Nathan Lenahan | Recruiting your next SMB leader
@n8lenahan
Followers
4,274
Following
1,942
Media
175
Statuses
2,118
Recruiting operators for sweaty industries with Smooth Operators. Hired 1200+ people over last 7 years. Army vet. Co-owner of Barts HVAC. Dad jokes. Family.
Fort Worth, Texas
Joined September 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
FREEN X TIFFANY & CO
• 115273 Tweets
ナイトメア
• 68220 Tweets
超・獣神祭
• 63237 Tweets
#GoBackModi
• 58943 Tweets
Kep1er
• 51790 Tweets
Coyuca de Benítez
• 50522 Tweets
Marcelo
• 43233 Tweets
yeonjun
• 39590 Tweets
ジューンブライド
• 38704 Tweets
ナイトウェア
• 34515 Tweets
あなたの悪夢
• 33263 Tweets
Luciano
• 31615 Tweets
#MHA424
• 26095 Tweets
Deku
• 21119 Tweets
購入予定
• 18041 Tweets
Eastern Cape
• 13709 Tweets
Zubeldia
• 12801 Tweets
Limpopo
• 12581 Tweets
Gauteng
• 12233 Tweets
シールド
• 11473 Tweets
Colosio
• 10816 Tweets
ヴィブロス
• 10813 Tweets
BINI SA ISLANG PANTROPIKO
• 10352 Tweets
One of my favorite lessons from the Army:
Be decisive. Worry less about being wrong or right and more about making a call.
People will forget about your decisions but will remember if you learned from them.
Make the call. Learn from it. Move on.
9
33
366
I lost my life savings 🏦 and went over $150k into debt
buying a business with my brother
A 🧵
24
27
350
Our path from $900K to $4M revenue in 20 months
The first HVAC company we bought was not a business. We thought it was, but it really wasn’t. It was a book of business with 46 google reviews and a 4.5 rating.
There were only two things that survived longer than 90 days after
56
14
332
6. Doing it all over again now. Closing on a business in early Nov. A little failure ain't going to stop me.
7. Can't stop, won't stop
#SMB
#learningnotfailure
25
4
281
Just had a local HVAC co. decide to shutdown.
They reached out to us because we had a great local reputation and asked if they could send all their customers to us.
No cost. Just wanted to make sure we took care of the customers.
Might be the best call we got this week!
☎️
14
4
264
I’m a pretty mellow guy until you make me order for my family of 6 in a drive thru with 8 cars behind us and no one knows what they want
16
6
260
Bought 35 unit apartment complex 2 years ago nearly to the day.
Bought for $1.15M, invested $350K, lender is saying worth ~$2.5M now.
Demonstrates the power of RE. But also luck. A lot of luck. Especially since we could have managed it 100% better than we have.
22
4
237
Crazy that vehicles are second largest asset class for people with less than $10K net worth
I thought real estate would be a higher percentage among brackets but tops out in the $1M-$10M NW bracket
And business interests reign supreme at $10M+ NW. Part of why I’m long on
#SMB
24
36
229
I got married at 18.
While homeless.
I slept in my girlfriend’s car. Or sometimes in public parks. Or closed down restrooms. One time in the sand of a volleyball court and was chased off by the cops.
My first night homeless I went to my place of work (car dealership) and
25
1
185
I’m on my way to visiting my younger brother and listening to Frankel’s Man’s Search for Meaning and can’t help but think about our ability to choose happiness regardless of our circumstances.
Below is a picture of me as a 7 YO holding the same brother I’m about to visit.
19
4
169
When you're looking at houses and you realize you might be thinking about HVAC too much lol.
All I can see on this beautiful house is the AC condenser down on the edge of a cliff and how the heck I would service that 🤣
19
3
160
So we bought a home service business - 8 month update
A [long] thread
What have we learned?
20
5
142
Officially closed on acquisition
#2
today!! Huge shoutout to the deal team (all from SMB twitter)
@KHendersonCo
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
@SBA_Ray
HVAC company in northern DFW adjacent to Bart's HVAC service area. Will share more after announcing to team. A few lessons:
30
3
125
After 3+ years of mostly passive searching, close first HVAC deal
30 days in to new business and meet a friend of our seller that own's plumbing business.
Us: How's business?
Him: It'd be better if you bought it from me
30 days later: verbal agreement & LOI in works
12
0
123
@realEstateTrent
And it feels fed by ego (not calling you out specifically). I have this job you want you should show me gratitude for entertaining you as a candidate with a thank you note.
Candidates are tired of being ghosted as well. They have not been valued like they should in hiring.
2
0
112
25. I sell a rental home and pay off the debt over the following 16 months
Lessons learned -
1. Due diligence is critical. We thought we were good at finding things, but the seller was better at hiding them
2. People can be shady. Lead with trust, but always verify.
3
5
100
Had a really tough day last week in
#SMB
ownership. Wanted to quit with all my being. So easy to go get a cushy W2 making great money.
The goal for that day quickly became - DO NOT QUIT.
Nothing else mattered. Nothing.
Step back, deep breath, GO.
Do it all again tomorrow.
7
5
102
3. Every person has their share of experiences they are ashamed of. This is one of mine.
4. Tuition is expensive, especially when getting an education you weren't expecting.
5. I love my brother. I would take a chance on him again in a second. Some things are bigger than business
4
2
91
SMB is cool and all, but have you bought a car that doesn’t run with your son and got it back running together?
Alternator replaced and she started right up.
First time either of has replaced an alternator.
Highly recommend. He suggested we buy a car and work on it
11
2
95
Did I mention my son got into the University of Texas at Austin!!
Second generation Longhorn
Will be studying Math and wants to teach one day!
Hook’em!! 🤘
7
0
94
@realEstateTrent
I used to strongly agree with this. Now I completely disagree. It’s had no correlation with hiring success from my experience.
As a candidate, I’ve sent over 100 of these and literally had one person respond back. That’s a waste. Hiring mgrs no longer have the upper hand.
2
4
88
Recently read a letter I wrote my wife while I was in Iraq in 2003.
“I want to gain about 25lbs and get up to 185 so I don’t look like a little kid anymore.”
[steps on scale today]
237 👀
Good to know I’m setting goals and still crushing them 19 years later 🤣
5
0
81
In 20 months we’ve gone from 46 reviews and a 4.5 star rating to 414 reviews and a 4.9 star rating.
Our biggest success here has stemmed from a quick text follow up the day after service. If the response is positive our CSR personally asks for a review and this has really
11
0
77
On pace for 285% revenue growth YOY for August.
38% revenue growth from July to August despite call & lead volume dropping
20%+ since August 1.
No change in marketing spend.
Only change: One person took ownership of the sales process.
Incredible results have followed!
7
1
66
Biggest lesson I thought I knew and have continued to learn at a VERY deep level since our first acquisition:
GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN GROSS MARGIN
If it’s less than 40% you have more work than you think to fix it. Way more.
6
6
66
#SMB
hey there! Long time watcher first time poster. Wrapping up first acquisition of HVAC business in next two weeks but I’ve (been saying that for 6 weeks). Here’s some of the journey so far:
10
3
62
Today’s the last day of my full time job!
I will be taking the week of thanksgiving off and then jumping into our HVAC business full time with my partner Scott.
Crazy excited!!
8
0
61
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
1. Commit with your spouse to put each other first even after having kids. Lots of nuance here, but you chose each other before you had kids and if you do it right you will still be choosing each other after the kids leave the home.
3
0
60
I’ve moved into the “I’m not getting any sleep because I’m equally stressed/excited” phase of SMB ownership.
Ok, maybe slightly heavier on the stressed side.
Reminder: SMB and home services are not easy.
Worth it? Absolutely.
Easy? Absolutely not.
3
3
58
Most random habit in my 20 years of marriage so far:
We have a 20 year running game of “1-2-3 not-it” that has become pretty sophisticated in its rules & application. With 4 kids and 6 pets, the game has been a lifesaver many times.
Rule
#1
: you must respect the “not-it.”
5
0
53
Well…there went the hire I was crazy excited about.
She let us know at 9:23pm the day before she were supposed to start that she wouldn’t be joining.
Gutted.
Back on the recruiting trail!
22
0
51
The twitter post that started a new business!
In a little over 90 days I've started a recruiting business just by asking a few questions online and then speaking to tons of potential customers and friends I've met through twitter.
The result: 50+ meetings, $200K+ in contracts
15
2
51
My first marketing email by the numbers for our HVAC business:
Background - led marketing teams but never really "did" it.
1 email
3110 recipients
976 Opens (38.2%)
11 Clicks (.4%)
61 Unsubscribes
7 Abuse complaints 🤣
8 5-star reviews
$21,000 in revenue
a🧵
@hq_storage
7
1
49
Checks for payment 🧾
Opinion before buying an SMB:
I despise checks. Hate them. 100% wanted to get rid of them day 1 of ownership.
Now:
Warming up as a payment method despite the extra work. ZERO transaction cost is sexy.
Surprised by # of ppl w/ checkbooks still
15
0
49
@land_atl
@realEstateTrent
Who’s teaching the rules to this game? And why are they arbitrary and different for every hiring manager you speak with? Supply & demand are really shaking up the hiring landscape. This won’t be good enough anymore.
0
0
48
So freaking close...only had 45 reviews and 4.5 stars 6 months ago!!
3
0
46
Covering for our Team this weekend so they get a bit of a break.
Just sold $22k in HVAC.
Officially 100% close rate 😂
AMA
5
0
46
Today’s a double whammy:
1. Closing day!!! Can’t wait to jump into our HVAC business
2. We told my current company I’ll be departing along with 3 other senior leaders
3. Seems like perfect timing but the plan was to join the HVAC full time in about two years
12
0
44
Sent out first marketing email last week and closed a $21k job from it today.
Total ROI?
350x based on my $60 Mailchimp monthly subscription fee.
Not bad for my first try. Biggest learning? Just do it. Then learn from it. Then do it again.
6
0
46
If you don’t have your systems written down, then you don’t have systems.
Here’s the systems we’re working through at the moment for Barts. Documented, repeatable and scalable is the aim for each.
We took the names of the systems from the book The E-Myth HVAC Contractor.
5
2
42
1. I bought a business with my brother in diesel repair/fleet maintenance
2. Things were going great, until they weren't
3. We found out the previous owner had been stealing from customers
4. We immediately fixed it and notified the customers
5. Took a big hit credibility wise
1
0
37
Me: tells everyone I’m leaving my full time job to jump into SMB/startup life
People: come out of the literal woodworks to see how they can help us be successful
Grateful for all you incredible humans out there. So many kind people looking to help others and it’s awesome!
0
0
38
Made a call on a Craigslist ad yesterday for a Master Plumber and ended up with a strong lead for an off market Plumbing Company for sale in a target market.
All major acquisition targets in our pipeline are all off market opportunities (3) total.
Love this stuff!
6
0
38
I'm realizing that 90%+ of entrepreneurship is just not quitting long term.
Over the last year I've quit plenty of times short term.
Sometimes a few minutes.
Sometimes a few hours.
But never more than a day.
8
2
37
Off market business acquisitions sound awesome until you have to tell owners their baby is ugly but also you still want to buy it.
The amount of education with owners is 5X more than you think will be necessary.
So I guess the message is "thanks brokers?"
@ClintFiore
#SMB
7
2
37
Building a growing recruiting business from scratch
Smooth Operators Search - 5 month check in
Progress so far:
1. 7 roles placed YTD in 2024 - finalizing placement number 8 over next few days
2. Pacing between $600k - $700k in revenue this year
3. No advertising
12
4
34
When you might be having too much fun in your home services biz…
7
0
35
Hit our monthly revenue target already. Might have been a little too conservative for Jan. numbers
6
0
35
2 signed LOIs and a third very close.
Game time!
9
0
33
20th anniversary!!
I was gone 3+ yrs of our 1st 6 years of marriage & yet, here we are.
Married too young. Had children too young & yet, here we are.
Started broke & homeless & yet, here we are.
Happiness is a choice and I’m happy we chose it together.
How we did it a 🧵
6
0
34
If you’re interested in hiring or training up a GM or CEO/operator to help run your SMB I’d love to talk to you to learn more.
Feel free to comment or shoot me a DM
Also, if you’re interested in GM/Operator/CEO roles in the SMB space I’d love to hear from you as well. Shoot
5
3
33
The next reason you find yourself in a situation that makes happiness difficult, find meaning and choose happiness anyways.
It could make all the difference
3
0
33
And just like that, we’re no longer under contract for our next business. Found too much risk in first DD session with the owners.
They were awesome but couldn’t figure it out.
On to the next one.
Do it all again tomorrow.
7
0
32
Smooth Operator update:
We officially placed our first operator!! We had a huge amount of outreach for this awesome candidate and Marine Corps veteran.
We were able to talk to over 10 people with legitimate opportunities and put several in front of him.
He signed his offer
SMOOTH OPERATOR ALERT
We just had an incredible candidate come available looking for his next step:
Experienced CFO/COO in multi-location home service company. Marine Corps veteran with investment banking experience. Seasoned operator that is comfortable leading at any level.
2
6
24
9
1
32
Another role filled and another veteran hired at Smooth Operators Search!
One of my biggest goals in 2024 is to help place 50 veterans in America's sweaty businesses like skilled trades, manufacturing, transportation, construction and more.
To help keep me accountable I'm
8
2
31
@AndyHVandenBerg
We do make your own shish kabobs, just dice up the veggies and meat and marinades and put it out buffet style and keep the grill on or fire pit going. Has always been a huge hit.
2
0
32
Barts Update 24 Mar
1. Hit our quarterly revenue goal!! On pace to triple this year
2. Increased pace of receiving reviews. Now up to 4.8 star on google from 4.5 when we took over
3. Hired a new tech and he’s doing well
4. Revamped our price book again -> costs up ~25% in 22
6
0
32
2022 Biz Goals:
💵 Grow HVAC from $1M to $2.75M
🔥 Complete 2nd acq. & grow from $1M -> $2M; LOI in place; ETA to close early Q2
🤩 1000 google reviews (4.9⭐️); 1500 service contracts
🚀 Launch tech MVP for Homework in Q1; 1500 beta users
🏘️ Refinance Apts & return all cash
7
0
31
6. Found out previous owner was also trying to steal our customers and employees
7. We lost some of both
8. We tried everything: confronting him, cease & desist, holding back payments
9. We felt completely helpless
10. We kept going
11. We started to hit our groove
1
0
29
Last day of getting away before jumping into HVAC full time on Monday. Love seeing Utah and family!
5
0
30
@KrissBergTweets
Great thread and enlightening. It’s funny how common the urge is to just disappear into the mountains. Very good perspective, I think we’ve settled on buying a cabin in the mountains but not necessarily moving there as primary residence.
1
0
28
Most very successful home service companies are not growing profitably on their own, they are learning from proven models from best practice groups in the industry.
In home services, the two premier best practice organizations are called Nexstar and Certain Path.
They’ve
1
1
29
A little about me since I’ve never really introduced myself on here.
Family guy, married for nearly 20 years with four kiddos (2 boys, 2 girls) ages 10-19
Accidentally started that family at 18 years old so everything I’ve done in my career has been with them by my side.
7
0
28
Day 1 full time in the books:
1. Found new office space
2. Gas cards wouldn’t activate so went and filled up with team
3. Finalized paperwork for license transfer
4. Finally got Verizon phone numbers transferred over - only took 3.5 weeks
5. Built bones of new website
2
0
28
Had a plumbing owner reach out today we've previously spoken with
He secret shopped us & went through our website with a fine tooth comb & really enjoyed the experience vs how they do things
Doesn't know how to get it to that level
Interested in making a deal happen again
1
0
28
My 20 YO son who’s been working with me this summer (& who never wanted to work with me before):
“I had some time to think on Weds when things slowed down and I realized I’m really lucky to have the support I do from you guys. You’re a pretty cool Dad.”
Dang.
#grateful
2
0
27
SMOOTH OPERATOR ALERT
We just had an incredible candidate come available looking for his next step:
Experienced CFO/COO in multi-location home service company. Marine Corps veteran with investment banking experience. Seasoned operator that is comfortable leading at any level.
2
6
24
15. Gives us 30 day notice since we're on month to month term
16. We fight back stating 3 years & lease terms
17. Turns out our lease was falsified by the previous owner
18. Our hands are tied; we try to find a similar shop space nearbye but couldn't find anything reasonable
3
0
23
When I left the Army, the best role I could find paid $11/hr.
I was a top performer, had strong leadership experience and still couldn’t figure out how to translate it to the business world immediately.
With a family of 5, it was demoralizing.
Smooth Operators is more than
1
5
27
19. We tell our customers we're moving locations and they start dropping us as a vendor
20. My brother bows out; hadn't taken a paycheck in months and couldn't continue sacrificing like that with his family of 5
21. I was still working a full time job and Army National Guard
1
0
23
Came to Austin with the fam to pick up my son from college and visit the town a few days.
He chose to spend the entire day and night hanging with us despite being invited out to have fun with some of his college friends.
I think this is close to peak happiness.
AMA
4
0
26
I didn’t realize getting older would mostly just be asking what the weather is today and how your spouse slept last night until you die.
6
0
26
Another role filled, another veteran hired!
Kudos to the Marine Corps with another point on the scoreboard.
Surprised and excited by the success of our enlisted veterans so far!
Role: Director of Operations
Company: Nationally growing locksmith company
Location: DFW
8
0
26
My 2023 in review:
Lots of milestone birthdays - I turned 40, our oldest turned 21, our oldest daughter turned 18 and our younger son turned 16
Grew Barts HVAC 112%
Acquired a tuck in HVAC co.
Sued twice
Started a new company - Smooth Operators Search to help recruit
6
0
24
Thinking about doing a quarterly DFW in person SMB meet up.
I’m decent at getting these started but kinda hate running/maintaining them.
Anyone interested in this?
Thinking mid cities for location.
Who’s in if we do it?
@stephenolmon
@Hayden__Slack
@KHendersonCo
16
0
25
Hired a Customer Experience Manager recently.
She blew us away in the interview process. Very impressive.
Fired her on day 4. Didn’t even show up.
We all get it wrong. Even after hiring 1000+ people in last 5 years I still mess it up.
Check references and keep going!
3
0
25
22. I bow out as well
23. We fire-sale the assets and remaining customers to a customer of ours at 10 cents on the dollar
24. My brother has to sell his house and spends the next few years paying off his debt
1
0
22
12. Then our LL reaches out about potentially selling the building we're in and talking through our desire to stay etc.
13. Not a huge deal; we have ~3 years left on our lease
14. Hear back from LL a few weeks later and wants to sell and the largest tenant wants to buy ASAP
1
0
22
Debating opening an hvac company in Australia so I have year round summer time between TX & down under 🤣
Seasonality is a hell of a drug
5
0
22
Had a bit of existential breakdown recently.
I saw a quote a little while back that I’ve had a hard time shaking as a parent:
“Instead of giving your kids the things you never had, teach them the things you never knew.”
It has been abrupt and unforgiving in my mind.
1
1
22
Best stat I have from business and life right now.
Working to prioritize my health more and love seeing this progress here
2
0
21
Day 1 in the books. Slow day, almost no calls and gave us time to hang with our techs.
It all starts with people.
Started all the admin changeover. Titles, bank accounts, website, phone numbers.
Sellers have been great so far. Super easy going and successful.
2
1
22
That feeling when you get the clear to close on your next acquisition, you get to meet
@thomasince
in person and you win an awesome Cowboys helmet just for hanging out at Star in Frisco.
Great freaking day!!
2
0
21
My favorite part of our newest acquisition is just how tight the service area is. The avg drive time between calls is about 10-15 mins.
Prosper is a small town and the company literally owns the major aging neighborhoods in town. Below is a plotting of jobs from last 24 mths
7
0
21
@SMB_Attorney
@SBA_Matthias
2. Kids must do hard things. Either teach them about grit/adversity in your home where you’re a safety net or they will learn it the hard way when they leave. Chores should be a must.
3. Hold family dinner sacred
1
0
21
Our first 30ish days for Bart's Heating & Air by the numbers:
New hires: 2 (1 technician and 1 customer success rep. )
5-star google reviews: 25 (71 reviews total)
Google review rating: 4.6 -> 4.7
New websites - 1
Number of services booked online through website: 4
3
0
20
Me to my wife and her sister:
I don’t really do too much social media, but I do a little LinkedIn and am getting into Twitter
My wife to her sister: yeah he’s on that nerd Twitter
Me: ummm, it’s SMB Twitter
Her and her sister: nerd Twitter!!! Nerd!
Love is fun 😂
5
0
20
That just off the press smell…
5
0
20
Who else is attending Main Street Summit and lives in DFW?
@Hayden__Slack
and I were debating carpooling or even renting an RV to head up to Missouri. Any interest?
@stephenolmon
@tom_sietsema
@mhp_guy
@fortworthchris
@KHendersonCo
@excel_ranger
and many others I’m probably
12
1
19
18 years have flown by!
Katelyn just celebrated her birthday, won best Integrative Biology Research Presentation at the University of Texas Austin and Tarrant Community College and earned a free trip to LA to present her findings this spring!
Did I mention she’s still in high
1
0
19
I’ve talked to 15+ operator candidates so far through DM or phone.
Wow.
Farthest candidate so far?
Germany
We’re going global baby!!
2
0
19
I don’t know if I’ve met someone on here that has been more willing to help and empower others without an alter I or motive than
@SMB_Attorney
.
Seasoned insights, selfless approach and all around good human.
Give him a follow, his acct is pure gold.
1/ I’ve added roughly 1,000 new followers since getting included in
@chrisxmunn
’s awesome viral tweet on business buying this morning.
So, I think it probably makes sense to re-introduce myself
A short 🧵👇🏻
3
1
27
1
1
19
Hiring & recruiting: A [long] thread
Context: I've hired or built systems to hire about 1500 people the last 5 years at fast growth Cos.for me and my teams including 1000+ for commission only roles where RE license was required speding up to $50K/mth. Exp. is in fast growth.
2
2
19
We're on a mission to make skilled trades sexy again. What's not to like...all 4 of my kids will be working in HVAC/Plumbing this summer.
2
2
18
Had a great chance to share more about our acquisition with Will on the Acquiring Minds podcast. It was fun talking about Bart’s and getting to tell
@our
story. Check it out!
New episode!
- What to Love About HVAC Acquisitions -
@n8lenahan
acquired an HVAC company with ~$1.2m in revenue for $400k. He's aiming to double sales in 2022 to $2.72m.
1
1
4
4
1
18
It’s amazing the credibility that comes with getting your 1st deal done.
1 property under your belt
1 business acquisition
All of a sudden you’re farther along than 80-90% of people just by doing it.
Once that happens even more doors begin to open.
So get it done!
2
0
18