John Claborn

Re-introduction to who I am and what I do for any new followers! I've been on the Ops side of business for the last 12 years. Systems, processes, EOS, accountability, etc. I love operations. I also love helping small businesses between $1M - $10M alleviate the pressure owners face being responsible for everything. As a Fractional COO, I purposefully design business operating systems that remove the bottleneck and create accountability and ownership of outcomes so that owners can do what they're supposed to do. -Cast vision -Lead people -Work ON the business -Trust their team and their systems I created the Frontier Business Blueprint to help you diagnose where your biz is leaking. 👇 It's free. Get it here. 👇 frontierbusinessdesign.com/frontier-busin…

@ZubyMusic Anyone who is entitled needs to start their own business.

As an adult, it has never even crossed my mind that I am ENTITLED to other people's attention, time, work, or money. I'm grateful for everybody who has supported me in any way, and I try to pay it forward. But the entitlement level some people have is horrible.

@daviddowda What's going to be your go-to strategy for ensuring ops are effective? Not a gotcha...genuinely curious.

I've been buying, advising, and operating small businesses for a while now. Here's what I'm building now, and why I'm finally writing about it. Anchor Street Capital. A permanent home for Main Street businesses worth holding for the long run. Not a fund. Not a flip shop. A place where 67 year old owners can entrust what they built to a buyer who isn't going to break it. Solas Business Advisors. Practical help for small business owners who want to grow without burning out their team, their families, or themselves. A third project I'll talk about later that sits between solo searchers and the big holdcos. One conviction underneath all three. The work is stewardship, not ownership. The businesses, the people in them, the capital behind them, none of it is ultimately ours. We're just the ones holding it for a while, accountable to God for how we hold it. That's the actual reason I do this. If you're a Christian owner thinking about a transition, an operator stuck on something, an investor thinking carefully about how capital should behave, or a fellow believer in the work, tell me what you're working on. I read everything.

@TheTopRepost How often does that happen? Happened regularly at the landscape co I was at for the first 6 months

Well, the employee I was super excited to have and who was doing great work didn’t show up today. No call no show. So, my day turned into a 12 hour day. But, I decided to grab a sandwich, here’s the first lawn I did. Before that I installed a storm door. I’ll post more later!

@JoshuaBarzon Prison Mike....Always

What’s your favorite episode of The Office?

@rack_jesse Never. Just when you think Monday is beginning to transition to Tuesday..

Monday madness never fails.

@bradncpa Do you advise exterior only co's to basically try to break even during the winter months? In landscaping, that's all we cared about.

HVAC companies are the exception when it comes to having slow winter months. Heaters go out and furnaces need replacing. People want whole-home humidifiers when the air gets dry. For everyone else, the winter plan is what separates the businesses that survive year after year from those that stay scrambling.

@theron_olsen Spoken from a former health insurance agent? 🤣

There’s no greater enemy than the middle man, or at least that’s today’s lesson 😅

@RealPlantBrah Had one drop on me this weekend. Kind of a cute little bugger if you ask me.

Ok so I spend a good majority of my day outside. Split between my 2.5 acres, customers properties, & the 800 acres I manage. I’ve seen like 2 ticks this year.

@BlueCollarInvr If you give them the outcome they want and a great experience, charge what you want.

I upped my stump jobs to a $200 minimum. Still getting a ton of work. Don’t be afraid to place a value on your time.

@MSUKyleBrown Intuit has loans for as low at 35% a year!

If I needed cash for my business (I don't) there's gotta be much better options than a ~20% interest loan from Stripe...

@BowTiedMarmott It's true. That means working before they wake up and after they go to bed, but it's worth every second.

The ability to work anywhere, whether it be home or traveling, is indispensable while raising young kids The amount of time I'm able to get back and spend with my son, future kids, and wife is worth so much more than any monetary figure It's the biggest blessing I could ask for and I already know when I'm 80 I'll be most grateful for intentionally maximizing time spent with my kids while they are young

“I’m working in the business more than on it.” “We keep growing but nothing’s organized.” “Projects are always behind schedule.” “My team has no one to make sure they do their jobs.” “I worked Saturday again.” “We tried EOS but couldn’t stick with it.” If you've said any of these things in the past 12 months you may be entitled to compensation...or at least an assessment. It's completely free, and I guarantee you'll get tons of value. Takes 30 minutes. Comment or DM me. I'll send the link

@BibleU777 @CoachRolfes Right

@FrontierBDesign @CoachRolfes God doesn't ask for money to bless us. He only asks the church to love him and others, such that helping them (not tithing to churches) doesn't need a command or a percentage. We're not Israel under Levitical law.

75% of churchgoers don’t tithe. That’s ~60 million people. If they did? → Over $300 BILLION per year toward impact. It’s not an income problem. It’s a priority problem.

@TheGeoMethod Right

@FrontierBDesign Truth is, the vouch hire is the costly one because it feels safe. Someone else’s confidence in a person is not the same as that person being right for the role you actually need filled.

Hiring can be the most expensive mistake you make all year. Unclear role. Unclear expectations. No accountability. No metrics. Hiring system based on gut feeling. Here's how to design a role you're about to hire for: 1. List every task that role will own 2. Put a number next to each one (what does success look like) 3. Identify the one number that role lives or dies on 4. Write the first 30 days as a scorecard, not a to-do list Hire based on the scorecard. Not the resume. And certainly not because Dave over at SiteOne said "he'd vouch for him".

@Accrual_Reality @Tyler_Caboodle It’s not that hard to understand, but many don’t.

@FrontierBDesign @Tyler_Caboodle One of the best investments you can make in your business is building out SOPs

SMB Owners that build the system will have immensely more joy at work than SMB who are the entire system.

@AlexHormozi More nightmares are created out of incompetence. Both are true. Focus and understanding are superpowers.

More dreams are destroyed from distraction than incompetence.

@JaredDHardin That’s why you own your own thing so you don’t have to.

Some people are just not worth working with.

@lgsguy Especially over the next 4 months.

The first time (and probably last time) those words have ever been written about North Texas

@daviscfisher I’m in the 70%-85%

@mattressguy_ Must be a great bed. Geez.

Helped a customer today with 5 kids, reminded me a lot of another family I worked with Same family size, similar people, ended up on the same bed As we wrapped up, mom and kids went to the car and I told dad: “Be careful last customer I had just like y’all bought this and 6 months later called me… said kid #6 was on the way” He thought I was joking, I guess we’ll see if the bed goes 2/2