How Ghost Gear Tech Built a Paranormal Equipment Empire

0:00Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous. Today's episode was a spooky one. and hopefully this will come out around Halloween time because Heather and I did a very fun deal that was a side hustle in Iowa that made almost 90 % profit margin and we both hated it. So stick around and see what we learned and what we found out. Here's the episode. We'll set Acquisitions Anonymous. Hello, another episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. We don't have 100 % beers anymore. Thumbs down on just the plus inventory link. Hey, everyone, it's Bill. And I want to tell you about an event that's honestly become one of the highlights of my year.

0:39And that's Main Street Summit in Columbia, Missouri. I've been a speaker and an attendee at Main Street Summit for a couple years now. And I'm going to tell you firsthand, it's really not your typical conference at all. It's more like 1000 business owners, operators and entrepreneurs all gathering in Columbia, Missouri, for three days of practical and actionable business content. It totally takes over downtown Columbia, and they have probably 20 different venues. It's very cool. One of the things that really sets Main Street Summit apart for me is the relationships. I wrote on X after last year's event that it was great talking about business and life with people who really have become a much more than just conference buddies.

1:17You know, business really can be a great vehicle towards deep friendship if you're willing to go there with people. And that's exactly what happens at Main Street Summit. You're really not sitting in massive auditoriums. You're in intimate settings, art galleries, small classrooms, etc. with world-class business owners and operators who have lived the challenges that are keeping you up at night. So really, no matter what industry you're in, from plumbing to e-commerce, there are specialized tracks designed for real practitioners like you. Main Street Summit is coming up. It is November 4th through 6th, 2025.

1:47It is in Columbia, Missouri. Do not miss this chance to connect with people who really get what you're building. You can visit MainStreetSummit.com to grab a ticket and I will see you there. I'm speaking again this year. So if you find me, come up and say hi. See you at Main Street Summit. Heather, it's you and me again. Here we are, the senior states people. Well, Mills is on a roof and Bill is at a birthday party, but I was like, who has a birthday party on a Tuesday? What's up with that? see it's but it's a kid's birthday party to be clear so i guess they can have their parties anytime uh it must be a little little kid um though it's 4 30 east coast time so that kind of makes sense yeah yeah he's raging with the kids i guess i'm bouncing house or whatever all right so i brought you a deal and i want to pitch you on this deal because it is a fantasma it is a ghostly good deal so that's how you're trying to scare me you're trying to scare me well this may this may come out around halloween so definitely not recording it during halloween which is always one of those things that i think is hilarious every time i watch like a christmas special yeah you realize christmas specials are all recorded like in august so that's why it's always like fake snow like everybody's sunburned like how are you guys sunburned it's christmas Well, that's because they recorded it right after they got back from vacation.

3:18And they have to wear turtlenecks and everything. Like it's, you know, cold outside. It is kind of funny. Crazy. I, yeah, I don't know how they do it. All right. So let me pitch you this deal. It's on Biz Buy Sell. It is a profitable ghost hunting equipment brand. They have original designs and they are growing. And it's located in Polk County, Iowa, Ankenny, Iowa. And they have a picture here of the device. It is called the Epic Box. which is sold by ghostgeartech.com. If you are evidently trying to hunt ghosts, you can buy this business. So the asking price is$65 ,000. The cash flow is$40 ,000.

3:57It does 48 ,000 in gross revenue and makes 44 ,000 in Iuda. It is established in 2020. So they are asking one and a half times cash flow. Great margins. I'm trying to be nice. Yeah, good margins. uh so uh ghost gear is a profitable product-based business specializing in the design and sale of original ghost hunting equipment it is launched as a side hustle by a designer and enthusiast and the brand has grown into a trusted name among paranormal investigators content creators and ghost tour operators seeking professional grade tours in a market often flooded with cheaply made copycats unlike most competition or what we refer to as garage tech quote unquote ghost gear products are original, built from the ground up for quality, reliability, performance, and sleek presentation.

4:46These aren't rebranded imports or generic kits. They are high-quality devices that command respect and attention in a passionate, growing niche. So what do we think the niche is? Ghost hunting? Yes, but I mean, what does this machine actually do? I'm very curious to know. Well, they have their website on it, so we may be able to look in a moment. All right. Oh, to answer your question, the products include response devices, EMF distinctions devices, and proximity detection devices. All items are manufactured in-house or with trusted partners with attention to function, durability, and aesthetic apparel.

5:18Many customers are repeat buyers and strong word of mouth fuels steady traffic and sales. Revenue is approximately$48 ,000 per year with strong seasonal upticks during late summer and fall. Sales are handled through a well-optimized store and Amazon direct-to-consumer via standalone website and partnerships with haunted venues, paranormal investigators, and content creators. The business is highly lean with low overhead and no physical storefront. Most components are ordered just in time, and all intellectual property, including product designs, build instructions, branding, and packaging, are included in the sale.

5:50The new owner could step in and operate the business solo or scale with part-time help or automation. It includes all designs, trademarks, and IP, branding, logo, and packaging files, product photography, and marketing assets. There's a fully operational e-commerce store with reviews and history, physical inventory, customer communications, templates, and support materials. is a turnkey operation with a massive potential for growth, and the ghost hunting market continues to thrive thanks to social media, streaming platforms, tourism, and growing interest in the paranormal, as well as really gullible people.

6:20No, the last part was me. Buyers can easily expand the business by increasing ad spend, building a direct Shopify site, entering the content creation space, tutorials, gear reviews, or offering wholesale options to paranormal tour operators and retailers. I think it all just kind of goes here again and then they have a link to their website Ghost Gear Text and I saw something that said with little regulation like as if ghost detection is regulated thank goodness it's not you know what this reminds me of that episode from the office when they convinced Dwight that you could buy gaydar on the internet do you remember this?

7:02he even bought some scammy device that turned out to be a metal detector oh man so you can rebrand this other ways potentially there's other sales channels it is so right there all right so for those of you on youtube i pulled up the website which actually looks pretty good um it's got different different different spooky things you can click on paranormal prose um they're like what some bad animation there's some bad animation that looks like you know what this is this is actually the ghosts from uh the muppet show that's the background for the muppet show you remember that tv show oh yeah okay that's going way back yeah that's well that's where kermit would be on the the side stage a clip from the website has a clip from the Ghostbusters.

7:57Yep, that's what comes to mind. And then here it has a picture of Charlie Brown's spooky Halloween. Alright. They have a website here. Okay, so here are the devices. They have an epic box that allows you to communicate with the spirit world. The intuitive yes-no device takes the guesswork out of your interactions. The Orbis, this device detects movement in your vicinity, alerting you to anything or anyone trying to make contact, perfect for capturing those fleeting moments with the spirits. a fan tune, which is a powerful compact tool to decide to detect even the slightest movements in your paranormal investigation.

8:34And it detects motion up to 10 meters away using a lithium ion battery. And then there's an EMF music box that plays the EMF detector as music to track even the faintest energy shifts. And then they have an online shop here, which you can buy from. the epic box is$240 oh my gosh what these devices are so expensive the piccolo the emf box is$345 and the fantoon is$125 only the epic box is in stock however oh okay wow i feel like they needed a youtube video too to kind of show us something in action here like Show us how you pick up on the EMF. Is that electromagnetic field? Is that what we're detecting?

9:27So these are little foxes that detect that. And I guess you presume that that is a spirit is the idea, right? Yep. Yeah. That the ghosts live in the EMF band. I guess. Right around Rick Moranis and the other members of Ghostbusters 2. so so who buys this stuff like someone who thinks that their own dwelling is haunted or someone who's you know trying to be hired for their services to detect whether you have a ghost um i think both also gullible people who don't understand science that's uh that could be one there rich people according to these boxes being 350 dollars uh it looks to be about two dollars of plastic and electronics i mean it's crazy yeah just kind of marketed a certain way and what did he say is the uh or i say he but he or she what did they say why do i assume it's a man i don't know.

10:32Well, I love the implicit thing, like something this scammy and stupid has to be done by a man, which is one of the things I appreciate you bringing to the podcast. Sorry, I brought that bias with me today. But okay, so gross revenue,$48 ,000. So divide that by what, I guess the average is$200, I guess. I mean, they're selling a lot of units. Yeah, so$40 ,000 divided by$200 would be, is my math right, that that's 200 units a year. Okay, that seems like more than I would think. I mean, the reason is there are a lot more than 200 stupid people in this country. Right, so you could add some marketing to this and find the other stupid people.

11:22The thing that they could have done to make these better is the razor, razor blades aspect. What they needed to do was have special kind of chemical inserts to accelerate the capture of the EMF band. I'm making this all up. But you have to buy these reloadable kits to put in for each ghost hunt and be able to do this. I think that's the problem with this business is once you own an Epic box, you're going to use it forever. And this thing just don't look like it's complicated technology. No, there's a little switch in the middle. I think they need imaging too. I mean, they've got one that sort of turns it into music or sound, but people want to see the ghost, right?

12:04So they need another one that sort of turns it into an image on your phone or something like that. Yeah, a sick one would be like an attachment for your phone. I could sell that for$1 ,000 pretty easily, like a piece of electronics. Right, people would love that. Look at this ghost I saw, you know, on the jack or whatever. I mean, clearly, if they're doing$40 ,000 in profit on$48 ,000 in revenue, they are not spending much money on advertising. That is one of the things I think Bill would tell us about this business is they should be spending 20 to 30 % of revenue on advertising to get customers via Facebook ads and all that kind of stuff, meta ads, but they are not, which makes me wonder why.

12:44side hustle they sort of said it's a side hustle and some whoever's doing it probably doesn't doesn't want to invest and just wants the cash flow that they're getting i would i would suppose but yeah i think there's a little bit more of a market than forty thousand dollars worth i would be shocked if there is not a whole like subculture of ghost hunters on youtube yeah and if if not somebody should start doing that because i think you would totally kill it do it you do them like kind of Blair Witch Project style. Just you and your camera and like a pin light and nothing else. But yeah, it's more of a content.

13:19You feel like the content would be more where the cash flow comes from and maybe not so much the equipment. But they could do more with this equipment and probably expand the market quite a bit. Some marketing and maybe reposition some of the equipment and maybe get something that hooks up to your phone. I mean, if you documented these ghost hunting stories, I think that would be really compelling. And then show yourself using these devices. I think you would sell the hell out of them. I'm surprised they're not doing that. And then hire some of your friends to be fake ghosts in the videos. I mean, and then it could turn out that like there really is a ghost and it kills everybody.

13:58I mean, oh, wait, that's a horror movie that I saw last week.

14:05Yeah, you could have a lot of fun with this. And so, you know, there are some people who really love Halloween and everything that goes along with it. I think that that kind of person could, you know, who maybe knows where some of those online channels are, where people who are into this kind of stuff congregate. Someone like that could buy this and do pretty well, I think. They're not asking much of a multiple. Yeah, I mean, I think this would be really good for somebody that had an audience or could figure out their distribution. because the fact they're only selling 200 units a year, to me is a real sign there's opportunity with this thing.

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15:10They're passionate about helping entrepreneurs like you take the next big step. So don't wait to make your business ownership dream a reality. Visit acquisitionlab.com today to learn more and schedule your free consultation. And when you do, be sure to tell them the Acquisitions Anonymous podcast sent you. It does make me wonder if they should be spending advertising money like on native ads with some of these ghostly kind of creators and stuff like that. That's where my head goes immediately. I would go start sponsoring videos, doing paid placement, all that kind of stuff. Because I'm sure there's a sub-genre of YouTube that is just 100 % this type of stuff.

15:48There's a sub-genre of YouTube for everything. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, my friend's wife is a YouTube creator. and I just broke 100 ,000 subscribers, which I'm really proud of. But she just broke a million. And I was like, what the heck? I didn't even know. She does like toy videos, but she's like famous in the toy community. Like these are the new toys that your kids might like kind of thing? Oh, they're smart. And then I haven't seen any lately, but for a while there were huge niche content channels that were just like a kid getting a new toy and unboxing it and then saying what he thought about it.

16:27like millions of people watching these videos. Yeah, I can see that. When parents are trying to figure out what to buy. Sure. Yeah. Well, it works really well because the thing I've learned about being on YouTube, you have to tell a story. Like there has to be a narrative arc about like, okay, here's the call to action. You go, you explore it. There's the trial and the test and then the point of truth. And then you have a challenge. I'm just kind of simplifying and exaggerating the narrative arc that you see in everything. But everything has to have that to do well in video or audio. And if you go look at everything from Star Wars to even our episodes, each one of our episodes actually follows a narrative arc.

17:07Like we just kind of hang out. There's a call to action. Somebody brings a deal. There's complication. We start arguing about it. Then there's a resolution. And then there's a release at the end and like a denouement. And like our podcast actually works because it's a story in itself and people follow that narrative. That's what works on YouTube and any audio type thing in general. So that's where my head goes on this. It's like, how do you tie into somebody? But it would be pretty seasonal. Like this would be something where you're really busy, you know, right around, you know, leading up to Halloween.

17:37And then that's it for a while. Ain't nobody hunting ghosts in June. Yeah. And they're not doing it at Christmas either, you know. So, yeah. It's just a couple months of the year where people might kind of be drawn to this kind of content and maybe get into it enough to even want to buy the Epic Box. I think it needs a better brand name too. Yeah, what does it mean? I know. It needs a better brand name that is closer to what it does. Yeah, it looks like an electronic Ouija board. Yeah, that's kind of what it is. Yeah. So, quick question, and then we start with the downsides of this. Obviously, this is not SBA loanable.

18:22Can you get an SBA loan on this? Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the brand and what it does. There's nothing ineligible about it, but it's too small and probably too seasonal. Even if it was bigger, I would then guess your next problem would be that the cash flow is so seasonal that no bank wants to lend when all the cash, let's just say 50 % of the cash flow is coming in in two months. Bank would not lend on that either. yeah yeah so let's talk about the downside of this i think there's a big obvious downside maybe you and i are thinking the same thing is like this is just hokum these are scammy toys that they're selling yeah there's that you know so how do we feel about that i don't like it i i can't stand anything where you just have to you have to feel like you're halfway scamming people to sell whatever it is you're selling.

19:14I don't like that at all. I wouldn't want to be part of that. If you're really clear that this is just EMF and why some people think the EMF is actually a spirit, I guess there's kind of a line you can walk there where you're honest, but still selling kind of the excitement around it. But I think it's very easy to fall into lying about the product and what it really does. Yeah. I mean, I think it'd be one thing if these guys were advertising, hey this is an entertainment device this is a Ouija board type thing you know I don't even know if kids still play with Ouija boards anymore but if you advertise that and you weren't misrepresenting but their website basically says like use this to find ghosts.

19:54Yeah. But then they're not that serious about it because they have like stolen images from Ghostbusters. Oh and there was the yes no talk to the afterlife. I don't like that either. Like you know talk to your dead relative and you're going to get a yes no answer. oh don't do that to people that because some people you know if people are grieving that's a terrible thing to prey on them with stuff like that so i really don't like that i forgot yeah it's like every medium and seance you just like put that there yeah i mean i think that's besides the size i think that's the the yuckiness factor it doesn't doesn't pass it now if you were to angle it as like, hey, we're going to sell this to people doing ghost hunting tours and it's part of the thing and everybody knows it's tongue in cheek and it's about boards.

20:44Kind of like going to a magic show. Magic is fine if you are, if people know it's fake but they just don't know how it's fake. But then when you start telling people you can read people's minds and stuff like that, that's when it crosses the line. I agree. So you're going to acquire this one or what? No. No, I am not. I don't want to be stuck with all these epic box inventory in my garage or wherever it will be. But no, I think this is a tough one. But I think an honest person who takes the content creation side and is honest about what the product is, but also can have kind of fun with it. I think somebody could buy this and do okay.

21:25I would pair this with somebody who wants to create a YouTube channel and like content create around paranormal investigations. I think you could totally kill it here. I am shocked with how little they're actually selling in the grand scheme of things. I think I'd come back to that. But yeah, I'm a yes for a lot of reasons except for the size and then the scumminess factor. Like I'm just out because of scumminess. Yeah, same here. Same here. All right. Well, happy Halloween, everybody. Happy Halloween, trick or treat. I guess it was a trick. but man you know just I think in closing this goes to show you there are so many ways to make a living like it is just like there's so many all at once like finding a side hustle and a way to go start a business feels so daunting and difficult because there's just so many options out there and so many ways to screw it up but then you see stuff like this and the person is basically for a side hustle of a Shopify store where they're not doing a very good job executing the person is basically making what you would make a year by working a few hours a month and making the salary you would make if you worked and managed a Starbucks.

22:34Yeah. Like, and you don't have to get up at four in the morning. Like, that's just, that's cool. It is. That part is cool. I agree. Bless America. All right. Cool. Everybody, thanks for being here. This is fun. Happy Halloween, depending on when this episode comes out. And Heather, great job today. Thank you. All right. Catch y 'all next time.

23:00Thank you.