Multi-unit pest control franchise owner, acquired through acquisition. I (infrequently) share what I'm learning. Dad x3
New Jersey, USA
Joined March 2012
- Tweets1.1K
- Following693
- Followers1.5K
- Likes3.2K
Pinned Tweet
I quit my W-2 job in August 2021. After ~16 months searching with many highs and lows, I'm proud to announce that I closed on my first business acquisition! 🥳
Existing Franchise ✅
Seasonal business ✅
Zero cash inflow until March 😬✅
Personal Guarantee (3x) ✅
whatupny retweeted
Today was one of my best, and worst, days in SMB ownership/investing all combined into one.
1) I realized a strong MOIC on a personal SMB investment made 5+ years ago with full QSBS treatment. Searcher and team did very well. An excellent outcome for all.
2) Found out a relatively new (~4 weeks) but promising employee disconnected the GPS on his van on Friday, drove it 4 hours away, without permission, overdosed on what appears to be fentanyl laced drugs, is in the ICU, and will be lucky to survive. My team and I spent all day trying to find out what happened, the status of his health, where the van was, and how to get it back.
What should've been a happy day, ended up being a sad and depressing one.
SMB ownership. So passive.
More tales from SMB collections…. Have been chasing a $93 invoice since 9/24.
Customer insists on a paper invoice in the mail, and then they mail a check. Have mailed the invoice 2x and they claim to never receive it.
Might need to drop them next year unless they use a cc.
Spent a couple of hours today handwriting letters to customer that owe us money.
These are all $75-$100 outstanding balances that are 60+ days old and we have very little chance of collecting. Nonetheless, we have to try.
Just another day in the life of a SMB owner.
Based upon my market research (aka morning run), there is no slowdown in residential home services in Monmouth County NJ.
Roofers, sidings, gutters, landscaping, etc all active on Saturday!
If you can't respond to leads in under 24 hrs, you should stop paid social ads. You're just wasting money!
[My take as a SMB owner who is waiting for a call back but keeps seeing the same social ads....]
I've called the NJ Dept of Taxation 10x in the last 2 days about a $200 payment that I sent to the wrong department.
Every time I call the recording says "Due to high call volume we can't take your call. Try again another time" and then it hangs up.
Any SMB owners switched from ADP to Gusto (or know someone who has) and would be willing to speak with me?
How long does it take to transfer a lease with Ford Motor Credit?
2.5 months
20+ phone calls
3 physical signatures required via the mail
$135 transfer fee
And it's still not done yet! They assure me this is the last set of documents to sign....
When dealing with hundreds of customers it's easy to focus on the complainers and feel like you can't do anything right.
It's good to get feedback like this as a reminder that in general your customers are happy!
Don't let the squeaky wheel get all the attention.
The last 2 yrs of my life summarized into a 1 hr podcast (!!).
Props to @whentheresawill for pushing for concrete operational examples in addition to covering my search journey.
spotify.link/AdPVr6VeXDb
Heading home after spending the weekend at the Mosquito Joe annual owners conference.
Incredible the amount you can learn from your non-competitor peers. Feeling rejuvenated and ready to improve next season.
DONT sleep on franchises...I assure you they are real businesses!
whatupny retweeted
New episode!
- Buying a $3m Candle Manufacturer That Had No Books -
Chad Hildebrant knew the best deals have hair on them. The trick is finding the right hair, turning red flags green.
youtube.com/watch?v=7xqU6fHz…
Been reading the Amelia Bedelia series with my kids and I realized her literal interpretation of instructions has a lot of parallels to my experience training my first remote employee (a VA)!
For example, "heat me a can of soup".
Fantastic listen, not only about franchises, but also with highly applicable themes to ETA in general
spotify.link/Ed3JS4CJxDb
@whentheresawill
As of last evening, this was not even in the forecast for today.
Weather dependent businesses are hard... And stressful!
