Mike Botkin

Don't be afraid to try what you're not qualified to do. If I only did what I was qualified to do, I'd be pushing a broom somewhere. -Sacca

In all seriousness, amazing books to keep within arms reach at the office. 1. Scaling People 2. Crucial Conversations 3. Negotiating the Impossible Each of these are practical, easy to pickup and find something you need and digest it, and then apply it Everything else is dealers choice.

@StrongpointRich @thegeneralmills @Fish_wid_a_V The better question is, when are you actually IN the office?

When I was at @StrongpointRich shop, I was very impressed by the books that were on his work desk. I started a reading list that is on my work desk so whenever I have a minute I review them & be more intentional about it. Very curious what books my SMB friends are reading today?

Rick Rubin hosts a podcast called Tetragrammaton. It is very good. He is an excellent interviewer (not surprising) and gets people to really open up. When things start to sound complex, he asks clarifying questions and has the person explain in simpler terms. Big fan.

When doing acquisitions in the SMB space, something often overlooked is the amount of talent you can accumulate through acquisition - relative to your ability to hire someone of equal skill, knowledge, and experience. When I evaluated targets, I looked at their ownership and key people and thought: “In what world could I hire someone of his [the owner’s or their team’s] caliber?” You can’t. But by acquiring the business, you get all of that talent - not just the owner. If you do it right, the sheer amount of skill, knowledge, and experience can be a massive cheat code and launching pad for the business. Talent. Was usually the #1 reason why I did an acquisition during the rollup I did.

@fortworthchris Always loved your episodes about the business behind Cattle. Fascinating.

Six years ago, I did an episode called Cattle Industry 101 that was very popular. On Monday, I'm sitting down with Jordan Levi - the largest cattle feeder in America. We're going to dig even further into the cattle industry and what's going on today. What would you like to know?

@michaelnewt My wife and I loved the book. Can’t wait to see the movie.

Project Hai Mary did not disappoint. Great adaptation of an amazing book. Best movie I’ve seen in years.

@rob_smb Sweet. Send it to me.

@MikeBotkin_ Got one coming for you in SE soon at about 1m ebitda

What are market multiples for electrical companies? 80/20 commercial to residential 80/20 install to service What are buy ranges for <$1M, $1–3M, and $3–5M EBITDA? Southeast

@dealflow_guy @justin_abrams1 Thanks.

@justin_abrams1 @MikeBotkin_ Commercial is tougher to value without a deep dive. They also often expect Resi multiples. <$1M 3-4X $1M-$3M 4-6X $3-$5M 6X ish

@wizardofFiDi Give me both

@MikeBotkin_ Engineering focus i.e. MEP (mechanical electrical plumbing) or just straight electricians that do the wiring?

@EverestBrady Yes.

@MikeBotkin_ Still looking to buy companies?

@StrongpointRich Don’t hire until it really hurts. Year-round labor should be 70/80% of what peak staff # is.

Many owners in the trades learn the hard way that field labor isn't truly variable. Yeah, it falls in COGS so it looks variable on paper. But you're paying those guys whether the phones ring or not. It's fixed. Staff for peak and you'll hit your margin targets all summer. Then September comes, revenue drops, and your labor bill doesn't move. You get hit on both sides at once - a compressed gross margin on reduced revenue. Over-staff and you get crushed on your bottom line most of the year. Under-staff and you'll struggle to serve demand when it shows up. Have to find a middle ground, which can be hard to do when demand is constantly shifting and you operate on a 4-day schedule. After being thumped over the head a few too many times, I'd now rather have to get creative to meet surging demand than be stressed that my team is idle without work.

My wife just said the Super Bowl is a concert, with a football game played before and after.

@bbbgrnr @RAHequity Oh wow, that's awesome. Thank you for listening. Please reach out anytime!

@RAHequity @MikeBotkin_ Same here! First heard on Acquiring Minds and then started snooping around X and other places to hear more. I’m just over a year into ownership and we are making a solid go of things. This coming winter, I intend to reach out to you for some specific questions.

I've had hundreds of people email me over the last few years, seeking advice on a landscaping business they were looking to buy or the industry in general. I wonder how many actually acquired one? I wonder if I assisted anyone in taking the leap based on my comments? I wonder if any passed solely because of my comments? I always tried to say (directly or indirectly), don't take what I say as gospel. If you're confident, go! I wish I'd kept track; it would be interesting to see which group went through with buying vs. not.

SMB digital marketing agencies are usually either super vague or overly complex (using odd terms and talking in circles) in their explanations to people so people don’t figure out they are full of shit. The reality is, what 9/10 digital marketing companies do, can be learned via 2 weeks of deep research and 90 days of A/B testing. I’ll leave the convo with this. Lead gen is the entire fuel to SMB. If somebody, who is selling $500-5k a month service to an SMB, is good enough to be directly responsible for major qualified lead gen flow….do you think they’d a) be doing it, b) be doing it for SMB and not enterprise ? Nobody sells a service to SMB that could also sell it to enterprise.

@collinfrantz @MikeBotkin_ @MatznerJon That's my thought. Agencies may be wrong move long-term but at least we can learn the tactics?

Who are the best agencies in home services marketing?

@RLElmer @pslohmann It has worked really well for me.

@MikeBotkin_ @pslohmann This is great

Losing a great employee hits small businesses harder than most people realize. After 10 yrs of trial and error, here’s what I do: • Have them document their role • Decide if (and how) to backfill • Ask how you can help them next Remember: People move on. And that's okay.

@paulg I don’t understand spouses that email each other normal conversational messages. Maybe I use email wrong.

Me: What time do you want me to make dinner? Seven? Eight? Jessica: Seven. Me: Ok. (Goes to office.) Later: From: Jessica Livingston To: Paul Graham Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:57:20 Subject: Time for dinner!

@WilsonCompanies @wraithbrokerage I’ve always told owners, “if you think you want to sell in 2-3 years. Sell today. I rarely see it work the way you envision it going.” Sadly, very few listen. Also - greed is an insane drug.

@MikeBotkin_ @wraithbrokerage We are working a deal now that had an offer for 2x today’s value back in 21 and it’s painful to see the regret. I think it was pride and maybe thinking the ride would keep going but EBITDA is half what it was and execution just wasn’t there. It’s a shitty convo

The phrase I hear most often from owners who haven't sold: "I want to grow it more first" In most cases this is a mistake. The things that drive valuation in a sale are not the same things owners focus on when they try to "grow more." They chase top-line revenue, hire aggressively, take on debt, or stretch into new markets they don't fully understand. Two years later they're bigger on paper but less profitable, more stressed, and take home might be the same or less If your business is running well, throwing off cash, and you've been thinking about selling, don't assume bigger automatically means better outcome

@BuySellSMB In-house either domestic or global via @MatznerJon group. Never ‘sub’ out the life blood of your company (lead gen), especially to twitter agencies. Ask me how I know.

@MikeBotkin_ What’s your marketing move?