Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast
The Owned and Operated electrical, HVAC, and plumbing business growth podcast is hosted by John Wilson and Jack Carr. These two Home Service Business owners bring you weekly podcasts and daily content with multiple perspectives, actionable advice, and info on an ever-changing industry revolving around advertising, lead generation, and more.
Join us every Tuesday for topical conversations that unlock the potential for your business growth. Covering topics from top-tier talent recruitment to mastering marketing strategies and scaling your home service business, the podcast aims to be your guide on the path to entrepreneurial success.
For more information, visit www.ownedandoperated.com.
Episodes
323 episodes
The One Hire That Unlocks Growth
If you’ve ever felt stuck because your business outgrew your leadership team — or rushed a key hire just to relieve the pressure — this episode is for you.In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Brenda...
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Season 1
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Episode 290
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37:27
Our Biggest Business Failures (And What They Cost Us)
Every home service operator has a failure story.In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Jack Carr (CEO of Rapid Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric in Nashville) to break down the biggest business m...
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Season 1
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Episode 289
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31:44
HVAC vs. Security: If You Had $5M, Where Would You Invest?
If someone handed you $5 million… would you buy an HVAC business or a security/alarm business?In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Stephen and Collin from the Entry Exit Podcast
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Season 1
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Episode 288
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55:06
How to Fire Employees Fairly (Without Ruining Your Culture)
Firing employees is one of the worst parts of owning a home service business — and the bigger you get, the more often it happens.In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Jack Carr (Jack Acquisi...
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Season 1
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Episode 287
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41:50
Is Direct Mail Back? The 2026 Growth Strategy for Service Businesses
Is direct mail actually back in 2026 — or is it a dinosaur channel that should stay extinct?In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston (CEO of Service Scalers) to break down how the best home ...
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Season 1
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Episode 286
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45:08
Why We Stopped Buying Service Vans — And You Should Too
Should Home Service Companies Stop Buying Vans?In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Nashville operator Jack Carr to break down one of the most overlooked expenses in home services:Fleet ...
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Season 1
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Episode 285
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27:58
Google PPC Isn’t Dead — You’re Just Running It Wrong
Does Google PPC still work for home service businesses—or is it just an expensive mistake?In this Clicks to Calls episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Service Scalers CEO Sam Pres...
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Season 1
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Episode 284
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33:04
How to Scale to $100M Without Breaking Your Business
How do you keep growing fast without breaking your business?In this Owned and Operated supercut, John Wilson pulls together his favorite moments from recent conversations on what actually snaps when you scale: cash...
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Season 1
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Episode 283
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36:03
Under $5M? Marketing Isn’t Complicated (Here’s the Playbook)
How do you stop wasting money on marketing… and start building a lead engine that actually scales?In this episode of Click to Calls, John Wilson sits down with Service Scalers CEO Sam Preston to break down one of t...
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Season 1
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Episode 282
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39:15
Building, Scaling, and Selling Home Service Businesses (Supercut)
This episode is a supercut of standout moments from multiple Owned and Operated episodes, focused on one theme: how great operators build, scale, and eventually sell home service businesses.John Wilson pulls together some o...
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Season 1
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Episode 281
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35:57
How to Budget Marketing in 2026 (Without Wasting Cash)
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson is joined by Sam Preston (CEO of Service Scalers) to break down how smart home service operators should budget for marketing in 2026. They explain why one-size-fits-all mar...
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Season 1
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Episode 280
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48:01
What Home Service Business Should You Start in 2026? (And How to Win Early)
If you want to play the game on hard mode… randomly pick an industry and hope it works.In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down exactly how they’d build a home service business in 2026—and...
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Season 1
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Episode 279
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41:33
How Smart Operators Plan for Real Growth (Bonus)
Most security & life-safety companies don’t get stuck because they lack hustle—they get stuck because they lack measurement.In this special feed drop of Entry & Exit, Stephen Olmon and Collin Trimble (...
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Season 1
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Episode 279
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46:39
The Dark Side of Roofing: Insurance Scams, Storm Chasers, and Why Homeowners Get Burned
Insurance claims, storm chasers, and broken incentives — welcome to the dark side of roofing.In this episode, John Wilson sits down (again) with Adam Cherup to unpack what really happens behind the scenes in roofing — from ...
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Season 1
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Episode 278
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25:58
The Disaster Roofing Business: Temporary Roofs, Real Margins
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Adam Cherup, a “disaster roofer” who’s built a niche, high-margin business installing shrink-wrap temporary roofs after hurricanes, wind events, hail, and fi...
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Season 1
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Episode 277
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31:41
How to Turn Referrals Into a Scalable, Predictable Growth Engine
Referrals are still the #1 growth channel in home services — but most contractors treat it like hope marketing.In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Murphy Nadauld (ReferPro) to break down how the best operator...
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Season 1
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Episode 276
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48:58
Google LSAs: The Easiest Way to Add Leads Tomorrow
This is the literal easiest lever you can pull to add leads tomorrow: turn on (and properly run) Google Local Services Ads (LSAs).In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston (CEO of Service Scalers) to break down why...
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Season 1
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Episode 275
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34:43
Stop Losing Money in 2026: The Profit Plan for Higher EBITDA
We’re heading into 2026 with one goal: stop losing money.Not “grow at all costs.” Not “try harder.” Just: build a healthy business that actually cash flows.In this episode, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down what they...
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Season 1
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Episode 274
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45:01
The Sales Process That Took Us From Losing Money to $12.5K Tickets
We break down how we tripled our HVAC average ticket—from $5,000 to $12,500+—and finally made sales profitable. In this episode, we walk through the painful mistakes, system overhauls, and process changes that turned HVAC from a money-loser int...
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Season 1
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Episode 273
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30:53
The REAL Cost of Running a Trades Business in 2025 — What Most Owners Don’t Understand
We reveal the real cost of running a home service business in 2025. In this full debrief, we open our books to show why plumbing business growth exploded while HVAC stalled, and exactly how we navigated the hardest summer in years.If you...
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Season 1
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Episode 272
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49:27
Nextdoor Marketing for Contractors: The Local Referral Engine for Plumbing, HVAC & Home Services
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston, CEO of Service Scalers, to break down one of the most overlooked (and misunderstood) marketing channels in home services: Nextdoor.They unpack why Nextdoor fe...
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Season 1
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Episode 271
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25:55
How Smart Home Service Owners Should Invest (P&L, EBITDA, and Enterprise Value)
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack break down what “smart investing” actually looks like for home service operators—starting with the truth most owners miss: if you run a business, you’re already an investor. You’re inv...
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Season 1
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Episode 270
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38:43
Remote Staffing for Contractors: How to Hire Offshore for Recruiting, Dispatch & Ops
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Aizik Zimerman of Jay Blanton Plumbing (Chicago) to break down the remote staffing playbook that most home service operators still aren’t using.John and Aizik start...
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Season 1
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Episode 269
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31:33
AI Didn’t Kill Google Search — Here’s Why GBP Still Wins
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston — CEO of Service Scalers — to talk about the marketing asset that still quietly outperforms everything else in home services: your Google Business Profile (GBP).<...
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Season 1
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Episode 268
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38:06
This HVAC Owner Scaled from $11M to $250M (Ken Goodrich’s Playbook)
In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Ken Goodrich — legendary home services operator, turnaround specialist, and former CEO/Chairman of Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing — to unpack what it really takes to buil...
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Season 1
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Episode 267
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1:11:36