How We’d Start a Plumbing Company From $0 in 2026

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Well, how do I start?
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Like, I need all this money to start.
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And I'm like, I actually don't think that you do.
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I think you can build a business.
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I've seen guys build to a million just on Facebook and next door.
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How we would start a plumbing company from zero doll hairs.
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The first step is I'm getting my GMB right.
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Like, can you get the first job before you put a dollar to work?
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Like rent somebody else's list, basically.
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And like I think you'd get your first couple of jobs off of that.
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So you would pick that though over LSA's.
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I mean, like, look, LSA.
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Welcome back to Owned and Operated, a top 150 U.S.
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and business and entrepreneurship podcast.
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I'm your host, John Wilson.
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On this show, we talk about home service businesses.
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We talk about the home service industry.
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We talk about our own home service business and what we're doing inside it to grow or change or really whatever.
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So today I'm joined by my somewhat infrequent co-host who's basically always here, uh, Jack Carr.
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Jack, hey, welcome back to the show.
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It's been so long.
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It's been like what, four days, three days?
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Not like I haven't been on this podcast for the last three years or three years.
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It's funnier this way because then it just gets you riled up so then we can start arguing.
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I do.
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It's actually a pretty good time.
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Um well before we dive into like what we're actually gonna talk about today, like how you been?
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What have you been up to?
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Um, it's been good.
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I mean, we're just rounding out the end of summer, and it's been yeah, record after record after record, all thanks to joining the Wilson team.
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That's what I'm attributing it all to.
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Nothing to do with like us or how we were doing or decisions we made prior to summer.
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Thank you.
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Um, so really excited about that.
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It's been it's been solid.
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Um, so honestly, it's been it's been a great summer.
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We're really happy.
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We've done a bunch of recruiting.
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So yeah, when you we talked about this uh a couple weeks, months ago, but um you were talking about how this was the first summer you feel like you've been appropriately staffed.
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Like, what was the impact to like how do you do you think about that impact?
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Well, that's been the entire difference is we've ran marketing in summer for the first time ever.
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Yes.
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So running marketing in summer, obviously we have a higher marketing spend in summer, but we've also had more jobs and we've had more capacity, and we've been able to fill the capacity with now the marketing.
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And so that's essentially doubled everything this summer from last summer.
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Yeah, and I uh to be honest, I think that there was more capacity too.
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Like we could have hired another person and actually tried uh to fill board, like you know how in September, October you're like, Oh, I need to fill this board, so I'm gonna outbound and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that to put more leads on.
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Like, we didn't go above and beyond to fill capacity, we just let capacity fill and then moved on.
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Um so I think that if we were actively trying and pushing to fill capacity, we could have even grew more.
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Yeah.
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No, yeah, your your team's done awesome.
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It has been crazy.
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It's like literally a hundred percent year over year growth, which is just nuts.
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And I was looking at this yesterday.
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Oh, because we're looking at like properties for like, okay, do we do we outgrow the current one?
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And like, how do we think about it?
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And um you were like almost about to hit five million year to date, which like feels crazy to me, uh, because you did four something all of last year.
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Uh, so that's crazy.
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Yeah, yeah.
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We hit we hit last year's in July.
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Last year's number in July.
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Yeah, but crazy summer.
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Yeah, we just had a crazy, crazy great year.
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Uh, shout out to again.
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Part of it is Wilson, part of it's having a great GM.
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Part of it is just learning from our mistakes last year and continuing.
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GM did GM did great.
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Uh plumbing's doing great.
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You have an awesome sales team that I don't think you had in place last year.
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I really think like you guys put all the right stuff in place and your team just like executed.
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Yeah.
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They they just like did it, which is just been a watch.
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The interesting part, it's a young team.
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So if we can keep them on through until next year, it'll be wild because I mean, you know how it goes when you're able to like teach them your method and your way, and then you see them actually execute.
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Like, our best producing uh service service guy on on HVAC has been with us for three years.
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So like he knows our like that's why he gets it.
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And so once we get these new younger guys up to par with that, like I think it's gonna be even wilder.
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Like the amount that they're gonna be able to do is gonna be crazy.
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No, I agree.
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It'll be interesting to see.
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I feel like a lot of businesses that I've seen that have gone on like the growth streak that you're on, like they they the stuff clicks, which like you your stuff is clicking right now.
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And uh, but they usually click for like a couple years in a row.
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So like I bet what's gonna happen again is like I don't know if it'll be a double, but like I bet you'll hit like north of 50% growth again next year and like be in that 12 to 15 range.
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I think what yeah, I'm I don't disagree with you at all because there's some really I don't want to call them easy levers, but there's some levers that we can pull in the next year.
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Yeah.
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That if we can get that level.
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Well, even just like electrical driving the bus.
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Electrical driving the bus, plumbing, yeah, sewers, plumbing sales clicked correctly.
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Um, like there's some really easy levers to add an extra five million in revenue.
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Cool.
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Uh well, before we get too far, I am uh supposed to give uh two shout outs.
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One, uh, this is kind of funny.
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I think I'm pretty sure our breaking five like might have sold out.
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Did we sell out?
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Okay, we literally have one left.
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Uh that's hilarious.
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So um we usually there's like we get close to filling up completely, or we fill up, but like it's within the past last couple days or whatever.
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But it's like this one was kind of funny.
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Yeah, yeah.
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But this one was kind of funny.
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I'm pretty sure we like filled up like a like a month out, which uh is pretty cool.
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It's fun that we've um I feel like it's been our way to uh give back and um we've I don't know, helped companies grow, which I think is just a lot of fun.
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Uh, but we do have another event, May 3rd to the 5th of 2027, baby.
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We're calling this one catalyst.
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Make sure you check out ownedandoperated.com and you can find the information for the event catalyst.
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This is the biggest event that we've done with uh owned and operated so far.
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We're expecting around 100 home service entrepreneurs.
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We're gonna have some great uh speakers, some great breakout sessions, and really like help people uh be the catalyst for uh companies to continue to grow to whatever their next stage is.
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So we're really excited about it.
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Um, it'll be a lot of fun and we're we're just excited to get together with everybody.
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As your business grows, the financial decisions get a lot more expensive.
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:57.759
Things like hiring techs, buying trucks, raising pricing, and marketing.
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If you're making those decisions without really understanding your numbers, you're probably leaving a pile of money on the table.
00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:04.959
And that's where profit and grit comes in.
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:09.839
Tyler has built, scaled, and sold a$25 million service business.
00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.879
So his advice comes from real operating experience.
00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:22.480
You'll work with him directly to improve your cash flow, understand your margins, and build better forecasts to make you more confident as you make decisions as you grow.
00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:29.040
One client increased bottom line profit by 11% after fixing pricing, improving job mix, and stabilizing their cash flow.
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If you're doing between three and five million a year and you want more clarity around your finances, book a free 20-minute strategy call at the link below.
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Um, okay, so today we're talking about starting over.
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We've done a few of these.
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Uh, like if I had to start from zeros, what would we do?
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Um, so today, specifically, how we would start a plumbing company from zero doll hairs in 2026.
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Here's the story.
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All right.
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Jack and John begin gambling.
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We face horrific losses.
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We lose the whole company.
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We escape with a hundred dollars in our pocket, but we get to keep everything we knew, which is which is great.
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We have limited capital, zero customers, no employees, and one goal to build a plumbing company from zero to a million dollars as quickly and realistically as possible.
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Uh the rules are no vague answers.
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No vague answers.
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That had that had to be for you, not for me.
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Yeah.
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And they have to commit to numbers, timelines, and decisions.
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Our family's still supporting us despite our incredible gambling addiction.
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We're both still married.
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Uh, but really, we just lost everything and we're ready to roll again.
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My limited capital, because I would say that's pretty vague uh to whoever wrote this script, 10 feet to the right of me.
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I will say that we've got 5,000 bucks.
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Yeah.
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10,000 bucks?
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Like we're gonna have to do that.
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$100 is light.
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I mean,$10 feels good.
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Okay, all right.
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$10 feels good.
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We we saved everything.
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Our wives shoved$10,000 away from our uh horse jockey um bedding.
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I mean, so the the assuming that I'm still in Tennessee and I still have my licensure, um, which I think is a big part.
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So obviously the the beginning has to start with the things that every beginning company has to start with.
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You spend the$30 on getting your LLC put into place.
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You come up with the name, which really doesn't matter at this point.
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Don't spend too much time on a logo, don't spend too much time on any of the silly branding stuff that people worry about for months and months.
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Chat GPT.
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I mean, Chat GPT can put together a nice little package for you, yeah.
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And then once we only have 10 grand, so you can't spend, you know, yeah, 700 bucks even is a lot on a logo.
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Yeah, definitely agree.
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Um, and then I think that uh the first step is to put some advertisements up for a uh plumber.
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Um I could do some plumbing, but I definitely need a plumber.
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Um, so that's gonna spend is gonna be about my my hope was that I could probably get that through and get somebody hired within a week, um, which at about$30 a day from Indeed, that would put me at$150.
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Maybe run some meta ads in local or meta posts and in local groups, plumbers of Nashville, tradesmen of Nashville, Nashville contractors, run some some ads there, or at least free advertisements just saying, hey guys, looking for some plumbing help.
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Yep.
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Call some subs.
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And then the marketing is like, okay, I got my people set up.
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The next thing that I'm doing simultaneously is I'm getting my GMB, right?
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That's a free source.
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I'm putting it in a spot that's probably close to my house.
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Um maybe at your house.
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Maybe at my house with a service area rather than a geolocation.
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And then I'm asking for reviews from I'm allowed to ask for reviews from any of my previous work that I did before my gambling addiction to cold.
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It was a real tragic gambling addiction.
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Yeah.
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But fortunately, you helped a lot of people in your previous life, and they're all happy to help you with a four to five star review.
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Hopefully, five.
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Well, you may have lost their money in your gambling.
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Yeah, we don't.
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I I don't remember how far down the rabbit hole you went to my tragic story that we put together.
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My hope is to drive about 20 reviews right out the gate.
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Um, and then at that same time, I set my Google Business profile up, I fill it out, I take some pictures, even if maybe my phone got smashed.
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I can take pictures of my water heater or some previous jobs I had, populate it, turn on LSA.
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Um, and so right now we're still probably at under$1,000.
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I have uh hope of somebody coming in to help me out with some jobs.
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Um, I'm also going on those same Facebook groups, and I'm saying, hey, looking for work, plumbing work.
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I'm going on next door, hey, looking for plumbing work, have openings in my schedule, willing to help out.
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Um, so like that's my big first steps.
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I still have 9K to now focus on like truck equipment, parts, material, things I need for those first jobs.
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But that's my hope is to get the phone ringing.
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I have to get a VOIP, probably, grab a cheap VOIP uh because I want to start the build correctly and not use my personal phone number.
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There's like two different ways you can think about investing cash inside a business.
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Um and you can basically invest uh before revenue or you can invest after revenue.
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Um and the idea of that is like investing before revenue is if I'm an existing business and I want to launch a new service line, does it take me a million dollars to get that new location or whatever up and running?
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Um, well, that million dollars would come before I drive revenue or like some large portion of that.
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Uh the other is like, hey, we are going to respond to revenue by investing further into it and basically like testing it.
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Uh that tends to be my philosophy.
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Uh, we've said this a lot on the show of like, hey, before we go buy a lining machine or jetting machine or whatever, somebody go sell this thing.
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Like, prove that we can actually drive revenue from this idea, um, and then we'll invest in it.
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But like, I'm I'm I tend to not invest before revenue because like you just don't know.
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And I've been burned enough times that uh, you know, you just don't know what works until it works.
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So I would be focused on like, can you do like a couple hundred bucks?
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Uh, or even before you do anything, can you just go on next door and say, like, hey, I'm a plumber and I have work?
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Like, can you get the first job before you put a dollar to work?
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Because if I only have$10,000, like 10% of it into like formation is still a lot of money.
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I think that's I think there's a base level of setup though that you need.
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You could probably avoid the the hiring, but the hiring takes multiple days to actually kick in.
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And so that that's why I I invested early in hiring, just because it takes you know time.
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Whereas like equipment you can go out and buy down at Home Depot.
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And so I mean, another way to do it.
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Another way to do it, and maybe this is maybe this would be interesting, is like, hey, I'm gonna go on.
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I I'm broke.
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I got 10 bands that my wife set aside from my what should my gambling addiction be?
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I was gonna take card gambling.
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There it is.
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This time it'll be different.
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Um, yeah.
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Oh my god, that's horrible.
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All right.
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So, so yeah, so I think I think what you could do that'd be kind of interesting is like, what if you just subbed from the get-go?
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Like, hey, you I called around to a bunch of plumbers and said, like, hey man, um you just want to work with me on this.
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Uh, like I'll be your apprentice or whatever, but like I'll get you the jobs and like we I don't know, we can figure it out.
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Uh or like drain cleaning.
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I I feel like there's a way to do it, because we've subbed people in to install or do sewers, or so I bet there's a way that like you could actually get a business going and like prove out the thesis without any of the formation stuff where you just start posting on Facebook and then you find somebody to like partner with, run the jobs, whatever, you sub it out, you pay them whatever, you mark it up 10% or whatever to cover your fee, and then boom, you have a you have a plumbing company.
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Yeah.
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No, I I actually agree with you there that that is a viable method to start, is you sub everything out.
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Because then you don't have the right tools, you don't need a truck, you don't need to install, you don't need people.
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That being said, you are starting with your knowledge, right?
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That was part of the the background.
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And so this is my knowledge, is like I think with I could sub it.
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I think with that knowledge, though, like you could also you know how to hire, you know how to get your first jobs, like you know all this stuff.
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I don't disagree that like that is how we started.
00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:29.279
We subbed out, we had one plumber and we subbed all of our rest of our plumbing out, especially stuff that we couldn't do.
00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:34.159
But like you can sub out jettings, you can sub out sewer work, you can sub out anything.
00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:36.159
So I don't think that's a bad idea.
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:48.399
Is like, hey, you you roll some ads for drains, and then you sell it to sell the job at a percentage to a sewer crew, and now you're ripping two, three thousand dollars.
00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.879
Um, and the sewer crew's pretty happy because hey, like they're ripping seven, eight.
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.240
I mean, yeah, that's how we did sewers for for a long time.
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.440
Um I'm kind of into this.
00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:09.200
So there's actually uh well, Sam Preston from Service Scalers, he started a home service business, and uh, which is you know, kind of like kind of cool.
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:11.359
So he's like running ads for it and stuff.
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:13.920
And um, it's it's been a huge win.
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:15.279
And this is literally what they're doing.
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.599
It's not plumbing, but they started a home service.
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.559
I don't, I don't remember if we've talked about the industry on the show.
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:32.079
So like I probably won't call it out so I don't like ruin his uh like everyone goes and does this thing, but it's exactly this where like he runs ads against something, um, and then he like gets the job.
00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:36.720
I think he's like sells it over the phone or whatever, and then he subs somebody out to do it.
00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:42.400
And I think that for something like for him, he needs to run ads just because of the type of work it is.
00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.880
I think with this, like you could literally just start with Facebook.
00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:55.599
So I think you could do this for I think you could drive your first dollar of revenue with zero money out of pocket, which that would be my start is like, okay, I have$10,000.
00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:59.359
How do I get to 20 before I actually invest anything?
00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:00.079
Or 15.
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.240
Like, how do I build a little bit more of a buffer?
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:07.039
Um, so I don't, you know, I don't want to bet the house and maybe it's a bad season or something.
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.359
I don't remember what season I had this addiction problem.
00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.440
Um all right, so two different options there.
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:14.640
I feel like those are good options.
00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:15.599
Any others?
00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:21.920
No, I feel like that those are the those are the two ways: limited capital, um, yeah, limited labor, tons of knowledge.
00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:36.559
It's like, hey, you figure out how to market in sub or you market in higher, uh, keep marketing low in both scenarios, try to do scrappy free, free things to get free jobs, and then run them and make some money.
00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:37.759
Yeah.
00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:39.200
Yeah.
00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.400
I mean, you could probably get going, like a couple thousand dollars of revenue a day.
00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:48.880
Now, granted, 80% of that would go to the uh sub, but you know, you could clip 200 bucks a day.
00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:50.720
Probably like early.
00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:51.839
You could do it early.
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.680
Which, like, that's grocery money, you know?
00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:54.480
It's the mortgage.
00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:55.920
Try not to move out of the house.
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.559
Really leading into this narrative.
00:18:58.880 --> 00:18:59.200
Okay.
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:05.839
Um, I'm sure that we're supposed to put like a if you have a gambling addiction, call this number, so we'll look that up.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:07.200
Uh, you know.
00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:08.240
All right.
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.000
Uh, you need your first hundred customers.
00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:18.079
So we started off, we're either subcontracting or we are uh spending all this money.
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:18.960
Well, I think we roll.
00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:29.119
Jack's just got like$10,000, and he's just like LLC documents and logos and hey, my logos are free.
00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:30.160
But yeah.
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:31.119
Yeah.
00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:31.920
I think we continue.
00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:34.480
That costs 50 cents of tokens on Chat GPT.
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:35.440
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:37.359
Absolutely wrecked.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:39.599
Okay.
00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:41.039
Yeah, I'm gonna do mine.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:41.680
You do yours.
00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.319
Yeah, I mean, I think yours has some huge benefits, right?
00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:48.799
Because you don't have to buy a truck, you don't have to rent equipment, you don't have to do any of that.
00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.519
Whereas my hope it just doesn't scale as well.
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:52.160
Yeah.
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.279
So we need to we need to get our first hundred customers.
00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.079
Um, I think a lot of it's the same.
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.160
So it's number one, it's staying super, super scrappy.
00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.440
So again, don't go dump money into PPC.
00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:13.119
I wouldn't even focus on I wouldn't, I don't even know if I would buy aggregator leads at this point.
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.759
I think that you could fill schedule for one one person just by word of mouth referrals and dude, you totally could.
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:25.599
Yeah, up to up to like if you have kids bringing up at your kids' schools, bringing up at sporting events, wear a shirt.
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:30.960
You know, like if you're uh if you're like a one-man band, like it's a it's a lead a day.
00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:52.640
Yeah, you just need a lead a day, especially if you're doing service and installation yourself, where you're like service and then you kind of sub out some installation work, like a water heater, which you can get a ton of water heaters, um like because you can undercut everybody, you can undercut everybody, and you can get the cheapest water heaters at Home Depot.
00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:59.839
Like at the end of the day, you could you could scrape three four hundred bucks per water heater job and do two of those a day.
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.680
Um but point being is you need your first hundred customers.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:05.359
I think that's how you continue to build.
00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.559
I actually wouldn't put any in money anywhere else except LSA.
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.960
And I'd keep my LSA options even pretty tight.
00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:22.799
Like, um I think that LSA options would really just be like water heaters, uh, maybe maybe some drains work, maybe some light.
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:23.279
Yeah.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.000
See, I don't even know what categories I'd pick in like sinks.
00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.200
I don't even know if I'd pick sinks, faucets, cartridges, leaks.
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:31.440
I mean maybe pipe leaks.
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:37.920
Because you have to be careful because you get a lot of junk when it comes to like tubs, toilets, and sinks, right?
00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:38.480
Yeah.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:40.799
Yeah.
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.160
And then I'd run that.
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:44.319
I think you could do a hundred customers.
00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:48.319
What if you're doing one customer to two customers a day, that's two to three months.
00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:50.319
I think that's realistic.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:51.200
Yeah.
00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:51.920
Yeah.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.359
Um I think what I would do.
00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:58.319
I would go.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:01.440
So we got ten thousand dollars.
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:15.680
Um I would go to I want to say like a garage door company or the landscaping company would be another one.
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:20.319
Like who's somebody that has customers in uh residential?
00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:26.400
And I think I would just like offer, I'd be like, hey, can you I know I like this?
00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:28.079
I already like where this is going.
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.079
I'm gonna I don't want to spend any money.
00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:30.640
Like it, bro.
00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:33.039
I only got 10 G's, like I burned everything.
00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:38.240
Um, so I would go to someone that has no chance of like competing with me, right?
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:44.079
Like uh like HVAC, like they, you know, they might get weird about it, but like garage or landscaping, like they don't care.
00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:48.000
Um, landscaping, like I bet they hit sprinkler heads or they need backflow.
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:49.680
Like, I bet there's work there already.
00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.920
So you could just like partner with them and align with them.
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.759
Because this the the prompt is how do you get your first hundred customers?
00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:01.200
Uh, but you could also just like ask them to like blast their email list and like pay them money.
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:12.799
Like, hey, dude, I'll give you if I've got ten thousand dollars, like I'll I'll give you a thousand bucks plus like twenty-five dollars for every lead that comes my way, or or no thousand dollars and fifty dollars for every lead that comes my way.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.319
Uh, here's how I'm gonna track it.
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:17.200
Um, you're my only marketing source, so any lead is you.
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:24.720
And um, and then like run a promo just on the back of some like rent somebody else's list, basically, yeah.
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:25.759
That they've built.
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:29.279
Uh, and like I think you'd get your first couple of jobs off of that.
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:35.680
Um so you would do that though, over so you're spending two, three hundred bucks on that plus twenty-five a lead.
00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:39.440
Say you get 10 leads, so it's 250 plus 300.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:42.079
I mean, so you're at 500 just for rounding$600.
00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:43.200
But I drove revenue.
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:43.839
Or I drove less.
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:45.200
But you're driving revenue.
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.680
So you would pick that though over LSAs.
00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:54.480
Yeah, I mean, like, look, LSA in in I'm like focused on this prompt.
00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:56.160
I'm I'm living this right now, Jack.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.759
Uh, LSA like doesn't seem to work if you have less than 100 reviews.
00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:17.519
So my concern would be if if I have to open the doors on Monday and I lost all my money on Friday, I'm gonna be scouring Facebook groups, I'm gonna be calling new construction plumbers, but like someone that is looking for like work more consistently, and I would partner with them, I would like get a sub-relationship in those first couple of days.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:22.720
And you'd want like a stable, like you'd need like two to four guys, like, hey man, I got this job.
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:23.759
Like, can you help me with it?
00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:26.160
I'll give you, you know, 800 bucks to do it, whatever.
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:37.039
And then yeah, I would like start calling garage door people or landscapers or whatever and say, hey man, I just need you to let your customers know about us, or do you know anybody that needs you know something hope, drippy, hose, faucet, whatever?
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.839
Like, I'll give you some money for it and we'll make it happen.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:40.319
Okay.
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.119
Sweet.
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:42.640
I think that we have, I mean, that makes sense.
00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:47.119
Again, it's like uh I like the idea you don't lose any money though, if it like if it just runs.
00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:48.880
I mean, I think you'd set up LSA.
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:50.000
I think I'm for that.
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:55.359
I'm just I'm focused on like the speed and then how do I get revenue and then give money?
00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:01.440
Like, how do I because I I feel it, and the reason I'm focused on that is one, that's just my mindset in general.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:05.599
But two, I think that everybody gets so worked up about like, well, how do I start?
00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:06.880
Like, I need all this money to start.
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.039
And I'm like, I actually don't think that you do.
00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:13.200
Like, I think that you can just build a I think you can build business.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:15.279
There's plenty of people who have done it, yeah, that build business.
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.640
I've seen guys build to a million just off Facebook and next door.
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:20.880
Like, it's definitely possible.
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.000
Uh, and then now you're starting to get jobs.
00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:29.519
You at some point you need you actually do need to graduate to like, hey, one truck.
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:30.720
Yeah.
00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:38.480
My metric for that, like if I'm hitting like five to ten leads a week consistently, I'd probably go hire somebody, but keep my stable of subs.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:44.079
That way I could just like keep sort of like have expandable capacity, but fill my one guy.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:44.559
Yeah.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:46.079
So I already have the one guy.
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:50.960
I'm probably calling subs as well to take on jobs that are bigger that we can't handle.
00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:53.599
Um, but like realistically, right?
00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:06.160
If you're looking at that doing that month two, month three, which I think is realistically possible, um, that that looks like what you yeah, I'd probably buy a Maverick, which would be$500 a month in payments.
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:10.799
I mean, that's definitely coverable with one person early on.
00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:15.759
So as long as it's finance, I wouldn't go and buy a used vehicle with like 12k or something.
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:26.480
Like, go, I'd rather get a cheap finance truck, put a sticker on the side for another, you know,$50, and then um I think I would just continue.
00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.319
I keep targeting water heaters.
00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:29.680
Water heaters is a great one.
00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:34.799
I target dig jobs and leaks, and I target um drain stuff.
00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:36.319
Like those are my big three.
00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:44.240
I think I would go after just because the others can be profitable, but they can also be a lot of runaround work.
00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:45.359
So yeah.
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:58.720
I take pretty much but I think that like I take them, don't get me wrong, I take the work, but I'm I'm saying like when I'm targeting, I'm targeting certain things, like hey, we're doing a special on water heaters, or hey, you know, leaks.
00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:03.759
You know, we'll do repipes for cheaper than the other guy.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:04.559
I don't know.
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:10.160
Um I would uh I think the only difference is like I'd probably buy something used as hell.
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:14.559
Like give me the dirtiest and nastiest fucking clunker I've ever seen.
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:20.079
Drop like 2K, 3K though, on that, and you only have like now four or five left.
00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:21.519
Well, what city I'm in?
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:22.720
I mean, can I bike?
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:23.200
You know?
00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:27.759
Can I get a little like kids' bike, shove a shove a toolbox on the back of that bitch?
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:35.440
Uh you could get you could get a like a decent old transit for like 2k with like 150,000 miles.
00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.400
Not like a transit connect, excuse me, like the mini transits.
00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:39.440
That's perfect.
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:40.079
Okay.
00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.799
I mean, that's like five months of payments.
00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:51.039
So on a like I'd rather I'd rather have cash going out at like$500 a month versus dropping$2,500 right out the gate.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:54.319
Because what happened if you guys went from$2,000 to$2,500 so fast.
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:56.160
Here, I'm gonna look this up actually right now.
00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:57.440
Cheapest.
00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.519
I mean, dude, this thing could be anything.
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:02.799
Cheapest work vehicle.
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:05.920
What do you think you're gonna find on Google right now with that?
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:09.599
Like going to scroll Facebook Marketplace for hours to find that.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:11.039
Dude, I could get a car.
00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:13.119
I bet I could fit a water heater into this.
00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.039
Uh okay, all right, here it is.
00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:16.160
I gotta, I gotta hit.
00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:21.599
It's like a Zuzu Trooper from like 1995 for uh 1500.
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:23.440
So much better than this.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:24.720
So much better.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:26.240
A PT cruiser.
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.240
Yeah, this baby is 1,500 bucks.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.160
It's 2003.
00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:34.640
It's got dude, it's got 70,000 miles.
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:35.680
This thing's brand new.
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:36.799
It's brand fucking new.
00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:37.599
Just don't get a little bit more.
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:45.279
And you know, because of that weird ass shape of those PT cruisers, I could fit, I bet I could fit a water heater in that thing.
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:46.160
Yeah.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:48.400
I'm just gonna say yeah, and then move on.
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:50.319
Dude, I'm I'm screen, I'm screenshoting.
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.039
How do I do this?
00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:51.759
Yeah, there we go.
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:59.920
Fun fact, I actually threatened all of my um managers that I was buying them PT cruisers at one point if they didn't sell more.
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:00.880
So this is the reason.
00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:03.519
Do you mean threatened or do you mean offered?
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:07.599
Because this is obviously a great situation.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.039
So yeah, I would get a PT cruiser,$1,500.
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:14.160
Uh, it's screen shared if you're watching on YouTube.
00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:15.680
You know, like this exists.
00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:17.920
I pull it off Facebook Marketplace.
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:20.640
And uh yeah.
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:23.519
So yeah,$1,500, dude, no tax.
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:26.079
Like that's a Venmo transaction all day long.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.200
Because I don't have a bank account yet, because I haven't gone through that process.
00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.480
Uh so yeah, you can keep your$500 a month thing.
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:33.359
I'll pay rent.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.119
That's like that's my ramen.
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:39.119
So you're just gonna end up broke again, dude.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:40.480
Jack, you're just gambling again.
00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:41.680
I don't think you're going down.
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:42.640
I don't think so.
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:47.359
I'll take the$500 a month payment that I have to cover, which is like what?
00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:50.400
Oh, five jobs at like$100 in profit.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:57.599
We thought he was getting back on his feet, but just he started gambling on Mavericks again, which is what got him here in the first place.
00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:59.279
Bad choices.
00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:01.680
Okay, all right.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:07.599
So I have a cooler uh truck than you, obviously with my PD.
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:10.400
Um, all right.
00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:11.759
Well, yeah, what else?
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.720
Here's a stat about Yelp that I bet you didn't know.
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:30.559
When millions of people ask AI like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any of the others what the best home service provider is, Yelp recommendations show up three times more than Angie, Thumbtack, Home Advisor, Better Business Bureau, and Nextdoor combined.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.480
And here's why that matters to you 91 to 97% of those searches do not include the business name.
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.839
The homeowner hasn't picked anybody yet, and they're deciding right now.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.640
And Yelp is where they're getting their answers.
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:44.559
These aren't low-intent browsers.
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:50.400
Over half of Yelp's 76 million monthly audience earns six figures and owns their home.
00:30:50.559 --> 00:31:05.119
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00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:22.400
Okay, so I think the next is like race to a million.
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:28.960
Like so we got the basis is in, you got your first truck, you have your first hire, you're subbing out.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:31.839
We both got to the same spot, just slightly different paths.
00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:36.079
I've spent, I think, less money in the short term.
00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:38.400
I will spend more money on that truck in the long term.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:39.920
Well, see, I did free advertising.
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:45.759
I haven't filed for my LLC or documents yet, but I did spend$1,500 on a truck.
00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:50.480
So I in my mind, I maybe I've spent like$1,000 on the leads from that garage door company.
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:52.079
That was a great partnership.
00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:55.039
Uh so like I've got$7,500 left.
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:57.599
So I'm feeling pretty I'm feeling pretty good.
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.799
And I've been driving revenue, so I'm probably back still back at$10.
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:05.200
I mean, I'd say the same thing.
00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:09.279
Yeah, well, I'm not sure if you're at$10.
00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:10.319
Yeah.
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:13.200
Also, I bought a fleet of Mavericks.
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:15.039
Yeah, seven of them.
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:20.720
Um Your gambling addiction was like betting on Maverick futures, and you're just like right back at it again.
00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:24.319
Just spent all my money on Ford on stocks.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:27.440
What's the next big step, right?
00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:37.599
So you there's this like early on, there's a there's a sh a jump, a step change that has to happen from like really small to small and scrappy.
00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:39.440
Um, where is that?
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:41.599
What what do you feel like that point is?
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:44.799
I mean, I think eventually it's probably like number of leads.
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.839
Like you have to figure out how to get from like the five to ten leads a week to like a hundred.
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:56.079
Well, here's the here's the other question, I guess, which is more important is like what big changes do you have to make to get to a million in revenue?
00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:12.000
Because I don't think that right, you're running LSAs, you're doing Facebook, um, you're doing referrals, like all that actually from a marketing standpoint, I don't think actually changes that much, other than you drive leads so you get more LSAs potentially.
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:26.079
But if you chose the right market and you chose the right spot, maybe you finally rent a small building, like a like um a contractor warehouse or something, but like nothing really changes from a marketing standpoint, in my opinion.
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:28.880
Like you can get to a million off of that.
00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:30.079
Yeah.
00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:31.039
Yeah.
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:43.440
I mean, you know, something a few other things you can do, and I just like thought of these, but um like you can buy phone numbers from other plumbing companies.
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:46.240
Uh those honestly probably like ten thousand dollars.
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:49.839
Um I mean, we bought companies for ten thousand dollars down.
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.759
Like the second deal I did was twelve or fifteen thousand dollars down.
00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:54.079
Yeah.
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:57.039
Um, and that was an eight hundred thousand dollar revenue business.
00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:00.400
So, like uh you could do that.
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:10.559
So if I still keep all my knowledge, honestly, like that's probably what I would do is I would start, I would like get the I would get the base rolling of like, hey, can I get jobs?
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:11.519
I'm subbing them out.
00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:28.320
I got I got that sick whip, uh that PT, you know, whipping around, town and that bad boy, windows open, chunk, chunk out, and um got this awesome partnership with this like garage door uh guy, just really painting the narrative.
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.480
And um, and then I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go do a deal.
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:34.800
I got ten thousand dollars in my pocket.
00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:35.519
There you go.
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:39.679
And I got a lifetime of knowledge, seller financing 0% data deal.
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:41.840
Just what everybody says is not possible.
00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:42.880
John's gonna go and do it.
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:44.400
I'm gonna go do a fucking deal.
00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:55.280
So I'm gonna, I I don't know how I'm gonna slug this thing together, but it's gonna be like a rev share or it's gonna be seller, or maybe it's just a phone number and it's ten thousand dollars or five thousand dollars.
00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:00.719
Um, but I'm gonna do a deal if I get to keep everything I've learned over the years.
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:02.239
That's that's step one.
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:04.239
So I'm gonna go from like just go with my Psycho.
00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:12.159
These other 5K that you have to like put on legal fees to rip a manager service agreement and just take over a business.
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:18.079
I'll talk to my attorney and say, hey man, um, I'm gonna need like 90-day terms on on this.
00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:20.320
Uh or chat GPT.
00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:24.480
Like if you know, if I'm really like that that level of broke, you know, chat GPT, maybe.
00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:27.280
But um I think you're breaking the prompt here.
00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:29.519
I think I might be breaking the prompt.
00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:32.480
But I do think it is actually like a viable option.
00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:41.360
I mean, the amount of businesses that I bought for under$100,000, and like some of those um have been, it's under$100,000.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:43.440
I think it's been like four or five now.
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:47.039
And some of them did have like a financing component.
00:35:47.199 --> 00:36:02.400
So I bought a carpet cleaning business like years ago, and it was uh 30 grand customer list equipment and um like pricing structure, name, GBP, all that stuff.
00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:04.559
Uh, and I think it was like 10 grand down.
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:08.960
And I paid them a couple grand a month for a year or two years or something.
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:19.039
Uh so like you can do a deal like that, and like even a carpeting clean a carpet cleaning business or something like that would still potentially work because then you could just siphon it off for the customers.
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.920
Um yeah, I honestly I would go do a deal.
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:23.679
I actually think that's the fastest way to get to a million.
00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:25.599
Our second deal was very similar to that.
00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:34.079
It's like we bought we bought an$850,000 revenue company for um twelve thousand five hundred dollars, six thousand dollars down.
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:34.880
Yeah.
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:39.199
So like I actually like inside this prompt, I actually feel like this is pretty realistic.
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:44.800
It's not unrealistic, and like we've done two deals since then that were probably similar category.
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:45.199
Yeah.
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:51.519
I think I've done four in this price range of sub 100,000, but like meaningful enough.
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:58.400
We did one, it was 60 grand total, and um they did six hundred thousand dollars.
00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:05.360
We did one the second deal we ever did was a hundred thousand or a hundred and fifteen thousand, but ten grand down, twelve grand down.
00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:08.960
Uh, but that was seven hundred thousand, seven hundred fifty thousand revenue.
00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:14.079
Um, we did another one that was sixty-five thousand, it was four hundred thousand revenue.
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:17.280
Um, yeah, like you can do it.
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:21.920
Yeah, so like I if I was keeping all the knowledge, I would go to a deal.
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:22.559
Yeah.
00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:30.480
And and then I would just keep doing this machine over here of like I'm driving the leads instead of the subs, I'm sending it to like my little thing that I've got here.
00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:34.880
And um, I'd probably I would try to make it as contingent as possible.
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:43.920
Uh, like how do I Rev share rev share or profit share or um uh something?
00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:55.599
Yeah, and I think there's enough room inside most plumbing industries to be able to do some kind of rev share just because five, ten percent on sixty percent gross margin is it's there, and you have no overhead, right?
00:37:55.679 --> 00:37:57.199
Because you're still running super lean.
00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:00.960
I have a little bit of overhead, you have no overhead because you're running PTs.
00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:06.880
You just have to hope that they don't get in an accident and then that thing's 71,000 uh miles.
00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:08.400
Like that it's basically a brand new car.
00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:12.639
Like I'm pretty sure it just came off the lot that 2003 PT.
00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:16.960
Just like only the absolute worst crash test rating of any car ever.
00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:19.039
Is it actually it's one of the worst, yeah.
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:20.000
Oh my gosh.
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:21.840
Just putting everybody at risk.
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:27.119
Yeah, not to mention you're putting it like a it's like somehow worse than like a motorcycle behind your head, too.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:28.559
Like yeah, yeah.
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:29.440
Yeah.
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:33.760
Uh it, you know, part of the part of the risk of the job.
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:35.280
Um, okay.
00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:36.239
I don't know.
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:43.840
I feel like that actually makes so then so then like I actually like if this prompt actually happened, like that is actually what I would do.
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:50.880
Just so we're on the same, like I can come up with all the ways in the world to like market my way to it and sell my and hire and all that shit.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:54.960
But like what I would actually do is uh probably this.
00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:00.079
I would spend no fucking money, I would sub the shit out of it, and I would go to a deal.
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:03.280
Like, that's actually I think what I what would happen.
00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:06.480
And so what so you cross one million though.
00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:08.079
What does the company look like?
00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:10.400
Like, what's what should the company look like?
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:22.880
For I think that if we zoom out and be like, hey, this is what a million dollar company does look like, and um versus like your way of hey, I'm buying a bunch of businesses, I think that would be more valuable.
00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:26.880
Um yeah, well, it would probably three to four plumbers in the field.
00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:28.159
Hopefully, you buy it that way.
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:34.000
I would be my own CSR and dispatcher for a while, uh, just to like maximize free cash.
00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:36.880
And um, yeah, that'd be most of it.
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:39.199
Probably put it on some CRM.
00:39:39.280 --> 00:39:43.840
But I I'm assuming if I did a deal that I would just like whatever they're currently using is what I would use.
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.480
Uh yeah, I think I'm sure Jobber I'd figure out how to use house call or something.
00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:50.719
Jobber, house call, field pulse.
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:54.079
Any of any of them, I would definitely be my own CSL.
00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:57.039
I feel like field pulse is like really good for like the what they said.
00:39:57.119 --> 00:39:57.840
We had them on the show.
00:39:57.920 --> 00:39:59.679
They were like really good at like the two to five.
00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:01.679
I don't know if they're maybe they are.
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:03.840
I I haven't looked at them as like a one or two man guy.
00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:08.400
Yeah, I think I just want to get stuck again in uh one like because I was using RazorSync.
00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:11.440
Shout out RazorSync, which was yeah.
00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:17.199
Uh, but I just want to get stuck again in one that like I'm now I'm stuck in Jobber or I'm stuck on House Call Pro.
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:19.760
I think like feel field pulse I could build with.
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:21.280
You can grow into, yeah.
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:21.760
No, you're right.
00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:22.800
So that's where I sit.
00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:32.800
Yeah, I'm with you three to four good technicians, uh, doing service and installation, probably not service and sales, an install split, uh, four trucks.
00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:36.480
So I'm paying two thousand dollars a month in Maverick fees.
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:39.519
Uh cash is going straight.
00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:48.480
I, you know, I'm I've in the past like 30 days of me launching this uh new project, I've been able to move from like ramen to like I'm on Porter House stakes already.
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:50.400
Because like that$2,000 a month, dude.
00:40:50.719 --> 00:40:52.400
It's like spending.
00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:54.079
Dude, I'm just like I'm back.
00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:57.760
I'm like I'm not I re-picked up a gambling addiction.
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:03.679
Uh instead of Mavericks, now it's um, I don't know, like corn future worst part.
00:41:04.239 --> 00:41:12.960
Is you say this as a joke, but I've actually seen like the owners who are ripping like three, four hundred thousand dollars out of these no overhead million dollar businesses.
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:14.159
Like that's real.
00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:17.119
Like they are the ones with the nice new trucks eating porter house.
00:41:18.079 --> 00:41:20.480
Like we've you are like a decent amount of these companies.
00:41:20.719 --> 00:41:23.039
Yeah, like a boat.
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:23.760
Uh yeah.
00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:27.440
Yeah, I already have a lake house under LOI, like I'm good to go.
00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:44.239
But yeah, I think that I think the owner could be running calls, the owner could also be doing big sales, the owner could also just be office only, but you're gonna have to hire for what's not there, have a have like three to four trucks, probably four running at any point in time.
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:49.519
Um, again, I would lease trucks, I would get as low monthly payment as possible.
00:41:49.599 --> 00:41:52.400
John is buying PT Cruiser still for us, guys.
00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:57.679
Nobody wants to work there because they're afraid they're gonna die in a PT cruiser on PT Cruiser incident.
00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:03.280
Um outside of that, I think those that's like that's the biggest view.
00:42:03.440 --> 00:42:13.599
Maybe at that point at a million, you could start trying other methods of um like verticals for branding and not branding but marketing.
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:15.519
If branding's one of them, it's one of them.
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:19.519
I mean, we've seen the yard sales, yard signs work well at that size.
00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:24.079
Um you could start doing uh some small ag, lead ag.
00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:29.199
Um like you gotta fill up three guys, four guys worth of work.
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:34.239
So you're looking at what 20 calls a week, 15 calls a week.
00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:35.599
Each, yeah.
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:38.880
Yeah, I feel like we did something great here.
00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:42.800
So me doing a deal, I think I'd beat you to a million bucks.
00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:46.159
I think you could get there in six with with a deal.
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:53.119
Like if you were scouring Facebook marketplace for closing plumbing companies every day and hustling and I would just go door knocking.
00:42:53.599 --> 00:43:03.280
I mean, I would just like I would literally just go like I would go to every single one that's out there and I would knock on the door and I would say what's up, like hey man, it's me.
00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:04.880
Yeah, what's up?
00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:05.760
Yeah.
00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:09.280
Uh but no, I think I would hit the pavement, like, dude, I want to stop eating ramen.
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:11.199
We're gonna move to poor house, you know?
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:18.559
So um, yeah, I I actually like I actually think that's how I would do it, uh, which is kind of funny.
00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:27.920
Um I would just like I'd I would probably uh just buy my way up to like five as like as fast as possible.
00:43:28.320 --> 00:43:31.920
Um we talk a lot about breaking five.
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:35.199
Obviously, we have a whole there's a whole conference on it.
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:38.239
Yeah, there's a whole event uh based on breaking five.
00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:43.039
But I really I mean deals can get you there fast.
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:46.079
Eventually you do have to learn how to run a business.
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:56.480
And one of the dangers, and I see this time and time again, is like people buy their way up to five or ten million dollars, but then they never figure out how to do marketing or like really grow the business beyond that.
00:43:56.719 --> 00:43:59.599
Like MA is a tool, it's not the whole business.
00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:04.639
Um, but it you can use it to kickstart or get past a plateau.
00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:07.360
Like it can get you to whatever the next step is.
00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:10.559
This this year for Wilson and our core business is a great example.
00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:15.599
We went from like 30 to 50 some million, and uh, we got to skip a couple steps, which is great.
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:16.800
Like we're excited about that.
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:24.000
We still have to run the business and we still have to market and hire and recruit and sell and train and all the stuff that comes with it.
00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:29.840
Uh, it's not like buying stuff solved all of our problems, uh, but it did move us down the track.
00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:30.719
Yeah.
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:31.679
Yeah.
00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:34.800
Now you just have to get a directory of emails that all makes sense.
00:44:35.440 --> 00:44:36.719
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:37.119
We do.
00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:39.119
Actually, uh, I gotta give that feedback to Brian.
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:40.400
So that's hilarious.
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:42.239
Christy, I'm sorry.
00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:43.599
Here we are.
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:46.320
I think that's a good breakdown.
00:44:46.880 --> 00:44:47.360
Awesome.
00:44:47.519 --> 00:44:49.920
All right, so uh we both had$10,000.
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:51.840
Month one marketing.
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:57.119
I spent like, I'm gonna say like a thousand bucks on leads that turned into money.
00:44:57.440 --> 00:45:01.920
My first hire happened after I bought a company.
00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:15.039
Um and I think, yeah, I mean, I think that I hit a million bucks probably in that first uh year or really close because I would be aiming at like something north of half a million uh revenue.
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:15.679
Yeah.
00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:24.079
That like million to eight hundred thousand in in top line is like a really good spot where you can buy that for really cheap because it's not valuable to anyone else except.
00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:28.320
And back to my earlier point of like, I want revenue before I invest.
00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:35.039
You go buy that company, go freaking ham on leadaggs and like uh everything.
00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:39.679
Um but still like keep up some of the level of scrappiness that you had up until that point.
00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:42.800
But like you have the revenue, you have the infrastructure, go rip.
00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:46.159
But you know, just being able to um sort of get across the line.
00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:49.920
Now, obviously, you know, we've said this a lot on the show, just so just fair warning.
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:56.719
If you have not listened to the years of content that we've had on this show regarding this, this is what I would actually do.
00:45:56.880 --> 00:46:02.000
Uh, but buying a company that small is one of the riskiest things that you can do.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.280
It is a very easy go-to-zero risk.
00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:08.079
If one guy leaves, half the business goes away.
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:14.079
It is not like I say it easily because uh we've done a lot of them now, and I'm very comfortable in the industry.
00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:20.719
But if this is your first at time ever glancing at this industry, uh it's not as easy as like the conversation that we just had.
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:21.199
Nope.
00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:22.400
Totally makes sense.
00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:24.800
Um, I think mine's starting 10.
00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:29.760
Month when marketing is probably a few hundred first hires quicker than you.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:37.199
Um truck number two comes into play at around 250,000, 300,000.
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:44.719
Um, and I'm targeting about$250,000 to$300,000 per truck, which at four trucks will get you to that million dollar number.
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:57.519
And I think that time to take a million is time to one million in revenue, or at least on a benchmark, like, hey, this I'm on track to hit a million, is probably around that 16 to 18 month mark.
00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:06.159
As I think year one is just getting it alive, keeping the baby alive, and then year two is more focused on okay, baby's alive.
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:10.159
We have our first good hire, it's we have marketing channels that are working.
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Yeah, now we we try and go for for the million.
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So yeah, that's where I think we are at.
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All right, thanks everybody for tuning in.
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If you like what you heard, like and sub.
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I've also been told to refer to one eight hundred gambler if you actually have a gambling addiction.
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Uh, I hope you find help.