Jarrod Smith

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Lukman Aufbau@lukmanAufbau·6h

Posting daily is not a growth strategy. It’s just activity. Distribution design is the strategy.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·1h

@SMB_Attorney Real. The $500K local AI agency takes ignore how Main Street actually buys. $500 a month to answer their missed calls after hours is a yes. $3k for an agentic workflow is a no. Price ceiling comes from the owner's time, not their balance sheet.

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SMB Attorney@SMB_Attorney·4h

There's nothing funnier than when VC / tech bros talk Main Street business. Guys, this might work and you could make some money. But $500K? Please stop. We have to stop treating Main Street business owners like they are dummies. Building a business on Main Street is brutal. The 5-year failure rate is 90%+ Those that make it are smart and gritty people. You're not going to convince them to give you $2-$3K per month without a track record. And even if you do, the expectations are going to be sky high. You're not going to just show them ChatGPT and say "look and behold!" The average 65-year-old business owner has fired more people than you've met in your life. They will fire you... fast. We have to stop pushing the idea that you can supercharge a Main Street business by unplugging the fax machine and introducing technology. It is a fallacy. These businesses are held together by relationships and shoestrings. Again, this might work, and I'm not saying don't try it. But it's good idea to temper expectations a bit.

WOLF@WOLF_Financial

CHRIS CAMILLO JUST LAID OUT HOW TO MAKE $500,000 A YEAR AS AN "AI GUY" FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES His blueprint: 1. Walk into any HVAC, plumbing, or sprinkler business. 2. Ask where they're leaking money. 3. Build them an AI agent that answers after-hours calls, sends instant texts, and gets quotes out in real time. 4. Integrate it with their CRM for free. 5. Charge them $2K-$3K/month to be their "AI guy." Repeat across 10-20 businesses. "There are people right now doing this."

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·1h

Most people look for the new tool. The next framework. The secret prompt. The thing beating everyone I know is the same thing it's always been. Boring daily reps on the ugly work nobody else is willing to do. The tool doesn't save you. The reps do.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·1h

@SwigSwootie Those $2k vibe-coded chatbot buyers are the same people who bought $2k SEO packages from strangers in 2015. The fix isn't to stop paying. It's to pay for the outcome, not the stack. If nobody's messaging your chat, you didn't buy a chatbot.

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Swiggity Swooty@SwigSwootie·1d

Imagine being a local small business paying $2k a month for some idiot to vibe code you an “AI agent” that answers questions on your web page 😂😂😂

WOLF@WOLF_Financial

CHRIS CAMILLO JUST LAID OUT HOW TO MAKE $500,000 A YEAR AS AN "AI GUY" FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES His blueprint: 1. Walk into any HVAC, plumbing, or sprinkler business. 2. Ask where they're leaking money. 3. Build them an AI agent that answers after-hours calls, sends instant texts, and gets quotes out in real time. 4. Integrate it with their CRM for free. 5. Charge them $2K-$3K/month to be their "AI guy." Repeat across 10-20 businesses. "There are people right now doing this."

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·1h

@WOLF_Financial Fair if someone shows up with a generic AI agent pitch. Different story if they walk in saying your phone rings after hours, customers leave, you're losing $15k a month, let me fix the 2am missed call. The plan people hate is the word. The outcome they'll pay for.

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WOLF@WOLF_Financial·2d

CHRIS CAMILLO JUST LAID OUT HOW TO MAKE $500,000 A YEAR AS AN "AI GUY" FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES His blueprint: 1. Walk into any HVAC, plumbing, or sprinkler business. 2. Ask where they're leaking money. 3. Build them an AI agent that answers after-hours calls, sends instant texts, and gets quotes out in real time. 4. Integrate it with their CRM for free. 5. Charge them $2K-$3K/month to be their "AI guy." Repeat across 10-20 businesses. "There are people right now doing this."

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

@MadFinnishSwede That whole arc only works because the person teaching Thorfinn to look past revenge IS his revenge. Askeladd killing Thors is the only reason the debt sticks. Without it Thorfinn lets Canute die on sentiment alone.

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Anarch Bombadil@MadFinnishSwede·2h

The only correct viewpoint on Vinland Saga S1 imo is to ask "What is Askeladd a slave to?" The answer can be found in the most pivotal scene in the show: The death of Thors. Not because Thorfinns' life gets turned upside down, he isn't our MC yet. This is actually Askeladds' 1/

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

@Alter_Negro If they're already 2-0 without Luka and AR, the answer is obvious. Get the rest while you're ahead. Round 2 Lakers with both back is a different team entirely.

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Fentruck@Alter_Negro·2h

If the Lakers get Reaves and Luka back after they beat the Rockets, y’all think they can make a run??

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Trenton Hughes@trentjhughes

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

x.com/trentjhughes/s…

If I had to build a $750k business in one year from scratch... I'd start a local AI automations agency Every small business in your city needs this right now: Charge $1,500-3,000/month per client Automated follow up emails Automated appointment reminders Automated customer service Automated social media Get 25 clients in a year That's $37,500-$75,000/month One person can manage 25 clients with the right systems This is the new local marketing agency...

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

@WOLF_Financial Maybe for SaaS native SMBs. The home service, trades, and restaurant tier is different. They don't want the tool, they want the outcome. They'll pay $500 a month to have their missed calls answered at 9pm. $20 ChatGPT doesn't do that. Agency math works if you pick the right tier.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

Makes sense why May through July hits so hard then. All the comp is priced off year 1, so renewals are pure margin but your reps aren't incentivized to protect them. Have you ever modeled splitting 10% of that commission into a 12 month trailing bonus tied to retention? Same total for the rep, different cash curve for you.

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Casey McDaniel - Pest Control Guy@pestctrlguy·23h

Between May 1st and July 31st we have to come up with ~$450,000 in up front payments for our door to door sales teams. We do not have that much in the bank right now. Wish us luck!

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

Every SMB owner I talk to wants a new lead source. Almost none of them want to audit what happens to the leads they already get. The cheapest growth lever is usually boring. Fix the intake before you fund the top.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

Retention is the second bucket. The first one is answer rate. Most SMBs lose more revenue to unanswered calls than to churn. HVAC owner I met pays $40k a year for leads and leaves 4 calls a day on voicemail. Fix the intake, then worry about the leak. x.com/W33Z_global/st…

Weedsdom@W33Z_global

Unpopular opinion: Every growth meeting is about getting users in. Nobody asks why they’re leaving. You can’t fill a leaking bucket by pouring more water in. Fix the leak first! Retention will always beat acquisition.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

@tasornp That's the whole line. AI covers the 2am missed call and the 3x follow up. Humans close the handshake. Most operators who bounce off AI tried to skip the handshake part.

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Tasorn@tasornp·4d

Automating everything on X is killing your brand. Efficiency isn't the goal here. Connection is. You might save time. But you won't attract the right people. What's the point?

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·2h

@pestctrlguy That's the healthy version of it. What's the upfront vs residual split you're running? Curious how it shifts with commercial vs residential close mix.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

@Guccistarboi 2.4M likes on a single announcement is the proof. Drake put a physical object downtown and tied the drop date to its destruction. Anyone saying organic marketing is dead doesn't know how to make something people actually want to interact with.

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STARBOY GUCCI🖤🦉🖤@Guccistarboi·11h

Drake’s iceman album announcement post currently has 2.4m likes on ig, so y’all being anticipating this real bad🤯🔥

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

Drake's ICEMAN sculpture is the cleanest marketing playbook of 2026. One physical object in downtown Toronto. Zero ad spend. The crowd had to literally destroy it to unlock the album drop date. Every SMB at launch keeps asking how to reach people. The real question is what physical thing can you put in the world that people want to engage with.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

Service businesses at $1-5M ARR keep hitting the same wall. Sales comp front-loads cash out, collections trail 30-60 days behind. The fix isn't a new ad channel. It's shifting 30% of comp to 90-day retention. Raises retention and buys runway in one move.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

@Akintola_steve Life outside tech is the real move. Apex Digital Solutions. We build websites, Discord communities, and AI automations for service businesses like yours. Iowa based, happy to swap ops notes if you ever want it. apexdsol.com

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Akintola Steve@Akintola_steve·4d

Do you have a life outside tech, or is tech your only saving grace? Outside tech, I run a cleaning service. What about you? Drop your business in the comments so others can support with retweets and patronage.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

Biggest lever other operators use in this window is shifting 30-40% of comp to 90-day retention instead of all upfront. Kills the cash gap, also raises retention because reps start screening prospects harder when their money depends on it. Doesn't cover all $450K but it buys you runway without touching the bank.

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Jarrod Smith@ApexDSolutions·10h

@getmilo_dev This is the pattern. The answering problem is cheaper to fix than the lead problem, and most agencies only talk leads because the retainer math looks better. A $300 setup on missed call auto-reply plus a simple scheduler saves more revenue than any new ad spend.

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Milo | AI Agent Teams@getmilo_dev·10h

Talked to an HVAC owner who said his biggest problem wasn't finding leads — it was answering the phone while his guys were on jobs. He was paying his wife to sit by the phone from 8-5. $0/hr on paper. Infinite resentment cost.

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