How I Grew from $0 to $1.7 Million in 12 Months
How I Grew from $0 to $1.7 Million in 12 Months
How can business owners grow and scale effectively?
In the business influencer world, people often use "growing" and "scaling" interchangeably, but they are not the same.
When a business is growing, it typically means increasing revenue by adding resources to support that growth. For example, if you want to grow, you might buy three more dump trucks to increase your capacity and generate more revenue. Growth often requires investing in additional resources to achieve higher revenue.
On the other hand, scaling means increasing revenue without adding significant resources. Scaling focuses on reducing costs or improving efficiencies to drive revenue growth. For instance, setting up an email campaign for ten people and then growing that list to 1,000 doesn’t require much extra effort or cost, but it can exponentially increase revenue.
Sometimes businesses scale without fully understanding which actions led to that success. However, growth usually requires deliberate, strategic decisions about how to expand the business effectively.
How can business owners build effective teams and systems without industry expertise?
My experience in construction isn’t what you’d typically expect. But if you break it down into "construction" and "company," I understand how the moving parts of a company work. I’ve built teams, sales processes, marketing systems, and all the elements needed to run a business. I knew I could put it all together.
As for client fulfillment, I leaned on my partners to share their expertise. We also brought in strategic partners and hired employees with decades of industry experience. During our quarterly meetings, I’m upfront with the team—I don’t pretend to know what they know. Our project managers have 20, 30, or even 40 years of experience. I tell them, "You don’t want me on the job site. You don’t want me swinging a hammer because, honestly, I’m not good at it."
Instead, my role is to think ahead, cast vision, plan for the future, and move the pieces of the business like a chessboard. By focusing on my responsibilities, I free them up to excel at theirs without worrying about other distractions.
In summary, I understood the personalities and team dynamics from the start. I knew there would be challenges since we didn’t have deep industry knowledge at the beginning, but we put the right systems and people in place to bridge that gap.
Why is niching down crucial for business success?
We could have done a lot of different things, and honestly, we still could today. My business experience, along with hosting the GTK podcast, now known as Driven to Win, has given me insight after interviewing 500+ successful entrepreneurs across various industries. One thing I've learned is that niching down—choosing a very specific, focused niche—is absolutely essential, especially in the beginning.
I've experienced the opposite, where I didn’t have a clear focus, and it caused struggles. From our own experience, we started with several house flips, which gave us a strong understanding of project management for large remodels. Bathrooms, for example, were something we could handle confidently, and they became our initial focus. Kitchens, on the other hand, were more complex and came with higher expectations. We avoided them at first because we wanted to ensure we delivered exceptional results and avoided disappointing clients.
Over time, we found our groove with bathrooms, basements, and additions—projects we knew we could handle well because we had already done so many. Even then, it was a huge learning process. That first year, we generated $1.7 million in revenue, but it was also the year I learned the most about running a business. Remodeling, in particular, is incredibly complex because of the countless moving parts.
How can business owners effectively generate and convert leads?
You can have the best team and processes, but without people to talk to—without leads—there’s no flow, no business. As a sales professional, I want to make this clear: you need leads. If your business is under $2 million in revenue, generating leads is critical. You’ll still need leads beyond that point, but by then, you’ll likely understand their importance. Lead generation must become an obsession. From the start, I knew we had to prioritize leads to succeed.
We’ve tried nearly every method: third-party sources like Angie Leads, Angie Ads, and Thumbtack; organic strategies like social media and SEO; and paid strategies like Facebook ads and Google AdWords. Some approaches worked well, others didn’t. Sometimes, we need to revisit a strategy with a fresh perspective or bring in an expert. Regardless, we’ve always made lead generation a priority because you can’t sell without leads. We’ve been willing to fight for and invest in leads, confident that once we had them, we’d work them effectively.
Here’s the challenge: many businesses know they need leads and even invest in generating them, but they lack a proper sales process. They buy leads, generate them through their website, or use ads but fail to follow up or communicate effectively. Then, they assume the lead source doesn’t work when the real issue is their broken sales process.
I often hear contractors, for example, complain about third-party lead sources like Angie (formerly HomeAdvisor and Service Magic). If you’ve struggled with these services, I can almost guarantee it’s your sales process that’s broken.
What steps can businesses take to improve fulfillment and ensure client satisfaction?
Fulfillment will look different for every business. For example, in an Edible Arrangements franchise, it involves cutting fruit, dipping it in chocolate, and arranging it beautifully in a basket. In our case, we’re constructing, remodeling, demoing, painting, and making spaces new. This requires skilled experts.
We rely on strategic partners and experienced employees. At the start of every project, we create a timeline and budget. These are the two key indicators of success for our operations team: Are we on time? Are we on budget?
We also evaluate whether our estimates were accurate. If something was underestimated, it can create challenges for the operations team. When that happens, we quickly provide feedback to the sales team to adjust future estimates.
Typically, we guide clients through a design process (if the project requires it), launch the project, and move through all the necessary steps—demolition, installing mechanicals, and finishing touches. Each step is part of a defined process.
What really ties it all together is communication. At every stage, it’s crucial that the customer knows where we are in the process and what’s coming next. If they don’t, they’ll have questions, which could lead to concerns or a lack of trust. My goal is for the customer to never wonder what’s happening. By proactively informing them at every step, we ensure they feel confident and reassured, even during a large and complex remodel.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
