The Diagnosis
I've spent years making high-stakes decisions under pressure. As an emergency physician, that's the job. Someone walks through the door in crisis, you assess fast, cut through the noise, and make a call. You don't have the luxury of being wrong.
But for a long time, when it came to my own financial future, I was doing what most physicians do. Show up, earn well, max the 401k, trust the portfolio, and assume the math would eventually work out.
It mostly does. But "mostly works out" isn't the same as freedom.
My wife Lacy and I started having a different kind of conversation this year. Not about investments or retirement accounts — but about control. About building something we actually own. About creating a future that isn't entirely dependent on me showing up to work.
That conversation led us here.
The Prescription
We're buying a business.
Not a startup. Not a moonshot. A boring, profitable, cash-flowing business that already works — we just plan to run it better.
It sounds unglamorous on purpose. Boring businesses are the ones with proven demand, low drama, and real margins. They don't make headlines. They make money.
Lacy will run day-to-day operations. I'll handle strategy, financing, and the analytical layer. We'll apply AI and automation to drive efficiency in ways the previous owner probably never considered. And we'll document the whole thing here.
This newsletter — Acquisition Rx — is the prescription we're writing for ourselves. And if you're a physician, a professional, or anyone else who earns well but wants more control over your financial future, it might be worth reading.
Where We Are Right Now — Day 1
We're at the very beginning. No deal under contract. No target acquired. Just two people who made a decision and are now doing the work to execute it.
Here's what that looks like right now: We recently joined a paid mastermind community built specifically around buying businesses. We're going through their foundational course to build the right framework before we start evaluating deals seriously. We're networking with other acquirers — people who've already done what we're trying to do.
In parallel, I've spent the last several months building out AI automation systems that have meaningfully changed how I manage my professional life. That same toolkit — Make.com, Claude, structured workflows — will eventually be applied to whatever business we acquire. That's part of the edge we're bringing.
The Four-Part Plan
Here's the honest version of our wealth-building strategy, since this newsletter is about transparency:
W2 Income as the Foundation. My physician income isn't going anywhere. We max retirement contributions and let the existing investment portfolio compound untouched. This is the stability layer that makes the rest possible.
Business Acquisition as the Accelerator. A boring business generating $150-300K annual profit, purchased with creative financing, operated by a mini team, improved with AI and systems — and eventually sold at a premium. This is the engine.
This Newsletter as the Documentation Layer. Acquisition Rx exists to hold us accountable, share what we learn in real time, and build a community of people on a similar path. Physicians, professionals, partners — people who want ownership, not just income.
Financial Freedom as the Goal. Not retirement. Not quitting medicine. Just options. The ability to make decisions from a position of strength rather than necessity.
What Comes Next
In the coming editions I'll share what we're learning inside our acquisition mastermind, how we're thinking about deal criteria, what the acquisition process actually looks like from the inside, and the AI tools and systems we're building along the way.
This is Edition 1. We're at Day 1. Come along.
— Joe & Lacy
If this resonated with you, forward it to one person who should be reading it. That's the only ask.
Reply with one word: what brought you here?