Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Jack Carr from Jackquisitions to break down the four steps every business owner must take to truly become a CEO. From leaving the tools behind to managing senior leaders, John and Jack share the exact progression operators go through—and the pitfalls at each stage. They dive into the messy middle stages (what Jack calls “owner’s hell”...

In this episode of Owned and Operated , John Wilson is joined once again by Ethan Wright from Service Scalers to answer a big question: what would you do with a million-dollar marketing budget? Together, they unpack how $1M breaks down between demand capture (LSAs, PPC, SEO, lead partners) and demand generation (TV, radio, social, branding) — and why the first priority is always the lead. John and...

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Ethan Wright from Service Scalers to tackle the three biggest marketing mistakes that keep service companies from scaling. Together, they break down why most owners get lost chasing leads, how spreading budgets too thin kills ROI, and why neglecting your Google Business Profile can cost you serious growth. John and Ethan dig into the...

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Jack Carr from Jack Acquisitions, who also runs Rapid Response Plumbing, Heating & Cooling in Nashville, TN. Together, they break down the four most important pillars to scaling a home service company past $10 million a year: leads, people, sales, and infrastructure. John and Jack dig into what separates $1M businesses from $10M...

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Tony from Wanamaker to break down one of the biggest challenges contractors are facing in 2025: leads are tougher for everyone. John and Tony dig into why this year has been so unusual for home service businesses, from cooler summers and unpredictable weather to rising digital costs and shifting media consumption. They unpack how op...

Welcome to Day 30 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s topic is one of the biggest levers you have in scaling your company: Cut Overhead Like a Maniac. 🧠 Why This Matters Overhead is the silent profit stopper. Left unchecked, it can balloon quickly and quietly, eating into your margins without driving rea...

Welcome to Day 29 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s lesson might surprise you because it runs counter to the current industry hype: Don’t Overinvest in Technology. 🧠 Why This Matters  In the trades, there’s a new app or software tool launching seemingly every hour. Each one promises to grow your busine...

Welcome to Day 28 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s lesson is simple, bold, and direct: Outspend Your Competitors in Sales & Marketing. 🧠 Why Outspending Works Marketing isn’t a cost — it’s an asset. It’s the lever that drives growth, creates demand, and keeps your pipeline full. While many competi...

 In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Tony Castellucci from Wanamaker to break down how home service companies should think about marketing spend at three different levels: $100K, $500K, and $1M. Tony and John dig into what works (and what doesn’t) as your budget scales. From avoiding white noise and wasted spend, to maximizing digital safety nets like SEO, PPC, LSAs,...

Welcome to Day 27 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today we’re diving into a powerful framework for spending money wisely: Strategic vs. Non-Strategic Costs. 🧠 Why This Matters Not all expenses are created equal. Some costs fuel growth and strengthen your competitive advantage. Others just bloat the business,...

Welcome to Day 26 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s lesson is the natural follow-up to yesterday’s topic of Cut Complexity. Once you trim what doesn’t work, the next step is simple: Multiply Your Winners. Why Multiplying Winners Matters Too often, owners keep dragging along departments or services that...

#236 — AI Sales Engines for Home Services: Tal Shub on Craft & Closing More Deals  In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Tal Shub, CEO of Craft, to dive into how AI is transforming sales in the home service industry. Tal shares how Craft built an AI-powered sales engine that listens to customer conversations, provides real-time coaching, and helps service teams reco...

Welcome to Day 25 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s topic is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in scaling a business: Cut Complexity. Or, as I like to say: Simple is Scalable. 🧠 Why Simplicity Wins Complexity creeps in quietly — through overbuilt processes, too many services, or redundant...

Welcome to Day 24 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today we’re diving into one of the most important — and often most confusing — financial topics in business: Cash Flow. It’s the reason so many owners scratch their heads at year-end when their accountant says, “Congrats, you made a profit,” but the checking a...

Welcome to Day 23 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking about a trap that many business owners fall into as they grow: Over-Delegation. Yes, you should delegate. Yes, you should make yourself replaceable in the day-to-day. But there’s a critical line you cannot cross: abdication. 🧠 Why Over-De...

Welcome to Day 22 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re diving into one of the fastest ways to improve margins without cutting jobs, service quality, or growth: Vendor Negotiations. If you had to find 10% savings in your business today, where would you look first? That’s right — your vendors. 🧠 Why Ve...

Welcome to Day 21 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re tackling a silent bottleneck of growth: Over-qualifying what you already know. The truth is simple: speed wins. Most businesses don’t fail because they made a wrong call — they fail because they got stuck waiting for the perfect call. Analysis par...

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Chad Peterman, president of Peterman Brothers, to dive deep into what it takes to scale a home service company to nine figures. Chad shares how he and his team grew Peterman Brothers from $20M to $100M, expanding across multiple Midwest markets while navigating the challenges of recruitment, infrastructure, and market entry. From po...

Welcome to Day 20 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re digging into one of the toughest — and most important — topics in business: Improving Employee Productivity. It’s tempting to think the secret is cloning your best performer. But here’s the reality: if you average your top performer with your lowe...

Welcome to Day 19 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re diving into one of the most profitable levers in your business: Raising Your Conversion Rate. Conversion rate is simply how many potential customers you turn into paying customers. And here’s the beautiful part: you don’t need more leads to grow y...

In this episode of Owned and Operated , John Wilson sits down with Ismael Valdez, founder of NextGen and Nuva Thermostats, to unpack how he built one of the fastest-growing home service businesses in the country. Valdez shares how he scaled NextGen from his garage to a $100M+ powerhouse with multiple locations, breaking down the exact strategies that fueled his growth. From high-ROI marketing play...

Welcome to Day 18 of the Double Your Profit Series The go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking about one of the most overlooked but powerful levers in your business: Reviewing and ruthlessly cutting recurring costs. I call this the “F** It Up List”* (we’ll bleep it for YouTube 😉). Every month, I go through all recurring expenses in...

Welcome to Day 17 of the Double Your Profit Series — the go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today’s topic is a little spicy but absolutely essential: Firing Bad Clients . 🧠 Not every customer is worth keeping — even if they fit your target market. Some drain resources, destroy morale, and create constant headaches. Protecting your team (and your p...

Welcome to Day 15 of the Double Your Profit Series — the go-to profit series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking about one of the most important — and most overlooked — levers in your business: Tightening Your Standards . 🧠 If you’ve ever wondered why performance slips or why “good enough” starts to spread… it’s probably because your standa...

Welcome to Day 16 of the Double Your Profit Series — the go-to series for contractors, home service owners, and small business entrepreneurs. Today, we’re diving into one of the most powerful performance drivers in your business: Creating a Culture of Accountability . 🧠 Accountability means doing what you say you’re going to do — and it starts with setting crystal-clear expectations, assigning me...