How I Slowly Molded a 7-Figure Business to Run a Few Hours per Week

When I acquired QuotaGuard in 2013, it consumed 40+ hours of my week. Now, that same business cashflows seven-figures on just 2–5 hours/week.

But here's what no one tells you:

You're not acquiring passive income when you buy a business.

You're acquiring the opportunity to create passive income—through deliberate, patient transformation.

The Starting Point

I bought QuotaGuard for $230,000, all cash. It's a static IP proxy service. Nothing sexy, just solving a boring infrastructure problem for enterprise customers.

Today, it generates close to $2M in revenue. Some weeks, I get away with doing zero hours on it. When I’m on vacation, I check in on it once a day—or not at all.

Weirdly enough, revenue often goes up when I’m offline.

Incredibly annoying, almost telling me that “I’m the problem with the business.”

I’m Still More Hands-On Than I “Need” to Be

I monitor every support ticket. I can respond within 60 seconds. Why? Because I like having my finger on the pulse. But it’s a choice.

Yes, many acquisition entrepreneurs want totally passive income. But let me be real:

When you buy a business, you’ve bought a job.

Even if it was passive for the seller, it won’t be for you—at least not at first. You have to:

• Learn the operations

• Understand the customers

• Build trust with any team

• And create your own systems

Here's How I Actually Transformed QuotaGuard Into a Passive Business

🔹 1. Finding the Right VA (This Took Years)

My assistant Van is incredible. But it took years to find him.

I burned through several VAs, used a premium VA firm, and eventually bought Van out of that contract, split the difference with him so we both were better off.

It took 16 months to break even, but that was years ago. I've been in ROI mode ever since.

Over 2 years, I slowly transferred all responsibilities:

• Support tickets

• Accounting

• Billing

• User upgrade notices

These things take hours a day. Many times I didn’t even have time to do them, so they were skipped.

That’s where Van really was helpful.

However, it still took two years for him to assume all operations without me double checking everything each day. 

Not two weeks. Not two months. Not even 12 months.

🔹 2. Accepting Market Maturity (Instead of Forcing Growth)

QuotaGuard is stable. Growth = churn most months. It’s topped out, for now.

Rather than obsess over new features or pushing harder, I leaned into stability and focused on making the operation hands-off.

That allows me to let QuotaGuard run as a cashflow engine focus my attention on newer acquisitions with more potential for future growth.

🔹 3. Staying Narrow, Refusing to Expand

We solve one problem: enterprise-grade static IPs.

We didn’t build or acquire a VPN side business. We didn’t launch a related product.

The team stayed focused on one thing only.

That’s exactly what let the business run itself.

🔹 4. Choosing (and Firing) Customers Strategically

I turned down Fortune 50 deals that came with compliance headaches and liability.

More importantly, I fired several high-paying nightmare customers.

Every time I let one go, revenue kept growing.

It felt like the wrong thing to do at the time, but turned out for the best long term.

🔹 5. Building Systems That Actually Work

This one gets overhyped online with all the guru’s and their “systems”, but it’s still essential:

• Billing: Fully automated, no invoices or “one off” situations allowed

• Support: 80% handled via templated replies

• Escalations: Van (level 1) → Tech team (level 2) → Me (optional)

• Reporting: One daily email from Van with all key metrics

The goal isn’t just automation, it’s believing in your trustworthy systems that don't need constant checking.

🔹 6. Hiring Expensive People

Everyone wants to cut costs and outsource to AI. Not for me.

I hired highly skilled, well-paid team members, and that’s what made the company better, stronger, and more stable.

The biggest hurdle to selling QuotaGuard would likely be the cost of the staff.

But that’s ok with me, they’re the ones that grew the business to where it is today and keep it there.

This Isn’t Passive Income. It’s Patient Engineering.

I’m still involved, but it’s strategic involvement.

And the time I invested years ago is still paying off.

That’s why I rarely sell businesses.

QuotaGuard is over 12 years old and paying dividends on work I started a decade ago.

This stuff takes time. But if you invest patiently and build deliberately, the results compound.

If you’re deep in an acquisition and feeling like you “bought a job,” you’re not alone.

Passive operations are possible.

But it’s a grind at first and anyone who tells you otherwise is skipping the hard part

👉 Read the full, expanded version with details on hiring, automation ROI, customer stories, and financials

📬My Newsletters (Pick What Fits You Best):

🧠 Frewsletter – The full post-purchase, pre-exit operator playbook.

Sharing everything (even the financials) about acquiring, exiting, and operating sub-$5M SaaS businesses.

→ Great for portfolio builders, operators & acquisition junkies.

💎 [Premium available] - Sharing the real numbers, systems, and stories from my portfolio—QuotaGuard, Appointment Reminder, WP Folio, Gigalixir, and beyond.

🏁 Founder Exits – Built something great? Let’s sell it.

Insights for founders & entrepreneurs who are preparing to sell (or just thinking about it).

→ Strategy, timing, and what buyers really look for.

👨‍💻 Dev Driven Acquisitions – For Engineers and Professionals buying businesses.

Practical advice for engineers, devs & IT pros entering the world of business acquisition.

→ Less fluff, more code-friendly dealmaking.

👉 Stay subscribed. I’ve got more coming next week.