Business Broker Training // 1:1 Mentorship
Your first commission:
$15K–$40K.
30 days to your first signed mandate.
This is not a passive course. Den — a practising business broker with 18+ years of real deal experience — works directly with you until you have a signed, fee-protected mandate and active buyer conversations.
Maximum 5 students active at any time · 2 spots currently open · 1:1 from day one
investment
commission
signed mandate
main street deals
A gym owner said "I don't want to renew this lease." That is an exit signal — not a property question. The agent ran Den's exit-clarity conversation, secured a signed engagement letter, found a local operator, and closed. Entire path: 10 weeks from first conversation.
A friend's B2B services firm. "I can't do this any more." Signed engagement at 10% with a minimum floor so the fee was protected even if the headline price moved. Three strategic acquirers. One moved fast. Commission phased across handover milestones.
Ageing client: "My daughter doesn't want this. What do I do?" No sales background — just high trust. Mandate signed in 3 weeks. Two local competitors identified without cold outreach. Five-figure fee locked in writing before a single buyer meeting.
Results vary. First commission range based on 8–10% success fee on $150K–$400K main street transactions. Brokers without a signed engagement earned $0. These outcomes reflect students who completed the programme and executed the engagement letter framework from Week 2. Read full deal breakdowns ↓
Now see the math →One deal pays
for this programme
7 times over.
The cost of entering through a business broker franchise — including franchise fees, territory costs, and mandatory systems. That is the established market rate to start in this profession. This programme costs $3,999.
Business broker franchise entry costs are disclosed in FDD documents publicly filed in the US. Franchise entry ranges from approximately $50,000 to $150,000+ depending on territory. Source: publicly available FDD filings, IBBA industry data.
Signed mandate typically lands Weeks 2–4 if you already have one trusted owner relationship. Commission clears after due diligence and closing — usually Month 3–4. Not $50K next week. But a legitimate $15K–$40K cheque in 90–120 days is realistic and achievable.
No office.
No cold calls.
3–4 paydays a year.
Before you go further — it is worth being concrete about what this profession actually looks like day-to-day. Not the fantasy. The operating reality of a practising broker.
A typical active week is 10–15 hours of focused work. One or two owner meetings (usually a coffee, not a boardroom), one buyer qualification call, some document review. The rest is waiting — which is not a complaint. Deals move at their own pace, and that pace is what creates the lump-sum commission structure.
You do not need a team. You do not need an office. You do not need a CRM subscription or a marketing budget. You need one trusted owner, one signed engagement letter, and one motivated buyer — and you have a $15K–$40K event. Then you build from there.
The brokers in this programme carry two to four active mandates at any one time. At 8–10% on main street deals, two closings a year — each at $25K — is $50,000 working part-time around an existing career. That is the realistic entry scenario. Not glamorous. Genuinely achievable.
Den is currently advising on a logistics services exit in Southeast Asia and a specialist trade business sale in the UK market. Both are active mandates with signed engagement letters and buyer processes underway. The templates and frameworks in this programme are the ones being used on those live deals — not archived from a past career.
Already trusted
by owners.
The fastest path to your first deal is through relationships you already have. The programme is built for people who sit near motivated sellers — and just need the framework, scripts, and protection to get paid.
You talk to business owners every day about leases, locations, and expansion. Exit conversations are already happening — you just are not being paid for them.
One gym owner saying "I'm too tired to renew this lease" is an exit signal. That is the conversation that turned into a $28,000 commission for one of our brokers.
Your retiring clients are asking "what do I do with this?" You are already the most trusted person in the room when money and succession come up.
The hardest part of business brokerage — being trusted about money — is already solved for you. The programme adds the framework to convert that trust into a signed mandate and a fee.
You have sold or operated a business. You understand how buyers think, how financials work, and what the emotional weight of an exit feels like.
That experience is your unfair advantage. Den will show you how to monetise it by positioning as the "calm adult who has been through this" — which is exactly what tired owners want.
You hear "I want to exit in the next 2 years" before the market does. Business brokerage is a natural adjacent income stream when positioned correctly.
The programme teaches you how to handle the conflict-of-interest framing, structure your engagement letter, and introduce the right buyers without creating liability.
You are already the "discreet fixer" in your network. Owners come to you when they want to do something quietly.
The gap between being consulted and being paid is a signed engagement letter. The programme solves that gap in Week 2.
You are calm under pressure, comfortable talking about large sums of money, and want a high-ticket advisory role without building a large team.
If you have existing relationships with business owners — regardless of your professional background — the programme gives you the operating system to turn those relationships into income.
Three first deals.
No fantasy.
Timelines, commissions, and what almost killed each deal — documented in full. These are the conversations behind the numbers in the proof strip above.
A mid-level commercial property agent. Already talking to gym owners, clinic owners, café owners daily. One gym owner said: "I'm exhausted. I don't want to renew this lease."
That is not a property question. That is an exit signal. Instead of pitching rent, the agent ran Den's "exit clarity" conversation — calm, no promises. The owner signed an engagement letter with a 10% success fee two weeks later. A local operator running two other fitness locations bought the gym. Commission cleared at just under $28,000. Two months from mandate to cheque.
An ex-founder who had already built and sold a marketing services company. A friend — owner of a specialist B2B service firm — said: "I can't do this any more. I just want clean numbers and to be done."
The seller wanted fantasy money. Den helped force price sanity — reframing value around what a strategic buyer would pay for recurring contracts and trained staff. Engagement signed at 10% with a minimum fee floor so the commission was protected even if the headline price moved down. Three targeted acquirers. One moved fast. Commission: just over $42,000, phased across handover milestones.
Small-practice accountant. Long-term relationship with ageing business clients. Zero sales background. High trust. One client in his late 50s said: "My daughter doesn't want this. I don't want to do another 5 years. What do I do?"
That is succession anxiety. The accountant learned to position as a discreet exit adviser, not "your accountant trying to sell you." Engagement letter signed, protecting the fee if the client sold to anyone the accountant introduced. Two local competitors identified as likely buyers — no cold outreach. Mandate signed inside 3 weeks. Closing underway. Five-figure fee locked in writing.
Results vary based on access to motivated sellers, your market, and the specific deal. The $15K–$40K typical first commission range is based on 8–10% success fee on $150K–$400K main street transactions — the most common first deal size. Anyone without a signed engagement earned $0. These outcomes reflect brokers who completed the programme and executed the engagement letter framework from Week 2.
Not theory. Operating tools.
Every item below is a working asset you use on your first real mandate. Not slides. Not worksheets. Actual deal infrastructure.
Seller conversation script
Approach a business owner who is tired and open to exit without sounding desperate, inexperienced, or like a banker. Word-for-word framework for the first call, the discovery meeting, and the "here is what your business is worth" conversation.
Engagement letter (fee protection)
The most important document in brokerage. You work under a signed engagement with a defined success fee before you introduce a single buyer. No signature = no enforceable commission. We give you the template and walk you through how to get it signed.
Valuation framework
How to calculate Seller's Discretionary Earnings, apply the right SDE multiple, and explain a realistic price to an owner without destroying rapport or killing the deal before it starts. Includes add-back logic and red flag identification.
CIM + teaser template
Confidential Information Memorandum structure and a blind teaser that goes to buyers without revealing the seller's identity. How to package a business so serious buyers engage — and time-wasters don't.
Buyer targeting playbook
Quietly match one business to 3–5 likely buyers — strategic acquirers, competitors wanting capacity, operators wanting a second location. How to identify them, approach them, qualify proof of funds, and filter out tourists.
LOI, due diligence & closing kit
Letter of Intent template with key terms, a due diligence checklist covering financial, legal, operational, and HR, and a closing sequence that keeps both sides moving when the deal starts to feel fragile. Plus: how to get your commission wired.
Week by week.
Zero to mandate.
This is not a syllabus. It is a sequenced execution path. Each week has one target outcome, not a list of videos to watch.
Positioning, compliance, first prospect list
How to introduce yourself to owners without sounding like a banker or a salesperson. Niche selection. Building your 20-business prospect micro-farm using local records, associations, and your existing network. Compliance and NDA basics — what you can say and what requires a lawyer.
Financials, valuation, first mandate signed
How to read a P&L for sale purposes. Add-back logic and SDE calculation. The seller discovery meeting — exact agenda, how to set price expectations without breaking trust. Securing the exclusive engagement letter: how to justify it, how to get it signed, and what happens if you skip it.
Packaging, teaser, CIM, buyer outreach
Build the teaser and Confidential Information Memorandum. Set up the data room. Identify 3–5 logical acquirers — not 100 strangers — and start quiet, targeted outreach. NDA before any CIM is sent. How to log and qualify buyer enquiries from the first conversation.
Buyers, LOI, due diligence, close
Qualifying buyers for proof of funds and genuine intent. Running the seller-buyer meeting without losing control of either side. LOI negotiation basics — defending deal logic, not just price. Due diligence management. Closing sequence. And: how to turn one closed deal into referrals and a second mandate within 60 days.
Complete the programme.
No mandate?
We keep going.
If you complete the 30-day programme — do the work, run the conversations, attempt the engagement letters — and you have not secured a signed mandate by Day 30, Den extends coaching at no additional cost until you do.
No time cap. No fine print. You keep working with Den directly until you have a real, signed, fee-protected mandate in your hands. We are not done until that document exists.
This guarantee exists because the 1:1 format means Den controls delivery quality. If you do the work and still have no mandate, something in the execution is fixable — and Den fixes it with you personally. Applies to students who complete all four weeks and make at least 3 documented seller approaches.
$3,999. Fixed.
Everything included
- 30 days of 1:1 direct coaching from Den — a practising broker
- Seller conversation scripts and discovery meeting framework
- Engagement letter template (your fee-protection document)
- Valuation framework and SDE recast methodology
- CIM structure and teaser template
- Buyer targeting, LOI, due diligence, and closing kit
- Compliance basics — what you can say, when to involve legal
- Mandate extension guarantee — no additional cost
- 90-day action plan on programme completion
Maximum 5 students active at any time. 1:1 format means limited capacity by design. When spots fill, the next intake opens only when a student completes.
This programme runs with a maximum of 5 active students. Den cannot deliver 1:1 quality above that number. Intake is selective — we speak first and check fit before you pay anything.
Apply for the Programme →$3,999 in. First commission: $15,000–$40,000. Break-even at 14% of one deal. After that, every commission is 100% profit. No franchise royalties, no territory fees, no ongoing platform costs.
Every option on
one table.
If you have found this page, you have probably also looked at IBBA courses, franchise options, self-paced video programmes, and the "just figure it out" path. Here is the honest side-by-side.
| Criteria | This Programme 30-Day 1:1 with Den | Self-Paced Video Course | IBBA Basics Course | Franchise Entry | Going It Alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $3,999 fixed. No upsells. | $500–$2,000+. No deal support. | $1,500–$3,000+. Designation only. | $50,000–$150,000+. Plus ongoing royalties. | $0 upfront. Costly mistakes. |
| Format | 1:1 direct with a practising broker. Every session is your deal. | Pre-recorded. No adaptation to your situation. | Group classroom or online. Generic curriculum. | Brand training + territory model. You run their system. | No structure. No accountability. No support. |
| Live deal support | Yes. Den is on your real mandate with you from Week 2. | None. | None. Course ends before you have a deal. | Franchisor hotline. Often reactive and slow. | None. |
| Engagement letter help | Template provided. Walk-through included. Used on real mandates. | Sometimes mentioned. Never practiced. | Covered conceptually. No template. | Franchisor's standard contract. Not yours to adapt. | You find or draft your own. High legal risk. |
| Time to first mandate | Target: Weeks 2–4. Guaranteed extension if not by Day 30. | Undefined. Most students never get one. | Course gives knowledge. No mandate path built in. | Months of onboarding before first client meeting. | Unknown. Depends entirely on your prior experience. |
| Guarantee | Coaching continues at no extra cost until mandate is signed. | Typically a 30-day content refund only. | No outcome guarantee. | No guarantee. Fees non-refundable after signing. | No cost — but no guarantee of any outcome. |
| Ongoing costs | Zero. No royalties, no platform, no renewals. | None — but no support either. | IBBA membership optional ($300–$500/yr). | 6–10% royalty on every commission. Territory fees. Brand requirements. | None. |
Franchise cost estimates based on publicly available FDD filings (US). IBBA course pricing from published schedule as of mid-2024. Self-paced course range based on commonly marketed programmes in the business brokerage space. "Going it alone" reflects no training cost but typical first-deal errors include: no signed engagement (unenforceable commission), wrong valuation method (deal dies at due diligence), and buyer qualification failure (time wasted on non-buyers).
Every student.
Led by Den.
Den is a practising business broker and M&A exit adviser with 18+ years of direct P&L experience across 50+ business types and 12 markets. He has run the same conversations you will be running — with real owners, real buyers, real money on the table.
This is not a course built by someone who used to broker deals and now teaches. Den is active in the market. The scripts, templates, and frameworks in this programme are the ones he uses on live mandates — including deals currently in progress.
The 30-day sprint format was built because Den has seen the same failure pattern repeatedly: people spend months "studying brokerage" and never secure a signed mandate. The programme solves that by forcing execution in 30 days with direct support at every step.
P&L experience
across the career
markets
right now
Two spots open. One deal returns your investment 7 times over.
Questions that
matter.
Two spots.
Apply in 60 seconds.
Den reviews every application personally and responds within one business day. Two fields. No essay required. Your background tells him everything he needs to know about fit.
No commitment on the application. If there is fit, you get a 20-minute call. If there is not, Den tells you that directly.
Name, WhatsApp, and your background in one sentence. Den qualifies on the call — not on the form.
Den responds personally within one business day. No automated sequences. No sales calls from a team. One conversation with Den to confirm fit and start date.