SMB Mike

@boringlocalseo Local rank

THIS IS BONKERS 🤯 We ran a simple test across 50 local business niches in 30 cities. We didn't publish blogs. We didn't do backlink campaigns. We built ONE thing: a comparison-style money page. Example: "Best roof repair in [City] (2026)" Then we listed 7 providers + what makes each one a fit. Result: In a scary number of cases, AI summaries started citing the comparison page within days. Why it works: AI loves structured choices + named entities. A comparison page is basically: "here are the options, here are the reasons, here are the categories." Most local businesses have 20 thin service pages. Almost none have a single page that makes the decision easy. This is the new local content arbitrage: - build the page that answers the buying question - get cited as the source - become the recommendation If you want the exact template (headings, sections, copy, and the prompts) we use to crank these out, it's at localrank.so Comment "LOCALRANK" + bookmark this and I'll DM you the local services money-pages template.

@mrfboyer @jamesonhaslam Happy to, primary note taker is always pen and paper 👍

@Mikebuildit @jamesonhaslam I mind. Put it in your car.

Is anybody using an Ai wearable to take notes on field meetings? This would be very useful

@realestatedude0 Or subs

As a GC doing rehabs for investors is almost break-even or very little profit. Not worth it for GC’s

@SMB_Attorney This is what it feels like. Doing it the right way. At this step in the journey

Had one of those weeks. You do right by people and it isn’t returned. You show loyalty, and sometimes it gets treated like weakness. Things move slower than they should. You start questioning whether being a good person in business is a disadvantage. For about 24 hours, I was pissed at the world. I even posted something out of frustration about how life chews up middle-aged dudes. It started going viral, but I deleted it. Ultimately, that mindset isn’t me. I’m not a victim. And I’m not interested in becoming cynical just because cynicism sometimes looks effective in the short term. So I’m doubling down instead. Be loyal. Go the extra mile. Show up when it’s inconvenient. Keep my word. Treat people well, even when it’s hard. For better or worse, I’d rather end the day with a clean conscience than win by becoming someone I don’t respect.

@HistorianUSA1 Was asked favorite movie? Responded with, “Dumb and Dumber” Didn’t get an offer for that one, go figure

😂🍪 This dude just walked out of a job interview and immediately recorded this in his car. He knew the “biggest weakness” question was coming… brain completely short-circuited… and instead of the safe “I care too much” answer, he hit them with: “Oreos. I’ll eat ‘em until the milk’s gone. Could be two, could be twelve.” The way he says it with that deadpan delivery and then just accepts his fate is SENDING me. Man, I genuinely feel bad for the guy… but I’m also dying laughing. We’ve ALL had that one moment in an interview where your brain just yeets itself out the window. Kid’s still out here job hunting. Somebody hire this absolute legend before he stress-eats the entire Oreo aisle. Who else has completely bombed a “what’s your weakness” question?

@boringlocalseo Localrank

let me say the quiet part out loud: homeadvisor is going to implode and almost nobody in local services sees it coming. the numbers that matter: - angi inc (parent) q4 2025 revenue: down 19% yoy - active service requests: down 31% yoy - pro subscriber churn: 47% annualized (was 28% in 2022) - ceo replaced twice in 3 years - stock price down 74% from 2021 peak the pro forums are a horror show. plumbers paying $120 per shared lead routed to 6 other companies. roofers getting "leads" from homeowners who "just wanted a quote." HVAC techs cancelling 3 times and still getting charged. meanwhile every one of those trades is getting higher-quality leads for FREE from AI citations. i've personally talked to 40+ local owners in the last 6 months who cancelled homeadvisor and replaced 100% of that lead flow with AI citations in <90 days. the math: - homeadvisor: $2,400/mo for shared, mid-intent leads - AI citations: $0/mo (after ~$500 one-time content investment) for exclusive, high-intent leads this is not a marginal improvement. it's 10x. maybe 50x when you weight for lead quality. homeadvisor's whole business model was "we aggregate demand because you can't." that stopped being true in 2024. AI models aggregate demand now and route it directly to the business with the best content. no toll booth. no shared leads. no $120 ghost leads. i give homeadvisor 18-24 months before fire-sale acquisition or chapter 11. angi will outlast by maybe a year because they pivoted earlier, but same trajectory. thumbtack is slightly better positioned because of consumer-side network effects, but their pro side is bleeding. if you currently pay any of these platforms: start the AI citation playbook TODAY. you have maybe 12 months before lead-reselling stops being a viable fallback. by then your competitors who started in 2026 have a 12-month head start. we built localrank.so because we saw this 18 months ago. the measurement tools for the old lead-reselling era are useless for the new one. the agencies who insist homeadvisor still works in 2026 are selling rotary phones to people walking around with iPhones. don't be the operator who keeps paying. Comment "LOCALRANK" and I'll DM you The 47-Page LocalRank Playbook — every prompt, every template, every niche-by-niche citation pattern we've reverse-engineered from 200+ winning businesses. (Must be following)

Sounds like a great setup! Would be curious to see how this works next winter from 2 perspectives: -comfort (what worked great, what needed adjustments) - gas and electric utility bills compared to year(s) prior Changeover temp can be adjusted between the HP & GF so you can find the sweet spot for your home. Would be fun to play with and find exactly what that is

I had a 16 year old system (single stage AC + gas furnace). I initially was shopping for two systems for comparison: cold climate heat pump + aux heat strips vs variable speed heat pump + gas furnace (dual fuel). I wasn’t expecting to get a full blown cold climate heat pump with a gas furnace but that’s what ended up being the best deal by far. It was a no brainer. So I’m expecting the HP to do all the cooling and 90% of the heating (while the gas furnace takes over during the coldest days).

Most HVAC contractors in America are trying to keep you in the 1990s. I had $15,000 cash to spend on a cold-climate heat pump. Nearly every contractor I contacted tried to talk me out of it or over-quote me an outrageous amount to deter me away. One guy spent 20 minutes explaining why variable-speed heat pumps are a scam. Another literally said he wouldn’t put one in his own house. Why? My guess: 1) They are ignorant of the latest technology 2) They don’t have the training to install/service the new systems 3) Their pockets get filled from big box old school HVAC manufacturers if they sell them Unfortunately, a new HVAC for most homeowners is very urgent so these contractors use this time crunch to overcharge or upsell inferior systems. Luckily, I bought a couple of $130 window AC units to hold me over for 2 weeks while I reached out to 15+ contractors. I received quotes ranging from $10,000 to over $24,000. Only 2 of the quotes included a modern cold-climate heat pump. After price matching and negotiations, I ultimately chose a Daikin Aurora Fit cold-climate inverter heat pump + 97% modulating gas furnace (true dual-fuel setup) Total cost after rebates = $13,000 This system usually goes for around $20,000. Here are the key takeaways I wish I had known before I started shopping: 1. Always demand a real Manual J load calculation. Don’t settle for a “rule of thumb” or register count. I had 3 different contractors give me 3 different sizes until one actually ran proper software. 2. True variable-speed inverter technology is worth it especially in a multi-level home. It runs longer at lower speeds, gives much better dehumidification, smoother temperatures, and is noticeably quieter. 3. Dual-fuel (heat pump + high-efficiency gas furnace) is often the smartest move in mixed climates (like my home in Louisville). The heat pump handles most of the year efficiently while the furnace only kicks in on the coldest days (if necessary) 4. Shop aggressively and negotiate hard. Buy yourself some time with some temporary/portable units. I got competing quotes and used them to drive the price down significantly. 5. Duct sealing, correct sizing/tonnage, and proper installation matter more than most people realize especially in older homes. 6. Have a detailed checklist to vet each contractor. An extremely helpful guide I had throughout the process was from @energysmartwv So why did I insist on cold climate heat pump? • Way better temperature balance upstairs (even without zoning) • Excellent dehumidification in humid summers • Significantly quieter operation • I’m expecting to save $60/month on electricity • Less reliance on gas and possibly eliminating the need altogether Modern cold-climate heat pumps are no longer experimental. They’re one of the smartest upgrades most homeowners can make right now. Do your homework to make sure you are getting the best system possible for your home. Don’t let old school contractors keep you in the past. Have you installed (or considered) a heat pump in a cold or mixed climate? Were the contractors helpful or did they try to talk you out of it?

@BlakeMycoskie Thank you Blake for sharing this and the journey that led up to it. Can only imagine the ride with high and lows along the path

Sean, thank you. And to every guy out there, find your person. Go on a walk. A run. A sauna. Have the real conversation. Those relationships can make all the difference.

Friends who will actually call you out on your stuff are everything.

@boringlocalseo LOCALRANK

had a 2-hour breakfast in austin last week with a guy who runs 14 local service businesses across 6 states. combined revenue something like $47M/year. he won't let me name him or any of the brands. he has one employee who works on marketing. one. not a team. not an agency. one person. i asked him the obvious question. he said "we stopped doing marketing in 2024." i assumed he meant "we switched to referrals" or "we just run the same google ads we always have." no. he meant they LITERALLY stopped. zero paid ads. no seo agency. no social media team. no yelp ads. no homeadvisor. nothing. what the one employee does: they write ONE piece of content per week for each of the 14 businesses. 14 pieces of content per week total. each one is a pricing page, a comparison page, or a "how to decide between X and Y" guide. that's it. that's the whole marketing operation. and the businesses are growing. one of them — a commercial hvac company in texas — did $7M in 2023, $11M in 2024, and is on track for $17M in 2025. zero ad spend increase (in fact, decrease to $0). he showed me the citation tracking. all 14 brands were being cited as the #1 or #2 recommendation in their niche+city combo across chatgpt, perplexity, gemini, and google ai overview. average #1 citation rate was 68%. that's insane. the one employee had been a freelance writer before. he pays her $95k/year plus benefits. he jokes that she's the highest-ROI employee in the history of business. the kicker: he told me most of his competitors still don't know ai citations are a thing. they're all running the same playbooks he ran in 2019 — google ads, yelp ads, occasional agency engagement. he said he expects to acquire 3-4 of them in the next 18 months at fire-sale prices because their CAC is going to 3x while his stays flat. this is the shift nobody is talking about. it's not a "trend." it's a structural change in how local commerce works. and it's happening RIGHT NOW while most local business owners are still debating whether to boost a facebook post. at localrank.so we're building the measurement layer for exactly this. the businesses that figure out they need to measure this in 2026 will be the ones buying up the competition in 2028. Comment "LOCALRANK" if you want my LLM citation framework and I'll DM it to you (Must be following)

“When it’s time to eat a shit sandwich, don’t nibble.” 😂😂❤️❤️

@blueprintsmb22 We are no longer servicing this account

For context one unreasonable customer today tried to get his jobs cut in front of others when our lead times are 4-6 weeks. He said he was getting irritated he couldn’t cut the line (btw he pays in 60 days vs net 30 terms) and get bags in 2 weeks and felt like his business was becoming inconvenient for me (in a threatening way to suggest he would take his business elsewhere.) I immediately agreed and said I would cancel his orders. 5 voicemails with no call back or email response by me. I have no intention of calling him back. Having ample personal liquidity and being the boss sometimes has its perks. x.com/blueprintsmb22…

@BoringBiz_ Buy a business and run it

Recently grabbed coffee with a senior VP at a very well-known private equity firm Well above $2M in net worth. Not enough to fully retire but can walk away for a better work life balance if he wants to Just had a kid few months ago and now struggling to decide between continuing this career path or shifting to something that would let him spend more time with family I asked him what is keeping him at the current firm, beyond just money His answer was simple: "Insecurity. I might look back in 10 years and feel bad knowing that my friends are buying their second vacation homes while I walked away to chase an easier life. Whatever job or title I have next would not earn me the same respect" That is when it really hit me A lot of people stay in high-performing careers, not even because they need the money, but rather because they are used to a certain level of status and respect from people around them This only gets worse as you move higher up the ladder and start spending time around people at the same level in terms of career or wealth I asked him if he was okay if I posted this on my X and sought advice on what my followers would do. He agreed. So I am genuinely curious: what would you do if you were in his situation?

@Fish_wid_a_V Compounding marginal returns!

Do the right thing - chase relationship not deals - get one percent better #MightyDogRoofing delivering bliss everyday from #Minutemen to #Merrimack!

@darynakulya @pjmcgeary Need this too over here

@pjmcgeary DMing you

If someone (aka another service business owner) can help me answer this, I’ll love you forever. How do you manage your leads at scale and make sure nothing falls through the cracks WITHOUT having something clunky and over-automated like GHL? For example, you get leads in one day from: -FB message -FB ad form submission -Website form submission -Phone call -Text referral ***My question is this — what system do you use to make sure all of those leads are being entered into a follow up cadence if they are not booked immediately?*** We’ve been doing this manually (and I’m doing a lot of the heavy lifting by managing the pipeline and making sure our team doesn’t miss anything) but I know for a fact I need to use some sort of automation to systemize all of this. I’ve been an absolute hound on this and it’s made me a lot of money, but I know to get my time back and to continue scaling I need to shift at least a little bit.

@Owen0to1 Have thoughts here. DM’ing

Realizing a business LOC is not feasible for me right now turned me down a rabbit hole. Margin loans, SBLOCs, and box spreads. Holy shit, there is a lot to unpack. As a 20yo with a newer business and limited credit (but high liquidity) these are my best options for leverage outside of equipment financing. Traditional personal finance advice says keep your money out of the S&P 500 if you need it in <5 years. But with these debt instruments, why wouldn’t I DCA into the market and just use a box spread or margin loan for working capital? Collateral outgrows the cost of debt. (while keeping a low LTV ofc). Rates are way lower (especially box spreads). Interesting tax advantages. They don't show on my credit report (no impact on future equipment financing). Combined with 50% deposits on every job I sell in the biz, my cash position stays healthy. I could even secure a margin loan against money market or SGOV to lower the risk of a margin call. It mostly counteracts the interest rate and I don't have to pay capital gains to access the cash. What am I missing??

@cjquinn10 Interested

I paid off my student debt and bought a house making warm intros within my network. No app. No gig work. Just people I already knew. Invited 10 friends to try it. Same results. Not everyone can be an influencer. Not everyone wants to Uber or DoorDash. But we all know people - and there's never been a real way to get paid for that quietly, with quality and trust at the center. Meanwhile AI is replacing SDRs, cold email is dead, and inboxes are full of slop. Businesses are starving for signal. A warm intro from someone you actually know converts at 10x anything an AI can generate. We built something around this. 1,000+ people in the beta making up to $20K/month just from their networks. Launching publicly soon. Want early access? DM me with your email.

@therobertbrooks @RandBusiness It looked better

Pretty amazing he could vibe code multi-tenant open API architecture with error handling across hundreds of data models, compliant fintech financial security for payments and funds transfer, multi-locaction data storage redundancy with auditability and data recovery pathways, and 2FA across browser and apps across difference devices in only 2 months. Maybe enterprise software is dead.