In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with his good friend and fellow operator, Rich Jordan, to unpack how he scaled from $700K to over $30M in just five years — across three branches and two states.
Rich shares the unfiltered lessons from going multi-location, from the chaos of centralizing call centers too early, to re-decentralizing and finally recentralizing with the right infrastructure. He and John dive into the cultural challenges of acquisitions, how to win buy-in with frontline techs, why leadership development is the true bottleneck, and how “force of will” integrations differ from slow-play rollouts.
Rich also reveals how his team pushed margins up 10 points in just 60 days, why he cut a top producer to save culture, and what it takes to prepare for a Greenfield launch while still buying and integrating new branches.
Together, they unpack:
- The jump from $700K → $30M in five years through multi-location growth
- Centralize vs. decentralize — when to share services and when to split
- Driving culture post-acquisition with rapid feedback loops and frontline wins
- Leadership pipelines from the trades and the military
- Integration style: high-touch, high-speed, “bear hug” takeovers
- Preparing for Greenfielding — recruiting, training, and marketing from scratch
🎙️ Host
John Wilson
🎙️ Guest
Rich Jordan
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John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC
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