Today's Guest star for the podcast is Jake Wakely. With him, John will jump into a discussion about something we’ve never covered before: the moving industry. Eight months ago Jake partnered up with a lifelong friend to purchase a local moving company in San Antonio, Texas. He’ll be in the hot seat today answering many questions about how the business works, its average costs and prices, and its overall profitability. Not to mention that you’ll get to hear about the development and designing of ...
Mar 16, 2022•56 min
Today, Kelcey Lehrich and John will be jumping into an interesting conversation. This will revolve around a conference happening in Cleveland and how it came to be, what it is, what to expect, and where to find out more information. We hope to see you there. Enjoy! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and marketing to the growth of your home service business. Subscribe to the newsletter here . Contact us: Youtube: @Ownedan...
Mar 09, 2022•19 min
The SMBesties are back! Once again Kelcey Lehrich and Reg Zeller will be joining John to discuss some popular topics in the SMB universe. They will dive into a discussion about inflation and its importance as well as the impact it has on their companies and on business in general. They will also touch on their individual business models and what they’re all currently investing in. Enjoy! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruitin...
Mar 02, 2022•55 min
On this week's podcast, we’ll have Stephen Olmon joining us. Stephen has an interesting business model and an ambitious goal of aiming to own 50 businesses by the year 2050. Currently, he owns 11 businesses that have all been started from scratch and span across multiple industries. Today he and John will be diving into his various industries, as well as his due diligence process, business driving key metrics, current challenges, and so much more. You won’t wanna miss it. Enjoy! Check out Owned ...
Feb 23, 2022•54 min
Joining John for the podcast this week is Chris Bakke. Chris has worked for companies in the past such as Zillow and Indeed and co-founded the company “Laskie.” Laskie is in the talent management space designed to help companies fill challenging positions such as engineers, executives, and many other difficult positions. Chris’s name may also sound familiar since he is very a frequent user in the Twitter world. On this podcast, they’ll dive into the dynamics and setup of Laskie such as how it wo...
Feb 16, 2022•1 hr
Joining us today will be the one and only, Peter Lehrman. He and John will be discussing how to build up a marketplace, and how buyers are changing over to being SMB owners and retail investors. We hope that you enjoy the show! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and marketing to the growth of your home service business. Subscribe to the newsletter here . Contact us: Youtube: @OwnedandOperatedPodcast X: @ownedoperatedco w...
Feb 10, 2022•53 min
We have a surprise for you all as we have not one, but two crowd favorites returning. Today, John is joined by both Reg Zeller and Kelcey Lehrich to talk SMB. These three SMB pros are putting their heads together to discuss the ins and outs of their operations. You’ll get to hear all about rolling-up companies, their different business models, and what their typical day-to-day looks like. This trio will get you well acquainted with the SMB world from their individual perspectives. Enjoy! Check o...
Feb 02, 2022•44 min
Alex Bridgeman will be joining us for today’s podcast, discussing how to run a full-time SMB podcast. And, boy, does he know his stuff. Alex is from Portland, Oregon, and currently resides in Nebraska. He has a past as a research analyst at a wealth management firm where he spent time researching microcaps. During his senior year of college, he decided to start his own SMB podcast "Think Like an Owner." Eventually, he was able to leave his previous job to work more heavily on running the podcast...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Cassi Niekamp will be joining us for today's podcast, discussing how, seven months ago, she bought a fencing company called Bowden Fencing based in Columbus, Ohio. We’ll be looking into all of the details of this acquisition and how it’s gone so far. Bowden is 3 years old and had done roughly $750,000 in revenue prior to Cassi coming in. Since then, she’s hired more employees and worked towards helping them build up the company's future. She’ll break down topics such as how to market a fencing c...
Jan 19, 2022•56 min
Today we have Mills Snell here with us, discussing the steps of how to start a commercial roofing business. Mills has a background in multiple industries and you’ll get to hear all about the path that has led him to where he stands now. He started his career in the M&A world as the owner of an advisory firm in Columbia, South Carolina. Since then he has worked in financial planning, permanent equity, and real estate. However, his most recent business endeavor has been becoming the owner of a...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Today we have Mike Botkin of the Central Florida Home Service space. Mike is the founder and CEO of the Benchmark Group, a buyer of SMB service businesses. The Benchmark Group is a group that acquires home service businesses. They are the largest provider of residential maintenance in central Florida but are transitioning the company to more commercial maintenance and traditional landscaping as well. He discusses the challenges faced with acquiring an absentee business and talent recruitment tac...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Today we have Aizik Zimerman, talking all about his journey on how to become a home service millionaire. Aizik has a history in Small business, investment banking, operations, acquisitions, and startups. John and Aizik have started a program called Servstart, which funds entrepreneurs who want to buy or start their businesses. On this episode, they discuss some of the details of Servstart as well as some of the exciting up-and-coming developments that you as listeners get to look forward to as w...
Nov 17, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Ryan Young runs several businesses, he’s built his Real Estate Brokerage into one of the top three brokerages in Ohio and he runs a business called Flash House which is an instant offer Real Estate tech platform that offers Home sellers instant quotes on the price of their home and executes on those same deals. Flash House acquires over 150 homes every year, but what’s even more exciting is hearing Ryan’s thoughts on the business behind real estate, for example, Ryan can do some cool things with...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Over the last four years, Reg has been buying and rolling up foundries and metal casting facilities. But before that, he felt like a corporate drone, trudging through his day-to-day work life and found his escape and new journey through ETA. Reg is our first guest who has bought and owns businesses in multiple states. The problems associated with a national operation are unique - and today on the pod, John and Brandon grill Reg, trying to understand where he’s been successful and how we might re...
Oct 06, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Today we have Johnny - otherwise known as Squeegeegod on Twitter, Johnny and his business partner Sergio started Orange Window Cleaning 4 years ago and they are on pace to do $700,000 just cleaning windows this year. We love businesses like Johnny’s. They’re very easy to start, but growing them can be a big challenge. We brought on Johnny to give you the step by step details into how he started and how he’s grown over the past several years. If you’re interested in a business that’s easy to star...
Sep 22, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In this episode John discusses his history getting started in the trades, his journey learning about finance and acquisitions, to buying 5 businesses and owning a $5MM Plumbing and HVAC business. If you're interested to hear a story about how anyone can buy a business and run it successfully despite the ups and downs, this episode is a must listen! Enjoy! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and marketing to the growth of ...
Sep 15, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Steve Ressler knows how to sell your company to the government and has successfully exited every time. He has since been focused on search fund investing, investing in over 20 different companies on a national and international level. At Wilson Companies, we are looking at investing in small businesses and in this particular episode, we go deep into the search fund model and how we - as a small business - can use it as a growth and diversification strategy. If you have ever thought about raising...
Sep 08, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Trish is a partner at Chenmark Capital, a small permanent equity firm she founded with her husband and brother in law. Chenmark has acquired and runs 6 different businesses some of which have grown through acquisitions to the tune of buying about another 25 deals. At Wilson Companies, we’re just starting to ramp up our acquisition processes and Trish gave us the secrets and barriers we will likely encounter in the near future. If you’re interested in what it looks like when two permanent capital...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 20
Liam has been tearing it up on Twitter, giving tons of advice on running his Short Term Rental Cleaning business and even giving insight into things like revenue, growth, and employee and subcontractor management. On this episode, Liam runs us through exactly how his business operates. Additionally, Liam is at a very interesting point in a small business owners growth where his role is transitioning to working on the business vs in the business. This makes for an interesting conversation with Li...
Aug 18, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Mitchell runs Baldridge Financial and knows how to save money in your SMB. His business is an all-in-one tax and financial planning firm for small and midsize businesses nationwide. John and Brandon get into the details of Mitchell’s business, specifically, they talk about how much it’s grown since Mitchell got active on Twitter, and some of the nuances of growing a financial services firm. One of the highlights of this episode is when John and Mitchell break down a deal, where John gives Mitche...
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Brandon Laughridge is on the show today to talk about how to buy small businesses, based off his own experience. He owns two; one in Property Management and one retail furniture store. On top of that, he and his wife invest in real estate. As a property manager, Brandon is at the center of tons of home service companies, roofing, flooring, plumbing, HVAC, property management involves every trade you can think of, which makes for a really interesting hub and spoke acquisition strategy that John a...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Today we have Jennifer cook, who is our new Marketing and Recruitment Manager. We brought Jen on to help us with a few things: HR, Staffing need, Compliance issues etc. One of the most important things we needed was someone to help us figure out how to hire 12 employees into a brand new business. In this episode, John and Jen give you the details and struggles we have experienced on the recruiting side of our latest acquisition. Enjoy! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter w...
Jul 26, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Peter runs a property management firm with 500+ units under management. In this episode, we get into the details of starting a property management business from 0, growing it to 15 employees, and the pros and cons of growth through acquisitions. One of the highlights of this episode is when Peter gets into the details of his partnership, how it functions, compensation. It's a really interesting dynamic because you have 2 people who are both each other's CEOs. Peter is one of the most clear commu...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 15
Today we talk to Andrew Gazdecki, a lifetime entrepreneur who's started and sold three different internet businesses in a variety of industries and has grown Microacquire to over $600,000 in ARR. Andrew has had a few of those successes, but in this episode, we learn a ton about his past failures and the struggles he’s gone through to build great businesses. Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and marketing to the growth o...
Jul 14, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 14
On this episode of Owned and Operated, we talk to Quinn Miller, who makes $120,000/year owning and restocking vending machines. We get into the nitty-gritty of how his business operates from how he sources machines and the maintenance that's required on them to how Quinn sells new locations and what makes his operation the most profitable in San Diego. The Vending machine business is one of the most accessible and actionable side hustles there is and today you'll learn everything you need to kno...
Jul 07, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 13
This week we talk with Chris Powers, who owns and runs \A Fort Worth based Real estate private equity firm with over $600,000,000 dollars in assets under management. Chris started buying houses in 2004, and even found a way to run a profitable real estate flipping business during the housing crisis. Chris lays down his knowledge on this episode, you’ll learn everything about growing a Real estate private equity from the ground up into a huge business with over half a billion dollars in assets. E...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 12
On this episode of the Owned and Operated HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical Growth Podcast we talk to Furkan Yuce, who runs Elevation Flooring, a $5MM commercial flooring business in Baltimore, Maryland. Furkan has a very unique track record, working with four different construction companies just to learn the trade, and then starting his shop. Half his team is based in Turkey which allows him to move at double the speed of any of his competitors. Episode Host: 🎤 John Wilson: @WilsonCompanies on T...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 11
On this episode of Owned and Operated, Justin Reitman joins the show to talk about the electronic shredding business. Justin was raised in his family's truck leasing and financing business and started a second family business with his brother shredding electronics and hard drives for businesses. One of the highlights of this episode is when Justin gave us years of insights into the truck financing space and later gave us his growth plan for the tech shredding business. Check out Owned and Operat...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 10
On this episode of Owned and Operated we bring Rick Vazza on to talk about how to buy a plumbing business with no experience. Rick bought that llumbing business recently, John and Brandon grill him on how the deal went through, how it was structured, what the current processes/systems are like, and how he plans to grow the company. Enjoy! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and marketing to the growth of your home service...
Jun 09, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 9
On this episode of Owned and Operated we bring on Sam Leslie. This conversation gets DEEP. We cover the major sacrifices that come with entrepreneurship, as well as how those sacrifices manifest into a business that can take care fo your family for generations. Sam and John also start spitballing ideas back and forth - will they be collaborating in the future? Enjoy the show! Check out Owned and Operated Weekly Insights: a newsletter where John discusses topics ranging from recruiting and market...
Jun 02, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 8
