I've been in business for 14 years. I

recently did a $106,000 book launch in a

weekend. And our portfolio of companies

at acquisition.com does over $250

million in aggregate revenue. And a

portion of that is brick-and-mortar

chains that we own. And so, in this

video, I'm answering your questions

about how to scale specifically a

brick-and-mortar HVAC business. And for

all of those questions, I try to do my

very best to make the solutions as

tactical as humanly possible so that you

watching from home can actually use this

stuff. Enjoy.

>> My name is Thomas. I sell roofing and

exterior remodeling. We do uh close to 6

million this year. I'd like to be at 100

million. What's stopping me, and I'll

I'll be a little bit vulnerable, I would

say it's comfort, distractions, and

fear.

>> And food?

>> Fear.

>> Oh, sorry. I was like

>> [laughter]

>> All right, good to know. You know.

>> Not food. No.

>> Sometimes I feel that way, too.

Uh

>> So, the the comfort is I have built the

business, I've replaced myself in every

aspect. I can work two to three hours a

week and it'll run fine.

>> Okay.

>> Um fear, I would say the fear of losing

family time.

>> Mhm.

>> Uh the work-life balance.

>> Sure.

>> And the distractions are uh my other

I've got another business, junk removal

business. Um

I've got real estate, I've got

uh

just all kinds of little things.

>> you think you should do that you're not

doing that you want me to tell you to

do?

>> So So, I know I need to go all in again.

>> Okay.

>> And And I did that the first five years

that I that I was in business. And it

worked out great.

>> Uh-huh.

>> Um went through COVID. Um I got, you

know, kept the business going really

well.

>> Mhm.

>> And I worked myself out of a job.

Got comfortable.

>> Okay.

>> So, I don't know what I'm looking for

you to tell me to do.

>> Well, I'll say I'll say this

differently. Um

I think regrets come when we imagine

the upside that we don't have without

taking into account the cost that we

didn't suffer.

And so, I think we regret um when we

imagine the upside

that we didn't get without also

considering the downside that we didn't

suffer

to get it.

Um and so I think that's where a lot of

regret comes from cuz it's not it's not

real. So it's like maybe there's some

girl that got away or some business

opportunity that got away and we just

imagine

this amazing thing but not the trade-off

that we would have to do in order to get

it. We just imagine the upside without

downside. And so I would say a couple

things. So one is

um

I think that there are there are

trade-offs that we always have to make

and I don't I don't think they're right

or wrong. I think they're just they're

preference. There's no right answer to

how much work-life balance you want to

have. It's right for you.

And so said differently, if I like

cookies

and I'm good with that and I also want a

six-pack, I just prefer cookies to a

six-pack.

It's just that's the trade and I think

the the dis- dissatisfaction comes from

wanting both.

>> Right.

>> Right. And so either

want less

or trade more.

And I think that's really what it comes

down to in terms of like is there a path

where I can work on more than I

currently am

um to go from six to 100? There probably

is. It depends on how much you're

willing to pay other people. And so you

might have to take a short-term hit in

terms of profitability

uh to bring in the level of talent that

you want to expand the business on your

behalf to where you want it to go.

And so as long as you were the type of

person character-wise that they would

want to follow and believe in your

vision and you can make your vision big

enough that they think that their

aspirations can fit within it. You can

get that type of person.

But like it's it's 100% like you're

you're graduating right now into the who

game.

>> Yeah.

>> Um but there's levels of whos. You know,

like I remember

um the first time I hired a $50,000 a

year employee and I was like this is the

[ __ ] This is what I'm talking about.

You know what I mean? Like I went from

minimum wage, you know, labor to 50. I

was like this they're they can read,

they can write. Like let's let's go. You

know what I mean?

Uh and then I I hired my first

six-figure employee and I was like oh

what was I talking about? Like this is

what's going on. And then I have my

first 250, first 500, first million,

first multi-million dollar per year

employee. Um

and it's just levels. And so um Sheran,

who's our president, said this to me

years ago, but I always remember he said

the best the best talent's always in the

future.

So whatever we have today, the best

people are always ahead of you, not

behind you.

And so um I think for you, if we if you

really do want to accomplish it without

making the trade, you will make a trade

cuz if you change nothing, nothing will

change, right? So we have to change some

some component of your life. And so the

question is which thing do you value the

least?

Do you value having more profit or more

time with your family? In the short

term. In the long term you can make it

up. You won't make up family time in the

long term. You can't make the profit up

in the long term.

>> Right.

>> So if you're willing to give up

short-term profit, you can bring in

high-level talent, and then they can

lead the growth. In terms of the uh the

fear stuff, I mean I would just say like

just ho- hold the line.

If you don't You're like, "I'm afraid of

losing time with the family." It's like

just don't. Like I you know. And then in

terms of the real estate thing, I see

real estate cuz I know about real estate

entrepreneurs. I've a ton of real

estate. Um I don't like as long as

you're not like actively running it, um

like that's why I'm a big fan of like

REITs and funds

uh because you have if you have you know

good partners and that stuff, um

they can just run it. You can make

better than the market. And then but

it's not it doesn't change anything

about what I do. Like me putting in the

S&P or me buying another big building

changes nothing about my life. And so

it's not a distraction unless you're

like, "You know, if we could add a

gazebo. And what if we added a different

roof cuz I'm a roofer? And what if I

combined what I'm really You're like,

"Dude, stop. Just like let the real

estate be the real estate, let the

business be the business, and just keep

them apart." As long as you're good

there cuz I think it's a distraction.

Um

actually let me double-checking that

real quick, which is when you say to

your the distraction thing that you're

afraid of, why are you afraid of that?

>> I'm not afraid of it.

>> Okay. I'm just I've got ADHD and I

I collect gold and silver. I buy houses.

I buy buildings, I buy I mean it's just

>> Yeah.

>> a little bit of the red dress.

>> Well, as long as it doesn't change

anything about what you do, I don't

care. But if it's like now I check this

stuff all the time and it like eats up

my days, then yeah, I would say that's a

problem.

Um

and it's only a problem if you decide

it's a problem. Like you might just like

that stuff. It's just like I sacrifice

my goals cuz I enjoy this ADD.

You know what I mean? Like the cost of

the big thing is the new stuff that you

have to give up to keep it going.

>> Yeah.

>> Thank you. I felt like I needed some

amens.

>> [laughter]

>> It's like a good meal, right? Yeah.

I appreciate it.

Um but yeah, that's like the cost of the

big thing is all the new stuff you have

to give up that you don't get to pursue.

All the exciting things that you will no

longer participate in because you want

to do one thing big.

>> Okay.

>> And I think um for me personally, I had

this moment um I think a while ago, but

like I had this realization of how long

it takes to get good at anything.

And then I thought about oh, I only have

like 30 or 40 more productive years

>> [laughter]

>> at most. And so I'm like I've got like

four five big seasons in me left.

>> Yeah.

>> And so that's it. And so I don't have

like unlimited shots on goal. I've got

four five big runs in me.

So.

Hopefully that helps.

>> Appreciate that answer cuz I thought you

were going to say sell everything and

>> I mean, they're investments. I mean I'm

not going to say sell your investments.

I would say

keep passive stuff passive. Don't make

it active. It's like incurring cost. Cuz

if you're going to make it active, then

make active money.

>> Yeah.

>> If you're like I want I want to take my

passive money and then it make it cost

me more time to get 5% better returns,

it's like you're going to get way better

returns in your active income than your

passive.

And just I would just keep active

active, keep passive passive.

>> Thank you.

>> Appreciate you.

>> My name is Corey. I'm an electrical

contractor. I do 1.6 million a year. I

probably keep about 650 of that. I'd

like to be about five is kind of what I

can see right now.

>> All right.

>> My biggest constraint is myself plus

hiring quality candidates.

>> So, you can handle the volume you have

right now. Or so, you can't handle the

volume you have. You could get more

business, but you can't handle it.

>> I can handle it when the whole crew's

here.

>> Okay.

>> And then, as soon as one guy's gone, I'm

back in the van.

>> Yeah, so you need more people.

>> More people.

>> Yeah.

>> I got it.

>> So, we have to think about like so, this

is probably a multi-step thing just for

everybody like as we're falling through

this is like if we have if you have

enough business, which it sounds like

you do, that's not the constraint, then

it probably means we need to bump price.

And we bump price so that we can have

the cash flow, so that we can hire the

extra person, so that you have

redundancy in the team.

Right? Like if Alex had to hop in if if

Tim's sick, that's not going to work,

right? We have to have two or three

backups for any person who's here so

that I can keep doing my job, right? And

so, but I can only do that if I have the

cash flow to sustain

multiple teams, right? And so, this is

where sometimes it's like a multi-step

solution. So, it's like we have to fix

the pricing component. And it's like,

okay, well, I feel weird charging more

because other people in my market charge

even less than I do, and I'm a little

bit above the market, right? So, then we

have to think about the offer. It's

like, okay, so the offer might be the

issue, which is like, okay, can we make

our thing faster? Can we make it more

reliable? Or we can make it easier,

right? And can we guarantee around that?

And if the answer is yes, then it's

like, great. Well, then that's what

we're going to charge our premium and

bump prices by 20 to 40%, which sounds

like a lot, I know.

But we say, "Hey, if we don't meet any

of these qualifications, I'll give you

all my profit back." Which means that

you raise the price, and if for some

reason you don't meet it, you go back to

the exact same price you're charging

now, but everyone that you do meet

everything on, you get all the juice.

And if no one else does these kind of

guarantees, which basically no one does,

uh

then you can basically say, "Well, the

reason that they're not doing that is

because they're not confident they're

going to be on time and on budget."

Right? And I am. And so,

it's very easy for for somebody else to

say, "Hey, I'll do this job for you, and

maybe I'll be on time, and maybe I'll be

on budget." Uh but if I have no teeth in

that agreement, I'm going to promise

that it'll be free and I'll be done

tomorrow. But if I don't have to be

right about it, who cares? Sure, I'll be

done tomorrow. And they'll be like, "Oh,

I guess I get your point." Like, right.

I'll be done by this time and it'll be

done satisfactory at this price, period.

And you know that when you sign this,

you get that. That's it. And if for some

reason something happens, we'll come

back and fix it. Right? And so, by doing

that, um, you'll be able to increase the

cash flow, which will then allow you to

go recruit the extra tech that you need

so you can stay above the business and

then ultimately

honestly just keep advertising it so

that you can keep hiring and and

backfilling.

>> Okay. I can see that totally for my

service calls and stuff like that.

Kind of my bread and butter is I chase

six or seven different heating and

cooling companies around and do all

their electrical work.

>> Cool.

>> So, they take the lead. They

>> Yeah.

>> I have a flat rate sheet for that. But

the biggest thing they always complain

about is price. And we're super

efficient.

>> Yeah.

>> We get in, get out, but they're always

complaining about the cost that we came

in at.

>> Do they still buy from you?

>> Have for 6 years.

>> Yeah.

I mean,

I care more about what people do than

what they say.

>> Okay.

>> Everyone would like it cheaper.

>> Right.

>> I would like it cheaper.

I would like to all of you guys to get

paid less.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> [laughter]

>> Right?

But it's it's it

Yeah, I just I I pay very little

attention to that.

>> Okay.

>> Like, customers will always want it

cheaper, they will always want it

faster, they always want a guarantee.

Like, these are all thing like that will

not change.

>> So, when I'm moving my prices, don't

even

>> Yeah, be like, this is what it is.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah. Now, to to make yourself sleep

better, you have six or seven guys. It's

like, wouldn't it be cooler if you had

like 60?

>> Yeah.

>> Right? So, then we go back to the top

here, which is you have your way of

getting customers, which is mostly

chasing these six or seven heating and

cooling companies around. And so, it's

like, what do you get What do you do to

get the heating and cooling companies?

>> Basically, I've worked for one for 15

years and it's just constant.

>> Yeah.

>> And then, the other ones, since I opened

my business shortly after, they've been

with me. And so, really I have no

>> You have no function.

>> So, you should start doing This is what

I would do if I were you. I'd start

doing outreach to other heating and

cooling companies. Say, "Hey, let me

quote some of these jobs for you." Like

a a lot of people are just stuck with

the person they're they're with. They're

not happy, they're not unhappy, they're

just whatever. Like let me at least put

some It'll just keep them honest at

least.

Right? And so then you can just start

bringing business for yourself, and

that'll just give you more leverage with

all of the other kind of

negotiations that you have with the

existing companies.

>> Okay.

>> Cuz right now you're just dependent on

them. So, they have all the leverage.

>> Well, yeah. And then as soon as they

Like I'm missing out on work

>> Yeah.

>> because as soon as they say, "Hey, we

have a job tomorrow."

>> Yeah.

>> I'm going cuz they're my

>> Yeah.

>> They're my wells.

>> Right.

>> So, it's

>> So, you need more wells.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah, so you need more wells, but to get

more wells, we have to tweak price to

get so that we can hire the manpower.

Like it's usually multi-step solutions.

Cuz like for most businesses, it's if it

were one thing, you probably would have

already seen it. So, it's usually second

order or third order that has to change

so we can reverse engineer back to the

fixing the core problem.

>> Got you.

Thank you.

>> That feel good though?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay, cool. Good. Real quick, I'm going

to show you the exact 10-stage roadmap

from zero to 100 million plus

that less than 1% of companies finish

I've now done multiple times. And so I

can say with a lot of confidence that

these are the stages as head count

increases that you need to get through,

and I broke each of these down by eight

different functions of the business,

what the constraint feels like, like

what are the symptoms of it when you're

going through it, and then what steps we

actually took to graduate. And we've

done this across software, physical

products, uh service businesses, brick

and mortar, all of this, and it works.

And it's my gift to you. It's absolutely

free. And so the link's in the

description, but you just go

acquisition.com/roadmap.

Just enter your info, and it'll spit it

right back to you all free.

>> My name's Tanner Jared. We're at 1.5 mil

to date.

>> Amazing.

>> 700 net. My big concern is how do I make

the dream team like you have here? How

do I get technicians on board, sales

guys?

>> Yeah.

>> Like make it work.

>> So,

>> [sighs]

>> okay.

What breaks when we do more?

>> What breaks?

>> Like what stops you from doing this?

>> Uh

>> We're going to figure out which one like

order of ops. What stop What What What

breaks when you do that?

>> Biggest issue is technicians.

>> Okay, so techs is the is the issue.

Okay, so what do you So

What do you make on a tech?

>> Uh anywhere from 180 to 100

300,000 a year.

>> Per?

>> Yeah.

>> After cost?

>> Uh-huh.

>> Damn.

>> Well This year, yeah. Cuz we

>> is giving you a run for your money

there. I'm just saying, man.

All right.

All right, so we got 300k for the techs.

Got it.

Um all right, and you need them local in

Bozeman?

>> Yes.

>> Okay.

Um and what are you doing right now to

recruit techs?

>> Uh

Honestly, kind of just gave up lately.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> I would imagine that would make it

difficult to recruit more techs.

>> [laughter]

>> So, then then let me then let me ask the

next question, which is like what stops

you from recruiting more techs? Not the

decision. There's I've like

Some of you guys have probably seen that

management diamond that I have, which is

like people don't know that, you need to

do it, they don't know how to do it, um

they don't know when to do it by, they

have something blocking them, or there's

a motivation issue. I'm assuming you're

motivated. I'm assuming you already know

that you need to do it and how to do it.

>> 100%.

>> So, and you need to know the when is

now. So, I'm guessing there's something

blocking you.

>> My thing that's blocking me is

I have to be involved, I believe, in

every single

>> Strong words.

>> Yeah. Every single aspect of the

company.

>> Have to or choose to?

>> Choose to.

>> Okay. Just to work Just you know,

staying from saying I'm good. Okay.

>> And so I can't I can't let it go.

>> Okay. So, can't you won't?

>> We We have some Okay, we have some very

high-end clients, too.

>> Okay.

>> So, we we work at the Yellowstone Club

in Montana, Spanish Peaks. I know Matt

Damon, Jennifer Garner, Mark Zuckerberg.

>> you don't need to name drop.

>> Yeah, sorry.

>> [laughter]

>> But I I

>> You're a big deal.

>> I'm not a big deal. It's It's tiny.

>> Ed told me to say that.

>> [laughter]

>> Anyhow, and so it's it's hard to let

that go, you know, that

>> Yeah.

>> that ego.

>> So,

>> [laughter]

>> well, so fundamentally, this is so I

guess this is I mean, key man is the

number one risk of every business um for

two reasons. One, no one wants to buy

it, but second, you want to kill it

yourself at some point cuz you're like,

I don't want to do it. You should you

burn yourself in the car, right?

So, um

what we have to do is if we look at all

of the things like look at your

behaviors, not your feelings around

them, and say, "Okay, these are all the

things that I do on a daily basis.

Some of those things someone else can

do. Now, there's for sure things that

are higher leverage, higher value. It

might be that for you doing the design

for stuff is the highest leverage thing.

I don't know, it might be. It might It's

definitely not using your hands, I can

promise you that. Um it might be getting

the relationship and managing the

relationship. That might be the most

valuable thing. So, if we just did a if

we if we did a rank order, this is what

you'd have to do. It's like we do a time

study, which is step one.

So, take an Excel sheet, you can open up

on your phone. Every 15 minutes you have

an alarm. It'll annoy everyone, don't

worry about it. And every time it goes

off, you just write what you did in the

last 15 minutes.

And at the end of the week, you can look

at all those activities and rank them in

terms of revenue. Like which of these is

the most valuable and most unique?

And then when you look at the bottom

half of that list, does it neatly fit

into some person that either exists

currently that has bandwidth or somebody

that we can hire?

And

part of the the good news that you have

is that when you serve premium

customers, which you do, you can charge

a premium, which you do, which means

that you should have excess margins so

you can get premium people.

And so

right now, what will probably be

required is that you have to lower your

tolerance for mediocrity on your team.

And so it might cost So, if it's if

you're going to make $300,000 per year

for a tech, it's like would you be

willing to spend $50,000 to go get

another tech who's good?

>> 100%

>> Right. And so that's a combination of

like you could try the recruiting firm

thing, which is a thing. One that you

probably haven't thought of that I would

strongly recommend this probably be the

unlock for you is run national ads and

then offer a really generous relocation

package.

>> Mhm.

>> So make the 50 you're basically a

signing bonus. You get 25 now and 25 a

month six.

>> What do you think about instead of

having W-2 employees and how much they

cost running 1099 service techs?

>> You're a business.

Do they have to show up at certain times

and do work specific the way you want

them to do?

>> Yes.

>> They're employees.

>> Employees.

>> Yeah. Unless they're like

they're not vendors. They work for you.

If you have meetings and they have to

show up, they're they're employees. Um

so no, you you like

>> Keep it W-2.

>> Yeah, you want to go more legit, not

less legit.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah. Um

but fundamentally like if you were to

spend the $50,000 to go get another tech

we just have to like getting the tech I

don't think is going to be that hard,

honestly, if you're just willing to

spend the money for it, which you have

the money to do it.

Um and then the other piece is okay, now

that this person comes on, I have this

big stack of stuff. How can I give them

a third of it or half of it and then all

of a sudden you get those time back. And

so let me ask you a different question.

If you got half your time back could you

double the business?

>> 100%

>> Right. And so that's the game.

>> Yeah.

Beautiful. Thank you, Alex.

>> My name's Trenton. We sell roofing. Um

we're going to do about 3 million this

year. We'd like to be at 10 million. My

biggest constraint and what's stopping

me is that um for the last, you know,

eight years all of our lead gen has been

from

>> weather

>> from doors.

>> Okay.

>> So it's been 100% uh door-to-door lead

gen and now when we're trying to knock

for retail

it seems to be like like heavier of a

weight on the team.

>> What do you say retail? What do you

mean?

>> So uh like just people in market that

need a roof.

>> So like residential?

>> Residential.

>> Okay, got it. yeah.

>> And when you were doing door knocking

before you were knocking on

>> Residential doors.

>> Okay, so it was the weather guys.

>> getting funding from the insurance

company.

>> Got it. Word. Okay.

Okay, so

Keep going.

>> So now

um

with me being a door-to-door guy like

purchasing leads and all that was like

sacrilegious to me. So there's some

limiting beliefs there um that I started

to

you know, explore last October.

We bought leads

>> want to be lead curious. That's all I'm

asking for.

>> Yeah, I I am I'm very lead curious now.

>> [laughter]

>> And uh but I basically got slaughtered

learning this.

>> Yeah. This will be acquisitionary

binary. You know what I mean? Like be

non-binary with your leads. Like as many

as you want.

>> Yes, yes. No, that's what I'm trying to

do here. And when we did purchase leads

and I was able

>> version [laughter] by the way.

Yeah, go ahead.

>> And when we started to you know, stack

the guys' calendars, there was a big

culture shift.

>> Yeah.

>> Um where we actually saw like more

buy-in from the guys, but then like the

door knocking just poof

>> Yeah, cuz it was easier.

>> It was way easier.

>> Yeah.

>> But um like our CAC and all that was

absolutely horrid, right? So I was

spending like $7,500 just to acquire

one customer over the summer.

>> Okay.

>> And it wasn't sustainable. So I

>> make from a customer?

>> Um on average $6,500.

>> So that does not work.

>> No. It doesn't work.

>> Yeah.

>> And it was just like a lot of the

marketing agencies that we worked with

were like younger people. They were like

using AI tools, go high-level like

>> So we decided that we were going to

build it in-house.

>> Okay.

>> So with that being said, now it comes

into

you know, a leadership issue because I

need somebody that like knows how to you

know, market better than I do so that I

can focus on training and

>> Can I pause you real quick?

>> Yes, please.

>> Okay, cool. So you're at three, you want

to get to 10, you rebuilt it from storm

chasing to just straight-up door

knocking whenever. Fine. I think it was

a good idea. Um you had a door knocking

team, you took the same sales guys,

brought them on leads that you got them,

they got lazy, fat, and don't want to do

door knocking anymore.

>> Mhm.

>> So, great rule number one, outbound and

inbound are separate teams.

>> Yes.

>> Um inbound is what you graduate to.

And so, if you're an absolute savage,

like you just take children's souls and

just rip them out every day cuz you're a

terrible person.

Um but you're you're just unbelievable

at sales. Then and only then do you get

the opportunity for me to feed you

leads. Because these are the most

expensive leads that we have to work

very, very hard for to make sure and

like we cannot waste them on anybody who

cannot close everything.

And so, thank you. I hope that was an

amen.

Um and so

And so, so first off is the team should

be separate, but you're in this mix now.

You're in a little bit of a mess. And

so, my my two cents would be like, take

the cuz I'm sure their commissions have

gone down since they now are selling

nothing, basically.

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. So, I would say, "Guys, my [ __ ]

up. I went to this thing. He told me I

did this big boo-boo, which is inbound

and outbound were together, which is not

how it should be.

Everybody get back on the streets. You

guys do that. And then for the absolute

savages of you, because you can usually

have far fewer people on inbound,

that becomes the Christmas tree of the

career path.

Because on inbound, I can feed you and

you can do like five sales a day. You

can't do that door knocking. Right? But

I you can do it if I'm feeding you leads

that are already qualified, already set,

already gone through a VSL, whatever,

um in the sales motion.

And then those guys can absolutely clean

up. But you get you earn the opportunity

to get that level of commissions. Now,

the commission structure should also be

different on inbound because you have to

pay for those leads. So, it's a

different role. They graduate to it.

It's more volume, lower per, but it's

more reliable, which guys with families,

things like that, if you have a bad day,

you close two, and a good day, you close

seven. It's different than you have a

bad day, you can close zero, zero, zero.

Right? It's much more uh it's much more

stressful. And so, guys will be happy to

even give up they'll even make the same

money, but should have it be more

reliable. They'll be and you don't have

to be in the sun.

So.

>> So then we should hire for inbound

sales.

>> Yeah, or take one of the guys you have

who's really good at it.

And put everybody else back on the

street so that you just funnel

everything to that guy who cuz then you

can iterate faster cuz you're new on

this. And so you want to you never want

to have too many news cuz kind of like

the brick analogy I gave at the

beginning, the more news there are, the

more likely something's going to [ __ ]

up, right? And so it's like I know this

is a absolute savage salesperson. If

they're closable, he'll close them or

she'll close them. And so then the only

variable we have is just what offer lead

source am I getting and like what

process are going from lead to talking

to them. Those are the only variables

you have to play with and so you can

control it's much easier to iterate on

that and then get it to go faster.

>> [snorts]

>> Okay.

Okay. And then okay. So then I want to

hire a marketing director or leader

um to manage that.

>> Outbound team goes out, inbound team

becomes the one guy. You need to hire a

marketer person who actually knows what

they're doing. Probably pay more than

you expect, but then that person will be

worth it. Your entire business is sales

and marketing so you should have the

core elements of the business in house.

>> Okay.

>> Great. If you need help with the sales

process, we can help.

>> Excellent. Thank you.

>> My name is Art. We sell junk removal and

demolition to commercial property

managers. Currently do 1 million a year.

Would love to be at 10 million a year.

What's currently stopping us is knowing

which sales

channel to focus on. I know it's

important that we pick one, capitalize

on it. And I'm wondering how much time,

energy, or volume do I spend on one

while I determine if that's going to be

our channel or not and know whether to

leave that one or focus on that one.

>> Yeah. So I'll give you two answers to

that question. So before I answer it,

I'm going to do the first thing though.

Really the second thing first.

Um so why What do you do currently right

now to get customers?

>> Uh right now it's been mostly referrals.

>> Okay. So you can't do more referrals

because there's nothing for you to do

besides do a good job. Okay. That's

fine. Um if referrals is the way you're

getting business, what ways have you

begun or you haven't started doing sales

channels yet?

>> Uh so I uh we've started to lay the

framework for doing uh email uh cold

outreach as well uh simultaneously with

LinkedIn outreach and then also uh

converting some of our social media

efforts into a bit of outreach as well

with people who are engaging.

>> Mhm.

>> Uh so there's some of the things that

we're

>> Like ManyChat and then DM and the whole

lot.

>> Yeah, yeah. I'm more more manual for now

while we get the uh uh flow going and

then also um I'm in a networking BNI so

that's

>> Yeah. I would prefer you stick with one

of them

and just do more in that thing.

And so if the question is how do I So

the original question was how do I know

which one to pick and how long to stick

with it?

So I think I will reject the premise,

which is that one of them is going to

work. Like you will make one of them

work.

And so you could make any of them work.

And so I would take the hypothetical

extreme of

is there a business that acquires other

businesses' customers

in each of those different channels in

your market?

>> Uh I'm I'm not sure.

>> I'll bet there is.

Uh there probably are some junk removal

people who do it via social media and

they take it that way. Some people

probably do it via LinkedIn. Some people

do uh cold outreach. All three of those

are

super repeatable channels that anyone

could run.

So all of them can work. My

recommendation to you would be the one

that you have the highest overlap with

existing skill set.

>> Mhm.

>> Between you and team.

So if you and or your team have more

knowledge around social media stuff, I'd

be like just double down on social

media. If it's I have uh you know, we're

better at kind of the outbound motion,

then I would say go do the outbound

motion

via via email. If it's like, well, we

want to both these things, it's like,

well, why don't we just send more

emails?

You know what I mean?

>> Got it.

>> Does that help?

>> Yeah, it does.

>> Okay, good.

That was super That was like, you sure?

Everything else you get I got That was

That was a That was an easy one. That

was like a warm-up.

>> [laughter]

>> Well, for um I guess follow-up

since you're taking more questions.

>> [laughter]

>> Uh I guess if you had to just say one,

like let's irrelevant to what the team

has

>> Which one do you have the best skill set

uh in?

>> To be honest, I just don't have the

skill set in I guess networking is

number one. Like in when I'm in person

with people, I'm doing the best.

>> Okay.

So So, hear me out then.

Wild idea. So, you do networking stuff.

And so, if I said, "I want you to spend

4 hours a day to find every local

community-based related event with 20

people or less or 50 people or less in

it that have people who are similar to

your avatar. Would you be able to do

that?

>> Yes.

>> Okay. So, why can't we do more of that?

>> We can do more of that.

>> Okay. So, how many of those events do

you currently go to? And I'm guessing

you get customers from when you go

there, right?

>> Uh yeah, they they compound over time.

Uh we go to uh currently a few a week

and then we're meeting one-on-one with a

lot of people we meet.

>> Afterwards, right. So, I would say, "All

right, well then what would it take for

us to go to like several a day?"

That would be my first kind of like

risk-adjusted move

because the other things you haven't

done yet at all. So, it's like, "How do

I go from one to three just like this

year?"

I would do that.

Cuz then it'll free up more cash flow

because the the issue that you have

right now, especially like in the in the

in the swamp that you're in right now, I

would just do way more of the thing

you're currently doing

um as my path of at least getting to one

to three. It's probably super profitable

for you as well. Um and then I would

invest

more of those resources into

um learning one of the other channels.

>> Got it.

Perfect. Thank you.

>> Cool. You bet.

>> My name's Adrian. I own a commercial

construction company. Did 11 million uh

this year, 10 last year. Um

read the book uh Built to Sell. So, I

started analyzing my company and I said

or I figured out that uh construction

companies are not an easy asset to sell.

Um that their enterprise value is based

off of assets or backlog of work.

>> Uh-huh.

>> As a commercial contractor, I thought to

myself, "Okay, well, how am I going to

do that?" So, we started doing public

works projects, bought some heavy

equipment. Now, we have contracts that

are for several years.

At the same time, with the clientele

base that I had uh in the multifamily

space, I started thinking about, "Okay,

well, if I don't want to sell this

company, if it's going to be that

difficult, how do I get recurring

revenue?" So, I started an elevator

company.

And uh

>> Okay.

>> over the last 12 months, we did 3

million

>> Yeah.

>> to start. And um

>> It's a racket. Congrats.

>> [laughter]

>> I have elevators. It's ridiculous.

>> We can help you.

So, uh if you were me, you know, with

the two companies and the combined

revenue,

>> Um

>> what would you do next in order to go

from 10 to 100?

>> What's profit on three versus 11?

>> 30% on the three,

>> Mhm.

>> 18% on the 11.

>> Okay. So, you're making roughly double

on the construction side, but cash flow

sucks and it's a pain and you never take

the money out of the business, probably.

I'm guessing. Um

okay. So, it's a tough call cuz you

already did it, right? You can't like

not have the kid. It's already out there

running around. Um

>> That's what I had said.

>> [laughter]

>> Yeah, you can't can't insert. It doesn't

doesn't go back up, right? Um

okay. So,

I think it again, it depends on what you

want to do. So, I think the elevator

company totally could sell.

Um if you wanted to sell that business,

um

>> I do.

>> Are you splitting your time right now?

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. So, it might take

$800,000 in profit on the construction

side to get the two or three leaders

that you need to do it without you, and

then it would continue to exist.

Um I do think the elevator is the better

opportunity for the reasons that you

already are aware of, and it probably

grew significantly faster than the other

one did.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> Yeah. Um

this isn't normally what I would say in

this type of situation, but I'm just

familiar with it. Um, what timeline do

you have? Like sell in five, sell in 10?

>> Definitely 10. Um, you know, if I could

do it in five.

>> Okay. [snorts] You could sell in five. I

mean, what's the growth rate on the

elevator?

>> Well, I mean, year one, 3 million.

>> Oh, year one, right, right. So, it's a

straight up elevator. Okay, sorry. Uh

>> [laughter]

>> Exactly.

>> Straight to the penthouse. Um

Okay. Uh I like

So, there's the reasonable advice, which

is, "Hey, hire the people and then let

them continue to run that thing." And

then I would say like what the quote

Alex advice would be,

which is super unreasonable. Um And I

only give it because this is what I did.

Um I burn things down.

And so, if I can't exit it, so like you

could exit the 11 now for way less than

you think it's worth, right?

I'd be I would just be willing to exit

it. I had six gyms and I fire sold them

in 90 days.

I made I made in total on six what I

should have made on one.

And then within six months I was doing a

million a month on the next thing. And

so, once it was like

clear that this was a way better

opportunity, like the orders of

magnitude better, which I think you were

in that situation right now. It's super

niched. It's you've obviously got ins in

terms of understanding how to work. It's

already recurring. It is a racket. Uh

a legal racket, but

>> [laughter]

>> it is. Oh, it is. Um

if you're willing to take a step back to

like you will if you had if you're like,

"I want to do this in two years." You'll

like the break-even point on this is two

years.

Which is like if you got rid of the

construction firm in the next 90 days

and you said, "I don't care what the

price is. I just want all the headache

back."

You will grow so much faster on the

elevator side. Like it'll Like you did

three while splitting your attention.

If you had had full attention, you might

be at eight.

And so, I tend to think only exclusively

on opportunity cost. Um I don't normally

give that advice cuz it's like it's just

so hard for people to do, but I burn

things down. When I like am very clear

that this is the next thing I'm going to

do, just cuz I know that my

the opportunity cost of the time of just

continuing to wind this down or get it

ready for sale, I could make more than

I'm going to make on that sale in this

opportunity.

So, like

let's say that a perfect a perfect exit

for that business would be like $5

million or something, right? Based on

the assets and the AR that you have

coming. It's like for me to build

another million dollars in recurring

revenue in the elevator business, I can

do that in a quarter, which equals the

enterprise value of the other thing.

And so, as long as you can get out of

your head around like cuz everyone if

you do this,

everyone will tell you that you're

crazy.

Um everyone has told me that I was crazy

every time I've done this. Um and that's

why also none of them are wealthier than

I am. You know, just like like no one

who is wealthier than me told me that.

So, as long as you're good with it and

you can just stomach the fact that your

wife's like, "You worked so hard on

this." and your dad's like, "This is

ridiculous. You all the blood, sweat,

and tears and all this stuff." and

you're like,

"I did this so I could learn all these

skills and apply it here. It was not a

waste cuz I was the asset."

>> Thank you.