“I thought retirement meant golf and grandkids,” Robert says. “Turns out I was way too young to just… stop.”
Robert Chen isn’t your typical retiree story.
After 28 years climbing the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 tech company, he took early retirement at 56 with a healthy severance package and stock options that had done well over the years.
The first three months were great. He traveled. Spent time with the family. Tackled the honey-do list his wife had been building for a decade.
Then the restlessness kicked in.
“I’d wake up at 6am like I always did, but there was nowhere to go,” Robert recalls. “My brain wasn’t wired to just… relax. I needed something to build.”
Real estate felt overdone in his market. The stock portfolio was already set up and it already gave him headaches. Starting a business from scratch at 56? That felt like a young person’s game.
Then he remembered something Codie Sanchez had said in an interview: “The best investment you can make is in a business that’s already working.”
That planted a seed.
The search for something real
Robert started researching business acquisitions. Franchises felt restrictive and formulaic. Local businesses meant physical locations and long hours. SaaS companies required technical expertise he didn’t have.
Then a former colleague mentioned something interesting over coffee, buying e-commerce brands.
“I’ll be honest, my first thought was ‘isn’t e-commerce saturated? And it sounded like something teenagers do'” Robert admits. “But then he showed me the numbers on his phone. This guy was pulling in $40K monthly profit from a business he bought 18 months ago. I was shocked.”
He went down the rabbit hole. Read articles. Watched YouTube videos. Joined forums.
That’s when he discovered Trend Hijacking.
“Most of what I found online was either too vague or clearly trying to sell me a course,” Robert says. “Trend Hijacking was different. They actually showed case studies with real numbers. And they weren’t pitching drop-shipping schemes or ‘passive income secrets.’ They were talking about acquiring established, profitable businesses.”
Meeting the team
Robert booked a call with Dolapo, the founder of Trend Hijacking.
“I had a lot of questions,” Robert laughs. “Probably annoyed him with how many. But he answered everything straight. No hype. Just facts.”
What stood out to Robert was their Smart Acquisition Program. It was education, consulting and end-to-end execution.
They’d source the business from their private network, handle all the vetting and due diligence, negotiate the purchase price, manage the entire closing process, then help set up operations and scale it afterward.
“I’d run preliminary assessments on vendor contracts and corporate partnerships before,” Robert explains. “But vetting an e-commerce business? That’s a completely different animal. I needed people who’d actually done this dozens of times.”
Trend Hijacking’s track record was solid. They’d helped investors acquire and scale businesses across different niches, and their network gave them access to over 2,000 private seller businesses that never hit public marketplaces.
“The best deals are never listed publicly,” Dolapo explained during their call. “By the time something hits Empire Flippers or Flippa, it’s been shopped around. We go directly to owners who are looking for the right buyer, not just any buyer.”
Robert decided to start the 14-day trial. without upfront commitment. Just see if this was actually real and how exactly they work.
“Best decision I made,” he says now.
Finding the right business
Robert’s criteria were specific: the business needed to be profitable with clean financials, have an established brand with loyal customers, sell products that weren’t fad-driven, maintain manageable inventory complexity, and offer real growth potential without demanding 80-hour weeks.
Trend Hijacking’s team got to work.
They presented Robert with a shortlist of seven businesses over two weeks. Each one had been through what they call “forensic-level due dilligence and preliminary assessment”… financial audits, supplier verification, traffic analysis, customer retention metrics, competitive landscape assessment.
“They showed me things I would’ve never thought to look for,” Robert says. “Like one business looked great on paper, but they dug into Google Analytics and found 60% of traffic came from a single affiliate who was already negotiating to leave. That would’ve been a disaster.”
One business kept rising to the top.
It was a home and lifestyle brand doing $180K monthly in revenue with about 23% net profit margins. The owner had built it over five years but had health issues and needed to step away.
“The product was smart,” Robert explains. “It solved an actual problem people have. Reviews were stellar. Repeat purchase rate was solid. The owner just hadn’t invested in proper marketing or expansion.”
The asking price was $680,000 based on a 3.2x multiple of annual profit.
The negotiation
This is where having experienced negotiators mattered.
Trend Hijacking’s team found several issues during deep due diligence: outdated inventory management systems, inefficient ad spend, no email marketing automation, and a supplier relationship that needed renegotiation.
They built a case showing the actual investment needed to stabilize and grow the business.
“We presented it to the seller respectfully but directly,” Dolapo recalls. “These aren’t bad things, but they’re real costs the new owner will face immediately. That impacts valuation.”
After two weeks of back-and-forth, they closed at $520,000.
Robert saved $160,000 off the asking price.
“That negotiation alone justified the entire program fee,” Robert notes. “I would’ve paid asking price just to get the deal done. They saved me real money.”
The Trend Hijacking team coordinated with attorneys and acquisition experts, structured the deal, managed escrow, and walked Robert through every document.
Within 45 days from first conversation to final signature, Robert owned an e-commerce business.
“Surreal moment when the wire cleared,” he admits. “I own a real business now. What the hell do I do next?”
The first 90 days
This is where most acquisitions fail.
New owners either panic and change everything, or they freeze and watch the business decline.
Trend Hijacking took a different approach with Robert.
First, they set up a lean operations team… customer service, inventory management, basic admin. The team operated remotely and cost about 60% less than hiring locally.
“They weren’t managing it for me,” Robert clarifies. “I’m the owner. But they built the infrastructure so I wasn’t answering customer emails at midnight.”
More importantly, they implemented their growth methodology.
They audited every dollar of ad spend, killed underperforming campaigns, and restructured the profitable ones with better creative and targeting. They set up email flows to capture customers who abandoned carts and nurture repeat purchases. They renegotiated supplier terms to improve margins by 4%.
“Most people think scaling means spending more money,” Dolapo explains. “Wrong. First you fix the leaks. Then you pour in the gas.”
The first month was steady. Revenue held at $182K. Profit margins improved slightly to 25% thanks to better supplier terms.
Month two showed real progress. Revenue climbed to $215K as the new campaigns found their footing.
“I was thrilled,” Robert says. “20% growth in a month felt incredible.”
Then month three hit differently.
When it clicked
December brought something Robert hadn’t expected: momentum.
“We’d been testing different angles, different creatives, different audience segments,” Robert explains. “And suddenly multiple campaigns just… hit.”
The Trend Hijacking team had identified a seasonal opportunity… not Christmas, but something adjacent that competitors weren’t targeting hard. They capitalized on it fast.
Daily revenue started climbing. $8K. Then $10K. Then $12K.
“I was checking my phone constantly,” Robert laughs. “My wife thought I’d picked up a gambling habit.”
By mid-December, the business crossed $15K in a single day.
By month’s end, revenue hit $385K. Profit margins held at 24%.
“I’ve analyzed corporate financials for decades,” Robert says, still sounding a bit amazed. “But watching something I actually own grow like that? Different feeling entirely.”
The current state
Six months post-acquisition, the business consistently runs at $14K-$16K daily, which translates to $420K-$480K monthly.
They’ve generated roughly $480K in profit since Robert took ownership.
His initial investment of $520K is nearly recovered in six months through profit alone. The business itself is now worth substantially more based on the new revenue numbers.
“In corporate terms, that’s like a 92% annual ROI,” Robert says. “Show me a stock portfolio doing that.”
More importantly, Robert spends about 8-12 hours per week on the business.
“I review reports, approve major decisions, hop on calls with the team,” he explains. “But I’m not in the weeds. I’m actually the owner and operator, not an employee of my own business.”
He’s already planning his second acquisition.
“Once you see the playbook work, you realize it’s repeatable,” Robert notes. “I’m looking at businesses in completely different niches. The fundamentals are the same.”
His goal is three brands in the portfolio within 18 months, each throwing off $300K-$500K in annual profit.
“That’s real wealth building,” he says. “Not hoping the stock market goes up. Not dealing with tenants. I own assets that grow and generate cash flow.”
The Future
Robert’s story reveals something most people don’t know exists.
While everyone debates stocks versus real estate, there’s a quiet wealth-building strategy happening in e-commerce acquisitions.
“The returns aren’t comparable to traditional investments,” Dolapo explains. “Real estate might get you 8-12% annually if you’re good. Stocks average 8-10% long-term. A properly executed e-commerce acquisition can return your full investment in 12-18 months, then continue paying you indefinitely until you exit for 2-4x earnings.”
The barrier isn’t capital. It’s knowledge and execution.
Most people don’t know how to find quality deals, properly vet them, negotiate favorable terms, or scale post-acquisition. So they either never try, or they try once, overpay, buy a problematic business, and lose money.
That’s exactly what Trend Hijacking’s Smart Acquisition Program solves.
“We handle everything you don’t know how to do,” Dolapo says. “Deal sourcing from our private network, forensic due diligence, negotiation to get below asking price, operations setup, growth implementation. You remain the owner and make final calls. We just build you the infrastructure.”
The program fee is a flat rate charged after the 14-day trial period. No retainers, no equity stake, no hidden costs. You own 100% of whatever you acquire.
“The trial exists so people can see this is legitimate,” Dolapo explains. “We walk you through the process, show you actual deals in our pipeline, develop your acquisition strategy. No pressure. If it’s not the right fit, no problem.”
Of course, it’s not risk-free.
Algorithm changes can impact traffic. Suppliers can have issues. Competition can intensify. Market conditions shift. You need capital reserves and realistic expectations.
“This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme,” Dolapo is careful to clarify. “Especially the first 6-12 months, you need to be engaged and learn the business. But with proper systems and team, it becomes progressively more hands-off.”
What’s next for Robert
Robert is currently reviewing three potential acquisitions. Same methodology, different products.
“The first deal proved the model works,” he says. “Now I’m building a portfolio.”
His retirement looks nothing like he imagined… and he’s thrilled about it.
“I’m not just watching money sit in index funds,” Robert reflects. “I’m building real businesses that grow and generate serious cash flow. I’m actually creating value again.”
Would he do it again?
“Without question,” he says immediately. “This is exactly what I needed in this phase of life. Something meaningful to work on, real financial upside, but without the 70-hour weeks I used to pull.”
For other professionals sitting on capital and wondering what’s next, Robert offers this perspective:
“If you’re bored with traditional investments and want something more engaging with better returns, look at this space seriously. It’s not for everyone. You need capital, you need to be willing to learn, and you need to be strategic. But if you’re ready to build real wealth through ownership rather than hoping the market goes up? This is the most direct path I’ve found.”
He pauses, then adds with a smile: “I just wish someone had told me about this 10 years ago.”
About Trend Hijacking
Trend Hijacking is an e-commerce investment consultancy specializing in helping investors, entrepreneurs, and high-net-worth individuals acquire and scale profitable online businesses. Founded by Dolapo Adedayo, the firm has developed a systematic approach to business acquisitions that removes the complexity and risk traditionally associated with buying companies.
The Smart Acquisition Program guides clients through the complete acquisition journey: deal discovery and sourcing, forensic-level due diligence, price negotiation, legal closing, and post-acquisition scaling. With access to over 2,000 private seller businesses and relationships with 54+ brokers, Trend Hijacking provides acquisition opportunities that most investors would never discover independently.
For investors looking to build wealth through business ownership rather than market speculation, Trend Hijacking offers a proven framework from acquisition to sustainable scale.
A 14-day trial period allows prospective clients to experience the complete acquisition process, review current deal opportunities, and develop a personalized strategy before making any financial commitment.
Media Contact:
Trend Hijacking
Support@trendhijacking.com
+1 213 632 3209 (US)
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