Andrew Austin

Industry Experience:
Real Estate Broker
Business Broker

Location: 
Chatanooga, Tennessee

Business Bio:
After graduating college, I worked briefly in in outbound sales for a billboard company in Athens, GA that an elder at my church was running. I quickly realized that I wasn't in a place to thrive and joined a campaign team for a short, special election outside of Atlanta. After months of little sleep, less pay, stale pizza, door knocking, calling on volunteers, and eventually losing the election, I was hooked.

The candidate kindly introduced me to a friend of his who was running for office in Nashville, not far from my hometown of Chattanooga, TN. I moved to Nashville to work on the campaign and then to Washington D.C. after we won the election. After a year in DC, I was invited to help a Nashville nonprofit launch their development department and was pitched that I would have full latitude to build a team, tell the stories of the men and women we served, and hopefully raise some money. The next year was full of lessons navigating the nonprofit world, building corporate partnerships, and the reward of a team with a clearly defined goal.

At this point, our family was opening a satellite branch in Nashville and I decided it was time I try to make a little bit of money, as I would soon get engaged. My wife and I were married a couple years later and moved back to Chattanooga where I started working with more commercial clients. A few of these clients were retiring business owners, exposing me to the work of entrepreneurship through acquisition. Once I discovered this path of buying small businesses, I saw another opportunity to build a mission driven team and impact the lives of people around me. I was hooked again!

Meet the advisor: (video)