Former anthropologist @Columbia. Now building companies and Threshold, a brotherhood of entrepreneurs asking one another the oldest question: how to live well.
Joined November 2024
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Nightmare. Like 90% failure rate. Over 100 closed. And most of the zees were really good, sharp folks.
A lot declared bankruptcy to keep their homes. A much more were in sort of financial purgatory. Enough savings / assets to not want a bankruptcy filing but not enough to pay off their note. So they’re running an unprofitable business 40 hours a week, crossing fingers something will change. Was sad.
I had 2 other companies and was able to just take my licks and move on. I def learned a lot, mostly about what not to do. Was expensive tuition.
Hahaha. It’s more like: you have an issue?‘talk to corporate’ and the same dude swivels around in his chair and asks how he can be of assistance
I bought a home service franchise a few years ago. It was an absolute dumpster fire.
The same franchisor had a fencing brand. It was essentially a dashboard, SEO / PPC management, and a pricing tool that could be built in Chat GPT + a required late model pickup for a sales vehicle and bunch of other things in no way necessary to start this sort of business.
Most of them folded. And the ones that made it wished they’d done it alone.
I’m not saying all franchisors offer no value. But I think anyone ought to go into it cleared eyed about what they are being offered, and whether, given the debt you have to take on, you might be able to figure it out on your own without a PG on an SBA loan that could cost you your home.
Glad this dude figured it out. Rooting for him.
Best advice anyone’s ever given me. Wish @pinpulleddrmf had been on my dissertation committee 😂
My close friend asked me for tips on how to grow your audience on X.
This is what I told him:
“Mike, you’re very smart. PhD smart. You’re very intelligent and you’re great at critical thinking. I need you to stop doing all of that.”
@smallrites
Jack is really good at what he does. You ought to read this.
@GermanMotorsLV has been fixing cars in Las Vegas since 1982. This week they started piloting AI automation.
I spent two days on-site with @MosheSherman00 and his team. Before we touched any tech, we walked the shop, talked to customers, and watched how the work actually flows: from the phone call to the service bay to the invoice.
We came out with three buckets:
→ Quick wins they can knock out over the next week
→ Bigger projects worth investing with a timeline to implement
→ An exciting automation that takes repetitive admin work off the team’s plate, so they can spend that time on what actually brings in revenue: customers and cars
The best part was watching a 40+ year old business get excited about trying something new, without disrupting what already works.
Thanks @MosheSherman00 and the @GermanMotorsLV crew for the hospitality.
If you run a shop, a service business, or anything with a lot of repetitive back-office work, this is exactly what we do at Dual Force Partners. DM me.
I think you’re right. Which basically excludes all home service brands. One of the promises of franchising is to buy down your learning curve in a given business. I just don’t think it shakes out that way for most brands.
Hard to ask for a better endorsement from someone who knows the SMB world as well as Jon does.
Jon is welcome as soon as his kids grant him parole.
For the rest of you, no need to wait until your kids are grown.
I promise very little time will be spent sitting in coffee shops, and probably less on golf courses.
We're just getting started.
DM me if you want in.
This is 100% the move. And the same logic applies 10x to buying a franchise.
Ask yourself: if somebody gave me the 100-125k territory fee as start up capital for a business, could I figure it out on my own?
Most of the time, the answer is yes. And chances are you could figure it out for a fraction of that amount, and not sweat an SBA payment.
Happy for this dude.
Lat last year I almost bought a plumbing business for 750k. Would’ve have to personally guarantee a 10 yr SBA loan for a business doing 80k a month in revenue where half the net profit went to debt service.
Instead I took the down payment money and opted to start my own from scratch. 6 months in we hit the same monthly revenue as the other business but with no debt.
When analyzing a business to buy the question should always be asked, what would it take to start this and would I be better off in 12 months?
I don’t need a $5,000 longsword. But my boys deserve a father who owns one.
I’m asking 5,000 of you to invest $1 in their future. @XMoney
