Daniel McCarty
@Daniel__McCarty
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Building a better franchisor @ JunkStart Junk Removal | Leveraging 2 previous exits to create the next big brand in franchising | SMU OL 🐎➡️ Ultra 🏃♂️
San Antonio, Texas
Joined June 2021
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
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I spend >$20,000 every single month on Google advertising for my local business, JunkStart Junk Removal.
I’m tired of it. There’s got to be a better way than giving these enormous tech platforms such a meaningful amount of money in order to be able to try to build a local
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Honestly shocked at how much I enjoy
@JamesClear
‘s newsletter.
Honestly don’t remember a single one I didn’t open, and didn’t like and find value in.
Is there any others even half as good as his? I’d love to find more!
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Two weeks ago I had to write a $87,000 check for the commercial auto policy on my 4 JunkStart trucks.
That’s ~$22k / truck (about 25% of the cost of a new truck).
Almost all of that premium goes towards on the road liability. Thank God we have so many wonderful personal injury
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The price of a new roll off truck is now above $300,000.
The unit economics weren’t great 4 years ago when the trucks were selling for $175,000.
They are a lot worse now.
Add $300k of dumpsters, and the capital costs are stupid. Especially when you have to earn a return
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Guerrilla marketing tip:
Go get stuck in traffic.
If it’s a little slow, go send all your trucks (3+ to really pop), stack them back to back to back, and just go get stuck in the absolutely busiest/most congested highways in your area.
You don’t think people will notice 4
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@hubermanlab
We gain energy… by using energy. It’s astonishing to actually think about how human beings most commonly wear down from a LACK of use, and not from over exertion.
Action, in all its various forms, is one of the best & most effective medicines.
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Counter to what X might tell you, in my experience, home services is not just picking up the phone and being more professional than chuck in a truck.
That may work for first $100k in revenue, but getting the phone to ring above that is very difficult. Do not just assume lead
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How you do anything is how you do everything.
When I show up and see that the guys went to the trouble to line up the trucks this well and park them in numerical order… I have a pretty good feeling of how the rest of the day is going to go.
Consistency on the fundamentals,
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I had to fire our GM 3 weeks ago.
I dove back into the business and learned a lot more about what has been going on.
It’s hard. You want to be a good leader, provide guardrails, but not be a micro-manager…
But sometimes you get burned and realize that your leader was
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@realEstateTrent
I had a girlfirend of a candidate last week apply for the job for him, do the initial phone screen, and follow up with emails and texts for the next week advocating for her man. Needless to say I tried to hire her, and told her she should find a new bf.
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Officially hit 200 reviews!
February 2023 was our first month in business.
Biggest learning in how to get 200 reviews in 9 months?
Reviews are just an effort stat.
In our Monday meetings, if I point out (callout) the fact that we only got 1 or 2 reviews last week and tell
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Inflation wreaking havoc on SMB’s pt. 2:
We sold our concrete and mining businesses in 2020. We mainly supplied the Houston ready mix market.
What’s happened between 2020 & 2024? Total price decoupling.
Price of concrete went from $94 to $140. (50% increase)
Concrete sand
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Really blown away by the response to this post. I believe it goes to show that there is something real here.
After some more reflection, and taking the advice & suggestions of hundreds of people who commented/DM'ed me, I've come up with the main takeaways and our plan for
I spend >$20,000 every single month on Google advertising for my local business, JunkStart Junk Removal.
I’m tired of it. There’s got to be a better way than giving these enormous tech platforms such a meaningful amount of money in order to be able to try to build a local
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What's your best "that's too expensive" pricing rebuttal?
For me, I like to ask:
"Thank you for expressing your concerns. To better assist you, when you say that it's "too expensive", do you mean the price falls outside what you were budgeting for, or do you think the price
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@RobertGreene
The goal should be growth, not achievement. There is no way to grow, without the pain of moving outside your comfort zone. And failure/setbacks are necessary to truly grow.
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@sweatystartup
Probably true when the business is just you + a crew or two (revenue will vary based on industry). I believe in almost any home service industry, to scale to $500k+ in SDE requires being very good at just about every facet of business (marketing, sales, ops, finance, etc.). I
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How I’m Disrupting the Franchise Industry with Social Media and a Mission-Driven Culture: The JunkStart Story.
Leveraging Previous Exits to Create a Franchise Holding Company that is Built to Last
Here's the backstory. My mission is to help others grow, so they can give more to
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@STLChrisH
We've been saved more than a few times with cameras as well. Drivers were very hesitant when we first rolled them out, until our first incident where the video exonerated the driver. After that, they loved them.
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Starting a home service business?
Here is my biggest tip:
Pick 3 neighborhoods for the first couple of months and just own them...
Don't do what I did and try to be everywhere.
Saturate
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@thesamparr
Life-long F-250 driver who now has a 2500… if you want longevity, I think the only answer is Toyota. All Fords I know get very iffy around 100-150k miles. Particularly the DEF system
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@JamesClear
Focusing on how to think, as opposed to what to think:
A good fisherman studies blogs, magazines, videos, and thinks like a professional angler.
A master fisherman thinks like a fish.
Without the right foundation and frameworks, all the "knowledge" in the world wont matter.
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I want win-win’s, not lose-lose. The price of PPC continues to rise, the lead quality gets worse and worse, and we have to charge the consumer more and more to keep the status quo… as our margins are slowly eroded by these tech giants. Enough is enough.
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And just like that… 300 reviews!!
Not too shabby for 14 months.
Really proud of the team for their consistent effort.
It’s a byproduct of an obsession with delighting our customer, going the extra mile, and doing consistently what others are only willing to do occasionally.
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"Wondering if the dumpster business is a hidden treasure or just a load of trash? 🗑️💰
With over 30 years in the waste industry (including owning a landfill), I'm here to help you decide whether investing in roll-off dumpsters stacks up financially. 🚛💡
I'll unveil my
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Our yard signs cost >2x our competitors due to the design, size, and material.
They opt for small, generic white signs.
We elected to invest in higher quality materials and design.
Worth the investment?
I think so.
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Putting all our focus on Google ads didn't work.
Now we are diversifying:
- Smart SEO
- Building local connections
- Fostering customer loyalty
- Engaging with your community
Learn from my mistake!
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@mhp_guy
How does the VA drive leads? Just cold calling businesses/organizations that may need tree trimming? I need to do this call banking plan to drive appointments for our biz dev rep for our junk removal company.
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@SMBfella
Agree 100%! We invested heavily in our branding, all the way down to the lightning bolt “J” before we even launched.
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Tell a 65-year-old business owner that you are "more of a visionary" and don't want to be involved in the day-to-day operations and see what happens next.
It's a nice reality check from X/modern business books.
That is literally not a concept the previous generation
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Most franchises are owner-operator business models. By design.
If you buy into a system and then hire out every role early on (“absentee”), then the model doesn’t work.
Either because of capitalization or execution.
These models, like mine in junk removal, need an owners
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To whom it may concern: launching a sophisticated franchisor will cost you probably $1.5-$2.5 million until you reach royalty self-sufficiency (if you ever get there).
And that’s just to self-sufficiency. Not “to the beach”.
I hear way too often about people saying they
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We had a customer who was $80 short for a job.
Our employee did the job anyway
Without asking or checking with management.
He then made up the difference FROM HIS OWN WALLET.
Incredibly proud when I found out.
(Of course, I paid him back)
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Starting a home service business?
Here is my biggest tip:
Pick 3 neighborhoods for the first couple of months and just own them...
Don't do what I did and try to be everywhere.
Saturate
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@fortworthchris
Naming a massive fiscal stimulus package as “The Inflation Reduction Act” is straight out of a South Park plot line.
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What happens when you visit 1-800-Got-Junk’s website and then bounce?
You immediately receive this email.
It’s timely, to-the-point, and even includes availability on their schedules today.
Game respects game 🫡🤝
(Also, who has done this before and can give me pointers on
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You can view a $60k franchise fee as a one time “cost”.
Or you could view it as a $6k/year (over 10 years) investment that gives you access to world class IP, brand, support, and a peer group of operators in the exact same boat as you.
There should never be any doubt whether
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Advice for picking which zip codes to target for upscale service business:
Find a local high-end magazine (luxury real estate, etc.) and ask for their media deck.
Below is the map “Elegant Living San Antonio” has in their advertising packet, and the blue/red map is our geo
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2nd 1-Star review.
Apparently from a candidate who didn’t pass a phone screen from someone on our team.
How is my response?
Too much? Not enough?
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$74k out the door. Ready to get the bed put on and start hauling some junk!
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@patrick_oshag
Used to find myself wanting to recommend this book to everyone I talked to, but was worried about how they may perceive me. I bit on the mystical side, but these tools were a game changer for me.
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How I’m Building a New Franchisor: The JunkStart Story.
Leveraging Previous Exits to Create a Franchise Holding Company that is Built to Last
--
Here's the backstory. My mission is to help others grow, so they can give more to the world. I believe that work is a key part of a
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Every other person in our industry offers a "free" in-person estimate. So we decided to charge $5 instead.
Why?
It helps us, help the customer, while helping others.
By charging even $5 for "our team of industry experts to give you an item donation and removal proposal", the
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@JamesClear
The first mile always lies. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard my brain tell me how bad my body hurts during the first mile of a run. And I can’t tell you how many time at mile 4 or 5, how thankful I am that I didn’t listen to the mile 1 “me” and give up.
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@STLChrisH
Great topic, Chris. How the leader answers this question makes all the difference to the company and heirs. My dad had a successful business, but none of us kids ever knew what the numbers really were. He was frugal, and he wanted everyone to feel like we were doing ok, but could
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One of the reasons I like junk removal:
Today we had a $3,600 job.
And we had a $1,900 job.
Throw in a few $200 jobs, and that’s a heck of a day.
In dumpsters, let’s say, you know you will only make $400 on this job.
With junk removal, you really have no idea what sized
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There is no correct answer for the “how much debt”/ “how much cash-on-hand”/ rainy day fund for SMB’s.
For our family, we have no debt (other than maybe small credit cards for office stuff), and years of cash on hand at any given time.
Even 5 years ago, when we were in growth
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@BrentBeshore
13. If you operate a SMB, you either just were, currently are, or are about to be... slapped across the face with something totally unforeseen. Adversity is either here, just left, or is on the way. Expect it and don't personalize or victimize it.
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@girdley
I am constantly pulling out and utilizing gems from this book! I also love the concept of a “no” is better than a cheap “yes”, using “how am I supposed to do that?”, and “is Tuesday at 2 a bad time?” as opposed to “what time works well for you?”
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Interesting news out of the outdoor recreation space.
Yeti is acquiring Mystery Ranch, a maker of technical hiking and hunting backpacks.
Fun to watch Yeti continue to broaden its product offering.
I think they have done as good a job building a brand as anyone.
If you
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Underrated part of startup vs SBA buyout... you can blow it up and reformulate your strategy if need be.
If I had an SBA loan, odds are I would be much more hesitant to change managers, rework marketing strategy, and change the entire org chart.
But with a startup... that's
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@sweatystartup
I like that plan. Would add that you should meet every repeat/power user of your service in your area and talk to them at least 3 separate times in the first 4 months. For us that’s realtors, property management firms, storage places, etc. It’s high leverage, and can build you a
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Twitter isn't just for scrolling.
I started tweeting about my business needs:
- Direct mail vendors
- Industry connections
- Realtor lists
- PPC help
- Franchising best practices
And people responded with real solutions, referrals, and partnerships.
It’s made a huge
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SEO/Home Service experts… what are our thoughts on BBB accreditation?
It’s like $900/year to be “accredited”.
We already have a listing with them, just not the fancy title.
I LOVE their business model and would kill to buy BBB… but something about paying $900 just to be a
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@businessbarista
After years of soul searching and attempting to trick the universe into blessing me with a totally amazing and innovative idea that would revolutionize the world…
I bought a couple trucks and started picking up other peoples junk.
And couldn’t be happier.
Just start.
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@girdley
As always, very simple, practical wisdom that packs a punch. Thank you.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place."
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I have made peace with the fact that we won’t cross $1 million in revenue in our first year at JunkStart.
Instead, I’m focused on building the foundation with the right team and processes to make multiples of that for decades to come.
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@Whitney_Sheph
I pivoted from search to startup as well. Would caution that starting a business from scratch is much, much more block, tackling, getting dirty than anything about “searching”. It’s a true knife fight in a phone booth. But for those with grit, pain tolerance, and a few years to
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JunkStart Junk Removal is officially an IFA member as of this morning!!
Looking forward to the show next week.
@matthewhaller
as you're newest member, I am at your service 🫡🫡🫡
@AaronHarperCEO
@RyanThomasHicks
@franchisewolf
@ZackFishman
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A lot of new followers recently, so I wanted to reintroduce myself and share a little more about what I am building and why you may be interested in following along.
--
-I love business and have been around it my whole life. Grew up in a family redneck "hold co" before it was
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“Morning Wave”
You can sit around and hope leads come in, or you can go out and make it happen.
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@mhp_guy
That red line from SA to Waco also happens to generally follow a large limestone formation. Solid limestone on the west, standard soil on the right.
It's why you will see a dozen or so quarries/cement mills on the west side of 35 between SA and Austin.
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Adversity- it’s either here, it just left, or it’s on its way.
It's a fundamental part of life.
Complaining about it would be like a boxer stepping into the ring and quitting after the first jab to the face.
"Boo-hoo, WTF, this guy punched me, I quit"
Are you kidding me?
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Adversity- it’s either here, it just left, or it’s on its way.
It's a fundamental part of life.
Complaining about it would be like a boxer stepping into the ring and quitting after the first jab to the face.
"Boo-hoo, WTF, this guy punched me, I quit"
Are you kidding me?
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I am looking for a General Manager for our San Antonio JunkStart location.
Hardworking. Motivated. Dependable. Someone you would want to babysit your children or coach your kids sports team.
Someone who is excited about the prospect of building a $2-3+ million dollar junk
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Something I’ve noticed about SMB X:
It glamorizes distribution channel innovation (having an influencer on your cap table), over product/service innovation.
I used to think about how important having a large social following is for a business (take my franchisor).
Now, I’m
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I shared my company's numbers with the team.
At first, no one cared.
But when I told them what we had to hit for them to get raises? They got interested fast.
I showed them what to strive for and how to get there.
People take ownership when they know the goal.
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I could use your help. I am looking for an integrator.
Operating Partner: Architect of Growth
You probably aren't cut out for this role. The vast majority of people won't be. But for those who are—the ones with an unrelenting hunger for success, those who crave the challenge of
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Our yard signs cost >2x our competitors due to the design, size, and material.
They opt for small, generic white signs.
We elected to invest in higher quality materials and design.
Worth the investment?
I think so.
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@MatznerJon
I’m getting better at using gmail and my whole business runs on the Apple Reminder App where I have 477 entries with no search function, organization, and based purely on stream of consciousness at the time. We are not the same
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Brute force growth by overspending on marketing too early doesn't work.
Trust me, I've tried and wish it wasn't the case.
Laying the foundation for a great company takes time.
Patience is not inaction.
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@sweatystartup
"What's worse than a man who never creates anything himself, but always lurks in the shadow of others, playing the role of interpreter, never daring to put once into practice what they have been so long in learning..."
This should give you goosebumps.
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TikTok day! Once a month our marketing agency comes out to shoot a months worth of TikToks for JunkStart!
I don’t have an account/use the platform, but that’s not stopping us.
It is by far our best mass branding channel. We have several videos with 100,000+ views and have
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Had a neighbors tree fall on the house.
These are some pretty big holes 😂😂
Roof-twit…. What are we quoting for something like this?
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@RLttlfld
Correct. And it doesn’t have to be monthly subscriptions, but getting recurring/reoccurring work is huge. Commercial work (property managers, realtors, moving companies), where we are used 10-50+ times a year is going to be our focus next year. Not groundbreaking, but it’s hard
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Home services is the farthest thing from one size fits all.
Average Job Size (AJS).
Running a $500 AJS company (like Junk Removal) is WILDLY different than running a $10k AJS company (like roofing), or certainly a $100k AJS like renovation work.
It’s night and day
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Solid last week for JunkStart San Antonio coming off a holiday weekend where we had Monday off.
$16,500
33 Jobs done
AJS= $500
(9) 5-Star Reviews
$82 dollars per man hour
87% Field conversion rate
Converted 65% of our PPC leads to revenue-paying jobs.
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Before you pay to look at a franchise FDD...
Go to the Wisconsin DFI Franchise registry and get access to the current year FDD absolutely free.
It's a great resource.
(I spy
@shainadenny
and Dogdrop)
If the system hasn't registered yet in the state, then you'll have to look
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🚨End of year cost cutting exercises- 90 ways to cut costs and increase cash flow 🚨
Highly suggest you or someone on your team has an end of year cost cutting practice. It’s just good business hygiene.
DO IT!
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@jcolesimpson
For what it’s worth Cole, I wish I would have slowed down in my first year. I wanted to go fast, and burned a lot of cash in the process. There’s something to be said for learning and iterating in the first year or two, and then pouring on the investment. I know infinitely more
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Franchisors love to promote how many new units they are selling.
It’s all over every platform.
I get that you need to build momentum and celebrate wins.
You can’t do anything before selling units.
But at best it’s just the pre-game warmup.
Why don’t we hold the applause
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Updated this mailer piece based on feedback from this community.
Thank you for all that helped!
Will probably order 10,000 and use the EDDM program to test.
Direct mail is going to be big for us next year... does anyone have experience sending 10-20k/mo?
What vendors should I
Need feedback on this very simplified Direct Mail piece…
Front is cluttered room, back is Boone…
What should I change/tweak?
(Already did a longer form, info based piece. Want short and sweet with this one).
Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
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There's about 3,000 Franchise Brands in the US.
- Every year, ~250 new brands launch, and ~250 old brands fail/stop filing FDD's.
- That means over 10 years, 2500 franchise brands will fail.
- Median # of locations is 38.
-Median unit growth is 2-4 per year.
- Only 16% of
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1-Star reviews are frustrating.
Especially when you have no record of the customer and odds are they weren’t even a real customer.
But how you respond matters.
It’s not a matter of if you will receive a negative review, but when.
And for other customers, they don’t expect
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Want to stand out as an SMB?
Stop replying solely on digital marketing.
Start engaging your community and leveraging your story.
Thank me later.
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@sweatystartup
I also have heard of residential lawn care companies offering dog poop pickup services. Not because they want to be in that business, but bc its a cheap way (lower CPC) to get in front of customers and they convert a decent % to their residential lawncare services.
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Imagine spending a million dollars on advertising and still be known for NOTHING.
And yet? That’s 99% of businesses.
I spent $250k this year on “marketing”, and what am I known for? I don’t know (nothing).
—
This year I am clarifying our ethos and the story we are going to
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I love getting COOKED in the comment section of our TikToks.
But with 100’s of thousands of impressions… I’ll take that trade off all day long!
We have had great luck spending a bit of money advertising on TikTok. The CPM and impressions have been great. I get stopped at gas
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Just landed in Chicago for Franchise YoungConference!
Excited to get to see some friends and learn from some really smart peers and mentors.
Thank you
@RyanThomasHicks
@ZackFishman
for putting on a great event!
(The cons of being a habitual “pack the morning of” person is I
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If you are going to offer a discount, think about lowering the service level as well.
“That’s expensive, can you give me a discount?”
“Sure. We are able to take $40 off your order today if you choose our discounted service. You would be responsible for moving all your items to
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Franchisees/prospective franchisees:
What would you think if you heard a franchisor using guarantees in the sales process?
- “If you follow our systems, and don’t hit $400k (or fill in the blank) in revenue by year two, we will refund your franchisee fee and let you walk away…
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There are about 4,000 Franchise Brands in the US.
- Every year, ~300 new brands launch, and ~300 old brands fail/stop filing FDDs.
- That means over 10 years, 3000 franchise brands will fail.
The median # of locations is 38.
-Median unit growth is 2-4 per year.
-
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The mental framework I used to lose 100 lbs and create a sustainably healthy lifestyle.
I think it can help you too.
--
We have all heard philosophers talk about how work & love are the cornerstones of life. You need to have loving relationships and commit yourself to
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@Roschili
Yep. And I think the age of fleets will continue to rise due to replacement costs and complexity of working on emission controlled engines.
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Sometimes we’ll have gaps in the schedule where we aren’t that busy.
Our guys like to take two trucks to a job, but park and leave one around the corner at a high visibility grocery store.
Great advertising, and is great if a job turns out bigger than expected and they need
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Clean trucks:
Lets our customers, employees, and community members know that we sweat the small stuff and go the extra mile.
Make no mistake, these are working trucks and if they never got dirty, I’d know we have a big problem!
How you do anything is how you do everything.
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