Contrarian ThinkingReviews of contrarianthinking.co

Everyone in the Contrarian Academy extremely helpful and invested in seeing each business buyer succeed. They answer my individual questions and messages in a timely manner and helped me out tremendously. I couldn't do it without them!

I am searching for a successful, profitable small business to purchase. The help and support the Contrarian Thinking has provide has been game changing. I especially appreciate the support and guidance of Heather Williams and Stephanie Veal.

I have been a member of the Growth Boardroom for almost 1 year now. I cannot say enough amazing things about this program!! The help and guidance with growing my business has been so much more then I could ever ask for! Alex and Carter have been directly my coaches throughout the year and anything I need help with they are quick to lend a hand and give me guidance. I had several big hiccups this year in the business. One where Carter hopped quickly on a call with me and guided me through the process and helped me land another full year contract with a big client. And another where one of my systems needed to be entirely changed and the next day Alex sent me an entire plan to change the system I was using with a detailed breakdown for my team. My business is growing and my team is getting stronger and working so much more independently without my daily guidance. To be honest I never even knew what an SOP was until I joined the group. Now my team lives off of them! Truly from the bottom of my heat thank you everyone on the Growth Boardroom team and also to Cody, she's another one who will help you when you need help and point you to the right person when you need it. Pretty incredible to get on a call with Cody and learn from her during this journey. Also, having the community of other business owners to get resources and help from has been so great! 100% Worth every penny!!

The advisors are superb and very knowledgeable about the process of acquiring a business. The most helpful advisors that I love working with are Stephanie Veal and Heather Williams. They have been a tremendous help in understanding how SDE calculators work and moving deals to the next steps accordingly. Without them, I would be lost in the process.

The team at CT is fantastic. I was working on fast moving deal and needed help with my valuation. Heather stepped in to answer my questions and make sure I was analyzing the financials properly. All of the advisors’ office hours are a wealth of knowledge and they are incredibly helpful in moving past obstacles.

I joined the Contrarian Academy last September after wrapping up a season working for one of the big ski resort companies — the kind that rakes in billions every year while treating the people who make that possible as replaceable. I left feeling undervalued, overworked, and underpaid, and I knew it was time to build something of my own. My goal isn't just financial freedom for myself — I want to build a business that takes care of my growing family and, eventually, the people who work for me. Financial abundance shouldn't be reserved for people willing to use others to get it. It should be available to everyone. I haven't closed a deal yet — my wife and I are still actively searching for the right business for us. I've reviewed financials, signed NDAs, and looked at several opportunities along the way. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm optimistic it will in the near future, and I credit the Academy for giving me the frameworks and confidence to evaluate deals properly rather than rushing into the wrong one. The Monday Night Live calls are a goldmine — 90 minutes every week with a Deal Advisor walking through real deals at every stage, from initial analysis to closed transactions, with members sharing their own wins and lessons learned. The Deal Advisor Office Hours give you direct, specific answers to your own deal questions. What I love most is the community aspect of these live calls. The Socratic nature of the format means every participant brings their own knowledge and wisdom to the table. No question is too small or "stupid" — every interaction adds real value, no matter where you are in your journey. I've also noticed the platform and website have kept evolving since I joined — new tools keep getting added and the overall user experience has steadily improved. Attending Contrarian Camp in person this June took everything to another level. Getting to meet deal advisors and fellow members face-to-face — everyone from people just starting out, to those who've closed their first deal, to seasoned veterans of business buying — made the online community feel even more real and connected. So many people have made this experience what it is. Rylan Harvey (Head of Academy), Nick Carey, Hants White, and Stan Sanchez have all given me sharp, deal-specific feedback as coaches and advisors. Brittany Hill (Head of Member Success) genuinely cares about members beyond the transaction, and Sage Price brings incredible energy and expertise to the community. I also had a great conversation with Mike Bardawil, who shared real, applicable insight that stuck with me. And a shout-out to Shannan Hale and Ashleigh McNew for all the work behind the scenes that makes this community run so well. Worth every bit of the investment. Highly recommend to anyone serious about building generational wealth on their own terms.

I have been part of the community for almost 10 months now and during ths time, I have worked with all the deal coaches. I have found all the deal coaches to be very supportive and genuinely interested in your success. I have never seen any selfless group anywhere in my life before. I have worked with Heather in preparing deals and other coaches in reviewing those deals. Heather is truly phenomenal. She has always found time to help us and always spent necessary time without rushing anything to make sure our deal is put together correctly for next step. I highly appreciate her for support and cannot thank her enough. I am so grateful to be part of the community and hope to continue to remain part of the community for a foreseeable future. Thank you everyone in the community and special thanks to my wonderful friend, Heather. You are truly amazing.

My husband and I joined Contrarian Academy because we want to become entrepreneurs and acquire our first business, but we also knew there was a lot we didn’t know. What I’ve appreciated most is that it doesn’t feel like we were handed a bunch of videos and told, “Good luck.” We’re currently under LOI on our first deal, a non-emergency medical transportation business, and being able to bring real questions into office hours, deal advisor sessions, and one-on-one conversations has been incredibly valuable. The advice isn’t always “keep going,” either. We’ve been challenged to slow down, question our own assumptions, dig deeper into the numbers, look at operational risk differently, and make sure we understand what we’re actually buying. That matters to me. CT Deal Advisor Hants White recently spent time with us before an important seller diligence call. He didn’t try to make the decision for us. He challenged how we were looking at the deal, shared lessons from his own transportation experience, and helped us think about the difference between buying a stable business and potentially buying something that needs to be turned around. We left that conversation with better questions, but more importantly, with a better way to think about the deal. We’ve also gotten a lot of value from seeing the deal through the lender’s eyes. Working with CT Director of Business Lending Jordan Gregory on the financing side has helped us understand that lender approval and buyer confidence are not the same thing. A bank may be willing to finance a deal at a certain level, but that does not automatically mean it is the right price for us. Seeing how a lender looks at historical earnings, debt coverage, and what the business can realistically support has made us much more disciplined about separating: “Can we finance it?” from “Should we buy it?” That has been a really important lesson for us. The access to people who will challenge your thinking, not just cheer you on, has been one of the strongest parts of the Contrarian community for me. We still have a lot to learn, and we haven’t completed an acquisition yet. I actually think that is worth saying because we’re still in the middle of the process. But my husband and I are much better buyers today than we were when we joined. We’re learning how to look at a deal from multiple sides: the operator’s perspective, the lender’s perspective, the seller’s perspective, and ultimately our own perspective as the buyers who will have to live with the decision. And I think we’re starting to understand that becoming an entrepreneur is about much more than finding a business and getting a loan. It’s learning how to evaluate risk, make hard decisions, ask better questions, and be willing to walk away when something isn’t right. For me, that’s the real value of Contrarian Academy. You’re learning how to buy a business, but you’re also learning how to think like an owner. And while you’re learning, there are people in your corner who genuinely want to see you succeed. ❤️