Andrew Harbin

SMB Owner-Operator. Dad x 4

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@trentjhughes Car dealerships don’t belong on this list. Anyone I’ve met in that space is extremely wealthy

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@guessworkinvest Really liked Pillars of the Earth. Easy read and hard to put down

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@cassiniekamp If it makes you feel better we are at $0K installation in Pittsburgh and won’t start up again until (maybe) 2/3

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@KurtisHanni Interested!

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@TonyLayneLFarms @MikeBotkin_ I use “American Profit Recovery” and feel it is fairly priced and has been effective.

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@Sam_Rosati We use RoadWarrior

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@hoytcrouch We use NiceJob to do this automatically and have a pretty nice conversion rate with it

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@ClintFiore Kind of crazy to me that ppl do QoE on <$1m Ebitda deals

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@WilsonCompanies Do you add lead gen channels one at a time and is there a certain $ spend you like to reach before jumping in to a new channel ?

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@JoeCMoran GMC Yukon , Jeep, or Toyota Land Cruiser seem like good options here.

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@thehvacjack I started a fence business after buying an awning business and I don’t regret it but will not be getting in to a 3rd industry

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@MikeBotkin_ @JustinEBurris @tsludwig Very cool, congrats

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@LeadershipAcad1 We started using American Profit Recovery this year and service paid for itself in first month

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@StrongpointRich I recently saw a biz for sale in my industry asking 4x SDE that I don’t think I could break even if they gave it to me for free.

[Rafael Quinn @rafaquinn]

Want to know a secret?

I pass on any deal with a 25%+ net margin.

I'm not buying Facebook here. These are brick-and-mortar SMBs. In my experience, they make 5-15% profit margins.

Anyone doing significantly above that is either:

A. Full of shit

B. Way better at operating than we are.

C. Operating with efficiencies that will disappear within 60 days of the closing. (This is the most likely answer)

The two biggest culprits of C:

Employees are earning less than the market rate due to loyalty to the founder.

The founder is doing multiple jobs which will cost a lot to replace, or you will need to do them and you just bought yourself a job.

When you are penciling in your deal, if that equation is counting on above 20% net margins, and you are not investing in tech or a service job where you can slide directly into the founder’s shoes and operate the business, you should be careful.

[Rand Larsen @RandBusiness]

⚠️ATTENTION: My Pittsburgh SMB/ETA People⚠️

I'm hosting a fun meetup at Grist House next Thursday, February 15th.

We already have a few esteemed guests coming, including @BetterCeo, @ADHarbin, and @Mikebuildit and MORE!!!

First comment on this tweet has the RSVP link, please register so we can get a headcount.

Tagging a few of you:

@PatReven
@Griff_Schultz
@DJVenditti
@castagno_tmc
@mattcrocematt
@Boughner
@LaurieBarkman
@RyanGaliotto
@monomoit
@convalytics
@BusinessDealPro
@austin_plants
@skylarstew
@CoryHoffmanCRE
@AlexJoyceSMB
@chrisferchill
@jimiromanus
@MarketDayJay
@gte_search
@kz_cre
@RickDimidjian
@AmitShahCIRA
@RobertsEpicly
@DaveCristello
@liamhousehacks
@thedonniebedney
@JamesBuckiJr

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@BluWick Lack of competition & nice margins

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@BluWick As an awning guy, I like the sign space as well. Had never heard of a company that only services & no installs. Nice find 👍🏼

[Andrew Harbin @ADHarbin]

@SMB_Attorney Find some Detroit style pizza to prepare for our Lions

[John Wilson @WilsonCompanies]

My LSAs went through the roof with just a few tweaks...

Comment on this post or retweet and I'll send you a DM with the deets!