Don't be afraid to try what you're not qualified to do. If I only did what I was qualified to do, I'd be pushing a broom somewhere. -Sacca

Crazy. Has anyone heard or has this happen before? I ordered a new iPad from @Apple Delivery scheduled today via @UPS UPS driver knocks on my door and tells me this…. <verifies I’m me> Then tells me that some guy flagged him down on the road (a few min away from my house) and told UPS driver he has a package for him (me), and he will take it, he’s in a hurry and needs it for work. The UPS driver confused, tells him he has to deliver it to the address, and keeps going. Driver gets in his car and follows him to my house, as the UPS driver gets out of van, the guy goes up to his door and says he needs it now, pulls out an ID to show him. The UPS driver made him sign for it and gave it to him. (Didn’t look at ID bc not required). The guy takes the package, gets in his car, and speeds away. UPS driver suspicion is now high, walks up to my house to verify and see what’s going on. To his surprise/fear - I walk out and confirm yes, I am me. …. Now we are waiting on police. …. Fact 1: This guy knew my name and my address and that I had a package being delivered today. SUPER scary. What do we think the probabilities are? 1. My email or Apple account is ‘hacked’? 2. UPS system is hacked 3. Apple is hacked?

Update 4 @Apple replacing the items. 🫡 🍎 @UPS nothing, no movement, no acknowledgement, still shows delivered. You guys suck.

Update 3 @UPS is helpless @Apple is “investigating”, I feel like they don’t believe me that it was stolen since the great folks at @UPS marked it as delivered. Thanks guys. Also — I don’t think driver had anything to do with it. He came and knocked on my door, based on his suspicion, he turned super white when he realized I was MB, he called his boss immediately, and he hung out for over an hour waiting on police’s Also II — I think it 100% is @UPS inside job You’d have to know 1. I bought an iPad 2. The day it was arriving 3. Roughly the time it was arriving 4. My name 5. My address 6. Which truck it was on 7. Local enough presence to physically grab it I ordered it yesterday, it arrived today. Only main source of all of that info is @UPS

Lets hope @UPS doesn't get ahold of it this time.

Update 1. Filed police report 2. @UPS COMPLETED the delivery, and told me he had to do and to file a report with UPS. < NOW, I am arguing with @Apple that it was stolen and it was not “completed”> 3. Now I have to file a report with @UPS , how tf do I do that? “Umm, your driver handed my package to somebody else and then hit complete on delivery” 4. waiting on word from @Apple 5. Police said I will have to file a public records request to get the police report to send to anyone. ‼️

Update 2 @UPS won’t let me file claim. Said @Apple has to file.

Why? The ups driver stayed and gave a statement on the police report.

Exactly what I was wondering

I was named COO of a large company at a relatively young age. The CEO and I would meet 2/3x per week and go over anything and everything. Something he did that...I think...helped me. He'd make me send over a 1 sentence list of topics we are going to discuss, and he meant 1 sentence. He created a google sheets doc and formatted a cell and said "do not go outside this box. ever." We'd sit face/face, and he allowed me to add 1 sentence of context in-person. He'd then say "tell me more...." (let's discuss this) or "move along" (you handle it) I think it helped me think through items in a higher level form, I had one sentence and probably 10 seconds of explanation on every single problem. It also allowed me to see him operate from a standpoint of keeping the main thing the main thing. He only wanted to talk through/work on things that materially impacted people, customers, business drivers.

Woke up, my dog won’t put any weight on his front paw and shakes when I try to inspect. Made an appt at the closest vet that is open today. I get here. I get sniff (pun) a PE backed business from a mile away. All the signs are flashing. I look it up. Yep, 2023 sold to PE. Let’s see how this goes….. (So far) - 12 ‘rooms’, from what I can tell 10 are occupied - VERY easy appt booking process - facility is very modern and clean - membership signs everywhere ($200/yr) - insurance signs (lemonade)

Exactly.

Been looking at buying a lawn service company. Zeroed in on one near me in Central Florida 40yrs in operation. Owner is in 60s. Has nobody to pass it down to. Does $800k in gross sales per yr. (just wait)

My wife potty trained both of our kids in less than 3 days. Her secret? No diapers. Completely naked for 2-5 days. Yes, you have a ton of messes to clean up...initially. But, for whatever natural reason...kids know not to pee or poop on the floor, couches, etc. when they are completely naked. They don't 'feel safe/comfortable'. The first day or two, when an accident happens. Take them to the potty immediately afterwards so they can start building a correlation. After a day or two, they get it and start signaling to go to the bathroom prior to pee/poop. 3 days....both kids.

Idk if he had an ID with my name, the UPS driver didn’t look

Almost 3 years ago to the day, while laying in bed, I opened the twitter app and tweeted out that I wanted to buy a landscaping business. I ended up doing it. 2 years ago to the date, we formed our holding company around buying landscaping companies and subsequently acquired 6 landscaping companies in two states. Today? I’d like to share that we have sold our landscaping portfolio. The buyer…..? @thomasince Now, let me tell you the story. 3 years ago to the day, I was DMing with @sweatystartup about a landscaping company near my office, he told me to post it and I’d raise money to buy it. I did…and I did. I couldn’t believe the responses and interest I was getting. I didn’t know what I was doing. Not a single part of it. I didn’t know how to raise money, I didn’t know what terms meant, I didn’t know if it was a good deal / bad deal, etc. Google became my advisor. I chatted with @tsludwig and he suggested a few ways that I should structure it….so I did. After ~100 conversations with people, I realized it isn’t about how many investors you have…it’s about WHO you have. @justindross took a chance on me, when he probably shouldn’t have, and was an amazing...amazing....guy to have in the boat. Sorry for the stressful first few months...but, hey…it worked out. 🙃 We doubled EBITDA in ~5 months (I’ll tell this story later) and I was ready to buy the next one I found one, a big one, a 100% residential landscaping company that had 1,200…yes, 1,200 homes in 1 upscale neighborhood. I needed additional capital, I don't believe in debt for acquisitions. @SamtLeslie was just starting to put a newsletter of deals together with people that wanted to invest in businesses. I let him tease the deal, and the response again was overwhelming. I developed a thesis around landscaping / outdoors and started pitching a much bigger plan / thesis. Random guy with a weird twitter profile picture responded to the email and we started chatting. We shared the same vision on EVERYTHING. While there was a chance to load up the cap table with a ton of great people; I decided less is more. @PeterTufo and his group enters the arena We form a holding company and buy the landscaping business, while rolling my original one into it. We were the largest residential landscaper in Central Florida. We quickly realized that was not the way (oops, sorry). We pivoted to 100% commercial. (i’ll tell this story at a later date) In a span of 30 days, we acquired 2 landscaping companies...this time, all commercial. We started disposing, selling off, and dropping the residential customers. We let go of millions of dollars of recurring residential customers. Some local guy is a happy camper those days! lol. After a while, we were 100% commercial and off on our way. In December of 2022, we made our largest acquisition to date (each one was larger than the previous). And we found an absolute rockstar CEO to take over the business so I can move to more focus on the M&A and holding company. In June of 2023, after being introduced by @whentheresawill and chatting with him on twitter (!) and 2 years of convincing him….we made our first acquisition out of state and acquired @adrian_pinto2 company in GA, forming our GA platform with Adrian leading the charge as CEO. We became a Top 100 commercial landscaping company. (*remove pest companies from the list). Today, United Land Services; a top 5 commercial landscaping company in the US and platform of LP First Capital…has acquired both of our platform landscaping companies. Our entire team is excited and stoked for the future. ULS is a rocket ship; we couldn't be more excited to be a part of ULS journey in the future. Want to know why @thomasince is one of the best at what he does? He sent me a DM on October 7th, 2021. Hung around the hoop, shared tips/tricks/resources, encouraged, was honest and upfront. We met him in-person at @SMB_ash in Orlando in 2022; Peter and I both walked away saying..."that's a great dude, he gets it, we could work something with him one day." Patience. Honesty, and the ability to develop a genuine relationship with people with zero outcome based intent. 724 days later - it’s his There are so many people along this journey that assisted. Big ways to small ways. Want to thank two people…. 1. My wife…she’s a SAINT! (I have a few posts lined up about this journey and spouses) 2. @PeterTufo ... this journey is FUN, REWARDING…and FUUUUCKING BRUTAL, I don’t give a shit what twitter says…this is HARD…and BRUTAL…and I would never ever ever ever ever do it alone. Having a guy next to you that can tell you that you are awesome, but also in the next sentence tell you to stfu you being a dummy, to just listen to me rant and scream…to telling me to calm down, it’s just 1 win. I’ve chatted more with Peter in the last 2 years than anyone in my life…probably including my wife. We've had 3am calls, we've had 5 minute calls at 8pm that turn into 2 hours and all inbetween. He took a chance on a dude with a small landscaping company and a big idea. Forever thankful for being on this ride. He entered as an investor, and we leave as very close friends. Want to know how crazy twitter is? My entire cap table was via twitter, an acquisition was via twitter, we have provided services to a few people on twitter, and our acquirer is via twitter. @elonmusk ....keep this thing rolling...it changed my life. Thanks homie!

Signs that you were rich when I was growing up….. Refrigerator in the garage, full of drinks.

My wife has Taylor Swift tickets for her show in Miami in October. Floor, 9th row in the middle (right in front of stage) She just told me tickets in a worse section just sold for thousands more than we paid. What are the odds I can get her to flip her tickets? I need to test her entrepreneurial spirit

They collected payment before I left. Pretty sweet cash conversion cycle

Man, just read a crazy article about a guy (on twitter) who bought an HVAC company a few years ago and just tried filing bankruptcy, and the judge said no. He is also on twitter selling services for business and life consulting and coaching. Be careful out there folks. I have no idea the situation or context, other than what the article states (which does not do any favors for guy).

Lot of chatter today about multiples and EBITDA, etc. The OG's on here know the original acquisition story (I was basically posting play-by-play), but majority of the people on here only know my landscaping acquisition journey from when we finally caught momentum and really started humming. Figured it would be fun to share this.... The first business I bought, was a residential landscaping company. It was doing $800k in sales. Not EBITDA...sales. It was doing $125k in 'SDE'. It had 10 employees (owner son was one of them) and 4 box trucks (3 were shit, not that I knew that). I was buying a job. I knew that going in. My thought was, if I bombed, I guess I'd be a landscaper and make ~$60-70k a year. If I really bombed, I'd sell the assets and go get a job. But, if I didn't bomb... ...I HAD to know. There was zero percent chance that I was going to be able to keep grinding away for somebody else (corp life) and never know for sure, if I could do it. What is "it"? No idea. Some days, it was be my own boss. Some days, it was unlock riches. Some days, it was to provide future jobs for family in generations to come. etc. My desire to know...could also be described as irrational confidence. I didn't even know how to turn on a lawn mower, let alone use one. I am not kidding btw! Anyway, back to the landscaping company. The longest tenured and most senior level employee - who the owner told me would be THE MAN and help me get through the rough early days - quit midway through my "hi, I'm Mike" speech. Seriously. Midway through, just bounced. Fun times. Day 2, the owners son quit. Day 3, truck #2 breaks down midday and needs towed Day 4, truck #3 doesn't even start. Week 2, I had to drain my family savings (not much), and ask my lone investor for a LOC that I would PG (not worth much) just to survive and make payroll and improve capex. I drove 80 minutes every single morning to the shop, leaving my house at 4:30am. I was not getting home until 6:30pm at night, and then praying nobody called me or my wife didn't see the stress on my face so it wouldn't ruin dinner. By 8pm my newborn was sleeping and I'd go right to the computer. Reading every article I could find. Browsing lowes/home depot nursery pages to learn plants and then googling them. Watching every youtube video ever made on all things from how to change oil in a lawn mower to how to edge to tips on pricing. My days were 100% dictated by who showed up, what mood they were in, and what fire happened each hour of the day. I had 3 sets of clothes with me at all times. 2 uniforms and 1 polo. I had to learn landscaping unit economics. We were bleeding cash. Praying that checks were in the mail box, so I could make payroll. Using all my personal credit cards. (tip: Ask the owner if he pays guys in cash on the side) The best way to learn that (unit economics)? Well, I'm sure there are smarter ways but, I'm kind of a dummy (see all the above), so I did it the only way I knew. I road in every single truck for weeks straight. With a yellow notepad, tracking EVERYTHING. Fuel usage, distance, time on site, time to get places, how long this route took us, what if we switched and went down this street instead? would it save us 5 minutes? What if instead of mowing first we did all the stick work first, would that help by 3 minutes? etc. Constant A/B testing and trial and error. Every.Single.Thing. about the business had to change. I wasn't going out like this. From how we executed jobs, to how we lined the trucks up, to how we parked the trucks at a clients house, to what crew member sat where in the truck (if the edger is on the right rack, and the guy who edges sits in the left backseat, he has to walk around to get the edger. He needs to sit in the right backseat.)...you get the idea. I fired 70% of the original clients. Things started clicking. Our employees bought in (the ones who stayed), our equipment got better (thanks Chelsea [my wife saving acct]), we were becoming more efficient. I increasing pricing....3x within 6 months. I also changed the invoice date from say...June 30th (for the month of June service) to June 1st (for the month of June service), and increased cash conversion cycle. We were making it work. I changed the business from 100% residential to 100% commercial. Landed some clients we probably should not have even been talking to. But, I had irrational confidence. Fast forward, we then went and acquired 6 commercial landscaping companies and had locations in Florida and Georgia. We became one of the premier landscaping companies in the Southeast, servicing A+ clients like Disney, World Marriott hotels, etc. I remember sending pictures to my wife of our first $10k week, $100k week, and $1m week. We exited to a strategic in late 2023. Moral of the story is this. I could be cutting your grass making $60k a year. :) Just kidding. (but not). IF you BELIEVE...don't worry about multiples, etc. Just get in the game. Oh, and never listen or take advice from somebody who doesn't have to live with the consequences.

Nurse just came in, tells me they record the visit and use AI to “help improve diagnosis and care” Ask me if it’s okay. Sure. (Software is via VetSpire, saw it on the computer screen) $155/diagnosis. Then go from there. They did give him a few treats though. Wonder if that hits COGS or SG&A

I don't think so.

This is….interesting.

Klay Thompson took a TOTAL of 2 dribbles on his 11 made 3's last night. Yet all these "trainers" have kids do 500 dribbles for every shot

I have zero idea why, it’s out of 100% pure curiosity, but I’m obsessed with learning the custom home building industry. The guys that do 5-20 houses per year.

Super scary. Wondering if he has a fake id with my name(?) Also, what would have happened if UPS guy was a few min ahead and dropped it at my door. Would the guy have walked up?

A tree company just got acquired / sold for a multiple of 21.5x EBITDA Twenty One point Five 🌳 Tree company

They only did 1 of 3 x-rays, so they reduced the price. I actually would not have known they only did 1. Very easily could have charged me. Good sign

Tom Izzo, "Seniors better be coaching your team this time of the year. If your doing all the coaching, your team probably isn't very good."

When they entered Cavs Kyrie - 1 & Done JR - HS LBJ - HS Love - 1&D TT - 1&D GSW Curry - 3yr Klay - 3yr HB - 2yr Dray - 4yr Bogut - 2yr

Had an attorney reach out to us about a landscaping company going through bankruptcy. Ownership has had it less than a year. They acquired it via SBA loan. Attorney said he's seen an uptick in bankruptcy filings with SBA loans in various industries lately.

Broker called me about a local biz for sell. First thing I do is google the owners home Wife asks me why? I refer to @BrentBeshore famous saying, (paraphrasing) ‘I like to buy from a wealthy seller’ If the business didn’t make them wealthy, why would it make us wealthy?

Day 1 scaries. When I bought our first landscaping business (45yr history), the seller seemed really involved. But, he assured me his "#2" was amazing, knew the business inside/out, ran the crews, knew all the customers, etc etc etc. "Biz is fine without me, biz can't run without him." I show up day 1 at 5:30am. Seller gathers the employees, gives them a 45 second speech. I get about halfway through my speech.... #2 walks up, in front of everyone, shakes my hand and says "I quit." Speech halted. All jaws are on floor. Uhhhh? 'looking scared/anger at seller.'..."wtf?" Seller runs after #2, staff starts talking to themselves, etc. I let seller deal with #2. I finish speech. Place is in shambles / disrupted entire plan/flow of their day. I finally catch seller/#2. Ask what happened. #2 says "Nothing against you, X told me I'd take over when he retired. I'm not working for anyone else. I'm outta here". Seller "That's okay, he will come back around. Johnny can take over his crew. You'll be fine" Suffice to say #2 never came back. Week 1 was cool. - All routes were wrong - Employee info was wrong / missing - Customer info was wrong / missing - Seller repaired something and tried charging me for it. (lulz) - Discovered seller was receiving cash payments (kinda cool surprise) - 3 trucks broke down - Best truck got side swiped on hwy (everyone okay) - 3 employees were friends of owner son who were just 'helping out' and had no intention of staying longer than 30 days. - I realized what NWC was - I realized I was an idiot - I almost jumped off a bridge about 10x - My wife had a celebratory dinner planned that Friday and I felt like I made the biggest mistake of my life Week 2 - Stop being scared. Time to get to work. Week 104 = 😘

Not sure Kobe is impressed. He has sat in on many zooms hearing the pitch. “Sign them up for membership, make sure we fill out their info, and get a Google review.”

1/ We have officially closed on our newest acquisition. Before I get into that, let’s walk it back a bit Just over a year ago I put together a thesis about the landscaping industry and how there was massive opportunity in the category. Especially in Florida

Update ‼️ We closed our 5th Acquisition today. Commercial Landscaping company. 🚜 This has been our largest acquisition we’ve done to date. Located in Orlando. Off-market deal.

HS FB plyr always say he cant play bball bc they "lift" in winter. Here is brkdown of multi sport NFL draftees n HS

With being the largest residential provider in Orlando, I knew there would be some challenges dealing with customers We went recruiting We hired a Chick-Fil-A General Manager to be our customer relations director It’s been 2.5 days. We hit a home run.

Camera on top of the screen, recording (I’m assuming). And here is the slideshow. 1. Membership 2. Internal app 3. Google review

$Z (Zillow) bought 3,800 homes in the last three months. Avg purchase price: $322 Avg renovation: $10k Avg selling/marketing/holding costs: $16k Avg sold price: $370k Interesting...

"You can tell an average player from a great player when you demand excellence from them. Average players dont like it. Great ones love it."

Buying a business with no debt / all equity and then financing with debt later is a massive cheat code. *Especially* if you can grow the business prior to putting debt on it. Using debt to purchase a SMB is extremely risky and something we’d never do.

My wife just told me her tickets come with the “VIP package”. Whatever that means. I’m starting to play ‘guess the number’ on what she would let me sell them for. So far…no dice.

Guy looking to buy an hvac company in the town he lives in called me yesterday to get my thoughts. I asked him, “do you like privacy?” He said, “very much so” I said….kiss that goodbye, and understand both ends of that. Yes, it can be a massive unlock and lead to a ton of business and relationships. Yes, it can ruin every weekend you have. You go grab a coffee at the local shop, you bump into a great customer and then a terrible customer that has 120 days outstanding bill. You go to your kids basketball game, you see a former disgruntled employee sitting 2 seats away. Now you are thinking about that. But, the coach of the other team is your GM and he’s awesome. Etc etc etc Just….be aware.

This is 💯 true. In my mid/late 20s. I was named COO of a large development / hybrid holding company. Our assets included hotel, restaurant, entertainment facilities, sports venues, property management, short-term rental, and a handful of operating companies to service all of our assets. I became the COO, with ZERO…and I mean ZERO credentials or experience to be in that role…simply by doing the below. I saw things that needed to be done, and just started doing them. Not shit I was asked to do, that’s table stakes. That’s what I got paid for. But if I wanted to advance? I had to do stuff that I wasn’t paid to do. There was no motive other than 1) I was super ambitious and wanted to keep climbing, 2) I wanted more money, 3) I was extremely curious how businesses actually operated. Then, when I became COO and had direct 24/7 access to the CEO, I spent every waking moment thinking about how to make sure I was one, two, three steps ahead of him. Meaning, if he was concerned about something (e.g., average daily rate at our hotel during slow season) I have already thought about it, created plan with proper stakeholders, and reduced as many roadblocks as possible. so when he asked…”hey, we need to start thinking about……” I already had everything lined up and got it 90% there, enough to close it down, but not all the way there in case he thought we needed to shift. [key! Allow enough wiggle room to let the CEO be the CEO and call audibles] Also, final thing. I felt like a complete scumbag, total POS, absolute failure if he ever gave me something to do and then had to ask me for status or how something was going or remind me of something. The last fucking thing our company needed was the CEO having to babysit my to-do list. It would be an extremely clear signal that I was not holding up my end. Etc. 😉

@Chad_Nelson_ helping me on this

A study was performed on landscaping companies in the US. Combined revenue of those companies were $2.35 billion On avg. 12.4% of labor hours were spent driving If you paid out $1m in labor hours, $124k were spent in a truck - not producing revenue. Think about how important density is. As our landscape CEO says.... "windshield time kills you"

You can mitigate A LOT of risk by purchasing companies from a good person. Forget the financials/industry/operations, etc. If the owner is a bad dude, move on. We’ve made (4) acquisitions in 10 months. Ask me why I’ll only ever buy from a good guy/family.

Most people searching for a business (search funds & self-funded) have wrong perception about what they are doing. Everyone wants to be an investor. Very few want to be operators. 10% of what I do is investing 90% of what I do is operating (stole that from BB) Being A+ at operations (people management, strategic views/execution, etc) usually can make an avg deal a pretty good deal. As an investor, we’ve made average decisions. But, we have been (luckily) good operators and found even better ones, and they are able to take an avg deal and make it really good. Our portfolio has - almost unbelievable - margins compared to the industry norm. It’s not because we are the best investors at buying landscaping companies. It’s because we really care about operations.

No sprain or anything of sort. Has a gash on his paw (not sure how that happened?). Treating it + meds. Staff has been consistently A+, and I’ve interacted with 6 so far.

We did this. We built 200 SF homes & 25 townhomes. On 1 site. Gated the development Had onsite water park, clubhouse, bar&grill, and onsite hospitality (sales, management, maintenance, cleaners, etc) Here’s some pics throughout Development Cont...

Update ‼️ We closed our 3rd Acquisition today. Another Commercial Landscaping company. 🚜 Located just outside of Orlando. Deal was off-market

Forgot this slideshow. Btw, dog in another room barking constantly. We all have those type of clients. Uh.

Nurses are doing awesome at explaining everything, pros/cons Going with high version. During the trimming of his fur, noticed he has a cut on his paw by his toenail. He’s not a happy camper right now.

Owning a SMB is fun Tues Employee locks keys in truck = 90min delay Wed - 3 employees ask me for a raise (1 of which has been here 30 days and has been late 4) - 2 employees have to be separated - one of our trucks breaks down Friday 6 callouts(2 were scheduled, 4 ‘sick’)

Top 100 landscaping companies (the ones that actually report it) in US got released today. Here are the 2024 sales numbers for the top 25. 25 / 25 are PE owned or public (Brightview) I note 'the ones that actually report it' because there are a lot of companies that do not report to the list. So, it is not a COMPLETE list.

Oh, s/o to @sweatystartup for pushing me to tweet about this. I’m extremely reluctant to post stuff like this from personal side but Nick has been super encouraging and helpful.

Was given this ultimatum one time. Told them “I accept”. Guy said “accept what? The raise?” No, the resignation “Are you serious? Wtf? What if I want to stay?” That wasn’t an option you gave me. You said raise to X or you leave for Y business. So I accept for you to leave

I think this is very underutilized. I'll speak with somebody trying to buy a business in an industry they've never experienced. Say landscaping for example. They want to go do a bunch of roll-ups. I'll ask them.."there are 50 landscaping businesses on [name the platform], have you spoken to any of them?" The answer 100/100x is always a variation of "nope, those are garbage" or "nope, those are too small. I want $1m ebitda and up" CRAZY to me. You don't know the industry. You've never spoken to an industry owner. How the hell are you going to seperate yourself from every tom dick and harry that approaches the $1m ebitda owner? Go speak with every $100k, $200k, $300k, etc owner you can find. Practice. Get reps. Ask ALL THE DUMB QUESTIONS...learn. Learn some more. Ask more questions. Learn. It's free education from years of industry experience....and people never utilize it. I did 6 acquisitions in landscaping in less than 24 months. I spoke with ~100+ landscaping owners. I learned new things all the time. It's out there folks. Have to want to be good at it.

I wish ServiceTitan had a way to let ChatGPT (or similar) connect to it so I can ask random stuff without digging through multiple reports (or workarounds). - “How many jobs did we complete in this zip code yesterday?” - “What is the revenue difference YoY per zip code?” - “What booking channel had the greatest variance from X date to now” - “What was our BE for X job type YoY”

A lot of kids tweet #D1Bound or #BallisLife yet you have a 1.8 GPA; how about #LibraryBound or #BooksForLife

⭐️LOOK AT THIS⭐️ Americans wonder why 28 INTL players got drafted last year. We take 50 dribbles b4 a shot, they work on 1 hand passing

Phenomenal clip from Dan Patrick on perspective and why he left ESPN.

Running a lot of core features on google workspace. Sheets icons have inventory list, etc.

I’ve bought very complicated businesses with more ease and a lot faster than it’s taking me to purchase a house. Somebody please fix the mortgage business for non-W2 people.

Invest in your employees Have an employee (27yo), that moved here from Puerto Rico in his late teens. Didn’t graduate HS. Told him if he takes the GED, I’ll give him $50. If he passes it, I’ll give him $250. Showed me this am he passed his test. Best $250 I spent all month

A quick update: According to most people, if you're lucky, the goal in life is to find something you're passionate about, and then you’ll never work a day in your life. A few years ago, I found that passion—operating a business. I remember working 15-hour days, wondering how we were going to make payroll. I remember handing out my personal credit cards to employees because I was afraid the company gas cards would max out. I remember the excitement of hiring someone I thought would be amazing, only for them not to show up on their first day. I remember talking to my wife, asking how I could have been so foolish to choose this path. I had the title of CEO, but I was really a punching bag, taking hit after hit in every way imaginable. On the brighter side, I also remember the thrill of hitting our first $100k month, just as clearly as I remember our first $1 million week. I remember giving out 20%, 30%, even 40% raises without being asked, simply because the person deserved it, without checking the bank account. I remember the pride of watching a guy who started as a laborer on a crew work his way up to branch manager, making more money than he ever dreamed. It was amazing to see someone put in the work and earn their way to the top. I remember battling massive companies to win six- and seven-figure contracts, and the excitement throughout the office when we won. I remember waking up for weeks straight, wondering if this was really my job—because the company was running so smoothly without needing me, and not only running, but growing! It was a dramatic shift in a short time. While the lows were rough, and the highs unimaginable, I loved every single second of both. I never once felt like I was "going to work" or that I had to do anything. It was just... what I did. I was in a unique position. I wasn’t just an operator—I was also a quasi-independent sponsor with institutional backing, leading six acquisitions in 23 months. Most people are one or the other. They either search for businesses to buy, use debt, then operate them and maybe add a small tuck-in acquisition here or there. Or, they’re true independent sponsors whose sole job is to source and acquire businesses, then hire CEOs to run them. I did both. I was the operating CEO and the one responsible for sourcing and acquiring. When we sold, it was the right move to the right buyers, and I hope they’re excited about what they purchased and the potential it holds. After the sale, I had a lot of options for what to do next. I could do nothing. Go solo. Join XYZ firm. Do a funded search. Become an independent sponsor. Start a small micro firm. Become the CEO of a large business, and so on. I felt like I’d been hit by the lucky stick about 700 times. What I valued most, though, was the people I was doing [insert whatever] with. Partnership mattered more to me than anything. I wanted to work with people I trusted, respected, who pushed and challenged me, and from whom I could learn—regardless of which path I chose. After many conversations, I was fortunate enough to join @portraitcapital with @tsludwig and @JustinEBurris . I couldn’t have asked for two better partners. They are thoughtful, kind, experienced (another way of saying Tim is old), knowledgeable, and passionate. I fell in love with the mission (buy and hold) and the chance to work alongside two people I respected and admired. Working inside an investment firm was completely foreign to me, and it was both exciting and scary. But shortly after we got started, I felt a void. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was there. Something was missing. I kept shrugging it off because I felt like I was in a dream role. Do you know how many people would kill to be a partner at an emerging PE firm that just raised a fund and was gaining momentum? I do—thousands. But for me, that feeling persisted... this might be a dream, but it might not be my dream. That realization hit me like a ton of bricks. When I was completely honest with myself, I realized: I missed operating. I missed wondering if I’d have to jump on a truck because we were short-staffed. I missed winging it in meetings with large potential clients, landing the contract, and then exceeding their expectations so much that they referred us to others, doubling our business. I missed watching the company reach heights the team once thought impossible. To some people, operating a business is the last thing they would ever want to do. To me, I run to that shit! Operating a business is my passion—a passion most people never find in life. Looking back at what I wanted in a partnership—thoughtful, kind, experienced—I realized I had that in Tim and Justin. They were more than gracious throughout my internal struggle. They were kind, thoughtful, and almost too supportive (maybe I sucked at my role! Ha). Then, something incredible happened—something none of us expected, but which felt perfectly timed. An opportunity arose to become the CEO of one of the companies in the portfolio. We seized that opportunity and added my desire to repeat a buy-and-build strategy I had executed before, combining the two. Once again, I felt like I’d been hit by the lucky stick. I get to keep working with two people I deeply respect and trust, I get to return to the CEO role, and I get to launch an acquisition platform. If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Just wanted to say… here’s to Canvas Outdoors. 😎

So, this week we have seen... D2s beat multiple D1s JUCOs beat D2s Yet some kids won't even think about those levels bc ya know..D1 or bust.

Presented me two estimates/options. They call it “low and high” Here is the high, what do we think margins are? Low estimate is just the two bottom options. Not sure why it shows full price on low. (Hiccup in system or user error?) Presentation very seamless, and whichever option you decide. They text you estimate and you sign on your phone Not pushy at all.

Update ‼️ We closed our 4th Acquisition today. Commercial Landscaping company. 🚜 Located in Orlando Deal was off-market. 1st phone call to closing wire = 90 days

Want to make $500 or $50k? I’m buying commercial landscaping business that do $1m EBITDA or more in FL, GA, AL, SC, NC, TN You intro me to an owner that fits that bill, I’ll give you $500 If we close, I’ll give you $50k

$24b industry that has no fear of technological disruption? Tree Trimming 🌳 🌲 2010 it was a $12b industry. Rise in home building has doubled this industry. 🏡 Cool part? 1 family makes up 10% of market share Asplundh Tree Expert

I live in Orlando. The desire to move to small/medium midwestern town grows on me each week. My wife asks me all the time, “why?”. I have no answer.

Something I have always discussed with people looking to use the SBA and buy a business…. ‘The SBA is not your partner, they are your lender. If your business is doing great they will say ‘awesome, pay me’. If your business is doing poor they will say ‘sucks to hear, pay me’. And all SBA lenders aren’t equal. Some banks suck. Some are great. Be careful. The only requirement to use the SBA is can you pass the process. There is no requirement of actually being able to operate, or how good the business is, or what does the real cash flow of the business look like, etc. [this is unfortunate] I’ve had a high number of people that bought businesses between 2022-2024 that are struggling and looking for liquidity options (i.e., they are struggling to meet cash demands and are looking to jump). All struggling for a variety of reasons. I’ve tried to step back and look at the commonalities of these businesses…. 1. SBA - and the MASSIVE bill each month 2. Lack of operational background in owner 3. Did not truly understand the unit economics of the business and it ‘REALLY’ makes money (I am sympathetic to this to a degree) 4. When the ship was leaking, the ‘answer’ to their problem was to hire….and hire….and hire…..and hire some more….and now they are in cash crunch hell. Just because the SBA green lights the deal, DOES NOT MEAN it is a good business. Do not use that as some confidence booster that creates irrational confidence. How do you avoid this stuff? I don’t know, honestly. Other than, the advice I give people when they reach out to me about buying a landscaping business is to go find 2-4 landscaping companies around and go work for them for 90 days each. You’ll learn more and understand if you want to PG your life to go buy one.

Okay. How did I go from this to easy-peasy uneventful day/week 1s *This is for small business, home service/blue-collar type businesses* Like anything in life, it all begins with the preparation. Here are things that trip people up. Employees Customers Vendors Systems I am a MASSIVE advocate to have a Transition Service Agreement (TSA). I will look to another post I made about TSAs. You can avoid SOO much of this early. Prior to closing. Make sure you have... EMPLOYEES - Complete list of information INCLUDING the last time their pay increased. Walk through employee by employee with the seller. "Anything I need to know?" Score him 1-3 on crucialness to morale / crucialness to business. 1 = Base relationships 2 = Important, but not essential 3 = Essential, PITA to replace Also - figure out which employees have REACH within the groups. Who is the 'ring leader'. Get to them early. They will either pour gasoline on the group or water on the group. Hint: It's not the highest paid employees. CUSTOMERS - Review EVERY single contract, idc if the owner says they are all boilerplate. Review each one. Line by line. You will start to notice differences. Review with seller customer by customer. "Anything I need to know? Who is decision maker? Who brought this customer in?" Score them as well. Not on revenue, but on priority to speak with and PITA level 1 = Won't care one bit 2 = Will care but...keep quality and they are good 3 = PITA. Get to immediately. They need to be loved. Understand and have a plan for customer communication. VENDORS / SYSTEMS Have a list. MAKE SURE the seller doesn't terminate any or cutoff all systems. All of the above can be avoided by having a TSA. Again - be prepared. No surprises. Just kidding. You will be surprised. --- Ok. Day 1. / Week 1 Here is the most important thing to remember regarding the employees. A. They only care about themselves. Not in a selfish way, but, they immediately think a) they will be fired, b) if not, their pay will change, c) their duties will change I don't care how big the business is. This is a 100% reaction / fact. "What does this mean for me?" In our chats. We literally say "What does this mean to you...this means...xyz" B. They are SCARED. 10x more scared than you are. You know for a fact that you are getting a paycheck. They have ZERO idea. As crazy as that sounds. C. Assuming you have no TSA. Make sure you have payroll figured out. Like, do a Fing test run on yourself etc the week prior so you know exactly how it runs and what to expect. Fun Story: Week 1 of acquisition #2, Amscot (another story) would not accept our checks from Wells Fargo for payroll. I thought I was about to get kidnapped and held for ransom if we didn't figure out how to pay our guys...like ASAP. Had to go all the way to Amscot corporate ladder. F it. Ended up venmoing, cash app, etc. the staff D. TIP: Find something small you can do that shows the 'changes' will be good. New uniforms, cleaning the shop, etc. Identify it prior and have it ready to go day 2 or day 3. -- Assuming you don't have a TSA, so naturally...stuff *will* change, and rather quickly. Tip 1. NEVER do this on a Friday. You do NOT want the employees going home and spending 2-3 days without 'normalcy' and wondering what will happen to them. I prefer to do this during the week on like a Wednesday (close to payroll day) and at the end of the day. Mornings suck (day ruined). Review with the seller what he is going to say. Challenge him, "what if they revolt?" "what if John says F U?". Very unlikely scenarios but make sure the 'shock' factor is planned. Anyway. When you give your opening speech. SHORT AND SWEET. "I am Mike, glad to be here. Looking fwd to getting to you guys more. We will keep change to an absolute minimum and only necessary. Let me be VERY clear. Nobody....NOBODY is getting fired or pay change. I value each of you. I'm around if anyone wants to chat." Then go into small group mode. You will see the leaders very quickly. Make sure seller has same message as you have bc he will get pulled. DO NOT hand them 500 papers of onboarding. Rookie mistake. Every day, give them a handful of stuff to fill out for the first few days. (Tip, if you have spanish workforce, have it in english and spanish, have spanish speaker available). This should be done daily anyway (hardly ever is) but the first 2 weeks, I like to do a 'huddle' with entire staff in the AM and highlight 1 or 2 things. Sometimes "sorry yesterday sucked, here is some coffee and donuts for everyone" sometimes it's "please make sure you see Susie so she can get your info for payroll. Half in AM half in PM". Also open for Q&A. Go back to earlier post, find the leaders...probe them for questions and ask if they can ask in front of the group in AM huddles 1. It empowers them 2. You are building a bridge to the employees 3. Questions that everyone is thinking, but scared to say, get answered. Getting the employees into a normal routine is so key. Anything that throws them off....will be the end of the world. Vendor won't give them material because you aren't signed up. No gas cards so it's a scramble. Ran out of supplies bc owner / you were preoccupied. etc etc etc. Easy early wins. - New uniforms, if it's cold, buy them jackets, etc - Clean the facility - Clean the trucks - FIX broken tools/trucks/equipment IMMEDIATELY (have this planned pre-close.) Show them you care about THE ENVIRONMENT they work in. Imo - you can change 1 crazy thing per week. "Okay guys, new parking system...to make us more efficient in AM" I like to say, every payroll normalizes the staff by 30%. Make it to the second payroll and you are good. All of this can be avoided by using TSAs. Literally nothing changes day 1. - Payroll stays the same (so you avoid stress about that) - Vendor mgt stays the same (no need to change everything and spend 5 hours on phone with utility company) - Customer items stay same (no need to jump gun on getting docs changed) Have a plan with seller on credit cards etc. Tell him you need to keep them alive for 30 days until stuff gets switched. Tell him not to be a PITA about charges. IT WILL GET PAID chief, relax. Without TSA - this is all on you to handle/change/confirm/pray it works within the first 72 hours post-close. What else do you want to know?

Christmas has come early. I’m beyond excited to announce that Josh Schultz [ @joshuamschultz ] is joining me as a Partner to help build Canvas Outdoors. Partnership. It’s the cornerstone of everything I value. True partnership is built on collaboration, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to push each other beyond perceived limits. Having someone by your side who shines a light on your strengths, fills in your weaknesses, lifts you on their shoulders to reach new heights, celebrates the tiniest wins just as much as the biggest ones, and picks you up when you’re down—nothing compares. Being in a true partnership is the greatest feeling in the world. It should feel like a cheat code—like you’ve unlocked something that creates an unfair advantage in the game you’re playing. Josh is the ultimate cheat code. When Josh joined us not long ago, he instantly made a hard game feel easy. Together, we found an unfair advantage. From day one, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work, driving incredible progress in the team and production. Equally important is simply having someone with you. Leadership can often feel isolating, but knowing Josh is standing beside me—not just as a Partner, but as a true friend—brings a new level of confidence and energy to the work we do at Canvas. Together, we’re committed to building something exceptional. I couldn’t be more excited about the journey ahead with Josh and his family by our side, helping to lead the way.

Update ‼️ We closed our 6th Acquisition today. Commercial Landscaping 🚜 located in Atlanta, GA. This is a crazy twitter connection story.

Nurse doesn’t feel anything crazy with his paw. Getting me options (with estimates). Let’s see what this looks like….

We’ve closed 3 deals in the last 8 months. All off-market. We have a few more under LOI that all came about off-market. (we have 100% close-rate if a deal goes to LOI). I’ve been asked a lot about how we finance and structure deals. 1/

Probability of Success. Play the odds. TLDR; find a winnable game, play that. Speaking to a friend the other day that is super smart, passionate, hungry, and best of all…has a curious mind. He has been doing start-up eCom businesses for past few years. Gets some traction, sells. Does it again. Maybe breaks even maybe gets a couple bucks at the end. Had one product that was pretty good then it got shut down my social accounts and it took him forever to get it back up. Brutal time. I asked him his goal, he said to make money. I immediately thought of the line “play a winnable game.” The game he is playing is too hard. Odds of success (relative for him) are pretty low. It’s just too crowded, too many external factors, and competition is fierce. You don’t get style points or extra money by winning a harder game. In this world, it’s okay to be a 6’6 point guard and go play JV and score 50 a game. I asked him, “do you have a passion for eCom?” He said no, then went on to explain his passions, all were in the ‘business’ category. My advice? Go play an easier game. You have all the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur - go find a winnable game with high odds / probability of success, and then do that. You think I had a passion for landscaping? No. I had an appreciation for it, yes. But, it was the safest / highest chance of me getting to ‘success’ The game we play matters.

Twitter is getting rough. There are too many people trying to become ‘twitter famous’ or an influencer. ‘Chasing clicks’. Tonight I learned that people have groups where they systematically promote each other by liking/RTing, engaging with posts from others in the group. In order to catch the algo and gain followers. What? What are you guys doing? I can’t mute those people fast enough. You want to gain traction or gain a following? Try this. Say something insightful, interesting or useful. But, always be authentic. 1. I have no idea how many followers anyone has 2. When I click someone’s profile, I have never used their follower count as a proxy or admission for me to engage (or not), with them. I owe this app so much. I got so much value from this app. Lifelong friendships, life changing advice. Life altering relationships / introductions / encouragement. Changed…my…life….But it is noticeably different and the ‘OGs’ rarely ever post. Which sucks. This place was the GOAT for ReTwit (s/o the real OGs @Keith_Wasserman , @moseskagan ) and was the launch pad of educating a generation on how they could go from W2 to business owner…and if they wanted, could own multiple (s/o the real OGs of the SMBtwit @Sam_Rosati @tsludwig @BrentBeshore , some guy journaling it all via podcast (s/o @aebridgeman ) and some dude that shifted between SMB (moving college kids) to ReTwit (storage units). It felt like a weird secret club that you could only get into if you knew the secret handshake. Now….people are chasing clicks and engagement. The authenticity that once made this app the GOAT, is increasingly becoming a rare experience. 2016-2021 was GOAT. Alright. I’ll go back inside now.

Want to know a great business? Charter schools in Florida At my previous firm, I was spearheading a $20m investment into the space Tuition = free to the students (customers) State of FL pays the school ~ $7,600+ for each student AMA

Extremely standard in the PE world. Firms ‘encourage’ all associated to co-invest. The firm will either provide the loan to the associate, at AMAZING terms, like 0% int, etc. Or set you up with an associated bank. There are banks that specialize in UW carry opportunities to evaluate how to lend to the GP. This is usually only for associates and admins. Everyone else has real carry/GP stakes.

In the SMB eta world, when reviewing a potential business to buy, it becomes en vogue to discuss all of the things that the current owner has not done. "They don't do any marketing!" "They have no sales team!" "They don't answer their phone!" "They don't, they don't, they don't." When I am presented with those 'they don't xyz' as some hidden way of saying 'the owner is dumb, I am so smart and will be better' I often ask  "why do you think they haven't done it?" Which is met with some vague answer or laugh. Interesting. This excerpt from 'It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work' book goes into further thoughts about how low that fruit actually is.... "The further away you are from the fruit, the lower it looks. Once you get up close, you see it's quite a bit higher than you thought. We assume that picking it will be easy only because we've never tried to do it. Declaring that an unfamiliar task will yield low-hanging fruit is almost always an admission that you have little insight about what you're setting out to do. And any estimate of how much work it'll take to do something you've never tried before is likely to be off by degrees of magnitudes. Results rarely come without effort. If momentum and experience are on your side, what is hard can masquerade as easy, but never forget that not having done something before doesn't make it easy. It usually makes it hard."

Here is a HUUUGE secret we used in real estate Orange Co Public Schools puts millions in researching where population increase will be in future, so much they plan budget around it We’d use that, and then go buy land near the sites Skate where puck is going...

Happy to finally share some news ❗️ I have joined Portrait Capital as a Partner and President of Portfolio Operations. What is Portrait Capital? Formerly Majority Search, @JustinEBurris & @tsludwig founded Portrait Capital with the goal of helping family businesses transition to the next generation of leaders. Our unique fund structure allows us to buy companies with no intent of selling them. Decades. Not years. The biggest lesson I learned in my last venture was that it matters so much more about who is next to you than it does what you are doing. Before joining, we spent a tremendous amount of time discussing life, friends, family, the highs and lows of business ownership, and the ways in which we can assist families by creating a perfectly tailored transition that ensures we honor the family legacy for decades. We were aligned. I grew a major appreciation for Tim and Justin, not as professionals, but as people. Something I was very thoughtful of in making this decision was the time horizon. We cannot ask the families of companies we are buying to trust us for decades if we do not also have an internal trust level with each other that is rooted today but will grow for decades. What they have accomplished professionally is jaw dropping. Who they are as people is even more astonishing. I could not be more excited to partner with Tim, Justin, Bruce, and the people who have entrusted us to make decisions for decades.

If you can get the seller to start spending the money (in their head)....you will close the deal and at good terms. I'm constantly asking our sellers..."what are you doing with the money?" "What does your wife want to do?" "What does your wife think?" I want them planning.

Yesterday spoke with a company that is crushing sales...but cash is tight and is taking out a LOC and owner wants to slow down sales until cash is better. A/R is the life/death of companies...especially home service. Here is what I told him re: AR 1. Recurring work: bill 1st day of month versus 15th or 30th 2. Project work: require 25-50% deposit; we've never had somebody bark at this whether it's a $10k job or $500k job. Yet, so few companies do it. 3. Payment Method: Attempt/Push to have all payment methods 'on file'. Credit cards, bank. ***Make it EASY to pay you*** 4. Plan: Have a process/plan for AR. Check it daily. Remind frequently. X days we do this. Y days we do this. Z days we cut off service. N days we send to collections. 5. Do NOT be scared to a) send to collections b) cut clients off. If somebody isn't willing to pay you for agreed upon scope / amt. They aren't a good customer. 99% of commercial customers have AR/AP departments. Literally people paid to make sure YOU get paid. Make their life easy. It's okay to change something on your end if it means you will get paid quicker. Residential....that's a completely different topic for another day.

As the old saying goes.... Tax law is 10,000 pages 5 pages tell you how/what to pay 9,995 tell you how not to pay

Did they make money on my visit? Yes. Did they have great margins on my visit? Yes. Hell yes. Do I care? No. I had a problem, one in which I thought it might be an emergency, and they solved the problem. The fee in which they charged to do it, is capitalism. I had many options, I went with them and went with the highest price.

Somebody told me this line once and I’ll never forget it. “Don’t pay for a vacation” I was doing two-year non competes, thought it was sufficient. Then the guy broke it down to me that two years is a good vacation and we just provided them seed capital. When buying from somebody that is not immediately retiring and of appropriate age to retire, always do the best you can from a legal standpoint - 5 years and as broad of a geographic area as possible.

What’s the best way to learn how to golf ⛳️ other than doing lessons at country club? I’ve been invited to play golf a few times with very influential people and each time had to put disclaimer how bad I am, and it would ruin their time. Feel like I’m missing opportunities

Rough estimates on TAM per residential sector

Expecting to have some cool news to share on Friday. Closing on acquisition (🤞🏻) that will make us the largest residential provider in Central Florida.

The number 1 red flag 🚩 ever is when someone describes themselves as the “visionary” Theory: Gino/EOS created a label for people that won’t/can’t/aren’t willing to actually do work.

NBA assistants spend 85% of workouts on shooting Youth "trainers" spend 85% of workouts on dribbling with cool dribble sticks.

All kids want an OFFER Not all kids want 6AM weights, 8AM-12PM class 2PM practice 4PM film study 6PM mandatory study hall - Gary Payton

About 2/3x per week a Searcher reaches out asking me for a call to discuss Landscaping industry / acquisitions. 10/10x I tell them to email me thought out questions and I’ll answer with thought out response 1/10 actually email me back. The bar is low folks.

I’m actually surprised Allen Iverson / Reebok didn’t get this sooner