From Wall Street to Water Heaters: The Counterintuitive Playbook for 4x Growth in 3 Years | Lazy Leverage #71

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Sep 5, 2025

Aizik Zimerman, Owner and CEO of J Blanton Plumbing, transformed the company from $6 million to a $25 million run rate in just three years. He boldly claims his business isn't plumbing, but rather a consumer sales and marketing venture. Aizik shares his strategy of leveraging global talent to combat the skilled labor shortage, allowing him to pay technicians above market rates. He also discusses the importance of obsession in business and advocates for organic growth over acquisitions, pushing the boundaries of traditional plumbing practices with innovative marketing strategies.

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ANECDOTE

Fast Owner-Led Turnaround

Aizik bought J. Blanton Plumbing three years ago with no trades background and scaled it from $6M to a $25M run rate.
He learned the industry by obsessively studying operators and joining best-practice groups like Nexstar.

INSIGHT

Business Identity Reframe

Aizik reframes the company as a consumer sales and marketing business that happens to install plumbing.
That mindset directs investment into branding, demand, and consumer experience rather than plumbing identity alone.

ADVICE

Measure Team Composition

Track headcount and composition: Aizik grew from ~20 to ~130 people by adding a global team.
Use global hires to scale non-core functions while keeping strong local field staffing.

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Jon sits down with Aizik Zimerman, who bought J. Blanton Plumbing three years ago at $6 million in revenue and has since grown it to a $25 million run rate—without acquiring a single company. His secret? He doesn't think he runs a plumbing company at all.

"We're a consumer sales and marketing business," Aizik says. "We just happen to install plumbing." This mindset shift explains why he has two full-stack developers, a fleet of overseas recruiters, and runs 10 marketing events per week across Chicago.

Jon talks to Aizik about his unconventional approach to the skilled labor shortage. While competitors struggle to find plumbers, he's built a 40-person global team handling everything from inbound calls to permit pulling. This allows him to pay his field technicians $4-6 above market rates without raising prices, creating what Jon calls "labor specialization at $10 million instead of $200 million."

They dive deep into the power of obsession. Aizik admits he listens to home services podcasts for fun and treats business like a game where you need to master both consumer branding and blue-collar labor management. As Jon notes, channeling Naval: "It's hard to be the best plumber in the world, but straightforward to be the best plumber-marketer combination."

They also break down bet sizing, multichannel marketing density, and why organic growth beats acquisitions when you're printing money. Aizik's approach is to find what works, then do 10x more of it.

Key Topics:
(05:40) From 20 to 130 Employees: The Growth Story
(13:51) Solving the Skilled Labor Crisis with Global Talent
(18:56) Single-Task Global Employees and ROI
(22:37) Labor Specialization: The $10M Company Secret
(25:27) Revenue Stair-Steps: $6M to $25M Journey
(32:21) Multichannel Marketing and Geographic Domination
(35:17) The Naval Principle: Being the Best Combination
(44:21) Bet Sizing and Risk Management