Joe Jernigan

@SMB_Attorney Can I like 25x?

100 likes and Ill post this to LinkedIn

PE associates scrolling BizBuySell

@thehvacjack Ha. Me neither.

I never choose exit row. Not because I don’t want to help in case of an emergency but because I’m all torso. Feels like a crime to waste this much space. #shortking #tooshortforthisride

@AustinLinney WPB is growing like crazy

Moving to West Palm Beach next Saturday Looking forward to it !

@ElliottEHolland What were the top 2 or 3 common ways in which the seller knowingly faked the EBITDA?

More than 40% of deals we worked on last year had fake EBITDA. Not "messy books." Fake numbers designed to make you overpay. Nearly half. Most buyers would've closed without catching it if they skipped a QoE. You're not betting on a stock. You're betting your family's future.

@WilsonCompanies Some people think the phrase “I love you” is the best English phrase… for me… it’s “Operating Leverage”. Revenue up 33% and Operating Income up 143%.

Scale changes the game in ways most operators don’t expect. 1/ Pricing shifts first: I’ve seen operators paying up to 50% less for the same equipment while selling at the same market price, and that gap flows straight to margin. 2/ Margins expand fast: branches moved from 10–15% to 30–40% profitability after centralizing core functions, even after allocating shared costs. 3/ Capacity becomes a lever: one branch left $20K–$60K+ on the table from labor constraints, while a connected system redistributes that work instead of losing it. 4/ Acquisition speed increases: three deals in 90 days added $6M–$7M in revenue, and with systems in place each new deal gets easier to absorb. 5/ The platform is the multiplier: at $30M–$40M, leadership, marketing, and ops infrastructure are in place, making multi-location scale possible and setting up the path to $100M+.

@ClintFiore In lower market the “emotional premium” is such a deal breaker.

We are valuing a ridiculous number of businesses right now. More than 1 per day. 80%+ aren't ready to sell or there's too big a gap between our valuation and their needs/expectations. We will bring you the <20% that: - are motivated and ready to sell that know their "why" they want or need to sell - have a business that's financeable with clean enough books to get through due diligence and underwriting - are realistic about the valuation range and ready to accept a Fair Market Value offer

@WilsonCompanies I’ve been part of organizations that went from $20M to $100M then to $200M very rapidly. Without a doubt communication and culture is top of the list. Also have fun!

@JoeSMBCFO Tryin!

Prepping for fourth acquisition this year, closing in a few weeks. We fully skipped the $30M’s, now mid 40s - solidly 8fig EBITDA. Under 1x debt. Still bootstrapped. You can just do things.

@lawyer4SMBs 💯 I have 2 of them

@JoeSMBCFO Do little girls count?

I remember a while back I said that if you make over $200k a a year and still mow your own lawn, you're doing it wrong. Now that the average quote I'm getting for my lawn is $400 a month, I think I'm changing my mind on that statement. What are folks running for lawnmowing equipment on a 1 acre mow these days?

Currently in-flight Fort Lauderdale -> Atlanta -> San Jose -> Portland -> Detroit -> Fort Lauderdale…. Any new podcasts I should be listening to over the next 2 weeks on this biz-trip?

@ClintFiore @mariotomich Love this argument.

It seems like such a silly thing to me at this point... like where do you draw the line? -Steroids and/or high dose TRT = Not Natural (ok, but if done carefully and bloodwork and health is good, why would you be upset at someone for using them to obtain the health/performance goals or physique they want?) -Doctor prescribed TRT to get it into normal healthy range = Not Natural? (why? isn't that just kind of a medication? Is someone on blood pressure meds or a diabetic taking insulin also not natural?) -Peptides = Not Natural? (why? they're not anabolic steroids and are naturally occurring amino chains our body naturally makes. you mad because they make life easier and better for people?) -Supplements like Creatine, Magnesium, etc. = Natural? (Why or why not? Taking a bunch of pills and powders is generally ok, or is it not? Doesn't seem natural but it's stuff you can say is derived from nature I guess...) -Pasteurized milk? There's no pasteurization machines in nature. -Processed foods or anything involving a factory? Factories aren't natural. -Riding a bike? Not something in nature as our natural bodies were designed to walk and run not have wheels. All just seems so tiresome to debate. Be healthy, take good care of yourself, and do what you want. I understand rules for sanctioned competitive sports and for developing children, but for grownups that aren't competitive athletes... why does anyone care about the "natural" label anymore? We live in a modern world in the internet age where nothing about our lives is relatable to a caveman.

Am I the only person here who still thinks staying natural is the right choice?

@WilsonCompanies @thehvacjack The real question is do I google Rapid Wilson or Wilson Rapid? This is great guys. $100M is not too far off.

Do anything to work with awesome people. Go into debt if you have to. Today we merged with @thehvacjack putting combined revenue over $40m - onward!

@thehvacjack @WilsonCompanies Nobody saw that coming . 🤣 congrats guys. LFG

SMB Twit Update: After 4 years,(my biz) Rapid Response has merged with @WilsonCompanies ! John has been a great friend and mentor(groomer), and cohost. I am really F%cking excited to continue learning and building badass companies with him. More growth and acquisitions to come!

@WilsonCompanies I hate February(s)

We 6x’d last February’s EBITDA - just got numbers

@SMB_Attorney Operators who don’t speak legalese will use it to “gut check” their lawyers advice. It will (or already has) become the de facto “second opinion” and also to keep our lawyers on task and not burning hours.

You guys don’t get it yet. Everyone keeps saying AI is going to replace lawyers. I don’t think people understand how this actually plays out. Let’s say you use AI to draft a contract. The contract misses something important. A year later it costs you two million dollars. What do you do? Right now, you sue your lawyer. In the AI world, you’d sue the AI company. Two things can happen. Option 1: The AI company has liability for legal advice. If that’s the case, every AI company will immediately stop letting consumers use AI for real legal work. The liability risk is massive. Option 2: The AI company has no liability because of disclaimers. If that happens, every state bar in the country will say consumers are being exposed to unregulated legal advice and call it the unauthorized practice of law. And they’ll shut it down that way. Either path leads to the same outcome. Consumer AI will be limited to generic “Wikipedia-style” legal information and LegalZoom level document prep. But the real AI tools? Those will live inside law firms. Lawyers will use them to move faster, analyze more data, and run way more matters at once. The M&A lawyer doing 5 deals at a time will do 50. Trial lawyers will run far more cases simultaneously. The idea that AI replaces lawyers probably dies. The more likely outcome is that AI supercharges the best lawyers and makes the profession even more profitable than ever.

February 28, 2026 youtube.com/shorts/i1wKt4q… via @YouTube

@SMB_Attorney I don’t see Finance on that list… maybe we became obsolete in 2009.

Professions that die and by what date. Lawyers, we have until 2031. What else do you notice?

@SullyBusiness You don’t know enough people

All the people I know that went to fancy schools are unemployed, unhappy, and unmarried. All the people I know who went to generic State University are employed, happy, and married. Someone explain this.

@WilsonCompanies We do nothing but Direct Mail and LSA. @JeffBates29 licks every stamp himself

More love for direct mail today... Direct mail isn’t magic. It’s math. Cold audience? Expect 1–2% conversion. 10,000 homes = 100–200 inquiries. Want 100 new leads a week? You need 30,000–40,000 households in rotation. The formula is simple. The scale has to match it.