Imagine buying a business for £1 and it all goes wrong.   The previous owners have been paying themselves with the staff’s wages but not paying the staff. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.   This was the experience of my guest Charlie Norton. Charlie shares the whole story of how he went from a £1 business purchase to sinking £40k of his own money into the business just to pay off immediate debts, but that still wasn’t enough…   He discusses why due diligence could have saved him from ever going through this challenging acquisition that he says left him in poor health because of the stress. He has since gone on to successfully sell his group of businesses and move on from this experience.   Charlie's experiences highlight the complexities of business acquisitions and the importance of learning from failures to inform future decisions.   "One bad experience doesn’t define your whole life" – Charlie   Timestamps   01:56 - Charlie's Journey in M&A 05:49 - The Stressful Acquisition Experience 11:51 - Overcoming Challenges in Business Acquisition 18:08 - Lessons Learned from a Failed Acquisition 23:46 - Transitioning to a New Business Model 30:00 - Conclusion and Future Aspirations   Connect with Charlie Norton:   LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-norton-767953227/   Vamos - https://vamosbusiness.com/   Connect With Julie Wilkinson   LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliewilkinson-accounting/ Tik Tok – https://www.tiktok.com/@wasolutions YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvq6gfNoP_4dfIJulL6C6A Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wilkinsonaccountingsolutions Website - https://wilkinsonaccountingsolutions.co.uk/   Find out more about our brilliant sponsor Acquisition Masters here - https://www.acquisitionmasters.co.uk/   Before you go, don’t forget to leave a comment and review if you got something out of this episode!