Financial Tips: His expertise helps buyers secure financing, and they'll conduct due diligence to help close profitable deals.

Strawberry Letter

iHeartPodcasts

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Elliot Holland.

The managing partner of Guardian Due Diligence. Here’s a breakdown of the key topics and highlights:

Key Themes & Highlights

Buying Small Businesses vs. Franchises
- Holland explains the differences between purchasing a franchise and acquiring an independent business.
- He highlights the risk-reward balance, noting that franchises offer a structured model, while independent businesses can be more lucrative but require deeper due diligence.
Financial Strategies for Business Acquisition
- He discusses the SBA 7(a) loan program, which allows buyers to acquire businesses with 90-95% financing, making ownership more accessible.
- Holland explains how leveraging financing can turn a small investment into a million-dollar business.
Due Diligence & Avoiding Bad Deals
- He emphasizes the importance of financial diligence to ensure buyers don’t acquire failing businesses.
- Holland shares red flags to watch for, such as misleading financials and sellers masking poor performance.
Masterclass for First-Time Buyers
- Holland introduces his Business Buying Masterclass, designed to educate entrepreneurs on the acquisition process.
- He provides one-on-one coaching, helping buyers navigate financing, negotiations, and deal structuring.
Success Stories & Case Studies
- He shares examples of clients who successfully acquired businesses, including a 24-year-old entrepreneur and a 60-year-old investor.
- Holland highlights how his expertise helped buyers secure financing, conduct due diligence, and close profitable deals.

About Elliot Holland & Guardian Due Diligence

Elliot Holland is a Harvard MBA, private equity investor, and business acquisition expert. He founded Guardian Due Diligence to help first-time buyers confidently purchase profitable businesses. His firm specializes in financial diligence, ensuring buyers make informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Through his masterclass and consulting, Holland empowers entrepreneurs to build wealth through business ownership.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than adds supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, IHearts twice as large as the next two combined. Learn how podcasting can help your business. Call 844-844-I-Hart. Summer's here, and with the kids home and off to camp, it's easy for moms to get lost in the shuffle. On good mom's bad choices, we're making space to center ourselves with joy, rest, and pleasure. Take the kids to camp. You know what? It was expensive. But I was also thinking, you have my kid. This is kind of priceless. Take her, feed her, make core memories.
0:39.9	I don't have to do anything.
0:41.5	Main thing, I don't have to do anything.
0:44.9	To hear this and more, listen to Good Mom's Bad Choices from Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
0:53.7	I also want to address the Tonys. On a recent
0:58.2	episode of Checking Game with Michelle Williams, I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards.
1:04.2	Do I? I was never mad. I was disappointed because I had high hopes. To hear this and more on disappointment and protecting your peace,
1:14.4	listen to checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network
1:18.4	on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
1:24.6	Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens or exclusive professional networks or stereotypes.
1:34.3	Don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars.
1:39.3	Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree.
1:43.2	It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars beyond it.
1:47.1	Find out how you can make stars part of your talent strategy at tear the paper sealing.org,
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1:54.1	Our IHeart Radio Music Festival, presented by Capital One, is coming back to Las Vegas.
2:00.0	September 19th and 20th.
2:01.7	On your feet. Streaming live only on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen. Brian Adams. Ed Sheeran. Fade. Glorilla. Jelly Roll. John Fogarty. Lil Wayne. L.L. Cool J. Mariah Carey. Maroon 5. Sammy Hagar. Tate McCray. The off-sprint, Tim McGraw.
1:58.8	Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com. Get your tickets today. AXS.com.
2:30.4	Welcome to the show. I am Rishan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
2:36.1	where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
2:41.7	Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities, and ask them
	...

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