why I walked away from a $3M commission (and slept like a baby)

reputation over revenue, a business idea for the wellness crowd, and 3 workouts to close out the weekend.

Mar 14, 2026

This week I fired a client.

Not a small one, either. A deal that, theoretically, would have generated north of $3M in total commissions if it closed. The kind of number you only see on a high-net-worth tax return or the price of a banana in Zimbabwe.

So why’d I walk away?

Because something didn’t add up. And in this business, when something doesn’t add up, you don’t get to shrug it off, you go to jail. Thankfully I’m not a Forbes 30 under 30 winner, so jail can wait.

But here’s what happened:

A business owner came to us looking to sell his celebrity golf event business. The top-line numbers looked great. Multi-million dollar revenue, strong margins, a unique niche with virtually no direct competition and the ability to scale the model. On the surface, it checked every box.

But the deeper we dug, the more cracks appeared.

The owner refused to give us any information about the business. Which golf courses hosted the events, which celebrities attended, or any expenses and invoices that would support the tax returns (which we’re 90% sure were fake).

The worst part? They wouldn’t provide any of it “unless a buyer provided a NON refundable deposit.”

Oh yeah, sure. Never heard that tactic (scam) before 🙄

Now, could we have packaged this up, found a buyer, and collected our fee? Probably. There’s always someone willing to take a swing.

But here’s the thing.

Warren Buffett said it best: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

That quote lives rent-free in my head. In M&A, your reputation is your business. Every buyer who trusts us to bring them a real deal is putting their capital, their time, and their own reputation on the line. We owe them more than a flashy pitch deck built on sand.

Now, I want to be clear. We’re not forensic accountants. We’re not auditors. We can’t fully diligence every claim a seller makes. That’s what the buyer’s due diligence team is for.

But what we can do is apply a filter. We can look at the data (or lack of it), listen to how a seller talks about their numbers, and ask ourselves: would we invest millions of our own money in this deal?

And the reaction to that question is a, “HELL NO”, we have a responsibility to say turn that client away.

Here are a few red flags I’ve learned to watch for over the years:

The data room is a ghost town: If a seller can’t produce basic financials beyond tax returns, that’s a problem. Tax returns are a starting point, not the finish line.

Projections that sound like a TED talk: If the growth story relies on everything going perfectly with zero evidence it’s been done before, it’s a fantasy, not a forecast.

One person runs everything: Great businesses can survive without their founder. If the founder is the business, that’s a massive risk that needs to be priced in or walked away from.

The language is promotional, not institutional: When a seller describes their business as too good to be true, something is off (IYKYK).

Resistance to transparency: If asking for documentation is met with deflection or vague promises of “we’ll get that later,” trust your gut.

Walking away from a seven-figure payday wasn’t fun. But I’d rather leave money on the table than put a buyer into a bad deal.

Because at the end of the day, every deal we close is a reflection of who we are. And I’d rather be the firm that said no to the wrong deal than the one that said yes to all of them.

If you’re thinking about selling your business and want to work with a team that actually cares about doing it right, let’s talk.

idea of the week 💡

Credit: ideabrowser.com

Problem: wellness retreats are booming, but they’re a nightmare to organize independently. Yoga teachers, breathwork facilitators, and fitness coaches want to host retreats but don’t know how to find venues, handle logistics, manage payments, or fill seats. They end up spending more time on operations than on the experience itself.

Idea: a turnkey retreat platform for wellness professionals. Think Airbnb meets Eventbrite, but specifically designed for retreats. The platform handles venue sourcing (partnered locations with retreat-ready amenities), booking management, payment processing, and even co-marketing to fill remaining spots. The facilitator just shows up and leads.

How it makes money: 12-15% platform fee on each booking. Premium tier at $99/month gives facilitators priority venue access, a branded booking page, and CRM tools to manage past attendees. Venue partners pay a listing fee or rev-share. At scale, the data on what retreat formats, locations, and price points convert best becomes incredibly valuable.

Why it might fail: wellness professionals are notoriously price-sensitive and may balk at the platform fee. Venues might prefer direct relationships. Win by making the first retreat so painless that going back to DIY feels impossible.