Before You Start
This book takes about an hour to read. Every chapter is short on purpose. You don't need more information. You need a plan you can run tomorrow morning.
I wrote this for one person: a home service pro who can't find direction. Painters, plumbers, HVAC techs, electricians, roofers, landscapers, cleaners: if you run the truck, the crew or the whole company, keep reading.
Open the notes app on your phone before you start. Every chapter ends with Your move: one thing to write down or do. Do it before you turn the page.
Here is the deal:
- Today: read the book and fill in your playbook at the end.
- Tonight: set up tomorrow's play.
- The next 7 days: run the play every day and mark each day a win or a loss. The 7-Day Kickoff at the back gives you one focus a day.
That's it. No app to buy, no course, no 5am cold plunge. Just you, a plan, and the decision to execute.
Start with The Road Map: the six stages from an idea to a business that runs itself, and the daily build that moves you up. Part One is the play: how to plan one perfect day, run it and stay disciplined when you don't feel like it. Part Two is starting a home service business the right way. Part Three is growing it: leads, estimates, prices, getting paid, your CRM and AI. Part Four is making it run without you: your first hire, systems, a crew lead, the team and the numbers. Part Five is the money: a budget, getting funded from low credit to high, and growing by buying other companies. Part Six is why I build: Yaya, who builds it with me, and Liam, who I build it for. Part Seven is your tools: the play on one page, word-for-word scripts, the 7-Day Kickoff and your playbook.
The Road Map
Every home service business goes through the same stages, from an idea to a company that runs without you. Most owners get stuck in the middle: doing the work all day and the paperwork all night. This is the whole road, so you know where you are and what comes next.
The six stages
- Thinking about it. You know a trade, and you're wondering if you can make it on your own. You're done when you've checked the work, the rules and the money, and you've picked a start date. (Chapter 11)
- Starting. The business is set up right and the first customers are paying. You're done when you have 10 paying customers and 5 reviews. (Chapters 12–13)
- Doing it all. You sell, do the work, send the bills and chase the money yourself. You're done when you're turning down work, or working nights to keep up. (Part One and Part Three)
- Building a crew. Other people do part of the work, and you still run every job. You're done when a crew can run a job from start to finish without you there. (Chapters 20–21)
- Off the tools. You sell, lead and run the business instead of doing the work. You're done when someone else runs the jobs and someone else runs the office. (Chapters 22–23)
- Runs by itself. Work gets sold, done and paid without you there. You're done when you can take two weeks off and the numbers hold. (Chapters 24–25)
Find your stage
Read the six stages and pick the one that sounds like your week, not the one you wish were true. Your stage tells you what to build next.
The two-minute check
Not sure which one is yours? Answer these from the top. Your stage is the first one where the answer is no.
- Have you checked the work, the rules and the money, and picked a start date? No: thinking about it (Chapter 11).
- Do you have 10 paying customers and 5 reviews? No: starting (Chapters 12–13).
- Are you turning down work, or working nights to keep up? No: doing it all (Part One and Part Three).
- Can a crew run a job from start to finish without you there? No: building a crew (Chapters 20–21).
- Does someone else run the jobs, and someone else run the office? No: off the tools (Chapters 22–23).
- Could you take two weeks off and have the numbers hold? No: runs by itself (Chapters 24–25). Yes: keep reading your Monday numbers, and see Parts Five and Six.
Three chapters fit any stage: Chapter 26, the budget; Chapter 27, getting funded; and Chapter 28, buying other companies. Start your budget and your credit now, long before you need the money.
The daily build
The play runs your day. The daily build moves your business up the road, one step at a time. It's 30 minutes a day working on the business instead of in it, at the same time every weekday.
- Find the next step for your stage in that stage's chapters.
- In your build time, do one piece of it: one call, one checklist, one interview, one number.
- Mark it done, and pick tomorrow's step tonight when you set up your play.
Thirty minutes a day is two and a half hours a week, and about 130 hours a year. That's how a business climbs from one stage to the next: not in one weekend, but half an hour at a time.
Part One
The Play
Chapter 1 · Score it
Write Down Your Situation
When business gets hard, it's easy to wait for someone to save you. Nobody is coming. The money you need is going to come from what you do with your days.
And most days have no plan. You wake up and react. Phone calls, texts, fires, scrolling, more fires. You're busy from sunrise to midnight and still behind. Busy isn't the same as winning.
Busy isn't the same as winning.
A "no" is information. It tells you where you are. It doesn't tell you where you're going. That part is your call.
A "no" is information. It tells you where you are. It doesn't tell you where you're going.
So make a decision. You can't change yesterday. You can control tomorrow. If you can build one perfect day and run it, then build another one, you can get anywhere.
This book is that plan. I call it The Play. And every play starts the same way: you look at the field.
You can't fix what you won't write down.
Write it down
Take 15 minutes. Answer each question in a few honest lines. Nobody sees this but you.
- Money: What's in the bank today? What do you owe, and to who? What's coming in this month?
- Work: What do you do all day? What actually makes you money? What eats your time and doesn't?
- Body: How many hours do you sleep? What do you eat? When did you last move on purpose?
- Mind: What's the first thing on your mind when you wake up? What are you avoiding?
- People: Who counts on you? Who do you spend the most time with? Do they pull you up or down?
- Habits: What do you do every day without thinking? Which of those help, and which hurt?
Write facts, not excuses. "I have $212 in the bank and $3,400 due on the 1st" beats "money's tight."
Chapter 2 · Score it
Evaluate Your Situation
Writing it down shows you the field. Evaluating it tells you where to attack.
Go back to your six answers. Give each area a score from 1 to 10. A 1 means it's on fire. A 10 means you wouldn't change a thing. Don't think too long. Your first number is usually the honest one.
Then fill in the rest of the row.
| Area | Score (1–10) | What's working | What's broken | In my control? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money | ||||
| Work | ||||
| Body | ||||
| Mind | ||||
| People | ||||
| Habits |
Now look at your table and answer three questions:
- If nothing changes, where am I in 90 days? Say it out loud. If the answer scares you, good. That's fuel.
- Which low score, if I fixed it, would make the others easier? For most people it's money or habits. When money is handled, your mind gets quieter. When your habits are right, your body and your work follow.
- What am I doing every day that keeps me here? Be specific. "Scrolling for two hours after dinner." "Answering every call, even the ones that don't pay."
That's the most important thing this chapter can give you: the problem is almost never the whole picture. It's one or two areas dragging the rest down. Find those, and you know where your play starts.
Chapter 3 · Call it
Call Your Play
In every game, the team that wins isn't the one that wants it most. It's the one that runs its plays.
A play is a plan for one day. That's all. Not a vision board, not a five-year plan. One day, planned the night before and run from the moment you wake up.
The perfect day isn't a day where nothing goes wrong. It's a day where you did what you said you'd do. Stack enough of those and your life changes. Miss enough of them and it changes too, just in the wrong direction.
The perfect day isn't a day where nothing goes wrong. It's a day where you did what you said you'd do.
The play has five steps. You've already done the first one.
- Know the score. Write down and evaluate your situation. (Chapters 1–2)
- Pick the win. One goal, one number, one date. (Chapter 4)
- Design the perfect day. The day that moves you toward the win. (Chapter 5)
- Execute. Set it up the night before and run it, no matter how you feel. (Chapters 6, 7 and 10)
- Run it back. Review the week, fix one thing, go again. (Chapters 8–9)
Then you go back to step one with a better score.
Score it. Call it. Run it.
Five steps are easy to forget when your day is on fire. So here's the whole play in six words: score it, call it, run it.
Score it is Chapters 1 and 2: know where you stand. Call it is Chapters 4 to 6: pick the win, design the day and set it up the night before. Run it is Chapters 7 to 10: execute, reset when it breaks, run it back and stay disciplined. The rest of the book builds on them: Start it (Part Two), Grow it (Part Three), Hand it off (Part Four), and Budget it, Fund it and Buy it (Part Five). Part Six is the why: Build it together and Hand it down.
If you forget everything else in this book, remember those six words.
Chapter 4 · Call it
Pick the Win
A win has three parts: one goal, one number, one date. If it's missing any of them, it's a wish.
- Wish: "I want to get my money right."
- Win: "$5,000 a week in profit, every week, by January 31."
Pick one win for the next 90 days. Just one. You can have other goals later. Right now, every hour of your day is going to point at this one.
Work it backward
A big number feels impossible until you break it down to today. Here's how:
- 90 days: What's the win?
- This week: What has to happen this week to be on pace?
- Today: What one or two actions, done today, make this week happen?
Say each job leaves you $1,000 in profit after labor and materials. $5,000 a week means 5 jobs. If 1 in 3 estimates turns into a job, you need 15 estimates a week. That's 3 a day. Now the win isn't a dream. It's three estimates before dinner.
Every business and every life has a chain like this. Find yours. The last link is your daily number: the one thing you do every day that the whole win depends on.
The play for every trade
Every trade has its own chain. Here are examples of a 90-day win and the daily number behind it. Use your own numbers.
- Painting: 20 jobs a month. Daily number: 3 estimates.
- HVAC: 100 new maintenance plans. Daily number: offer a plan on every call, and sell 2.
- Plumbing: $40,000 a month in billed work. Daily number: 6 paid calls.
- Electrical: 10 panel upgrades a month. Daily number: 2 quotes.
- Roofing: 8 roofs a month. Daily number: 2 inspections.
- Landscaping: 60 weekly customers. Daily number: 3 new quotes.
- House cleaning: 40 recurring homes. Daily number: 2 walk-throughs.
- Pest control: 300 customers on a quarterly plan. Daily number: 5 plan offers.
Count the overhead
That chain has a hole in it, and most home service pros miss it. The $1,000 left on a job isn't profit yet. The bills still have to come out.
Say your bills are $2,500 a month: insurance, gas and marketing. That's about $577 a week. So to keep $5,000 a week, you need about $5,600 left on jobs every week.
There are two ways to get there:
- Same prices, more jobs: about 6 jobs a week, or 18 estimates.
- Better prices, same work: charge about $500 more per job, so $1,500 is left on each. Then 4 jobs a week does it, and that's only 12 estimates a week.
Whatever your business is, do this math before you pick your daily number. A win that ignores the bills is a wish.
Chapter 5 · Call it
Design the Perfect Day
The perfect day is built in blocks. Each block has one job. When you're in a block, you only do that block's job.
There are five blocks:
- The first hour. No scrolling. Get up, move your body, and read your play for the day. You win or lose the morning before anyone else gets a piece of you.
- The money block. Two to three hours on your daily number, before noon. Calls, estimates, follow-ups, collecting what you're owed. This block is sacred. Nothing else goes here.
- The work block. Everything else your job needs: the site visits, the emails, the problems.
- The people block. The people you're doing all this for. Phone down, fully there.
- The shutdown. Ten minutes to set up tomorrow's play, then lights out at the same time every night.
Three rules hold the day together:
- Three must-wins a day. Not ten. Three things that, if they're done, make it a win no matter what else happens.
- One money action before noon. Every day. Even on a bad day.
- Same wake time, same sleep time. Your body can't run a play it's too tired to run.
Plus the daily build. Thirty minutes a day working on the business instead of in it: the next step on your road map. Give it the same time every weekday, after your money block.
Chapter 6 · Call it
The Night Before
Tomorrow is won or lost tonight.
Tomorrow is won or lost tonight.
When you wake up without a plan, the first thing that grabs you runs your day. A text, a bill, a bad feeling. When you wake up with a plan, you already know your first move. You don't have to think. You just go.
The night-before setup takes ten minutes. Do it at the same time every night.
That's it. If it takes longer than ten minutes, you're overthinking it.
Chapter 7 · Run it
Execute
This is the chapter where most people quit. Planning feels good. Doing is where it gets real.
Look at the cover: the yellow route is marked CUT, and that's the whole idea. Executing means cutting everything that doesn't belong in today's play: the scrolling, the busywork, the call that can wait, the voice in your head that says later.
Five rules for execution
- Your feelings don't get a vote. You won't feel like it. Do it anyway. The feeling usually shows up after you start, not before.
- Start ugly. Don't wait for the perfect moment or the perfect words. Make the call. Send the estimate. Fix it after.
- Five minutes. When you're stuck, tell yourself you'll do it for five minutes. Most of the time you'll keep going.
- One thing at a time. In the money block, you're only in the money block. Phone on do-not-disturb, apps closed, one task open.
- Don't negotiate with yourself. You made the plan last night when your head was clear. Trust that version of you over the tired one.
Keep score
At the end of every day, ask one question: did I win the day? If you hit your three must-wins, it's a W. If you didn't, it's an L. No partial credit, no excuses. Just mark it and move on.
Chapter 8 · Run it
When the Play Breaks
The play will break. A customer won't pay. Someone on your crew won't show. Your kid gets sick. The bank says no. It's going to happen, probably this week.
The play breaking isn't the problem. What you do next is.
Never lose two in a row
One bad day is a fumble. Two in a row is the start of a losing streak. So the rule is simple: you can lose a day, but you never lose two in a row.
You can lose a day, but you never lose two in a row.
The reset
When the day falls apart, don't throw out the play. Shrink it.
- Stop and breathe. Ten seconds. You're not going to fix it by panicking.
- Find the smallest win. What's one must-win you can still get today? One call. One invoice. One hour with your family.
- Do that one thing. Now it's not a lost day. It's a short one.
- Write down what broke. Tonight, one line: what happened and what you'd do differently. That's how the play gets better.
The score doesn't care about yesterday. Every morning is a new game.
Chapter 9 · Run it
Run It Back
One perfect day won't change your life. Ninety of them will.
Once a week, sit down for 30 minutes and look at the tape. Same day, same time. Sunday night works for most people.
The weekly review
- Count your wins. How many W's out of 7? Write the number.
- Check the win. Are you on pace for your 90-day number? Write where you are.
- What worked? One thing you'll keep doing.
- What broke? One thing that kept costing you days.
- Change one thing. Not five. One change to next week's play.
- Re-score your situation. Every four weeks, go back to Chapter 2 and score your six areas again. Watch the numbers move.
- Check your build. What did you finish for your stage this week, and what comes next?
The scoreboard
Keep it where you'll see it every day.
Five wins a week is a great week. Seven is rare. Under four means the play is too big. Shrink it and go again.
Chapter 10 · Run it
Discipline
Motivation shows up when the day is easy. Discipline is running the play when it isn't: the 5:30 alarm in July, the follow-up call you don't want to make, the invoice you've been putting off. Here's the good news: discipline is less about willpower than you think. It's mostly setup.
Set it up so the right thing is easy
- Lay out tomorrow the night before (Chapter 6), so the morning starts with a plan instead of a decision.
- Put the phone across the room at night, and out of reach during the money block.
- Load the truck and print the day's jobs before you go to bed.
- Put the hard calls at a set time, right after something you already do every day.
- Make the wrong thing harder: log out of the apps that eat your morning.
Pair the hard thing with something you like
Save something you enjoy for the task you put off. Your favorite podcast only on the drive to estimates. The good coffee only during the money block. Your music only while you send invoices.
Keep promises small, and keep every one
Discipline is a promise you keep to yourself. Make it small enough to keep on your worst day: one call, one estimate, one invoice. A small promise you keep beats a big one you break, because every kept promise makes the next one easier.
When you don't feel like it
- Name it. "I don't want to make this call."
- Shrink it. Just one call, or just the first two minutes.
- Start the clock. Two minutes. Most of the time, you'll keep going.
- Mark it. Put the W on the board tonight.
Discipline for the crew
Your crew watches what you do, not what you say. If you show up at 7:00, they show up at 7:00. If you leave the job site clean, so will they. What you allow, you teach. Set the standard with a checklist (Chapter 21), and hold yourself to it first.
Part Two
Start It
If you already run a business, skip ahead to Part Three. If you're still thinking about it, these three chapters take you from the idea to your first ten paying customers.
Chapter 11 · Start it
Should You Start?
Most home service businesses start the same way: someone who's good at a trade gets tired of making money for someone else. That's a good reason. It isn't a plan yet.
Five questions before you start
- Do you know the trade? Customers pay for work that's done right the first time. If you're still learning, keep learning on someone else's payroll first.
- Is there work? Search for your trade in your area. See how many companies show up, how many reviews they have and what customers complain about. Ask people in the trade how far out they're booked.
- What are the rules? Many states and cities require a license for your trade, and every business needs insurance. Look up your state's contractor licensing board before you take a job.
- Can you live while it starts? The first months are slow, and customers pay late. Know what your home and your business need each month, and how long you can go if the work is slow.
- Who's with you? Your family will feel it. Tell them the plan, the hours and the date you'll check whether it's working.
Start before you jump
You don't have to quit your job on day one. Many owners start on weekends and evenings, build up customers and reviews, then go full time when the work is there.
Set a number and a date: "When I have [amount] in steady work a month for three months, I go full time." That turns a dream into a decision.
Chapter 12 · Start it
Set It Up Right
A business that starts messy stays messy. One afternoon of setup saves years of cleanup.
The setup checklist
This isn't legal or tax advice. The rules change from state to state and city to city, and an hour with a local accountant is worth it.
Chapter 13 · Start it
Your First 10 Customers
Your first ten customers are the hardest and the most important. They pay the first bills, they write your first reviews and they tell their friends.
Where they come from
- People who already know your work. Friends, family, neighbors and old coworkers. Tell every one of them what you do now, in one sentence, and ask who they know.
- Your street, then the next one. Door hangers and flyers in the neighborhoods you want to work in. Go back to the same streets. People need to see your name more than once.
- Your Google profile. Ask every customer for a review the day you finish. Your first few reviews are what make the next customer trust you.
- Other trades. Painters need drywall pros, plumbers know electricians, and realtors need everyone. Meet them and send work both ways.
- Offices that need help every month. Property managers, realtors and builders (Chapter 14).
Make every one count
- Show up on time and do what you said, every time.
- Keep them posted: text when you're on the way, when you finish and when the invoice goes out.
- Take before and after photos of every job. They're your portfolio.
- Ask every happy customer for a review and a referral. The scripts are in Part Seven.
Ten happy customers who tell their friends beat a hundred who never think of you again.
Part Three
Grow It
The play runs your day. These six chapters grow the business behind it: more work coming in, estimates you win, prices that leave a profit, money in the bank, one place for all of it, and an AI partner to help.
Chapter 14 · Grow it
Bring In the Work
Your daily number only works if there's someone to call. In home services, the work doesn't go to the best painter or the best plumber. It goes to the one people remember, find and reach first.
Getting leads sounds like marketing. It isn't. It's a money-block job, done every day, the same way you run a job site.
Where the work comes from
- Past customers. The cheapest lead you'll ever get is someone who already paid you. Call or text every customer from the last two years. Ask how the work is holding up and what else they need done.
- Referrals. Ask when the customer is happiest: the day you finish. "Who else do you know who needs this done?" Leave two business cards, or text them a link they can pass on.
- Your Google listing and reviews. When a homeowner searches for your trade, your listing is your storefront. Fill in every part of it, add real photos of your work, and ask every happy customer for a review the day the job is done.
- Walk-ins. Property managers, realtors, HOAs and builders send work every month. Walk into their offices with a card and a flyer, ask who handles their vendors, and come back. One office that trusts you can be worth more than a hundred ads.
- The neighborhood. Every job is a billboard. A yard sign where the customer says yes, door hangers on the houses on each side, and a clean truck with your number on it.
- Paid leads. Ads and lead sites can work, but you pay every time. Write down what you spend on each one and what it brings in. If a source doesn't pay you back, stop paying for it.
Speed wins the job
Most homeowners call two or three companies. The first one who calls back, shows up on time and sends a clear quote usually gets the job. A lead that waits until tomorrow is a lead that went to someone else.
Your rule: every new lead gets a call or a text within the hour during work hours. Every missed call gets called back the same day.
Beat the slow season
Every trade has a slow season. Plan for it while you're busy.
- Sell maintenance plans. A tune-up twice a year, a spring cleanup, a yearly touch-up. Repeat work fills the slow months and keeps customers yours.
- Book the next visit before you leave. Put next season's service on the calendar when you close out the job.
- Call past customers before it slows down. Not when the calendar is already empty.
- Offer off-season work. Inside work when it's too hot or too cold outside, and prep work for the busy season.
- Save in the busy months. Put a set amount from every payment aside for the slow ones.
Make it part of the play
Bringing in work isn't something you do when the calendar runs empty. Pick one lead action and put it in your money block every day:
- Five past customers called or texted.
- Three offices walked into.
- One review asked for.
- Every new lead answered within the hour.
When work is slow, do more of it. When work is busy, don't stop. Slow weeks are made in the busy weeks, when nobody was bringing in the next job.
Chapter 15 · Grow it
Win the Estimate
In home services, the estimate is the sale. You can do the best work in town and still lose the job at the kitchen table.
Most estimates are lost in small ways: showing up late, talking more than listening, one price with no choices, a quote that shows up a week later, and no follow-up. Fix those five and you win more jobs at the same price.
Before you go
- Confirm the day before by text, with your name and when you will get there.
- Look up the address so you know what you're walking into.
- Bring what you need to measure, test and take photos.
- Know your prices before you get there, so you can quote with confidence.
At the house
- Be on time. If you're going to be late, call before the time, not after.
- Listen first. Ask what they want done, why now, when they want it finished and who else decides. Write it down.
- Walk the job. Measure, take photos and point out what you see, good and bad.
- Explain it in plain words. What you'd do, why, and how long it takes. Never trash the last company.
- Ask for the job. Before you leave: "If this looks right, when would you want us to start?"
Give three options
One price is a yes-or-no question. Three options turn it into "which one?" Build a good, a better and a best for your most common jobs. For a painter, that could be:
- Good: one coat, standard paint, basic prep.
- Better: two coats, premium paint, cracks and nail holes fixed.
- Best: two coats, top-line paint, full prep and a longer warranty.
Most people pick the middle. Build the profit you need into the better option, and make the best option worth it for the customers who want it.
Send it fast, then follow up
Send the quote the same day if you can, within 24 hours at most. The longer it takes, the colder the customer gets.
Then follow up on a schedule, not when you remember:
- Day 1: a text. Did it come through? Any questions?
- Day 3: a call. Walk them through the options.
- Day 7: a text with something useful: a photo of a similar job, or your next open start date.
- Day 14: the last call. "Should I close this out, or is it still on your list?"
The scripts in Part Seven give you the words.
Chapter 16 · Grow it
Price for Profit
Low prices fill your calendar and empty your bank account. If you're busy every day and still behind, the problem might not be your work. It might be your prices.
Know what an hour really costs you
Before you can price a job, you need to know what one hour of work costs you. Not just the wage. Everything.
- Labor. What you pay each person an hour, plus what comes on top: payroll taxes, workers' comp and insurance.
- Overhead. Everything you pay to stay open: the truck, gas, tools, phone, software, insurance, ads, the office. Add up a month and divide it by the hours you actually bill in a month.
- You. Pay yourself a real wage for the work you do, before you count any profit.
- Profit. What the business keeps to grow, to save for the slow season and to cover mistakes.
Your accountant can help you get these numbers exact. Even a rough number beats a guess.
Markup isn't margin
This one costs home service pros a lot of money. If a job costs you $1,000 and you charge $1,500, that's a 50% markup. But you only keep $500 of $1,500. That's a 33% margin.
To keep the margin you want, mark up your cost by this much:
- To keep 20%, mark up 25%.
- To keep 30%, mark up 43%.
- To keep 40%, mark up 67%.
- To keep 50%, mark up 100%. That means double your cost.
The same math in six trades
Here is that math on one job in six trades, to keep 40%. Every price is the cost divided by 0.6, which is a 67% markup. The numbers are made up and round. Use your own costs.
| Trade | The job | Your cost | Price to keep 40% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painting | Repaint three bedrooms | $1,800 | $3,000 |
| Cleaning | Move-out deep clean | $210 | $350 |
| HVAC | Replace a capacitor, plus a tune-up | $270 | $450 |
| Plumbing | Replace a water heater | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Landscaping | Monthly yard care, one visit | $120 | $200 |
| Roofing | Fix a leak | $720 | $1,200 |
Your cost is everything the job eats: your crew's hours at what they really cost you, the materials, and the job's share of the overhead.
Raise your prices the right way
- Check your numbers every year. Your costs go up every year. If your prices don't, your pay goes down.
- Watch your calendar. If you're booked weeks out and winning almost every quote, your prices are probably too low.
- New quotes first. Put new prices on every new quote right away.
- Give regular customers notice. Tell them before the new price starts, and honor every quote that is already out.
- Sell what they get. On time, a clean job site, a warranty and a company that answers the phone. That's worth paying for.
Chapter 17 · Grow it
Get Paid
A finished job isn't a win until the money is in the bank. Plenty of busy home service companies go broke waiting on money they already earned.
Get paid on every job
- Take a deposit on bigger jobs. It holds the date and pays for materials. Some states limit how much a contractor can ask for up front, so check your state's rules.
- Bill in steps on long jobs. A payment at the start, one in the middle and the rest when it's done.
- Invoice before you leave the driveway. Not tonight, not Sunday. The day you finish is the day they're happiest to pay.
- Make it easy to pay. Take a card on the spot, or text a pay link with the invoice.
- Put it in writing. The price, what's included, when payment is due and what happens if it's late, signed before you start.
The overdue schedule
Don't wait and hope. When a payment is late, follow the same steps every time:
- The due date: a friendly text with the pay link.
- 3 days late: a call. Ask if anything about the job needs fixing.
- 7 days late: a second call, and an email with the invoice. Agree on a date.
- 14 days late: a final notice in writing. No new work until it's paid.
- 30 days late: if it's a big amount, talk to a lawyer about your options. Some of them have deadlines.
The job closeout checklist
Before you leave every finished job:
Chapter 18 · Grow it
Run It From One Place
Most home service pros run the business from their head, their texts and a stack of paper in the truck. It works until it doesn't: a quote nobody followed up on, an invoice nobody chased, a customer you forgot to call back.
A CRM fixes that. CRM stands for customer relationship management. In plain words, it's one place for every customer, every lead, every quote, every job and every dollar you're owed, right on your phone.
What a CRM does for your play
- Nothing falls through the cracks. Every caller, website request and quote waiting on a yes is on one list, so you know who to call today.
- Follow-ups happen. Most quotes aren't lost to a cheaper company. They're lost because nobody called back. A follow-up list tells you who's waiting on you.
- You get paid faster. Send the invoice from the job, take a card on the spot and see who still owes you.
- Your crew knows the plan. Jobs, addresses, notes and photos go to their phones, so you're not the only one who knows what's next.
- Your numbers are real. Estimates sent, jobs won, money collected. That's your scoreboard from Chapter 9, kept for you.
How Jetsy can help you grow
I built Jetsy to run my own painting company. Today it's a CRM for home service pros: painters, cleaners, HVAC, plumbers, landscapers, roofers and more. It works on any phone, in English and Spanish.
- Score it. Every customer has one timeline: every call, text, quote, invoice, payment and photo. You can see where your business stands.
- Call it. The Proposals tab holds every lead and every quote waiting on a yes. One Follow up list tells you who to call or text today.
- Run it. Quotes, jobs, invoices and card payments from your phone. Your crew gets the job, the address and the notes on theirs.
- Grow it. A free website with a request form and your Google reviews, an online booking page, and a review request after every job. On Jetsy 2.0 and up, a receptionist answers every call, day or night, in English or Spanish, and a missed call gets a text back within seconds.
Jetsy is free for 30 days, no card. After that, plans start at $25 a month, month to month, with no contract. You can start at getjetsy.com.
Whatever you use, use it every day
You don't have to use mine. But whatever you pick, use it every day. Every lead goes in the minute it comes in. Every quote gets a follow-up date. Every finished job gets an invoice the same day. A CRM you only open on Fridays is just another list.
Chapter 19 · Grow it
Your AI Partner
For most home service pros, almost everything runs through one person: you. The estimates, the scheduling, the follow-ups, the invoices, the ideas at midnight.
AI can change that. Not by doing your work for you. By giving you a partner you can talk to any hour of the day, right on your phone, that helps you think, plan and build.
What AI can't do
AI won't walk into a single customer's office for you. It won't paint a wall. Those are yours to do.
It's a tool, like a sprayer. In the right hands it makes you faster. It doesn't make you a painter.
Three rules I follow:
- Check the numbers. AI can be wrong and still sound sure. If it's going to a bank, a customer or the IRS, check it yourself.
- Keep secrets out. Never paste passwords, bank logins, card numbers or secret keys into a chat.
- You make the call. Let it draft. You decide, and you hit send.
How to put AI in your play
You don't need to build an app. Start with your phone and one AI app. Here's where it fits:
- Score it. Ask it to walk you through the six questions in Chapter 1, one at a time, then help you score each area honestly.
- Call it. Give it your win and ask it to work it backward to your daily number. Check the math.
- The night before. Talk through tomorrow for five minutes. Have it write your three must-wins and your money actions by name.
- The money block. Have it draft the follow-up texts, estimate emails and payment reminders. You read them and hit send.
- Run it back. Give it your W's and L's for the week and ask for the one thing to change.
- When your head is full. Dump everything on it. Ask it to sort what's today, what's this week and what can go.
And what would I tell a home service pro who's scared of AI? Don't be. Life is one time. Use it to build an easier life, no matter what you do.
Life is one time. Use it to build an easier life, no matter what you do.
Part Four
Make It Run Itself
This is the part most owners never get to: a business that sells, does and collects without you doing every piece of it. You get there the same way you got everywhere else in this book: one step a day, in your daily build.
Chapter 20 · Hand it off
Your First Hire
You can only do so much with two hands. The first hire is the hardest step from doing the work to owning a business.
When to hire
- You're turning down work, or booking so far out that customers go somewhere else.
- You're doing paperwork every night and every Sunday.
- The math works: the person brings in or frees up more money than they cost.
Who to hire first
Hire for the job that frees up the most of your money hours. For many owners, that's a helper in the field, so you can spend more time selling. For others, it's office help, so the phones, the schedule and the invoices stop eating your nights.
Your next hire, by the size of your crew
- Just you: a helper in the field, or a few hours a week of office help. Start part-time, and let the hours you free up pay for it.
- A crew of 2 to 5: hire for what eats your nights. If it's the phones and the invoices, part-time office help often pays for itself in money collected on time.
- A crew of 6 to 15: hire a crew lead before another pair of hands: someone who runs the job while you sell and plan (Chapter 22).
How to hire
- Ask around first. Your crew, other trades and your suppliers. The best people often aren't looking.
- Hire for character, test for skill. Shows up on time, tells the truth, takes care of the customer's home. You can teach the rest.
- Do a paid trial day. Watch how they work, not how they talk.
- Do the paperwork right. Whether someone is an employee or a contractor isn't up to you; the rules decide. Ask your accountant, and get workers' comp if your state requires it.
- Train with a checklist. The first week decides whether they stay.
Pay fairly and pay on time, every time. People leave bosses who pay late.
Chapter 21 · Hand it off
Write It Down
A business that runs by itself runs on systems. A system is just the best way you know to do something, written down so someone else can do it the same way.
Start with what you repeat
Anything you do three times, write down. Start with the jobs that cost you the most when they go wrong:
- Answering a new lead and booking the estimate.
- The estimate visit.
- Starting a job: the walkthrough, protecting the home and the plan for the day.
- Finishing a job: the closeout checklist (Chapter 17).
- Sending invoices and following up on late payments.
- Ordering materials and loading the truck.
How to write one
- Do the job yourself, and record a short video on your phone while you explain each step.
- Turn it into a checklist of 5 to 15 steps, in plain words.
- Hand it to someone and watch them follow it. Fix every step where they get stuck.
- Keep it where the crew can find it on their phones, and update it when you find a better way.
Chapter 22 · Hand it off
Step Off the Tools
There's a day every owner has to stop being the best worker on the crew and start being the owner. It's harder than it sounds, because the work is what you're good at.
Your job changes
Your new job is three things: bring in the work, lead the people and watch the money. Everything else, someone else can learn to do.
Make a crew lead
- Pick the person the crew already listens to, who cares about the customer's home the way you do.
- Give them the job's checklist, the plan for the day and the customer's number.
- Give them a limit: fixes up to a set dollar amount, they decide. Above it, they call you.
- Pay them for the extra responsibility, and tie part of it to results: jobs on time, happy customers and no callbacks.
Check the work, not the worker
- Visit job sites on a schedule, not to hover.
- Use the closeout checklist and the photos to check every job.
- Ten minutes, one on one, every week with each lead: what's working, what's stuck and what they need from you.
Chapter 23 · Hand it off
Fill the Four Seats
A business that runs by itself has someone in every seat. At first, that someone is you in every seat. The goal is to hand them off, one at a time.
The four seats
- Sales: answers leads, does estimates, follows up and closes.
- Operations: schedules crews, runs the jobs and checks the quality.
- Office: the phones, customer texts, invoices, collections and paperwork.
- Money: prices, payroll, bills and the weekly numbers. Keep this seat until you can afford a good bookkeeper, and read the numbers every week even after.
Hand off one seat at a time
- Start with the seat that eats the most of your time and makes you the least money.
- Write the seat's checklists first (Chapter 21).
- Hire, train, then really let go. Don't take the seat back when they do it differently. Only step in when they do it wrong.
- Pay for results where you can: in sales, a base plus a share of what gets sold and collected.
By the size of your crew
- Just you: you hold all four seats. Give each one its own time: sales in the morning, the money in your money block, the office at a set time, and the work in between.
- A crew of 2 to 5: hand off one seat first, usually operations, so a crew lead runs the jobs. Office help can be part-time.
- A crew of 6 to 15: someone in every seat but money. You keep the money seat, read the Monday numbers, and meet with each seat every week.
Chapter 24 · Hand it off
The Monday Numbers
You can't run a business from a distance if you don't know the score. Every Monday, ten minutes, the same numbers.
The numbers
- Leads: how many came in, and from where.
- Estimates: how many went out.
- Close rate: jobs won divided by estimates sent.
- Average job: what a job brings in.
- Booked: the dollars of work on the calendar.
- Collected: the money that actually came in.
- Owed: unpaid invoices, and how old they are.
- Cash: what's in the bank, and what's due this week.
- Margin: what you kept on the jobs you finished (Chapter 16).
Write them down every week in the same place. One week tells you nothing. Ten weeks tell you the story.
Your Monday sheet
Here is a sheet for four weeks. Screenshot it, print it or copy it into your notes, and fill in one column every Monday.
| The number | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leads | ||||
| Estimates | ||||
| Close rate | ||||
| Average job | ||||
| Booked | ||||
| Collected | ||||
| Owed | ||||
| Cash | ||||
| Margin |
On Mondays, with the crew
On Mondays the morning huddle (Run It With Your Crew, in Part Seven) runs 15 minutes, not 10. Add three numbers the crew can move: jobs finished on time, callbacks and new reviews. Then pick one thing to fix this week, and who owns it.
Three plays for the next 90 days
Every 90 days, pick three plays for the business: the three things that would move you up the road the most. Not ten. Three.
- Write each play as a finish line with a date: "Office help hired by March 1," not "get help."
- Give each one an owner. If it's just you, the owner is you.
- Check them every Monday: on track or stuck, and what each one needs.
- At 90 days, score each one W or L, and pick the next three.
If your CRM keeps these for you, even better (Chapter 18). If it doesn't, a page in your notes app works.
Chapter 25 · Hand it off
The Business That Runs Itself
A business that runs by itself isn't a business with no problems. It's one where the problems get handled without you.
The two-week test
Could you leave for two weeks with your phone off? Would leads get answered, estimates go out, jobs get done right and invoices get paid? Write down everything that would break. That list is your daily build for the next year.
Score your two weeks
When you're back, check each one that held while you were gone. Eight or more: you passed. Fewer than eight: the ones you didn't check are your daily build.
By the size of your crew
- Just you: your business can't run two weeks without you yet, and that's normal. Start with three days: calls answered, estimate visits booked for when you're back, invoices paid by pay link, and nothing on fire when you return.
- A crew of 2 to 5: start with one week. Your crew lead runs the jobs, someone answers the phone, and you check in once a day at most.
- A crew of 6 to 15: take the full two weeks with your phone off. Leave the Monday numbers with someone you trust to read them.
What it takes
- Someone in every seat (Chapter 23).
- A checklist for every job that repeats (Chapter 21).
- The Monday numbers, read every week (Chapter 24).
- Work that repeats, like maintenance plans and regular customers, so every month doesn't start at zero (Chapter 14).
- Cash saved for the slow months and the surprises.
- A crew that is paid fairly and led well, so the good ones stay.
Your new day
When the business runs by itself, you still run the play. The blocks just change. The money block becomes the numbers and the biggest customers. The work block becomes building the next thing. And the people block gets longer.
That's the whole road: from an idea to a business that runs without you. You get there the same way you got through this book: one day at a time, run on purpose.
Part Five
Budget It, Fund It, Buy It
Three chapters for any stage: how to budget your money, how to get funding, from low credit to high, and how to grow by buying other companies.
Chapter 26 · Budget it
Budget
A budget is a plan for your money before it shows up. Without one, the busy months feel rich and the slow months feel like an emergency. With one, you know what every dollar is for.
Your four numbers
- Money in. What customers actually paid, not what you quoted.
- Job costs. What each job eats: materials, crew pay for the job, subs and dump fees.
- Overhead. What you pay to stay open: the truck, gas, insurance, phone, software, ads and rent.
- What's left. Your pay, the taxes and the profit come out of this. If it's small, look at your prices (Chapter 16).
Your CRM already tracks money in and money owed (Chapter 18). If you use Jetsy, it's on your paid and unpaid invoices.
Give every dollar a job
The day money comes in, split it the same way every time, before you spend any of it:
- Deposits: a customer's deposit pays for that customer's job. Keep it for those materials, not last month's bills.
- Taxes: into a separate account you never touch except to pay taxes.
- Your pay: a set amount, on a set day (Chapter 27).
- Profit and cushion: savings for the slow months and for growth.
- Running the business: job costs and overhead.
Some customers pay slowly. Property managers, builders and big companies often pay in 30 days or more. Don't let a slow check pay your crew: bill those jobs in steps (Chapter 17), and keep enough in the cushion to cover a month of payroll.
A cushion for the slow months
Every trade has slow months. Painters slow down in the rain, HVAC between the heat and the cold, landscapers in the winter. Your cushion pays the bills while the phone is quiet.
Start with one month of overhead and your own pay in the cushion, then build to three months. Keep it in a separate account, so it doesn't get spent in a good week.
The 10-minute money check
Every Monday, with your Monday numbers (Chapter 24), check four things:
Build next month's budget
- Average your money in for the last three months. Plan on that, not on your best month.
- List every bill that comes every month.
- Track job costs as a share of money in. If jobs eat more than you planned, fix your prices.
- Set your pay, your tax set-aside and your cushion.
- Write it down where you'll see it every Monday.
This isn't tax or financial advice. Ask your accountant what to set aside for taxes where you live.
Chapter 27 · Fund it
Funding
Money to grow isn't luck. Lenders decide from a few things you control: your credit, your bank account and how steady your income is. Start building them long before you need the money.
What lenders look at
- Your credit. For a small business, lenders check the owner's personal credit score, and more and more, the business's own credit.
- Your bank account. Most lenders ask for several months of business bank statements. They look at your balance, how often it goes below zero and whether you've had overdrafts.
- Your revenue. They want steady deposits month after month, and tax returns that match what you say you make.
- Your debt. What you already owe, and whether the business brings in comfortably more than all of its payments.
- Time and collateral. How long you've been open, and what backs the loan if things go wrong.
Keep your account positive
A negative balance is one of the first things a lender sees. Every day below zero and every overdraft fee tells them the business runs out of cash.
- Put every customer payment in the business account: cash, cards and checks, all of it (Chapter 12).
- Keep a cushion, a set amount you never go under, like two weeks of bills.
- Pay yourself on a schedule, not whenever money shows up.
- Keep personal spending out of the business account.
- Turn on low-balance alerts, so you see trouble before the bank does.
Make your revenue steady
- Invoice the day you finish and collect on schedule (Chapter 17), so money comes in every week, not in random lumps.
- Sell maintenance plans and repeat work (Chapter 14). Lenders like income that shows up every month.
- Report all your income. Lenders lend against what your tax returns show, not what you say you made.
- Two years of steady or rising deposits make almost every lender's answer easier.
From low credit to high
Your credit decides where you can borrow and what it costs. Here is the ladder, by personal credit score:
- Under 580: fix it first. Pay every bill on time, use a secured card, and dispute mistakes on your reports. Money you can still get: equipment financing (the equipment backs it), invoice factoring on commercial jobs (it leans on your customers' credit), and SBA microloans of up to $50,000 through nonprofit lenders, who look at more than a score.
- 580 to 669: business credit cards, supplier accounts, equipment loans and microloans. Online lenders say yes faster, at higher prices.
- 670 to 739: bank and credit union lines of credit and term loans, and SBA 7(a) loans become realistic.
- 740 and up: the best rates and terms, larger SBA 7(a) loans (up to $5 million), and SBA 504 loans for real estate and big equipment.
Build business credit
- Get your EIN (Chapter 12) and a free D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet.
- Open supplier accounts that report your payments, and pay them early.
- Use the same business name, address and phone number everywhere.
- Keep card balances low. Under 30% of your limit is a common rule, and lower is better.
- Check your personal credit reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, and fix mistakes.
Watch out
- Merchant cash advances take a cut of your sales every day and can cost far more than a loan. Look at the total you will pay back, not the daily amount.
- A new loan to pay the last one is how good businesses go under.
- Don't borrow to cover a pricing problem. Fix the price first (Chapter 16).
This isn't financial advice. Talk to a banker, a credit union or an SBA lender before you sign anything, and read the total cost.
Chapter 28 · Buy it
Acquisitions
Once your business runs by itself, you can grow faster by buying companies than by winning every customer one at a time. In home services, the company to buy is often a competitor down the road: an owner ready to retire, a crew that's great at the work and tired of the office, or a business with loyal customers and nobody to take it over.
Why buy instead of build
- You get customers, a crew, trucks and reviews on day one.
- Maintenance plans and regular customers come with it, and they pay every month.
- One more company for you is one less competitor in your area.
- Your systems (Chapter 21) and your CRM (Chapter 18) can make the company you buy run better.
What to look for
- An owner who wants out. Retiring, moving or burned out. Ask other owners, suppliers and your accountant who might sell. Many deals start with a cup of coffee, not a listing.
- Steady, provable income. Three years of tax returns and bank statements that match.
- Customers who stay. Repeat customers and maintenance plans, not one big customer who could leave.
- A crew that stays. Talk to the key people before you buy. If the best tech leaves, customers may follow.
- Clean licenses, insurance and reviews.
What it costs
Small businesses usually sell for a multiple of their yearly cash flow: what the business makes for its owner in a year, the profit plus the owner's own pay.
How to pay for it
- An SBA 7(a) loan. The SBA backs bank loans of up to $5 million, and buying a business is one of the uses. Under the SBA's current rules, you usually put in at least 10% of the deal's total cost yourself. Owners of 20% or more sign a personal guarantee.
- A seller note. The seller lets you pay part of the price over time. It shows the seller believes in the business, and in an SBA deal it can cover up to half of your 10%, if the seller agrees not to be paid anything on it until the SBA loan is paid off.
- An earnout. Part of the price is paid later, only if the business hits the numbers the seller promised. SBA loans have their own rules about this, so ask your lender first.
- Your own cash. The money you saved in the busy months (Chapter 14).
Lenders judge the deal on the business's real numbers from the last year or two, not on your plans for it. Your credit and your bank statements matter too (Chapter 27).
Before you sign
- Check everything. Tax returns, bank statements, the customer list, contracts, equipment, licenses, insurance and online reviews. This is called due diligence. Pay an accountant to check the numbers.
- Get a lawyer. The purchase agreement decides what you're buying, what you're not, and what happens if something was hidden.
- Keep the seller for the handoff. Thirty to ninety days of the seller introducing you to customers and the crew is worth more than a discount.
- Plan the first 100 days. Call every customer, meet every crew member, put everything in your CRM and change things slowly. Keep the name for a while if customers know it.
This isn't legal or financial advice. Buying a business is a big step, so build a team you trust: an SBA lender, an accountant and a business lawyer.
Part Six
Build It Together, Hand It Down
Two chapters about the two people behind my play: Yaya, who builds it with me, and Liam, who I build it for. Your people will have different names. Know who they are.
Chapter 29 · Build it together
Yaya, My Right Hand
Nobody builds a company alone. I didn't.
Yaya is my wife and my right hand. She has helped me build my companies, and I wouldn't be where I am without her.
Yaya has been there for me in my darkest days, and she's the person I'd want there for me in my best days. Rain or shine, I know I can count on her.
What a right hand is
A right hand isn't a helper. It's the person you trust most: someone who carries part of the load, tells you the truth, and wants the win as much as you do.
Building with your partner
- Give them a real seat. Sales, operations, office or money: name the seat, so you both know who decides what (Chapter 23).
- Decide the big money together. Your pay, the cushion, and anything big before you sign it: a loan, a hire, a company to buy (Chapters 26–28).
- Talk business at a set time. One sit-down a week for the business, so it doesn't eat every dinner. Keep the people block for each other (Chapter 5).
- Give credit out loud. In front of the crew, the customers and your family.
- Put it in writing. If your partner works in the business, write down who owns what and who gets paid what. Ask your accountant and a lawyer how to set it up where you live.
This isn't legal or tax advice.
If you're building alone
Not everybody has a partner in the business, and that's fine. Your right hand might be a crew lead, someone in the office, a brother or a friend you trust. Find that person. Then treat them like the most important hire you'll ever make, because they are.
Chapter 30 · Hand it down
Liam, My Why
This book starts with my son's name. Its last chapter is about him too.
Liam means everything to me. That little boy is my entire heart in a living human. I would instantly take a bullet or send a bullet for my son.
I wrote this book for him. He's 20 months old as I write it. When he grows up, I want him to know that I'd do anything for him.
He's the reason I run the play on the days I don't feel like it, and the reason I keep building when it would be easier to stop.
I'm not building a job. I'm building an empire, one company at a time, so that one day Liam can run it.
What an empire is
An empire isn't a big office or a fleet of trucks. It's companies that run without you, money that's handled right, and people you trust in every seat. You build it the way this book says: one perfect day at a time, then a business that runs itself (Part Four), then the next one (Part Five).
What I want to hand him
- Companies that run by themselves, with checklists, the four seats filled and the Monday numbers (Chapters 21–25).
- Clean books and good credit, so every next step is easier for him than it was for me (Chapters 26–27).
- A good name: customers who trust it, and reviews earned one job at a time.
- People who stay, because they're paid fairly and led well.
- The play itself. More than any company, I want him to know how to run a day.
I also wrote it so he doesn't have to learn my hard lessons the hard way. He can read them in one evening.
Build it so it can be handed down
A business can only be handed down if it runs without you. That's the two-week test (Chapter 25), done for the long run:
- Write it down. If it's only in your head, it leaves with you (Chapter 21).
- Keep it clean. Separate accounts, taxes paid and numbers you can show anyone (Chapters 26–27).
- Plan who gets it. Whose name the business is in, and what happens to it if something happens to you, is a job for a lawyer and an accountant. Do it before you need it.
- Let them see it. Show your kids, or whoever comes next, the work, the customers and the Monday numbers, a little at a time.
- Teach the play first. The trade can be learned. The habits are what last.
This isn't legal or financial advice.
Find your why
Everyone who runs the play needs a reason bigger than a bad day. Mine is Liam. Yours might be your kids, your parents, your family's name or the life you want to give someone. Write it where you'll see it every morning.
When the alarm goes off and you don't feel like it, your feelings don't get a vote (Chapter 7). Your why does.
Part Seven
Your Tools
The Play on One Page
The whole book on one page. Screenshot it and keep it close.
Score it
- Know the score Write down your situation in six areas. Score each from 1 to 10. Pick the one that fixes the most. Ch. 1–2
Call it
- Pick the win One goal, one number, one date. Work it backward to your daily number. Ch. 4
- Design the perfect day Five blocks: first hour, money, work, people, shutdown. Three must-wins. Ch. 5
- Set it up the night before Ten minutes. Must-wins and money actions by name. Phone out of reach. Ch. 6
Run it
- Execute Feelings don't get a vote. Cut what doesn't belong. Mark the day W or L. Ch. 7
- Reset Never lose two in a row. Shrink the day to the smallest win. Ch. 8
- Run it back Weekly review. Change one thing. Re-score every four weeks. Ch. 9
- Discipline Make the right thing easy. Promise small, and keep every promise. Ch. 10
Start it
- Check it first The five questions: the trade, the work, the rules, the money and your family. A number and a date. Ch. 11
- Set it up right Name, registration, tax ID, a business bank account, license, insurance and a CRM. Ch. 12
- First 10 customers People who know your work, your street, your Google profile and other trades. Ch. 13
Grow it
- Bring in the work One lead action every day. Answer every new lead within the hour. Ch. 14
- Win the estimate On time, listen first, three options, the quote within 24 hours, follow up on day 1, 3, 7 and 14. Ch. 15
- Price for profit Know what an hour costs you. Markup isn't margin. Ch. 16
- Get paid Deposits, invoice the day you finish, the same overdue schedule every time. Ch. 17
- Run it from one place Every lead, quote, job and dollar owed in one CRM. Ch. 18
- Get an assistant Hand AI the drafts: must-wins, follow-ups, reminders. You check it, and you send it. Ch. 19
Hand it off
- First hire Hire for the job that frees the most money hours. A paid trial day. Ch. 20
- Write it down Anything you do three times becomes a checklist. Ch. 21
- Step off the tools A crew lead with a checklist and a dollar limit. Ch. 22
- Fill the four seats Sales, operations, office and money, one seat at a time. Ch. 23
- The Monday numbers Ten minutes, the same nine numbers, every week. Ch. 24
- The two-week test Write down what would break without you, and build it out. Ch. 25
Budget it
- Budget the month Four numbers. Split every deposit the day it comes in. A cushion for the slow months. Ch. 26
Fund it
- Get approved Good credit, a bank account that stays positive every day and steady deposits. Ch. 27
Buy it
- Buy a competitor Steady, provable income. An SBA loan, a seller note and your own cash. Check everything. Ch. 28
Build it together
- Your right hand Name the person who builds it with you. A real seat, and the big money decided together. Ch. 29
Hand it down
- Your why Know who you're building it for. Build it to run without you, so it can be handed down. Ch. 30
Scripts That Win Jobs
Word for word. Change the words so they sound like you, and keep the order.
A missed call (text)
"Hi, this is [your name] with [company]. Sorry I missed your call. What can we help you with? I can come out [day] at [time] or [day] at [time]."
Calling a new lead back
"Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company], returning your call about [the job]. Do you have two minutes? … I can come take a look [day] at [time] or [day] at [time]. Which works better?"
The day after the quote (text)
"Hi [name], it's [your name] with [company]. I sent your quote for [the job] yesterday. Did it come through OK? Happy to answer any questions."
The last follow-up, day 14
"Hi [name], I don't want to keep bugging you about the [job] quote. Should I close it out, or is it still on your list?"
Asking for a review (text, the day you finish)
"Thank you for having us, [name]. If you're happy with the work, would you leave us a quick review? It helps a small company like ours more than you know: [link]"
Asking for a referral (at the walkthrough)
"I'm glad you like it. Most of our work comes from people like you. Do you know anyone on your street or at work who needs [the service]?"
Payment due today (text)
"Hi [name], a friendly reminder that your invoice for [amount] is due today. You can pay here: [link]. Thank you!"
A week late (call)
"Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company]. I'm calling about the invoice for [amount]. It's a week past due. Is there anything about the job I need to fix? … OK. Can you take care of it today by card, or should we set a date?"
Walking into an office
"Hi, I'm [your name] with [company]. We do [your trade] in [your area]. Who handles your vendors? … I'll leave a card and a flyer. When you need someone fast, we answer the phone and show up when we say we will."
A price increase (to regular customers)
"Starting [date], our prices are going up [amount]. Anything you book before then is at today's price. Thank you for trusting us with your home."
The 7-Day Kickoff
Run your perfect day from day one: the money block, three must-wins and a W or an L every night. Then add one focus a day:
- Day 1 · Score it. Write down your situation and score it (Chapters 1–2), and find your stage on The Road Map. Tonight, write your first three must-wins.
- Day 2 · Call it. Pick your win and your daily number (Chapter 4). Block your money hours on your calendar.
- Day 3 · Bring in the work. Call or text ten past customers (Chapter 14).
- Day 4 · Win the estimate. Follow up on every open quote, and write your good, better and best (Chapter 15).
- Day 5 · Price and get paid. Check your prices against what an hour really costs you, and call about every unpaid invoice (Chapters 16–17).
- Day 6 · One place. Put every customer, lead, quote and unpaid invoice in one CRM (Chapter 18).
- Day 7 · Run it back. Count your wins, change one thing, set up next week and pick next week's daily build (Chapter 9).
On day 8, start again. Keep the focus that helped the most.
Your Playbook
Type your answers right here. They save on this device only.
This is your play on one page. Fill it in, screenshot it, and make it your phone's lock screen if you have to.
3. My score (Chapter 2)
Filled in from your score card in Chapter 2.
8. Tomorrow's three must-wins (Chapter 6)
Run It With Your Crew
If you run a crew, your day isn't the only one that needs a play. Your crew's days do too. Here's how to run it with a team in ten minutes a morning.
The 10-minute huddle
- The score. Yesterday: a W or an L for the team, and why. One minute.
- The win. Say the team's 90-day win out loud, and where you are on it. One number.
- Today's three. Each person says their three must-wins for the day.
- The trouble question. What could ruin today's job? Ask it now, not at 3 pm.
- Go. No speeches. The huddle ends on time.
Questions for your crew or book club
- What area would you score lowest right now, and why?
- What's one win you could hit in 90 days, with a number and a date?
- What eats your days the most? What would cutting it look like?
- When your day breaks, what's your smallest win?
- What could ruin one of our jobs, and how would we catch it early?
- What would make a customer pick us over the next quote? (Part Three)
- Which job costs us the most when it goes wrong, and what is its checklist? (Chapter 21)
- What could you decide on a job without calling the owner? (Chapter 22)
- Which Monday number would you most like to move this quarter? (Chapter 24)
- What would break if the owner left for two weeks? (Chapter 25)
- What is one bill we could cut, or one price we should raise? (Chapters 16 and 26)
- Who is your right hand, and who are you building this for? (Chapters 29 and 30)
Words for the job, in both languages
A crew that speaks two languages runs faster with the same words for the same things. Here are the ones this book uses most.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| The money | |
| Estimate | Cotización |
| Deposit | Anticipo |
| Invoice | Factura |
| Pay link | Enlace de pago |
| Change order | Orden de cambio |
| Markup | Recargo |
| Margin | Margen |
| Overhead | Gastos fijos |
| Job costs | Costos del trabajo |
| Profit | Ganancia |
| Payroll | Nómina |
| Past due | Vencido |
| On the job | |
| Job site | Obra |
| Crew | Equipo |
| Crew lead | Encargado |
| Helper | Ayudante |
| Walkthrough | Recorrido |
| Punch list | Lista de pendientes |
| Touch-up | Retoque |
| Callback | Regreso a corregir |
| Checklist | Lista de pasos |
| Materials | Materiales |
| Drop cloth | Lona protectora |
| Permit | Permiso |
| License | Licencia |
| Insurance | Seguro |
| Workers' comp | Seguro de accidentes de trabajo |
| The customer | |
| Lead | Prospecto |
| Follow-up | Seguimiento |
| Estimate visit | Visita para cotizar |
| Booked | Agendado |
| Review | Reseña |
| Referral | Recomendación |
| Warranty | Garantía |
| Repeat customer | Cliente que regresa |
The Last Page
You don't need a new year, a Monday, or a better week. You need ten minutes tonight and the decision to run the play tomorrow.
Write your three must-wins. Put your phone away. Wake up and execute.
Start your play.
You can call me Jose or Joe. Follow along on Instagram: @joeperez_95.
Notes
The research boxes in this book come from these sources.
- Chapter 5, sleep: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society recommendation for adults 18 to 60, as reported by the CDC in "1 in 3 adults don't get enough sleep," press release, February 2016.
- Chapter 6, if-then plans: Gollwitzer, P. M., and Sheeran, P. (2006). "Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Effects and Processes." Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.
- Chapter 8, missing a day: Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., and Wardle, J. (2010). "How Are Habits Formed: Modelling Habit Formation in the Real World." European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009.
- Chapter 9, tracking progress: Harkin, B., Webb, T., Chang, B., Benn, Y., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., and Sheeran, P. "Does Monitoring Goal Progress Promote Goal Attainment? A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence." Psychological Bulletin, published online October 2015.
- Chapter 10, temptations: Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., Förster, G., and Vohs, K. D. (2012). "Everyday Temptations: An Experience Sampling Study of Desire, Conflict, and Self-Control." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(6), 1318–1335.
- Chapter 10, pairing the hard thing with something you like: Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A., and Volpp, K. G. M. (2014). "Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling." Management Science.
- Chapter 11, how many new businesses last: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024). "34.7 percent of business establishments born in 2013 were still operating in 2023." The Economics Daily, January 12, 2024.
- Chapter 14, reading reviews: BrightLocal (2025). "Local Consumer Review Survey 2025." A survey of 1,026 U.S. adults.
- Chapter 14, how fast to answer a lead: Oldroyd, J. B., McElheran, K., and Elkington, D. (2011). "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads." Harvard Business Review, March 2011.
- Chapter 15, the middle option: Simonson, I. (1989). "Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise Effects." Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2), 158–174.
- Chapter 19, AI at work: Brynjolfsson, E., Li, D., and Raymond, L. (2025). "Generative AI at Work." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 140(2), 889–942.
- Chapter 21, checklists: Haynes, A. B., et al. (2009). "A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population." New England Journal of Medicine, 360(5), 491–499.
- Chapter 26, self-employment tax: Internal Revenue Service. "Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)." IRS.gov.
- Chapter 26, the cash cushion: JPMorgan Chase Institute (2016). "Cash Is King: Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days." A study of 597,000 small businesses.
- Chapter 27, who gets funded: Federal Reserve Banks (2026). "Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms." 6,525 firms surveyed from September 3 to November 14, 2025.
- Chapter 27, credit scores: FICO. "What's in My FICO Scores?" myFICO.com.
- Chapter 27, loan sizes: U.S. Small Business Administration. "Microloans" and "7(a) Loans." SBA.gov.
- Chapter 28, what service businesses sell for: BizBuySell. Service businesses sold from 2021 to 2025: median sale price, cash flow and price-to-cash-flow multiple. BizBuySell.com.
- Chapter 28, buying a business with an SBA loan: U.S. Small Business Administration (2026). SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs, effective October 1, 2026.