I just bought my first small business, and if I had to describe the first week in one word, it would be chaos.
Honestly, the process of deciding to buy a business, finding one, going through due diligence, negotiations, and closing actually felt simpler than the first week of actually running it.
There’s just something very different about the moment when the paperwork is done, and suddenly you’re responsible for the operations, the people, the customers, the systems, the payroll, the problems…all of it.
And while I definitely made mistakes, there were also a few things I did that helped me navigate that transition way better than I otherwise would have.
So if you’re considering buying a small business, actively looking right now, or you already own one and are in the thick of it, here are a few things I would absolutely do again and a few things I would do very differently next time.
Create Your “First Week of Ownership” Checklist Before You Close
Before we officially closed on the business, I built a really comprehensive post-closing checklist with everything that needed to happen immediately after ownership transferred. And I mean everything.
Changing passwords. Authenticating accounts. Updating branding assets. Wrapping up legal items. Hiring posts. Team communication. Operational systems. Customer-facing updates. All the little things you don’t think about until suddenly they all hit you at once.
Then I separated that into different lists:
- A master post-closing checklist
- A list specifically for my assistant
- A separate “first week on the job” list for myself
That structure helped me stay grounded when things got overwhelming.
Once the business officially becomes yours, your brain is moving in a thousand directions at once. Having a system already built gave me something to follow instead of constantly reacting.
I’m a checklist person, so that works well for me. But whatever your organizational style is, I highly recommend building your version of this before closing day. This is easily one of the best things I did for myself and the business.
You Probably Need More Patience Than You Think
I went into this business with a lot of ideas, including things I wanted to improve, grow, market, optimize, and scale immediately.
I genuinely thought I was going to walk in on day one and immediately launch every marketing initiative I had dreamed up.
That was not realistic.
There were so many operational details we simply didn’t understand yet. So many tiny things that took way more time than expected, and things I assumed would take a couple hours ended up taking 10 to 15 hours.
Honestly, until you’re actually inside the business, you just don’t know. Especially if you’re buying into an industry you’ve never personally operated in before.
For me, this was a residential cleaning business. I had never owned a business in this industry before, so there were a lot of nuances I simply couldn’t fully understand until we were in it. Scheduling, hiring, customer communication, and operational flow were all different than what I was used to.
One thing my husband told me during the first couple of weeks actually really helped shift my perspective. He said:
“We’re in a season of transition right now, and you can’t necessarily grow aggressively while you’re transitioning.”
That was such a good reminder. Sometimes your first job as the new owner is not growth. Sometimes it’s just understanding the business well enough to stabilize it first.
Giving yourself that space will save you a lot of frustration.
Have Operational Help Ready Before Closing Day
Do not wait until after closing to figure out support. I repeat. DO NOT WAIT.
Whether that’s an assistant, operations manager, general manager, admin support, bookkeeping help, or some combination of those things, get people in place before you officially take over.
For me, I already had an operations manager I trusted from another business. She had never worked in this industry before, but I knew her strengths:
- Extremely detail-oriented
- Incredible communicator
- Highly organized
- Proactive
- Reliable
Those traits mattered more than industry experience and I would have drowned without her the first few weeks.
I also already had:
- An accounting team
- An attorney
- Existing operational support systems
Having those people already in place made the transition significantly smoother. You do not want to feel like you’re carrying the entire weight of the transition alone.
Think Carefully About the Timing of Your Closing
We closed in the middle of a weekly billing/payroll cycle, and it made everything way more complicated than it needed to be.
Because payroll ran Monday through Friday, but ownership changed on Wednesday, we had to deal with all kinds of messy “true-up” calculations around revenue, payroll responsibility, and invoicing.
It was annoying, messy, and extended the closing process operationally even after the deal was technically done.
If I could do it again, I would pay much more attention to the billing cycles and timing structure of the business before deciding on a closing date.
Maybe that means:
- Closing at the start of a month
- Closing at the end of a payroll cycle
- Structuring cleaner handoff agreements
- Avoiding mid-cycle transitions altogether
It seems like a small thing, but operational timing affects a lot more than you think those first few weeks.
Start Hiring Immediately
One thing I’m really glad we did was start hiring almost immediately after taking over the business.
We knew we needed at least one additional team member, but I’m honestly glad we overprepared.
Ownership transitions almost always create some level of turnover. That’s just reality, and I experienced it firsthand.
If you wait until that happens before preparing, you’ll end up scrambling. Within a few weeks, we were onboarding multiple new employees already. That put us in a position to actually grow instead of constantly trying to recover operationally.
Even if you’re not fully hiring yet, at least start building a pipeline of candidates early.
If You Need to Hire Quickly, Just Pay for the Recruiting Platforms
This is another thing I would absolutely do faster next time.
I spent too much time initially trying to manually recruit through Facebook groups and free methods because I thought I could avoid paying for recruiting platforms.
The minute I started paying for Indeed Premium and subscriptions through platforms like Care.com, I immediately started getting significantly better candidates.
Especially in service-based businesses and home services industries, those paid platforms matter. I wasted way more time trying to “work the system” than I would have just paying upfront and getting qualified candidates faster. If you need people quickly, it’s worth it.
I’m Still Figuring This Out Too
One thing I want to make really clear is that I’m not presenting myself as some perfected expert on buying small businesses.
I’m documenting the process in real time because, honestly, a few months ago my husband and I just looked at each other and said:
“Let’s buy a business.”
And then we did. LOL.
We didn’t have some huge roadmap, prior acquisition experience, or mentors walking us through every step.
We’ve just been figuring it out as we go. Sometimes fumbling. Sometimes doing things really well. Sometimes learning lessons the hard way.
But I think there are a lot more people out there considering small business ownership right now than most people realize.
Founders who want to acquire instead of build from scratch.
People trying to leave the 9-to-5 world.
Others are just curious about what it actually looks like behind the scenes to buy an existing business.
And I think more conversations around the reality of it are important.
It’s exciting, but also operationally messy, emotionally stretching, and far less glamorous than social media sometimes makes it look.
Still, I genuinely believe it can be one of the most powerful ways to build something meaningful right now.
And I’m excited to keep sharing what I learn along the way.
