Hoyt Crouch
@hoytcrouch
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7 years in sales/consulting. Now building a fence business in south Texas. Sharing win, failures, and lessons learned along the way.
Joined August 2012
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Pinned Tweet
My tweet about starting a fencing company blew up. 500k impressions & hundreds of DMs🤯
Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
1. Private equity guys really want to give their money to home service businesses in Texas.
2. There’s a lot of rich fence company owners on here. Several in
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I started a fence company.
Why:
-It makes money. 25-35% margins.
-Low overhead. Truck, jobber, office employee, insurance. Not much more
-Everyone has a fence. They get old. Storms knock em out. Every house will need a new one at some point
-Local competition is not good and
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2K
Two years ago a 13 year old kid from church asked me about how he could start a business.
I told him power washing was a great business in high school. Good margins, can start for $500 and it’s pretty hard to mess it up.
Talked to him today:
He has done 100+ power washing jobs
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716
Is there a Hampton but for people who aren’t rich yet?
I.e. you’re on your way and want to be around people who are too.
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Anyone else sell their AirPods and buy a stack of these bad boys?
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Never accept “he can’t see you now”
Walked into a large local pool builder and asked to meet with the owner. We have some mutual friends but haven’t met.
Front desk tells me: “sorry, just email us. He’s busy, can’t meet you.”
FYI: “Just email us” is code for “we will never get
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I sold my truck today and bought a larger one.
Dealer 1: we’ll give you 4k for your F-150.
Dealer 2: we’ll give you 7.5k for your F-150.
20+ FB marketplace guys: would you take 11k cash??
It’s really amazing how little effort it takes to make better financial moves. Obviously
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@GuyDealership
I’m Gen Z and here’s what I want when car buying:
1. Website to match what’s actually on the lot.
2. Paperwork/financing to take 20 minutes or less in person.
I recently bought my wife a car. Picked out online. Called them and said I would buy it. Sent them my loan docs. Told
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Today was a low.
Told a customer we would have this fence done today. I was supposed to have three subs starting at 8:00am.
7:30am: Worker 1 “I got delayed coming in from vacation. Won’t be there until this afternoon.”
7:45am: Worker 2: “not coming today. On another job.”
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@KrissBergTweets
I don’t trust fat doctors.
I don’t trust skinny cooks.
I don’t trust non rich financial wisdom.
Just because you are rich doesn’t mean you have good advice…but it’s a lot more likely.
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@BrighamHughes
If you really want to help the guy, tell him that you will rent it to him whenever he has a job. Do a rent to own deal and be OK with him potentially stealing it worst case scenario.
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@GeorgeTakei
This is not a hot take. He was the president, someone had to run his businesses
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@jimtuck46
@GuyDealership
^exactly why everyone hates car dealerships.
I’m making a 40k purchase and they act like it’s a McDonald’s burger.
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Put up 10 of these things.
Got our first lead 15 minutes later.
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@trentjhughes
I started my fence company 3 months ago for 5k. We’ve done about 50k in revenue in the last 60 days.
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Things that are cool on Twitter but not to the rest of the country:
1. Mormons
2. Developers
3. Gas stations
4. Hiring overseas
What’d I miss?
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@sfironicle
@GavinNewsom
Wow. Where did we find news like this now? Gavin got what he wanted. No one would interview him like that now
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@lporiginalg
Assuming she makes $8 per hour and her pay is $1280 per month. He makes twice that per day at $2560 and lets multiple that only by 20 work days per month. He makes 51k per month.
Homie is worried about maybe being responsible for 2 months income worth of student loans??
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Convince me not to spend $1200 on VERY COOL company hats.
Did we make money last month?
No.
Am I getting a pay check?
No.
Should we have baller hats?
I vote yes.
*similar to design as this but much better quality hat.*
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@thesamparr
F-250 converted to Excursion. Can take more gear/people inside. Add a cattle guard and run flats.
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@sweatystartup
Family friend sold his manufacturing facility to employees (they make MRE’s for the military).
He saved 5+ mil in taxes.
Turned over 100 employees into millionaires when the employees sold it to PE a few years later.
It’s his proudest accomplishment.
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@sweatystartup
Hung Christmas lights on 50 house in the dark after 10+ hours in the OR to pay for my wife’s engagement ring.
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I’ve implemented Jobber.
We answer the phone every call.
We have a good website.
We text customers quotes.
It’s still HARD.
It’s hard to hire. It’s hard to build a lead funnel. It’s hard to deal with upset customers. You can have awesome systems, software etc….but business
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@RosserJobs
Vending machines! Doesn’t take much time but requires a little of each of these important skills:
Sales: Gotta get the right location.
Budgeting: timing purchase and making sure your margins are good.
Commitment: you gotta make sure those machines are refilled every couple weeks
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I have a VA in Texas who does everything for me.
I pay him little to nothing. This week $0. And still he faithfully does literally all of my major and minor task. Even works through the night some times.
That VA is me.
Follow for more life changing business tips.
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@meetmikehiggins
I had two cars on for about 18 month. Friend of mine had 6. Both of us got out.
We started at the same time and were making great money (cash flowed about 1200 a month for cars I paid 12k total for). Then the market got flooded by people who are just posting their car to help
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@meetmikehiggins
I meet with someone who is in a similar state. Since retiring he has made it his job to help other men.
Meets for coffee. Host a Bible study. Volunteers at the homeless shelter.
I think the key is doing something meaningful with your time.
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Fence business update:
1. We severely misquoted our second customer. Forgot to charge for removal 🫠 only profited about $400 for a 3 day job. Should have charged about 1k more.
2. Breakfast tacos go a long way for crew morale digging out fence post on a Saturday morning.
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In January of 2021 I was forced to shut down a 1.8 million dollar business overnight.
150k of monthly revenue down to 0 in less than 90 days.
During this time I was remodeling my house (and pouring all my cash into it). Three weeks into the remodel we got the death blow to the
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Todays unexpected fence company problem:
It’s hot. 115 in south Texas today.
Not that I didn’t expect it to be hot, but didn’t really think through how it would affect my crews ability to work. Serious slow down.
Loading up an ice chest with drinks, buying some dry fit shirts
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If you're following me over the next couple years:
You're either going to watch build a fence company from 0 to 1mil+
or
you'll watch me watch me fail and start over.
Either way it should be entertaining! 😂
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Update:
Bad news - Apparently it’s illegal to tape these to mailboxes.
Good news - I sold a fence job to the USPS guy that called to tell me this.
I can put out 1000 of these for $20 and get to go on a run in a different neighborhood with my daughter every day.
Seems like the best marketing I can do for $20 and means more family time.
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@jimbos_space
I actually got the dealership to run it as a trade in and sell to the guy. Saved me 1k in taxes
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@Nam05599012
Yep. This customer actually owned a large fence company in the 90s! He was very cool
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@benpub3
@GuyDealership
The last dealership I dealt with had the truck out front with the keys in it and paperwork ready to go. Wrote a check and was out in less than 10.
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Half people on this tweet thing I’m talking about the Hamptons….I’m talking about Hampton (started by
@thesamparr
)
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@RobertMSterling
I think about half of accounting work can be done by AI. My CPA wife doesn't like to hear that though 😂
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@mu2myoc
Nothing says fun like wearing spandex, staring at the guy in fronts butt, paired with the opportunity to be obliterated by a highschooler texting.
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@sweatystartup
I’ll take the other side of this:
I’ll meet with anyone once (maybe more if warranted). Reach out on LinkedIn and want to meet to figure out how get in an industry? Sure. Want to “pick my brain?” Sure. Need an intro? Let’s grab coffee
People who had no business giving me the
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580ft of fence installed in 3 days.
Building this company at the speed of cash means we have to do some things the hard way.
No trailer = 4 trips to return concrete
No inventory = waiting a few days to install gates.
No skid-steer = hand held auger to dig post.
All these
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@CollinRugg
As much as I hate what those students signed on/wrote, this feels wrong.
I hated it when people got bullied into supporting BLM. I don’t think people should be bullied into supporting Israel. Regardless of the fact that it’s a just cause
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Sorry, I’ve been off Twitter for the last two weeks…
Been out here trying to get customers and not go broke .
IYKYK
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@shawngorham
One of my best friends does this, he always takes comps and says:
“You should list this, you’ll make x amount more. That would be the best financial move.
However if you don’t want to do all that, I will give you X in cash.”
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Sales is the best career.
1. Easy to break into (no technical requirement or degree)
2. High flexibility. If you perform, no one cares how much work or when you do it.
3. Big money🤑 A killer sales rep can make 500k+ within 5 years of breaking into the field.
4. If you don’t
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Takeaways from MainSt:
1.Everyone has that deep feeling of anxiety that it might not work. Their net worth/past success doesn’t change that much. (
@awilkinson
)
2.Relentless action on one thing is critical to long term success. (
@fortworthchris
)
3.Double down on twitter (@
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@meetmikehiggins
Had a couple cars on turo and was a great business. As the market got more saturated it became harder to compete with a regular car. At this point, it’s much better to have something cool/unique
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We need more revenue.
I have tunnel vision on solving that problem. Nothing else matters until we are booked out 45-60 days in advance. I can’t hire, I can’t spend more, I can’t invest into better equipment….until we have more fences booked.
We’re putting out 1000 door hangars
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I have a friend who can source ANYTHING.
Texted him that I need 2in sch40 pipe in 21 ft sections.
1 min later:
“I have contact in China. Send me specs and what port you want it delivered to”
This man will never be without work
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@DylanGoulah
@GuyDealership
Literally didn’t negotiate. Called and said “I’ll take it, here’s money.”
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@the_kittylord
I pay these guys more than what they make on other jobs. It’s the nature of construction workers for the most part.
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@RobertMSterling
It’s so hard to watch politicians like this. It’s almost like they speak in sound bite.
Counter productive.
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@FrankDaGod
I could care less if anyone else thinks it’s a good idea.
If I tweet in six months that we went broke. We can both agree it was bad 😂
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Why was I confident making the leap from my job to start this fence company?
Because I can sell.
Frankly, I’m confident that one skill will get me out of just about any problems this new business may bring.
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@mhp_guy
Seems very unlikely that car dealers are going to stop by with newly purchase vehicles. 99% of even small dealers have their own in house reconditioning process.
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Using subcontractors is a double edged sword at best.
Yes, it’s cheaper. Yes, it’s convenient to not keep people on payroll full time. Nice not to have to pay health insurance and such.
BUT:
Quality control
Consistency
Getting them to show up
And generally making sure they
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@PhiIIyFanatic
@lporiginalg
She said he earns 2 times her wage in a day. This is essienrially the bare minimum he could be earning.
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@sweatystartup
Was homeschooled all the way through - there’s a way to do it where kids still have great social connections. Played every sport, had tons of friends, had been to 40 states before my 18 birthday.
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Underrated business hack:
Start a new venture in your home town.
You know who wants to see you succeed?
Your second grade teacher. Your best friend’s parents. Your old soccer coach. The guy who did business with your dad. Your mom’s hairdresser.
Referrals on easy mode.
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@EricJorgenson
Tell me about your worst day of work ever.
Gives great insight as to what they get stressed by and if they've really ever had a hard job.
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@jbertarian
Probably would have this problem but would be able to fire, reprimand etc. very hard not to use subs when you’re starting out
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I can put out 1000 of these for $20 and get to go on a run in a different neighborhood with my daughter every day.
Seems like the best marketing I can do for $20 and means more family time.
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What is the fastest and cheapest way to find which houses have pools in a given county?
Bonus points if it’s sub $250 and takes less than 12 hours.
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@ClintFiore
We’ve been doing this exact same thing for 10 years. So have my parents.
1. Mom had cancer. Completely covered + told her they would pay for experimental treatment outside the US if needed. $400 total out of pocket for 250k in bills
2. My daughter was born 6 weeks early. NICU +
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Friendly reminder to call your dad and go fishing.
That’s all.
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We have a handful of babysitters we’ve used for date nights.
Two of them wash all our dishes every time after putting my daughter to bed.
Guess which babysitters get called first?
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Gut check.
Listen to this podcast.
If you don’t have a friend in your life that speaks life into you like
@fortworthchris
does with
@sweatystartup
. You need to start asking yourself some tough questions.
A. Are you that friend?
B. Why don’t you have those friends?
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I’m probably going to take a 100-150k hit in personal income this year because I started this business.
+ work way more
+ increase my stress load
+ have a way less “cool job”
+ have more liability
But I’m playing the long game and having way more fun doing it.
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Stop planning.
Don’t make an LLC.
Don’t go talk to a lawyer/CPA/consultant.
Go get ONE customer.
Did you make money? Did they like the product/service? Did you like the experience? How hard was it to get that customer?
Your plans are worthless until you start.
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If SpaceX & Tesla made a smart phone that ran on Starlink, they’d probably destroy Apple.
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If there is anyone in the Twitter world that I’ve thought “I want to be more like this guy” it’s Chris Powers.
Humble and kind in real life.
Appears to care deeply about his wife and kids.
Friends with a bunch of older men who obviously respect him.
Extremely successful.
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@KDimitratos
100% I’ve gotten 6 figure sales jobs of a 5 min interview and a 1minute loom video. Been rejected for dozens of subpar jobs after extensive applications
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@OutlawLinc
@EdKrassen
There’s a balance. Many people need to be reformed. Others need to be removed from society forever…
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How to solve hard problems quickly:
A lesson from thousands of hours in surgery. 🧵
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@moseskagan
He has a standing job offer to work with me when he’s ready.
My hunch is he’ll do his own thing though😎
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I love Twitter.
In under 20 minutes Craig (who I didn’t know) saw my post, commented, called me and solved my problem.
Go give this man a follow! Seriously a telecom wizard
@SMBTelecomGuy
Ring central has horrible customer service and user experience.
Anyone an expert in it? I’d rather pay you $30 than deal with their customer support.
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