before you get your hopes up our most popular episode

of this podcast for the first couple of years was we interviewed a guy and he came on and he talked about how he found a business on LoopNet and he bought it. And six months later, how happy he was. 12 months after that, he came back and told us how miserable he was, that this was terrible and he hated it and he didn't know what he got into and it didn't make any sense. So we're still in the honeymoon phase. It's great. Yeah. Okay. Give it time. It's a silver liners.

All right. You guys want to wrap it up? Anybody calling on the duck decoy business? Chelsea, any of your members doing this? Yeah, sure. Yeah. I can help. Like they can sell them as they fund their search to find. Yes. Duck funded search. Yes. And then they can tell, then they can tell prospective sellers that they have real operating experience. Exactly. Exactly. It's a duck fund instead of a search fund. I really like that. Yeah. That's the point. A real duck dynasty. Yeah.

Wait, isn't that what the Duck Dynasty guys did? Didn't they make duck decoys? I literally have no idea. You guys have reached very interesting deals today. No.

Chelsea's like, please bring better ones next time, guys. Actually, if you look at it, I mean, the Duck Dynasty guys were kind of, I mean, yeah, they were just so early. Like, they were like six years early to this, like, conservative trend that America's going down. Like, you know they would be at the White House right now if they were still popular. Like, it would be Kid Rock comes in, the Duck Dynasty guys come in, like, you know, advising on natural resources and stuff. I'm such an elitist pig. I'm so sorry. All right, can we wrap it up there before I get canceled?

You're going to get canceled. You're already canceled. Yeah. Bye.