EP 130: Shift-N-Gears: From Stuck to Scalable with Acquisition Thinking with Della Kirkman

You don't have to build your own business from scratch to be an entrepreneur. You can buy one instead.

Della Kirkman, CPA and founder of Shift-N-Gears, is on a mission to help 10,000 women become business owners through acquisition. After starting as a waitress at Cracker Barrel, Della worked her way up to owning and selling her own accounting firm. Now, she's teaching others how to achieve wealth, independence, and freedom by buying businesses that are already established and successful.

In this episode, Della shares her insights on risk, funding, and deal sourcing and explains why acquisition entrepreneurship is one of the most underutilized paths to financial freedom, especially for women.

In this episode, you will:

• How to scale and grow an acquired business

• Insights on sourcing deals and funding for acquisitions

• Why every business needs to go digital

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Della Kirkman

(02:36) Why women are still behind in financial independence

(05:43) The realities of buying a business

(09:42) What buyers get wrong about acquisitions

(11:17) Building an opportunity fund

(14:21) Sourcing the right kind of deals

(18:24) How to stand out to brokers and dealmakers

(23:06) Inside Della's business buying bootcamp

(28:51) Challenges in advising business buyers 

(34:18) Why every business needs a digital component

Resources:

For past guests, please visit https://www.defendersofbusinessvalue.com/

Follow Della:

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dellakirkmancpa/ 

Vote for Della at the 2025 Harbour Club M&A Awards: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5soMcyzgR8tzBqEil-2-JPk-GPfMp-W5bmvKqFSkL7uvkxg/viewform 

Learn more about Della's company:

Shift-N-Gears: https://www.shift-n-gears.com/ 

Follow Ed:

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmysogland/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/defendersofbusinessvalue/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bvdefenders