John Claborn

If you're a home service owner and want a COO's perspective on your business, take the Owner Dependency Assessment. I'll send you a report I actually out together myself (with Claude's assistance): -5 Quick Wins to implement yourself -4 Primary Gaps -90 Day Action plan -What I would do if I were your COO Then, if you want, we'll chat about the report for 30 minutes. If I can help, we'll discuss it. If not, strategies are yours to keep. I read every answer and give you my thoughts from my seat. Businesses of all sizes are welcome! Click the bio link, comment below or DM me! P.S. If you only want the report and don't want to talk to me, that's cool too.

@YourVirtualCFO Last co I worked for labor was 120% of revenue. That’s not a typo.

@FrontierBDesign This is SO important I’m sure it can be a daunting task for most owners to undertake, which is probably why it gets kicked down the road

I always push job costing in almost every engagement because it's not typically prioritized. 39% est. gross margin ends up being 32%. No big deal. On a 10k job, that's $700 you're leaving out there. Let's say you have 20 jobs like that over the course of a year. $14,000. Fix the middle and recover your margin.

@DougKennedy93 Or multiple

@FrontierBDesign Oh yikes that sounds like a totally different problem lol.

One of the metrics of a co. I'm working with is "on-time delivery" of their product. Stated goal is 95%. They're around 65% currently. What they thought the problem was: Inefficient labor What the uncovered problem was: Unpaid payables leading to shipping delays of materials What the ACTUAL problem was: Not enough cash flow coming in to pay all bills. It's not labor. It's not a process. It's cash flow. Solve that first.

@RyanJoseph It's a very immature way of looking at work. Imagine Claude telling you that 🤣

@FrontierBDesign “That’s not my job” gets my blood boiling.

There are 3 massive red flags I look for in any managers, directors, or similar positions in home service co’s: 1. “That’s not my job.” 2. “We’ll do it my way.” 3. “It doesn’t matter. No one will notice.” Individualism Pride Laziness None or these belong in leadership roles.

@thecruice I have an image of how that guys looks based on yer spellin’.

Haven’t slept a full night in weeks. Was talking to an older guy I know about a project, he asked how I was doing explained it to him. “I’m gonna help however I can, but you’re learning something right now. Quit yer bitchin” Yes sir.

@DanSeaman Boat, yes. RZR? Buy it today. Always. 🤣

@FrontierBDesign It sure is. But better to know where you stand before you buy that boat and RZR. 😂

@DanSeaman It's pretty granular! Can definitely see what it's not prioritized.

@FrontierBDesign lol. If SMB twitter actually understood this it would dramatically change the tone…

@mitchellcmorris We updated material pricing quarterly and labor annually, so 6 months seems a good balance.

@FrontierBDesign Needs to be reviewed for change at least every 6 months.

I don't know the schedule for updating pricing, but I know "since COVID" isn't the right cadence.

@joshualowenthal Culture and trust have a lot to do with it. If there is a capable CEO/Director in place that fills the seat, that's one thing. If the owner being absent and everyone has to figure things out on their own that's different.

@FrontierBDesign Do they not? Sounded like it might be a me thing, but I can’t help but feel like employees would become resentful over time if the owner is largely absent

Here’s a question for all of my employers out there. Should an owner of a business generally feel bad if they are working only a fraction of the amount of time that their employees are working? So say an owner is working 5-10 hours per week, while their employees are working 40. Should that owner feel guilt or remorse? Do employees feel resentful of the owner?

@tablerockadv If you don't pick it up, you're normal. If you do? Reveals way more than we think. Great test.

@FrontierBDesign I call it “willing to pick up the trash”. When a person sees trash on the floor at the office, do they walk by it or pick it up and throw it away. Tells you a lot about a person.

@TheNolanGore We finally hit 75% at my last co after we outlawed convenience store stops in the morning. Unreal how much time we were losing.

The single number that decides if our maintenance division makes money: Billable %. We pay 10 hours. We try to bill 7.5. That’s 75%. Drive time, load time, “quick” breaks, safety meetinfs. This business is really really driven by route density. I think about Amazon prime delivery a lot. There is a point where you can actually charge less and still make more money if your density is good enough. Anyone else know their billable % goals? What’s your number?

@hardingwealth My grandad was the only one I felt comfortable talking to sometimes.

Give your parents grandkids. Give your kids a relationship with their grandparents.

@peteyboardman I had this realization with my biz 2 weeks ago. Deleted about 15 AI agents. Took too much brain power to remember what they were for.

At Paddle North, one of our core values is: Simple takes effort. Complexity can feel like progress. But simplicity creates happier customers. And more profit The simplest way of doing something is often the hardest to figure out.

@raffel That’s hard. Had the same thing happen to us moving from CO to TX. Took 4 months to sell. The wait is not fun. It will eventually sell. They all do.

Today the house has been on the market for 4 weeks. Lots and lots and lots of showings. Still not a single offer. The neighbors are all shocked. The realtor is shocked. We are as well. Lift seldom goes according to the plans we make. Two more showings today and it will happen when it’s meant to happen.

@TheFortressInc For most, that’s a once in a lifetime experience. For Coloradoans, that’s just a Tuesday.

Michelle & I happened upon a mama moose & two baby calves this week in Granby, Colorado. Not something to mess around with 😬 the moms get ultra protective with the young ones around. Just love the wildlife & beauty in the mountains! 👊🏽

@BowTiedMarmott KC had the hits in college!

Kenny Chesney at the sphere Great show from one of my top artists of all time but very sleepy crowd Dead & co simply did it better in there

@DougKennedy93 Truth. Number 1 sign for me is irritability with my kids.

Knowing when to take a break is a serious mental health hack.