My guest Mike Botkin has recently acquired a landscaping company in Orlando, FL called B&B Landscaping and has finished his first 30 days in the business. One unique aspect of his deal is he raised his equity entirely through Twitter, which we talk about at the end of the episode. Mike and I discuss why he decided to acquire a landscaping business, what he’s learning from the seller and employees as he’s getting adjusted to being the new owner, building trust with employees and customers, and the roll-up potential of other landscaping companies in his area.  If you’re about to acquire a company and are curious on what your first few weeks are going to be like in the company, this is an episode you have to listen to. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

John Wilson, owner of Wilson Plumbing, shares his journey in growing the family business, hiring and training plumbers, and scaling a home services business. They discuss the nuances of operating in the plumbing industry, the benefits of flat rate pricing, and the debate between real estate and small business for wealth building. They also explore imposter syndrome, monetizing content, and the importance of sharing insights from industry operators.

My guest on this episode is Bill D’Alessandro, CEO of Elements Brands. Elements buys digitally native consumer brands and uses their expertise and playbook to scale them upward. Bill also co-hosts a podcast called Acquisitions Anonymous with Michael Girdley and Mills Snell, which I highly recommend checking out. Bill and I talk about his experience starting a skin care brand while working in investment banking, why he decided to acquire more brands, the use of debt to acquire them, and the growing Elements Brands ecosystem. If you want to buy any online business, this episode is for you. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Matt Hinson. Matt is a director of corporate development at Orthopedic Care Partners, a private equity group focused on acquiring orthopedic surgery practices. Matt and I talk about how he acquires these practices, some operational improvements they apply in new acquisitions, how their strategy unlocks value for physicians, and how to hold onto physicians after buying their practice.  One last note, Matt recently published two articles on Substack, one about calculating working capital in a deal process and another about how a seller might rake you over the coals in a deal. I’m adding links to these in the show notes and I highly recommend reading them if you’re involved in acquiring small companies in any way. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

This is the second time I’ve had David Krock on the podcast, the first was episode 6 where we broadly discussed his investment firm, Sunset Coast Brands which has now become PermaVentures. This second episode with him goes off the beaten path a bit. We talk about his firm’s rebranding, his hospitality and wedding investments during 2020, a concept he calls serendipity-as-a-service and how he designs his companies to benefit from serendipitous moments, and a few things he’s learned from doing deals through two recessions. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Palmer Higgins, a founding partner of Chenmark along with Trish and James Higgins. I’ve had Trish on the podcast twice before, episodes 1 and 23, and in those episodes we talked about Chenmark as a whole and what they look for in companies.  In this episode with Palmer, we talk about his move to one of their operating companies, Mainely Grass, as CEO. We go over lessons learned as an operator, how he thinks about acquisitions differently now being in the seller’s shoes, how they are making Mainely Grass more efficient, tuck in acquisition opportunities, and what happened to his great podcast, Big Time Small Business. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

David Johnson started Northridge 4x4, a Jeep parts and accessories business, in his father’s garage and eventually hired his father and brother to help in the business. The company only grew from there and David has several great stories in his 20 years growing the business. Northridge also does most business online and so a good portion of our conversation revolves around running an e-commerce business model.  In the episode we talk about the hires he made to grow the company, why he still answers most emails from customers, how he hires skilled mechanics, and new ways and technologies to better serve and market to his customers. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest is Brandon Laughridge. Brandon lives in Kansas City and owns a property management company North Terrace and a furniture and home interior store Nell Hill’s, along with a growing real estate portfolio. This is the first episode on the podcast where we discuss how real estate overlaps with owning small companies, something I hadn’t spent much time thinking about until meeting Brandon. Those on Twitter will recognize Brandon as he has been a key contributor to SMB Twitter, perhaps most notably from a thread he did on what he believes is the most certain path to building a high net worth that I’ll link to in the show notes. In addition to real estate and Twitter, we talk about using SBA loans to buy small companies, what drives key employees, and why Brandon moved away from online based businesses towards property management, home goods, and real estate. I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest Matt Estep got his business start early in life when he started a go-kart manufacturing business in high school with dreams of eventually being a professional NASCAR driver. The business still exists today but Matt sold it with other plans in mind. Matt went to Harvard Business School, launched a search fund, and acquired Midwest Supplies. Following the sale of that business to a private equity group, Matt has invested in multiple other small companies and dozens of search funds.During the episode Matt and I talk about some of the changes and improvements he made in Midwest Supplies, a business of his that has struggled through COVID, what he looks for in new acquisitions, and some niche companies he’s found such as a fireworks retailer and a mall Santa business. This conversation was a fantastic blend of investing and operating and I hope you walk away with some great lessons from both sides.For the full episode transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest Aaron Green founded a staffing company called Professional Staffing Group, or PSG, in 1996. He has grown it along with 6 other related companies to just shy of $100m in revenue and 2,000 employees. Most of my guests operate small companies and PSG of course started small, but I wanted to learn from an owner who had managed to scale a company and their role in it over a long period of time.Frequent listeners of Think Like an Owner may notice a connection to previous guest Jared Henderson, CEO of Assist Services. Aaron is an investor in that company along with Tim Ludwig, who introduced me to both, and we chat briefly about the company near the end of our conversation. Over the course of the episode, we talk about hiring for growth, books and models for managing that have worked for Aaron, how he’s learned to delegate, and how he spends his time today as his company has grown.I learned a lot from this conversation with Aaron and I hope you walk away with a few lessons and insights too.For the full transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.