Nick Patrick

@dmytrope Solar

Most lead generation platforms in the home service industry rely heavily on Google. Some, like Yelp, collect huge amounts of organic traffic, while others spend millions of dollars annually on paid search ads. While gathering data on home service business rankings, I analyzed how these platforms rank and advertise across 400,000 high-intent local keywords in various home service industries. If you want to know which platforms are worth betting your budget on for leads, reply to this tweet with your industry, and I’ll share the insights with you via DM.

@themfgfellow There’s multiple radar detectors that can be picked a part and mounted with the display on n the interior. Technically should mount as high a possible though

There ought to be a radar warning receiver that is less conspicuous. Perhaps the receiver can be under the hood and have a companion app that connects to Apple carplay/Android auto? If one is pulled over while having this on, you're never getting off with a warning.

@theSLRguy @sam_allsopp_ Nice we try to avoid virtual at all costs but more appointments (age old problem) would balance it out in theory….

@picknatrick @sam_allsopp_ Close rate on virtual vs in-person is lower, but it is easier to set virtual appointments vs in-home so total CAC is pretty level.

One of my top sales guys made over $30k last month. Every single sale was a company set appointment. No door-knocking, no self gens, just driving his company vehicle to company set leads. He’s 23 years old. He makes far more than most the guys with agencies/house cleaning businesses/pressure washing businesses/ecom stores/meme coin trading etc. and he works max 40 hours per week. He goes to sleep at night knowing the company set two appointments for him tomorrow and that he’s not responsible for anything after the contract is signed. I get the whole hustle culture/ecom/agency stuff in your 20s - but don’t write off good ol fashioned sales.

@theSLRguy @sam_allsopp_ Interesting… how’s your virtual close rate?

@picknatrick @sam_allsopp_ Yep they’ve been selling solar for years and have mostly transitioned from Door to door to virtual selling. We will still do door to door blitzes where we get 40-60 guys to go door knock an entire city, but for year around this is more consistent volume.

@theSLRguy @sam_allsopp_ Are these US bros living over there…?

@sam_allsopp_ We are doing this in Solar. Guys virtual closing from Bali from company set appointments

@pestctrlguy @GoogleMyBiz Down 8%…

We promised everyone on our team AND their spouses a steak dinner at the nicest place in town when we hit 1000 reviews. Last night we had 901. This morning we have 780. @GoogleMyBiz what’s going on here? Why are you punishing local businesses that push so much traffic here and see Google as the most important factor online?

@STLChrisH My wedding biz took 50% 6 months out, final 50% due 7 days prior to the event

“Negative working capital” = the holy grail You get deposits in advance. Balance due upon completion. It’s one of the reasons resi hvac is so attractive. Combine this with >50% gross margins… Hard to beat.

How big of a sample size do I need before I know this really is working...? Only 4 days in

@sam_allsopp_ To build on this - "being dangerous" is that able to quantify/place metrics on the success of the agency and understand at a high level if you are seeing ROI/good COA? Are you using tech to keep people accountable to following the talk track or...?

I’d learn enough about the lead gen side to be dangerous - but ultimately find a good agency partner to run the day to day. Where most people get screwed is they don’t even know how to manage the agency or assess their competency/results. The agency gets passive because the retainer keeps coming in and the biz owner keeps paying it. Sales I’d hold onto myself for as long as I could before hiring a manager or director. Establish a playbook and a process and a talk track that every single rep uses at every single appointment and hold them accountable.

“Hey Sam how have you been able to 2x yoy for the past 5 years?” I spend a lot of money on marketing. I don’t want to rely on anyone else to drive my growth. I’m too impatient to wait for everyone to see my trucks and give me referrals. I’d grow faster if all I had to worry about was marketing and sales. I spent years running google ads myself for roofers, and scaling e-commerce brands through fb ads before I started my roofing company from scratch. Being able to generate leads on demand has been our biggest lever for growth.

@sam_allsopp_ Good stuff thx

@sam_allsopp_ Crushing it

We've sold $2.8 million in roofs as of today, Jan 27 2025, with a few days left in the month - a significant leap from YTD 2024's figure, just shy of $1 million. Almost 3x growth 2024 YTD 2024 vs 2025. We did just shy of 30 million in 2024 and are gunning for 60 this year. Here are a few key takeaways: 1. Screw what anyone else thinks. I've about 2x my business YoY since I started it in 2019. EVERY SINGLE YEAR people tell me why I wont be able to do it again. Usually there's an agenda there, but sometimes its just their negative outlook on life and business. If you have a goal, don't let others tell you what is "realistic." Remember though - don't just state a goal then loosely attempt to execute. This is NOT easy. I state it publicly to incentivize myself even more to shut the negative people up. I do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal. If i'm going to miss a goal, I will do so knowing I did everything I possibly could to accomplish it. 2. You have to set a goal and then work backwards to identify what you need to be doing DAILY to trip over that goal. Lets use marketing and lead gen for example (I've identified these KPIs all throughout my business) - I want to hit 60 million this year. I need to identify my main drivers - average ticket, close rate, booking rate, sit rate, monthly rev needed, daily rev needed, service mix,, etc. etc. to land on a specific number of appointments I need to book daily. This is the first thing I look at every morning. If I am not booking enough appointments then I am accepting defeat. As long as everything else stays constant (which I adjust for all year) I will hit my growth goal. This is well oversimplified but you get the gist. 3. Pay A players well over industry average. 1 good A player does the job of 4 B and C players. If you find an A player, and have it in the budget, bring them on - If they are truly an A they will get a return even if they dont have a perfect fit in your company day 1. 4. Networking through X has been invaluable. Meeting individuals who are several steps ahead has dramatically accelerated my learning curve.

This is such a specific scenario, presumably she needed the losses when she was sold the portfolio and it doesn’t make sense to unwind at this point. I really don’t see many situations where a client is worse off with tax loss harvesting (assuming they have the have a decent sized portfolio/income)

@picknatrick Doesn’t need the income from sales. She lives off the dividends. So, she has a 750 stock portfolio that generates a lot of tax losses that she’ll never use. What’s the point? The point is evergreen fees to the asset manager. That’s the point.

I’m seeing more direct indexing portfolios being sold by Fidelity advisers to people who don’t have a need for large tax losses and never will. One victim is a 76 year old widow who has 750 stocks in two portfolios, sold to her by a Fidelity rep who knew nothing about her taxes.

@guessworkinvest Nice good share. I set this up via gohighlevel, just had to check a box

This is a how-to thread on creating your own Google Review reply automation for your Google Business Profile. Zapier makes it dead simple, but sometimes it's easier to just be shown. It'll also let the team know about good & bad reviews in Slack.

Inherited SEO guy told me "Wix is better than WordPress or Drupal for SEO." Is this evenly remote true?

Denver ETA is getting after it in 2025. Search continues to rise! If you’re in Colorado, come check out the ETA meetups… once per month, typically the first Wednesday of the month. If you’re not in Denver… find your crowd or just ping me, I’ll help connect you in the space.

Any scraping masters know how to get a list of businesses that own their own building?

@judd_goodrich 1. Was my #1 trait I was looking for. It is greatly under appreciated.

I spend all day talking to people who buy SMBs. Here’s a few predictions for ETA going into 2025: 1. "Seller Personality Risk" will get more attention I just keep hearing stories of companies failing because they were acquired from a toxic seller, either a bad personality that outright lied on financial performance, or someone almost deliberately tanking operations post close, or starting the exact same business months after selling (despite a non-compete). I think “seller personality” will become just as much of a factor in buying a business as customer concentration or cyclicality. A good seller can really set you up for success, a bad seller can absolutely destroy a business. Perhaps there’s an opportunity in doing extensive seller background checks and creating a risk profile. Like a personality QoE. 2. TikTok Creators and ETA Grifters I heard the phrase "ETA is the new dropshipping" the other day, and I’m not surprised. Anytime you can spin a get-rich-quick story, you can sell a high-margin "how to buy a business" course. Unfortunately, we’ll see more bad actors, and more passive/non committal buyers. 3. Private Equity Targeting SBA Buyers More and more PE companies are reaching out looking for introductions to people who’ve already acquired businesses through the SBA program. The thesis is that PE wants to back operators experienced in acquisitions, and those operators want to take some chips off the table or roll up faster in their industries. 4. Growth of College ETA Programs The increased growth of college ETA programs means many first-time acquirers entering the space. Brokers may become frustrated and screen for "serious buyers" harder than they already do. On the flip side, businesses <$500,000 in EV may move more easily as entrepreneurs look to get into the game, which I think is a net positive. 5. More overseas hiring Everyone I know buying businesses has some overseas talent, one hire always leads to more hires, most roles that can be done remotely will be done with international talent. 6. Increased Investor Interest will professionalize ETA We're onboarding a few hundred investors a month actively looking to participate but concerned about - governance - visibility - standardization of terms Everyone wants more predictability in terms of expectations. Honestly, many of these predictions are very anecdotal, I could be totally wrong. So please, if anything here is a little misguided, add comments below. OR, just tell me what you’re seeing that you think we can expect to see more of in 2025. 👇

@joshualowenthal What if it’s just a single member llc with nothing else funky (no investors, not othership etc)? Seems straightforward to me

The close of the tax year is coming up quickly. This is your friendly reminder that no matter what your CPA or tax professional tells you, do not, I repeat do NOT elect to be taxed as an S Corp until after talking with your tax lawyer.