Start the Service Business Before You Talk Yourself Out of It

If We're Still on the Fence, Now Is the Time

The hardcore topic of this episode is timing. If we are still deciding whether to get into the trades, now is the time. If we already have a shop and we are deciding whether to grow it, now is the time.

Big players in home service keep pointing to the next five to ten years as a peak in activity. Private equity is buying companies and is just getting started. The wealth available from owning the business is not the same as the paycheck we will earn working for someone else.

• Stop treating the start like a blind jump off a cliff.
• If we want to grow, treat growth as a decision, not a someday idea.
• The buying wave in home service is a signal, not a reason to wait.

Learn to Tell Good Information From Noise

The guy who is not in business yet, or who is six to twelve months in with no employees, still needs basics: how to get leads, how to handle calls, and how to read early numbers. Access to the right information matters more than collecting more opinions.

The skill to build first is discernment. We have to tell useful guidance from bad advice, then use simple tools to track leads, track calls, and watch a few KPIs. Information without that filter just creates another stall.

• Learn the start-up basics before we hire.
• Track leads, calls, and a short list of KPIs.
• Ignore advice we cannot apply to our own shop.

Start Small, Grow, and Stay Sellable

AI can swallow a lot of desk jobs. It cannot turn wrenches, clean up a customer's floor, roll paint, or refinish a floor. If we are on the fence about starting, start. If we have started and we are on the fence about growing, grow. The exit potential over the next five to ten years is unusual.

Private equity is not buying these companies for charity. Those groups could put the same money in the market and take about 8% over ten years. They buy because they expect a better return. If we can get rolling without plunking down a huge pile of cash, we start in a better spot than the buyer who has to make a large investment. Stay organized, stay profitable, and keep the company easy to sell.

We're Smart Enough to Run the Business

A common stall is the story that we are just wrench turners and not smart enough to own the company. The first correction is that we are smart enough. The second is that we are usually scared, and fear is not a plan. The third is to get help until our feet are underneath us.

Early milestones get ignored because they do not look like a million-dollar month. The first $10,000 month and the first $10,000 week are big. Some coaches will not look at us until the company is already huge. We can still build our way in: Mitch had three trucks in nine months after a large software vendor told him to come back when he was bigger.

• Drop the story that tradespeople cannot run a company.
• Count the first $10,000 month and $10,000 week as real wins.
• Get help if we need it, then apply what we learn.

Systems From Month One Beat Success by Osmosis

Mitch's first months were about $30,000, $32,000, and $35,000. That pace came from a system for getting customers and running the schedule, not from hoping the month would work itself out. The company was positioned near $350,000 a year from month one. They started mid-year, then finished the first full year at $779,000 and the second at $1.2 million, with no outside investment.

Those are obtainable numbers, not exotic-car bragging. Coaching does not transfer success by sitting in the room. We still have to get uncomfortable, put money on the line, work the odd hours, and make hard calls. If we hire help and then refuse to implement, we are the person who hired a trainer and ignored every instruction.