Tom Barr

@therobertbrooks That’s awesome, wonderful to follow along!

Google LSA finally approved today. Background checks felt like they took forever. Our ability to answer the phone is solid and we book visits above 90% from what I can see. Data needs to get cleaner, but I think we are in a decent place. Hopefully we can start putting some marketing dollars to work now.

@therobertbrooks Congrats, looking forward to following the journey.

It's official - We are closed! What a journey! Here the summary.. In August, I took a sabbatical from a global executive career in data and AI in the HR industry. I wasn't very happy with things and didn't feel fulfilled. I wanted to get away from the bureaucracy and get back into a place where I could make real impact on real people and build something meaningful. I decided I wanted to pursue acquiring a company. In December I attended @SMBootcamp_ with @Sam_Rosati to accelerate my journey and took a few weeks to get my search set up. Kicking into high gear after the first of the year, I went under LOI on Feb 21 and set a goal to close in May before the busy season really starts in HVAC here in Central Florida. @patrickdichter set me up and @DevinWanzor fought in the trenches with me on financials and QOE for way longer than it should have been because of some super challenging books but we ended in a great place with a solid QOE result. I knew legal was important to me so I went with the best at @smblawgroup and my attorneys Jennifer and Laura went above and beyond on everything with the standard agreements plus designing and facilitating an F re-org to support a stock sale with asset treatment and QSBS election. I think the legal structure of this deal might as complex as possible for a deal of this size and there is no way I could have done it without them. I had great sellers and a great bank with @AlanPetersonSBA that both understood working capital and as a result I'm in a great place to kick things off on Monday with very manageable risk and a ton of opportunity to grow the business. Officially 99 days from LOI to close and just in time for the full ramp into busy season with @servicescalers and @ethanwrighttx already engaged and in high gear on website refresh, GMB and SEO. The future is here and I'm ready for it. Lets go!

Just learned Enterprise Rent-A-Car was named after the USS Enterprise—the WWII carrier the founder served on. That bumps them up a notch in my book.

@STLChrisH @STLChrisH What metric do you track to determine when to add the next layer? FCF/Tech, GM($)/Tech, or something else?

$13 million revenue: Added 100% paid health insurance (roughly $18k per team member for family coverage) $18 million revenue: Awarded all PTO days on the date of hire (no waiting period) $30 million revenue: Doubled 401k match from 4% to 8% $40 million revenue: Eliminated onerous 24/7/365 "on-call"; when you get home at the end of the day, that time with your family is yours $56 million revenue: Added 2 additional paid holidays (Black Friday and Christmas Eve), bringing total paid holidays up to 8 per year $80 million revenue: Launched "Hoffmann Brothers University" -- a 40k sqft training facility enabling team members to reach their full potential. $105 million revenue: Added 1 additional week of 100% paid parental leave; Added 1 additional flex holiday, bringing total holidays to 9 $140 million revenue: Added 5 additional PTO days to starting balance for all employees; Moved the 20-day award up to the 5th year anniversary. $165 million revenue: TBD And our customers? They've given us an average of 4.9 star rating on google, with over 20,000 reviews across all GMB locations. A lot of companies talk about driving wins across a broad group of stakeholders that includes (1) team members, (2) customers, and (3) shareholders. We are committed to delivering a win-win-win in a meaningful way.

@jcolesimpson @pinpulleddrmf Don’t forget the dushka!

@pinpulleddrmf Sounds fun I just need to get you that truck?

In the last 3 months I have had two offers to "buy" the recruiting arm of Uncommon. We barely have financials, yet they ask. And so while nothing is for sale, everything is for sale. And my price:

@chernobelskiy I could see value for LPs considering investing in a GP to reach out to current LPs as part of their DD.

Thinking about launching a way for LPs invested in the same deal/sponsor to find one another with ease I would love any and all feedback! Here's what I'm thinking:

@WilsonCompanies Love the XL hybrid, great vehicle!!

Just bought 17 ford mavericks here we fgo.

@meetmikehiggins Ignore, I don’t actually see a question in the email.

You get this email from the city appraiser. Are they asking in hopes of increasing my property taxes? First time I have gotten one.

@MattBMartin @STLChrisH This was my experience in 2011.

I had the exact opposite experience when getting out as an O3 in 2007. I was discouraged from even taking my exit physical "because a possible disability rating may make me appear less qualified than others" in the market and "missed work time with potential follow-up appointments with VHA may be frowned upon by my employer." I already had a lucrative opportunity lined up and the subsequent 11 years proved so. I didn't want to chance anything so I skipped my exit physical. Turns out my new company couldn't have cared less if I had any disability rating or even known. Hindsight 20/20.

A lot of military veterans don’t want to talk about this: When I was preparing to leave the Marine Corps, leaders were encouraging folks to participate in a “benefits before discharge” program. This program involved a thorough medical evaluation in order to support a disability claim. In my case, I had an ankle injury that resulted in a ligament reconstruction. Legitimate? Sure. But here’s the problem: The military has made it far too easy - and encourage all separating military members to seek disability payments. For any thing. Small things. I’ve heard egregious stories of veterans who claimed a host of “hard to prove” medical issues (mental health, erectile dysfunction, etc) - only to receive massive ongoing disability payments. Heck- tons of vets never even left the country, and now are getting lifetime disability payments for their stateside service. It felt like “dishonesty” was almost encouraged and accepted in these disability applications. I have good friends - consultants, bankers, attorneys - receiving $10000+ per year… while having tremendously successful professional careers. I’m not suggesting veterans disability should go away. But the award process requires more rigor and more scrutiny. And someone earning $250000+ in their career shouldn’t be receiving disability payments. I certainly shouldn’t- yet I’m eligible. Anything “veteran” related is hard to reform and take away… but this is certainly “in scope” for our ongoing effort to root out fraud, waste, and abuse.

@seanfrank 1.1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible 2.1970 Ford Bronco (First Generation) 3.1969 Dodge Charger R/T 4.1965 Ford Mustang Fastback 2+2 5.1971 Plymouth Cuda 440

I have a $500,000 budget. I need to buy 5 cool eye catching cars. What do you recommend?

@therobertbrooks Shoot me a note if I can be helpful.

Seller call complete and the only red flag is customer concentration. Sellers are willing to sign a contingent note to mitigate that risk. Sellers believe I'm a good guy and that the business in good hands with me. Guess I need to write an LOI and submit on Monday!

@mhp_guy That’s an incredibly high NOI for 145 lots. Each lot is averaging $900+ per month?

FINALLY! We're under contract to buy a big RV park in beautiful NW Arkansas. Size: 145 sites & 50 acres Cap rate at purchase: 9.7% Location: Springdale. ~35 mins from Bentonville, the airport, University of Arkansas, etc. Purchase price: 10,000,000 We're getting seller financing for $6.5m at 4.5%, and raising the rest from investors and GPs. Bonus depreciation drops from 60 to 40% at the end of the month so we're running and gunning in December. At 1pm CST today I'm hosting a live webinar about this park and what the bonus depreciation drop means. Anyone is free to ask questions. The link for the webinar is in the top comment below. It will be recorded if you can't make it.

@ChrisRamsey60 Not sure there is a best structure, but I definitely think it should include crystallization.

What is the best GP/LP structure for long term real estate holders. 10+ years?

You must be willing to walk away, but your next move depends on context. A lot hinges on your relationship with the seller, deal competitiveness, and why the EBITDA is lower. Are these critical expenses driving the business, or fluff that can be eliminated? If the adjusted EBITDA still supports your model with a solid margin of safety, you can justify moving forward. However, if the revision fundamentally undermines your investment thesis, it’s time to renegotiate or step away.

You have an HVAC SMB under LOI and the QofE comes back with EBITDA 25% less than what you based your offer on. What’s your next move?

@_apryor I agree with 100% compulsory service, but options should include military, national park service, Teach For America, or some other form of public service.

Controversial opinion - Compulsory military service out of high school/college would fix a lot of our issues as a society Develop discipline and respect, guaranteed jobs and training, build important habits What do you think?

It doesn’t seem entirely accurate to say that MBA programs only teach traditional search or lean heavily toward PE-backed paths. While some professors have fund and do support traditional searchers, there are also dedicated resources for self-funded paths. In my MBA experience, both options were presented fairly, though it’s true that many students might initially lean toward traditional search due to immediate funding needs. Self-funding often requires a more extensive network and financial preparation that some recent graduates might not have yet.

Why is it that most MBA programs mostly (only?) teach traditional search, and not self-funded ... Are most of those programs funded by folks with PE firms that invest in traditional searchers?

@AaronHarperCEO As the CEO of a franchise, who are your customers and are you more focused on 1 or 2?

Two ways to grow a business: 1. Get more customers 2. Make the customers worth more If a business owner is not obsessing over these things, the business isn’t growing

@AaronHarperCEO That is an interesting study. If you look at car washes, gyms, and some home servicing niches you would assume there is no issue with billing monthly. Did Alex charge annually with his gyms?

How do you increase customer retention and decrease churn? Before I tell you, in case you don’t know me, I run a power washing franchise with 187 locations in 26 states. I spent a couple days with Alex Hormozi learning a TON. I have been posting stuff I learned from him here Studies show that the more you bill your customers, the more they churn. The decrease in churn from billing monthly to annually is staggering Most business can’t do that due to cashflow constraints but what he suggested is taking a large pre-payment that covers the cost of delivery and then wait another 3 months before billing again In that 3 months, add as much value to your customer as quickly as possible He talked a lot about “time to value” (TTV). If you are doing things for your customers behind the scenes, tell them about it The more you can communicate with them about how you are helping them, the more value they will perceive your product or service gives them. Follow along as I create more content about the stuff I learned from Alex Hormozi: @AaronHarperCEO

@bradford_hardin I have not had a Garmin in a long time, but it does everything I need for multi-day adventure races and ultramarathons at a dramatically more reasonable price. It has great battery life and gps accuracy.

@tomjbarr Why do you prefer it to Garmin?

One of your favorite Twitter personalities has fallen into the rabbit hole