Recruiting operators for sweaty industries with
@SmoothOp3rators
. Hired 1200+ people last 7 years. Army vet. Owner
@Bartsheatingair
. Dad jokes. Family.
One of my favorite lessons from the Army:
Be decisive. Worry less about being wrong or right and more about making a call.
People will forget about your decisions but will remember if you learned from them.
Make the call. Learn from it. Move on.
Our path from $900K to $4M revenue in 20 months
The first HVAC company we bought was not a business. We thought it was, but it really wasn’t. It was a book of business with 46 google reviews and a 4.5 rating.
There were only two things that survived longer than 90 days after
6. Doing it all over again now. Closing on a business in early Nov. A little failure ain't going to stop me.
7. Can't stop, won't stop
#SMB
#learningnotfailure
Just had a local HVAC co. decide to shutdown.
They reached out to us because we had a great local reputation and asked if they could send all their customers to us.
No cost. Just wanted to make sure we took care of the customers.
Might be the best call we got this week!
☎️
Bought 35 unit apartment complex 2 years ago nearly to the day.
Bought for $1.15M, invested $350K, lender is saying worth ~$2.5M now.
Demonstrates the power of RE. But also luck. A lot of luck. Especially since we could have managed it 100% better than we have.
Crazy that vehicles are second largest asset class for people with less than $10K net worth
I thought real estate would be a higher percentage among brackets but tops out in the $1M-$10M NW bracket
And business interests reign supreme at $10M+ NW. Part of why I’m long on
#SMB
I got married at 18.
While homeless.
I slept in my girlfriend’s car. Or sometimes in public parks. Or closed down restrooms. One time in the sand of a volleyball court and was chased off by the cops.
My first night homeless I went to my place of work (car dealership) and
I’m on my way to visiting my younger brother and listening to Frankel’s Man’s Search for Meaning and can’t help but think about our ability to choose happiness regardless of our circumstances.
Below is a picture of me as a 7 YO holding the same brother I’m about to visit.
When you're looking at houses and you realize you might be thinking about HVAC too much lol.
All I can see on this beautiful house is the AC condenser down on the edge of a cliff and how the heck I would service that 🤣
Officially closed on acquisition
#2
today!! Huge shoutout to the deal team (all from SMB twitter)
@KHendersonCo
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
@SBA_Ray
HVAC company in northern DFW adjacent to Bart's HVAC service area. Will share more after announcing to team. A few lessons:
After 3+ years of mostly passive searching, close first HVAC deal
30 days in to new business and meet a friend of our seller that own's plumbing business.
Us: How's business?
Him: It'd be better if you bought it from me
30 days later: verbal agreement & LOI in works
@realEstateTrent
And it feels fed by ego (not calling you out specifically). I have this job you want you should show me gratitude for entertaining you as a candidate with a thank you note.
Candidates are tired of being ghosted as well. They have not been valued like they should in hiring.
25. I sell a rental home and pay off the debt over the following 16 months
Lessons learned -
1. Due diligence is critical. We thought we were good at finding things, but the seller was better at hiding them
2. People can be shady. Lead with trust, but always verify.
Had a really tough day last week in
#SMB
ownership. Wanted to quit with all my being. So easy to go get a cushy W2 making great money.
The goal for that day quickly became - DO NOT QUIT.
Nothing else mattered. Nothing.
Step back, deep breath, GO.
Do it all again tomorrow.
3. Every person has their share of experiences they are ashamed of. This is one of mine.
4. Tuition is expensive, especially when getting an education you weren't expecting.
5. I love my brother. I would take a chance on him again in a second. Some things are bigger than business
SMB is cool and all, but have you bought a car that doesn’t run with your son and got it back running together?
Alternator replaced and she started right up.
First time either of has replaced an alternator.
Highly recommend. He suggested we buy a car and work on it
Did I mention my son got into the University of Texas at Austin!!
Second generation Longhorn
Will be studying Math and wants to teach one day!
Hook’em!! 🤘
@realEstateTrent
I used to strongly agree with this. Now I completely disagree. It’s had no correlation with hiring success from my experience.
As a candidate, I’ve sent over 100 of these and literally had one person respond back. That’s a waste. Hiring mgrs no longer have the upper hand.
Recently read a letter I wrote my wife while I was in Iraq in 2003.
“I want to gain about 25lbs and get up to 185 so I don’t look like a little kid anymore.”
[steps on scale today]
237 👀
Good to know I’m setting goals and still crushing them 19 years later 🤣
Officially under contract for second business in DFW. Looking to add a new trade to the mix.
Great biz and exciting opportunity. Pipeline of on-market and off-market deals is definitely increasing.
Lots to share after closing!!
#smb
#ETA
In 20 months we’ve gone from 46 reviews and a 4.5 star rating to 414 reviews and a 4.9 star rating.
Our biggest success here has stemmed from a quick text follow up the day after service. If the response is positive our CSR personally asks for a review and this has really
Things most SMB sellers don’t care about:
Your MBA
Your consulting experience
Your hedge fund experience
Your PE background
Your tech background
Where you went to school (unless it’s where they went to school)
Things they do care about:
Do they like you
Can you get the
On pace for 285% revenue growth YOY for August.
38% revenue growth from July to August despite call & lead volume dropping
20%+ since August 1.
No change in marketing spend.
Only change: One person took ownership of the sales process.
Incredible results have followed!
Biggest lesson I thought I knew and have continued to learn at a VERY deep level since our first acquisition:
GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN
If it’s less than 40% you have more work than you think to fix it. Way more.
#SMB
hey there! Long time watcher first time poster. Wrapping up first acquisition of HVAC business in next two weeks but I’ve (been saying that for 6 weeks). Here’s some of the journey so far:
Today’s the last day of my full time job!
I will be taking the week of thanksgiving off and then jumping into our HVAC business full time with my partner Scott.
Crazy excited!!
We’ve done three HVAC acquisitions so far.
Here’s the progression of how we sourced each of them:
1. Straight from biz buy sell and a broker. We were like the 8th group that came in to look seriously at the business and got the deal done. Small deal, pretty simple.
2. Hip
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
1. Commit with your spouse to put each other first even after having kids. Lots of nuance here, but you chose each other before you had kids and if you do it right you will still be choosing each other after the kids leave the home.
I’ve moved into the “I’m not getting any sleep because I’m equally stressed/excited” phase of SMB ownership.
Ok, maybe slightly heavier on the stressed side.
Reminder: SMB and home services are not easy.
Worth it? Absolutely.
Easy? Absolutely not.
Most random habit in my 20 years of marriage so far:
We have a 20 year running game of “1-2-3 not-it” that has become pretty sophisticated in its rules & application. With 4 kids and 6 pets, the game has been a lifesaver many times.
Rule
#1
: you must respect the “not-it.”
Well…there went the hire I was crazy excited about.
She let us know at 9:23pm the day before she were supposed to start that she wouldn’t be joining.
Gutted.
Back on the recruiting trail!
Checks for payment 🧾
Opinion before buying an SMB:
I despise checks. Hate them. 100% wanted to get rid of them day 1 of ownership.
Now:
Warming up as a payment method despite the extra work. ZERO transaction cost is sexy.
Surprised by # of ppl w/ checkbooks still
My first marketing email by the numbers for our HVAC business:
Background - led marketing teams but never really "did" it.
1 email
3110 recipients
976 Opens (38.2%)
11 Clicks (.4%)
61 Unsubscribes
7 Abuse complaints 🤣
8 5-star reviews
$21,000 in revenue
a🧵
@hq_storage
The twitter post that started a new business!
In a little over 90 days I've started a recruiting business just by asking a few questions online and then speaking to tons of potential customers and friends I've met through twitter.
The result: 50+ meetings, $200K+ in contracts
@land_atl
@realEstateTrent
Who’s teaching the rules to this game? And why are they arbitrary and different for every hiring manager you speak with? Supply & demand are really shaking up the hiring landscape. This won’t be good enough anymore.
Sent out first marketing email last week and closed a $21k job from it today.
Total ROI?
350x based on my $60 Mailchimp monthly subscription fee.
Not bad for my first try. Biggest learning? Just do it. Then learn from it. Then do it again.
Today’s a double whammy:
1. Closing day!!! Can’t wait to jump into our HVAC business
2. We told my current company I’ll be departing along with 3 other senior leaders
3. Seems like perfect timing but the plan was to join the HVAC full time in about two years
If you don’t have your systems written down, then you don’t have systems.
Here’s the systems we’re working through at the moment for Barts. Documented, repeatable and scalable is the aim for each.
We took the names of the systems from the book The E-Myth HVAC Contractor.
My oldest daughter just graduated high school third in her class of about 700.
She also graduated with an Associates Degree.
She gave a great speech on friendship.
She got a full ride to study Biomedical Engineering at University of Texas at Arlington and wants to continue on
Hey everyone!
Mark your calendars for our first SMB meetup in DFW
April 21st in Southlake at 6pm
More info to come but wanted to get the date out to you all!
#smb
#dfw
Me: tells everyone I’m leaving my full time job to jump into SMB/startup life
People: come out of the literal woodworks to see how they can help us be successful
Grateful for all you incredible humans out there. So many kind people looking to help others and it’s awesome!
Just proposed to my two younger kids to pull them out of school (11th grade and 8th grade) to do homeschool and travel the world for the next year or so.
Wife is on board. Oldest of the two kids is definitely on board.
Younger one wants to finish middle school and then do this
Made a call on a Craigslist ad yesterday for a Master Plumber and ended up with a strong lead for an off market Plumbing Company for sale in a target market.
All major acquisition targets in our pipeline are all off market opportunities (3) total.
Love this stuff!
1. I bought a business with my brother in diesel repair/fleet maintenance
2. Things were going great, until they weren't
3. We found out the previous owner had been stealing from customers
4. We immediately fixed it and notified the customers
5. Took a big hit credibility wise
Off market business acquisitions sound awesome until you have to tell owners their baby is ugly but also you still want to buy it.
The amount of education with owners is 5X more than you think will be necessary.
So I guess the message is "thanks brokers?"
@ClintFiore
#SMB
I'm realizing that 90%+ of entrepreneurship is just not quitting long term.
Over the last year I've quit plenty of times short term.
Sometimes a few minutes.
Sometimes a few hours.
But never more than a day.
Building a growing recruiting business from scratch
Smooth Operators Search - 5 month check in
Progress so far:
1. 7 roles placed YTD in 2024 - finalizing placement number 8 over next few days
2. Pacing between $600k - $700k in revenue this year
3. No advertising
Yesterday, I got about 4 hours of sleep and couldn’t keep my resting heart rate below 100.
I was living on cortisol and Murphy’s law.
It was closing day.
We completed our third HVAC acquisition and it was 4.5X larger than any of our previous deals. 3rd deal in less than 3
20th anniversary!!
I was gone 3+ yrs of our 1st 6 years of marriage & yet, here we are.
Married too young. Had children too young & yet, here we are.
Started broke & homeless & yet, here we are.
Happiness is a choice and I’m happy we chose it together.
How we did it a 🧵
The next reason you find yourself in a situation that makes happiness difficult, find meaning and choose happiness anyways.
It could make all the difference
If you’re interested in hiring or training up a GM or CEO/operator to help run your SMB I’d love to talk to you to learn more.
Feel free to comment or shoot me a DM
Also, if you’re interested in GM/Operator/CEO roles in the SMB space I’d love to hear from you as well. Shoot
Smooth Operator update:
We officially placed our first operator!! We had a huge amount of outreach for this awesome candidate and Marine Corps veteran.
We were able to talk to over 10 people with legitimate opportunities and put several in front of him.
He signed his offer
SMOOTH OPERATOR ALERT
We just had an incredible candidate come available looking for his next step:
Experienced CFO/COO in multi-location home service company. Marine Corps veteran with investment banking experience. Seasoned operator that is comfortable leading at any level.
@AndyHVandenBerg
We do make your own shish kabobs, just dice up the veggies and meat and marinades and put it out buffet style and keep the grill on or fire pit going. Has always been a huge hit.
Barts Update 24 Mar
1. Hit our quarterly revenue goal!! On pace to triple this year
2. Increased pace of receiving reviews. Now up to 4.8 star on google from 4.5 when we took over
3. Hired a new tech and he’s doing well
4. Revamped our price book again -> costs up ~25% in 22
2022 Biz Goals:
💵 Grow HVAC from $1M to $2.75M
🔥 Complete 2nd acq. & grow from $1M -> $2M; LOI in place; ETA to close early Q2
🤩 1000 google reviews (4.9⭐️); 1500 service contracts
🚀 Launch tech MVP for Homework in Q1; 1500 beta users
🏘️ Refinance Apts & return all cash
And just like that, we’re no longer under contract for our next business. Found too much risk in first DD session with the owners.
They were awesome but couldn’t figure it out.
On to the next one.
Do it all again tomorrow.
Another role filled and another veteran hired at Smooth Operators Search!
One of my biggest goals in 2024 is to help place 50 veterans in America's sweaty businesses like skilled trades, manufacturing, transportation, construction and more.
To help keep me accountable I'm
Today I learned that
@thumbtack
likes to prey on small businesses by somehow taking over their Google My Business “book online” links and steering them back to Thumbtack instead of going to the small business’ website.
Freaking crazy.
Had to go opt out on thumbtacks website
@KrissBergTweets
Great thread and enlightening. It’s funny how common the urge is to just disappear into the mountains. Very good perspective, I think we’ve settled on buying a cabin in the mountains but not necessarily moving there as primary residence.
6. Found out previous owner was also trying to steal our customers and employees
7. We lost some of both
8. We tried everything: confronting him, cease & desist, holding back payments
9. We felt completely helpless
10. We kept going
11. We started to hit our groove
Most very successful home service companies are not growing profitably on their own, they are learning from proven models from best practice groups in the industry.
In home services, the two premier best practice organizations are called Nexstar and Certain Path.
They’ve
Day 1 full time in the books:
1. Found new office space
2. Gas cards wouldn’t activate so went and filled up with team
3. Finalized paperwork for license transfer
4. Finally got Verizon phone numbers transferred over - only took 3.5 weeks
5. Built bones of new website
Had a plumbing owner reach out today we've previously spoken with
He secret shopped us & went through our website with a fine tooth comb & really enjoyed the experience vs how they do things
Doesn't know how to get it to that level
Interested in making a deal happen again
A little about me since I’ve never really introduced myself on here.
Family guy, married for nearly 20 years with four kiddos (2 boys, 2 girls) ages 10-19
Accidentally started that family at 18 years old so everything I’ve done in my career has been with them by my side.
When I left the Army, the best role I could find paid $11/hr.
I was a top performer, had strong leadership experience and still couldn’t figure out how to translate it to the business world immediately.
With a family of 5, it was demoralizing.
Smooth Operators is more than
SMOOTH OPERATOR ALERT
We just had an incredible candidate come available looking for his next step:
Experienced CFO/COO in multi-location home service company. Marine Corps veteran with investment banking experience. Seasoned operator that is comfortable leading at any level.
My 20 YO son who’s been working with me this summer (& who never wanted to work with me before):
“I had some time to think on Weds when things slowed down and I realized I’m really lucky to have the support I do from you guys. You’re a pretty cool Dad.”
Dang.
#grateful
Came to Austin with the fam to pick up my son from college and visit the town a few days.
He chose to spend the entire day and night hanging with us despite being invited out to have fun with some of his college friends.
I think this is close to peak happiness.
AMA
15. Gives us 30 day notice since we're on month to month term
16. We fight back stating 3 years & lease terms
17. Turns out our lease was falsified by the previous owner
18. Our hands are tied; we try to find a similar shop space nearbye but couldn't find anything reasonable
Another role filled, another veteran hired!
Kudos to the Marine Corps with another point on the scoreboard.
Surprised and excited by the success of our enlisted veterans so far!
Role: Director of Operations
Company: Nationally growing locksmith company
Location: DFW
19. We tell our customers we're moving locations and they start dropping us as a vendor
20. My brother bows out; hadn't taken a paycheck in months and couldn't continue sacrificing like that with his family of 5
21. I was still working a full time job and Army National Guard
Hired a Customer Experience Manager recently.
She blew us away in the interview process. Very impressive.
Fired her on day 4. Didn’t even show up.
We all get it wrong. Even after hiring 1000+ people in last 5 years I still mess it up.
Check references and keep going!
Thinking about doing a quarterly DFW in person SMB meet up.
I’m decent at getting these started but kinda hate running/maintaining them.
Anyone interested in this?
Thinking mid cities for location.
Who’s in if we do it?
@stephenolmon
@Hayden__Slack
@KHendersonCo
My 2023 in review:
Lots of milestone birthdays - I turned 40, our oldest turned 21, our oldest daughter turned 18 and our younger son turned 16
Grew Barts HVAC 112%
Acquired a tuck in HVAC co.
Sued twice
Started a new company - Smooth Operators Search to help recruit
Two major takeaways from doing multiple acquisitions and lots of change management:
1. The biggest question you must answer for everyone immediately is “what does this mean for me?” The faster and clearer you establish this messaging the better you will do.
2. Everyone wants to
12. Then our LL reaches out about potentially selling the building we're in and talking through our desire to stay etc.
13. Not a huge deal; we have ~3 years left on our lease
14. Hear back from LL a few weeks later and wants to sell and the largest tenant wants to buy ASAP
22. I bow out as well
23. We fire-sale the assets and remaining customers to a customer of ours at 10 cents on the dollar
24. My brother has to sell his house and spends the next few years paying off his debt
Brand new van.
First day fully stocked.
First plumber on board.
Takes it home for the first night.
Van is broken into and all new tools, equipment and supplies are stolen.
Welcome to small business.
Day 1 in the books. Slow day, almost no calls and gave us time to hang with our techs.
It all starts with people.
Started all the admin changeover. Titles, bank accounts, website, phone numbers.
Sellers have been great so far. Super easy going and successful.
Had a bit of existential breakdown recently.
I saw a quote a little while back that I’ve had a hard time shaking as a parent:
“Instead of giving your kids the things you never had, teach them the things you never knew.”
It has been abrupt and unforgiving in my mind.
My favorite part of our newest acquisition is just how tight the service area is. The avg drive time between calls is about 10-15 mins.
Prosper is a small town and the company literally owns the major aging neighborhoods in town. Below is a plotting of jobs from last 24 mths
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
2. Kids must do hard things. Either teach them about grit/adversity in your home where you’re a safety net or they will learn it the hard way when they leave. Chores should be a must.
3. Hold family dinner sacred
That feeling when you get the clear to close on your next acquisition, you get to meet
@thomasince
in person and you win an awesome Cowboys helmet just for hanging out at Star in Frisco.
Great freaking day!!
Me to my wife and her sister:
I don’t really do too much social media, but I do a little LinkedIn and am getting into Twitter
My wife to her sister: yeah he’s on that nerd Twitter
Me: ummm, it’s SMB Twitter
Her and her sister: nerd Twitter!!! Nerd!
Love is fun 😂
Our first 30ish days for Bart's Heating & Air by the numbers:
New hires: 2 (1 technician and 1 customer success rep. )
5-star google reviews: 25 (71 reviews total)
Google review rating: 4.6 -> 4.7
New websites - 1
Number of services booked online through website: 4