402 - The Sixth Month Checkpoint!

0:00Bruce Whipple:Here we are. We are now in the sixth month of 2026, June. And that should get your attention and my attention. Not because we should panic. Not because the year is over because it's not. But because enough of the year has passed that you now have evidence. You have evidence of what is working. You have evidence of what is not working. You have evidence of whether your habits, your commitments, your outreach, your follow-up, your conversations, your team building, and your acquisition activities are moving you closer to owning a business or whether you are simply staying busy. And there's a big difference between being busy and making progress.

0:47Bruce Whipple:One of the mistakes people make at this point of the year is that they are either congratulating themselves too soon or beating themselves up too much. Neither one is really very useful. The better question is this. What has 2026 shown you so far? Have you made more seller outreach than you made last year? Have you had more conversations? Have you identified an industry? Have you built or strengthened your board? Have you contacted banks? Have you improved your ability to speak with others, including sellers? Have you become clearer, more disciplined, and more consistent? Or are you still thinking about getting ready to start?

1:34Bruce Whipple:That is the hard question, but it's the right question because June is the perfect time for course correction, Not a dramatic reinvention, not some emotional reset, a practical course correction. That is what continuous improvement is all about. Continuous improvement is not saying, I failed, so I need to start over. It is saying, I now have more information than I did in January, so what needs to change? Maybe your industry choice is too broad. Maybe your seller outreach is too generic. Maybe you're doing too much internal work and not enough external action. Maybe you're calling research progress when it is really avoidance.

2:22Bruce Whipple:And maybe you are waiting to feel confident before you act. Maybe your follow-up is weak. Maybe your weekly commitments are not specific enough. And maybe your standards are too low. A lot of maybes there. or maybe you are making progress, but you need to raise the level of intensity. The point is not to feel bad. The point is to be honest, because honesty is where improvement starts. In business acquisition, continuous improvement means you look at what you are doing and ask, what should I keep doing? What should I stop doing? What should I do more of? What should I do differently? And most importantly, what action can I take this week that is visible, external, measurable, and controllable?

3:14That is where most people lose the plot. They make acquisition too complicated. They think about it, they study it, they organize it, they plan it, they talk about it, but they do not do enough of the external work that actually

3:31Bruce Whipple:creates opportunity. Sellers do not know you exist because you thought about calling them. Bankers do not know your deal because you intended to contact them. Board candidates do not join your team because you made a note to research them. Deals do not happen because you internally stay busy. Deals happen because you take action in the real world. That is why this month matters. We have opened the Empire Group Coaching for June this week. And the reason I mention that is not simply to say we have a group open. It is because we are serious about acquisition. And if that is your intention as well, you need structure, accountability, and consistent pressure.

4:21Not pressure in a negative sense, pressure in the sense of standards, pressure in the sense of execution, pressure in the sense of being around other people who are actually doing the work. Because left alone, most people will drift and they will slowly lower the standard. They will rationalize. They will say, I was busy. They will say, I had a lot going on. And maybe all of that is true, but the market does not care. Sellers do not care. Bankers do not care. Your future does not care. At some point, the question becomes, did you execute or didn't you? That is why the sixth month is so valuable.

5:05It gives you time to adjust before the year gets away from you. If January through May was strong, then build on it. If January through May was inconsistent, then fix it. If January through May was mostly talk, then admit it and change now. Do not wait until December to realize you lost yet another year. Do not wait until December to create a story about why next year will be different. Make June different. This week, ask yourself three questions. First, what have I actually accomplished so far in 2026? Not what did I think about, not what did I intend to do, but what did I actually accomplish?

5:52Second, where am I falling short? Be specific. Is it outreach, follow-up, industry selection, team building, seller conversations, fear, discipline, lack of clarity? And then third, what is one measurable connection I will make this week? Not someday, not when I feel ready, but this week. That is continuous improvement. You do not need to be perfect, but you do need to be honest. You need to be coachable. You need to be willing to look at the evidence and adjust. The people who succeed in business acquisition are not always the smartest. They are not always the most experienced. They are certainly not always the people with the most money.

6:42But they are usually the people who keep improving. They look at the results. They correct. They act again. They do not drift. They do not hide. They do not wait for motivation to rescue them. They make the move now. So here we are in June, the sixth month of 2026. The year is no longer new, but you now have evidence. Use it. Course correct where necessary. Double down where things are working. Raise your standards and keep pushing. So again, group coaching we've opened up. Just go to brucewhipple.com. You'll see under the boot camps and coaching the information about group coaching. And just read through that.

7:31Make sure you understand it. And if you want to join us, group coaching meets once a week on Fridays at 7 a.m. Eastern. So we'd love to see you in that group.