Still Building.
In today's issue:
A channel I've been building on the side for anyone seriously considering buying a business or franchise as their next chapter.
Why most buyers arrive at the closing table having done the wrong research, and what the right research actually looks like.
What happens when a CPA with eight years inside SBA lending builds an educational channel for buyers instead of a broker.
Keep Building!
Curt
FEATURED SECTION
New Channel Worth Bookmarking: Main Street Ledger
If you have ever thought seriously about buying a business or a franchise, not as a hobby but as an income-generating asset, you already know the research phase is where most buyers get it wrong.
Not because the information doesn't exist. Because it's scattered, often broker-filtered, and rarely explained by someone who has been on both sides of the transaction.
That's the gap Main Street Ledger was built to fill.
What It Is
Main Street Ledger is a YouTube financial education channel covering the full arc of small business ownership. From finding and evaluating a business to financing it, structuring the deal, and managing the financial realities once you own it.
I write, edit, and narrate every video myself. Every episode draws from my personal experience backed up by public-source research: SBA guidelines, franchise disclosure documents, IRS publications, and government data. All of it translated into plain language.
The editorial filter is 40 years of CPA and CFO experience, including eight years inside an SBA lending operation. That background is what separates this from most of what covers this territory on YouTube.
Six Content Playlists
→ Buying a Business: The acquisition process from search to close. Valuation, due diligence, deal structure, what brokers won't tell you.
→ Franchise Intelligence: FDD-first analysis of the franchise buying decision. The disclosure document tells you everything — if you know how to read it.
→ SBA Lending: How 7(a) and 504 loans actually work, why applications get rejected, and what lenders look for before they say yes.
→ Small Business Finance and CFO Fundamentals: The financial operating layer most small business owners never learned. Cash flow, working capital, financial statements that actually tell you something.
→ Business Credit and Alternative Funding: How to build a business credit profile and what alternative funding actually costs versus what it promises.
→ Market Intelligence: SBA policy, deal market conditions, and economic data affecting Main Street buyers,
The Franchise Ledger
This is the playlist launching soon, and it's the one I'm most excited about.
Most franchise content on YouTube covers branding, culture, and owner experiences. Very few examine whether lenders are actually financing the concept, or whether the unit economics support the investment.
"Research the deal before you fund the deal."
Each episode reviews one specific franchise system using two data sources that are rarely combined on YouTube:
→ The current FDD filing → SBA 7(a) public loan approval data
The SBA publicly reports which franchise systems are receiving loan approvals and how frequently they're being financed. Cross-referencing that against the FDD unit economics answers the question every serious franchise buyer needs: do the numbers work, and can you actually finance the deal?
The first episode covers UPS Store — one of the top franchise by SBA loan volume.
If This Belongs in Your Research Stack
The channel is about 10 videos in and growing weekly. If you're actively researching acquisitions, SBA financing, or franchises, the library will become more valuable as it expands.
🔆 That’s a Wrap
The research phase is where acquisitions get made or avoided. Main Street Ledger exists to make that phase more rigorous, and you're early enough to have the full library as it grows.
Curt Roese, CPA
Founder, Retirepreneur | Former CFO
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