Santa Brings Success . . . Scott and Jalisa Schafer Buy their First Business!

Just one year ago, Scott and Jalisa Schafer were planning to become entrepreneurs. Knowing they needed guidance to make the right business investment, they selected The Art of Buying a Business, a premier course developed by Professor Richard Parker for Trump University.

“Trump stands for quality,” Scott explains. “It is one of the best brands out there. We knew we would get information we could trust to succeed.”

They found the resources in The Art of Buying a Business to be top-notch - particularly, they say, the Buyer Toolbox part of the course, which clearly explained what to do when researching a business - and more importantly, what not to do.

And then they did something else. They bought a business of their own.

3,000 Opportunities . . .  Just One Acquisition!

“One of the key elements in buying a business is your broker,” Scott explains. “The right broker will save you a lot of money. A bad broker will look out for the benefit of the seller, which means more money for them! But if you get the right broker, you can get a great deal. If we didn’t take this course and really investigate the broker, we could have lost a lot of money.”

Scott and Jalisa actually amassed a list of over 3,000 businesses to review for possible purchase. Even when they narrowed that list down to 25 businesses, it still took several months to analyze each of them in depth.

But September 26, 2007 was the day it all came together - Scott and Jalisa acquired a commercial Christmas decorating company called Deck the Malls. When discussing the decision to purchase this business, Scott explains that the business will enable them to do the kind of work that is near and dear to their hearts.

“My wife loves Christmas,” he explains. “Plus, during the remainder of the year, we will work on maintaining and getting new clients. In our first year, we are expecting over $300,000 in profit.”

The seller was so impressed with the Schafers’ business acumen that he ensured the transition of clients to the Schafers and even prospected for new customers while he was negotiating with them.

After Thanksgiving dinner, the Schafers got down to work, decorating malls in Arizona, including the famed Mill Avenue in Tempe. Decorating the interiors and exteriors of 155 malls was no small undertaking! Yet the Schafers were able to work with secured contract laborers - a factor that they arranged during negotiations - to ensure a successful outcome.

We are proud that Trump University was there to help them launch this exciting new phase of their lives. A holiday success story is the best success story of all.

Josef Katz