How Regular People Get Rich Buying Boring Businesses - JackQuisitions Feed Drop

Get MORE JackQuisitions HERE

Should you stay sector-agnostic in ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) or plant a flag with a clear buy box brokers, CPAs, and attorneys can remember? After a month sidelined by a home flood, searcher Chris Barr returns to his acquisition entrepreneurship journey—refining a small-business acquisition thesis around B2B services, GovCon janitorial contracts, and Florida/Palm Beach deal sourcing. We dig into search fund tactics, on-market and off-market pipelines, broker outreach, list scraping, AI-assisted follow-ups, and how to position for SBA 7(a) financing, LOIs, diligence, and close.

From tier-1 vs. tier-2/3 service models to residential vs. commercial focus, Jack and Chris get tactical about building a repeatable deal flow engine in a tight geo, crafting a memorable buy box (ticket size, customer type, contract length), and using light automation without sounding like spam. If you’re refining your acquisition criteria—B2B/government contracting, janitorial cleaning services, niche add-ons (e.g., AeroSeal), high-margin home services, or local trades—this episode hits playbooks for valuation, negotiation, seasonality, staffing, and lender selection so you can source better deals, faster.

💡 What You’ll Learn
 • How to create a “tight buy box” brokers/CPAs/lawyers can remember and route deals to
 • The case for B2B and GovCon janitorial (set-asides, contracts, and people leverage)
 • Tier 1 vs. Tier 2/3 plays (e.g., niche add-ons like AeroSeal) and which fits a “nice-wage, simple, local” plan
 • Residential vs. commercial: ticket size, sales motion, and capacity caps
 • On-market vs. off-market engines: re-engaging brokers, list-scraping, and thoughtful personalization
 • Using AI for workflow and follow-ups—without sounding like a bot
 • Why timelines slip (and that’s normal): guilt, resets, and staying in the game
 • Picking the right SBA lender for trades acquisitions

💼 Special Thanks to First Internet Bank!

Looking to buy or expand a business? First Internet Bank is a National Preferred SBA lender specializing in acquisitions for the skilled trades. Their SBA loan program offers up to 90% financing for business acquisitions, partner buyouts, and commercial real estate—plus optional lines of credit to fuel future growth. Unlike traditional lenders, they take a “how can we” approach, making deals happen for both first-time buyers and experienced operators.

👉 Special Offer: Mention Owned and Operated for a reduced good faith deposit and a complimentary deal review + buyside prequalification.

Connect with Alan Peterson from First Internet Bank here 

💼Shoutout to Avoca AI!

Looking to train your call center and improve technician performance? Avoca AI helps teams identify issues, improve call quality, and drive results from start to finish.

More Ways To Connect with O&O

• John's YouTube Channel
• Weekly Newsletter
• Owned and Operated

Leave a Review

John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

Chapters

• 0:52 Personal Challenges and Resilience
• 3:00 Reinventing the Search Strategy
• 16:39 Challenges of Business Growth
• 20:02 Effective Search Strategies
• 22:55 Personalized Outreach and AI

Transcript

JQ 26 Transcript

Chris Barr: [00:00:00] How do I have a sector and a tight buy box where brokers, lawyers, CPAs, people know exactly what I'm looking for and if they see it, they can pass it my way. How do I do that if I'm remaining loosey goosey on the sectors that I'm looking at? 

Jack Carr: What's the game plan? What's the goal, man? 

Chris Barr: The one that stands out a lot right now and it's super niche janitorial.

Cleaning business and that would be so perfect. 

Jack Carr: It's just a very like people oriented business. And the less people the better. 

Chris Barr: I'm a relationships guy, that's, that's what I enjoy most and that's the beauty of ETA in general is you get to have it your way.

Jack Carr: Welcome back to Jack positions. Today we have. Chris Barr, what's going on Chris? It's a long time no talk. 

Chris Barr: We're back, baby. Um, it's been a weird month. Uh, unfortunately it got totally knocked off my horse of my search, [00:01:00] um, via some personal emergencies. We had, um, a major catastrophic flooding in my place.

Had to move under duress. It was all wonky. So, um, that's been a full-time job the past month, unfortunately, but. Shook it off, off to New beginnings, new chapter, um, back in the saddle. So stoked to be here, man. 

Jack Carr: I would, I will say, you know what would've been absolutely more terrible than having to go through all that, would be having to go through all that and.

Just taking over a new business where you're expected to be there every day, dealing with that full-time business while then you have this entire, excuse the language, but a a, a shit show going on in the background. Shit 

Chris Barr: show absolute shit show and, well, that was the funny thing, man, is honestly kind of through the process and really, especially the past few weeks, there's been like.

Not to get, like, we're too vulnerable on the show, but like a lot of shame. You know, like I'm a searcher, like I'm here to like through thick and thin when things are good. When things are bad, like I show up and I [00:02:00] diligently grind to go find the business I wanna buy. Um, but my wife just recently started a business that's actually up and running.

She has customers, she has contracts, good for her, and she's breadwinning for the family right now. So when I have a little bit more flexibility and she has a live business. It kind of falls on me to run point with, with the personal stuff. So had to kind of realize everyone's circumstances in their search are different.

My circumstances, you know, led me to need to take a month off to deal with this. So it is what it's man. But yes, thankfully did not have a business to run in conjunction with all that. 

John Wilson: Are you still missing calls after hours, or losing leads while your team sleeps? That's why we work with Avoca AI owned and operated exclusive call center Park.

They answer 24 7. Sound like a real human. And plug straight into your CRM to book jobs, send quotes, and even revive old leads. There are plenty of AI call centers out there, but we trust Avoca because we've seen the results firsthand. More book jobs, less wasted spend and no more missed revenue. See it in action at the link below.

Start winning more jobs today [00:03:00] with Boca. 

Jack Carr: So speaking of that, so you, you had this issue and you're getting back into it. What does that look like for you? What's, what's the game plan? What's the goal, man coming back? Yeah. Into the saddle. You know, 

Chris Barr: it's, it's funny because, uh, when I got knocked off the horse, uh, I was kind of in a place of reinventing my search engine and kind of what it looks like after having killed the pressure washing deal.

So, um, I was already kind of in a reinvent mode, and so it's kind of in a, ironically. A good place to come back to is, is really starting fresh again. Um, so what does that look like? You know, I'm really back back to the basics of like reengaging my brokerage network, um, reengaging what my on market search engine looks like, which is again, mostly going through the listings, you know, going through my brokerage network and then kind of refining my off market search engine, which kinda need the on market one before you have any business doing off market search engine work.

But kind of how can I. [00:04:00] Come back at that better this time at round. How can I automate more workflows? Uh, I wasn't really doing that the first time around. What's the untapped potential with AI for automating a lot of like cold outreach and stuff like that, that I can be tapping into that I wasn't previously.

So I think reinventing off market and on market engines, um, is, 

Jack Carr: is really so, but yeah, before you continue, there's a lot to unpack there. So I like to start, um. The first thing is your, your original thesis, right? Is that you were going to look for a trades business that was more or less unskilled labor painting, landscaping, pressure washing, things like that.

Yep. Uh, in terms of your thesis and what you're looking for, because I ironically Right, you got to almost got to the finish line on the exact business and the exact location that you were looking for episode one. And so going back into this, right? Mm-hmm. If you, if you were to now. If, if we say this is day one all over again, like mm-hmm.

Is it [00:05:00] different now or is it still the same idea, the same business thesis? You know, has anything changed? 

Chris Barr: Great question, and that's like the one I was most excited to get to for today. So I'm glad you're, you're kind of reading my mind there. Um, but yeah, it's kind of really tightening up my buy box and initially pressure washing was kind of like my darling sector that I had, you know, if I had my picke at the litter.

Um, after seeing the competition landscape and kind of some of the other options that I could reach out to, uh. As much as I love the sector, I don't think that there's another concept in the area that's gonna be as good at what I found, and I don't necessarily wanna compete with the deal that I just passed on.

So I'm kind of putting pressure washing to the side as much as it pains me to do so. Um, so where does that leave me? As you mentioned, kind of unskilled labor trade service business, um, but again, on the unskilled side, um, [00:06:00] and a big part of my approach. The first time around, which I realized was a mistake on my end, was trying to keep it agnostic 'cause I'm hunting in such a tight geo area.

And so I figured, you know, if I'm really only looking in these four counties and especially really just mainly Palm Beach County, let me be flexible, agnostic on the type of businesses that I'm looking for. And it's funny 'cause we talked about this on a previous episode of like. Personal branding. How do I become HVAC jack?

How do I, how do I have a sector and a tight buy box where brokers, lawyers, CPAs, people know exactly what I'm looking for and if they see it, they can pass it my way. How do I do that if I'm remaining loosey goosey on the sectors that I'm looking at? So, um, it's, and so if. That's where I'm really torn at and kind of shredding that agnostic idea, trying to tighten it down, um, where exactly I'm tightening it to.

I wish I had more answers for you today, but that's been [00:07:00] a big part of my work the past week is trying to uncover. What plays to the projected growth in my area because Palm Beach is gonna be exploding. I see developments coming up left and right. So whether that's the porta-potty guys who like suck the poop out or whether that's, you know, paving or surveying, like what are services that really, really play to the growth aspect of my market.

Um, and so that's kinda what I'm trying to identify and select and kind of corner. In regards to specific sectors, and again, wish I had more answers for you today. Um, but that's kind of where my thinking's taken me so far. 

Jack Carr: Okay. No, that, I mean, that's completely fair and a lot of times right, it doesn't matter because even though it did for your first, first day, first day, mm-hmm.

Um, realistically, everybody ends up finding something kind of close or close or they get pulled off into this other direction, which is okay. I mean, that's, that's part of it. Um, I mean, you have to try though to, to it. It helps to come up with a thesis and then. Aim [00:08:00] towards it. Mm-hmm. Septics hot in your area right now?

Not in your area Yeah. But like in the outskirts of your area. Septic in Florida is a big business right now. Mm-hmm. Uh, we, we get a lot of traffic on our, our podcast for people looking for septic help. Yeah. Very interesting. Um, also unskilled. I just don't know if I could do it forever. 

Chris Barr: Yeah. Trust me, it's, it's, it stood out, but it's like, it's a, it's a messy business.

It's, uh, literally the wrong kind 

Jack Carr: of mess, man. Um, yeah, absolutely. But with that being said, is there any kind of, uh, north stars, like sometimes what I like to focus on is it's overwhelming to choose like one industry. Mm-hmm. Um, what generally has helped me in the past is, uh, looking at less about industry agnostics and looking at.

Focus on specifics of business style and model type, right? Mm-hmm. So for example, when I was searching, I didn't look specific. I knew I wanted to be in residential. I didn't want to do industrial, I didn't want to do [00:09:00] commercial. I wanted to be in residential. So what that does is it, it doesn't get you out of the agnostic focus on just like the 10,000 things, but it.

Shorten the bubble to say, okay, well now we're only doing residential. Mm-hmm. So do you have any, any feelings in that way? Because I know that historically right, you, you've actually led more towards B2B. Are you still feeling that B2B pull, 

Chris Barr: you know, yes. And there's still something that, and it's hard for me to put my finger on.

Because I was gonna say ticket price, but you can do a high ticket price services for residential for sure. You know, that's not specific to business, but it seems like, especially when it was the pressure washing side, do I want to go chase 800, $1,200 jobs on residential or do I wanna chase $30,000 jobs with HOAs and municipalities and all that?

So I, I kind of still like that generalized approach. 'cause if you can have in higher ticket items that B2B and. GovCon [00:10:00] can play to, but you're able to diversify them out and have, again, high volume of high ticket prices seems kinda like the best of all worlds. Um, so I, I'm not opposed to residential, but the experiences I've had and the knowledge I've gained is kind of all been geared toward that B2B, um, and GovCon works.

So I, I think I still have a preference for it, just simply 'cause it's familiar. Other than the familiarity, I'm not necessarily opposed to residential. The one that stands out a lot right now and it's super niche, and I don't think I could find it, but I had a buddy who's a fellow searcher and he just, um, started negotiating on a GovCon like janitorial cleaning business.

And that would be. So Perfect. And it's, again, it's a, it's a very, very niche one. It's, I I'm asking, I'm asking a lot more so than I did in the first episode, but, oh man. Especially with the veteran and preferred, um, small business programs mm-hmm. And the set asides for that. You know, [00:11:00] I, I would love to find a way to, to wedge myself that, oh, you, you're the one who connect 

Jack Carr: New Jed Jed Morris.

Right. 

Chris Barr: Yep. Bet you man. Yeah, I 

Jack Carr: just met him down in Dallas for our, our quick staffers meetup. Really good guy. Yeah, good guy. But yeah, he's doing GovCon like that. Something's ringing the bell here. Yeah. Interesting man. Very, very interesting. I you couldn't catch me with a 10 foot pole near janitorial services, but first, I mean, it works for a lot of people, so I'm, I'm gonna leave it there.

It's just a very like, people oriented business and what you, I think you find when you run. Um, you know, we had a, we had, I had a group of, uh, I think it was not ServPro. Not ServPro. ServPro is the, um, ServPro is the, maybe it was ServPro. Anyway, janitorial company guys come through here and, and I was talking to 'em about it and I said, you guys tell me I'm right with this.

And, and I, they were like, yes, a hundred percent. One of the hardest things is the amount of labor to revenue costs is just [00:12:00] so difficult. You're running a people business. That's all people. Yeah. All the time. They have to show up and, and people cause the most problems. Right. Systems and, and. Your internet connection and your, your systems and your AI doesn't generally cause problems people do, whether that's residential people from a sales perspective or whether that's internal people from your internal team.

Yeah. So the less people. The better in some instances from, from my, my approach. But some people do really, really well managing people. So, 

Chris Barr: and, and that's what I've heard, and that's really the one skillset that I'm excited to lean most on through kind of the operating process once I actually find something that I can get closed is I'm a relationships guy.

That's, that's what I enjoy most. And so if I can get a business that. For your exact reason. Scares a lot of people off. Yeah. Because it's so much people management, but that's the one area where I feel most comfortable. Seems like a little bit of leverage that I might be able to tap into. Yeah. So you know, 

Jack Carr: also [00:13:00] tight margins, but maybe not in GovCon.

Chris Barr: Sure, yeah. Yeah. 

Jack Carr: Sweet man. Yeah, so that, that's the first one I wanted. That's interesting that you went that direction. I didn't think you would go that way, but. Hey, here we are. It's GovCon. Makes sense for you though, just because Right. Like preferred small business, preferred veteran. Like there's lots of opportunity there.

Um, and I st I think that's for everybody in any kind of GovCon contracts. We looked into 'em from an HVAC side and they're so highly specific. Uh, it's wild. But from a, like a IT or, or cleaning or kind of these, um, fencing services, like there's some good mm-hmm. Good money to be made. 

Chris Barr: Yeah, so it, it stuck out.

It's kind of a recent, a recent area of interest. So ask me next session. You know, I might, I might turn away from that one, but, but for right now, as we're kind of redrawing the playbook, it, it's something that's popped out for sure. 

Jack Carr: Okay, so we said B2B, um, potentially, you know, high people leverage business.

Um 

Chris Barr: mm-hmm. 

Jack Carr: And [00:14:00] then. I was trying to think of, what was the other one? I had one more for that. You, do you want bigger contracts, so less, you know, poop, scoop picker, upper $50 a ticket route based mm-hmm. You're, you're looking for big, big, big purchases have, that's what I was gonna ask. Okay. So tier level.

Right. Are you looking like janitorial? I would consider tier one, right? That's a tier one business. HVAC's, a tier one business plumbing's, a tier one business. But I was talking to someone today about, um, a tier two or tier three business. I think it's probably tier three. Um, do you have any preference? So the tier three business in particular was Aeros Seal.

So rather than me owning an AE equipment that. Pumps, those, the little microbeads through your equipment, and then as it exits out the holes, they jam up and seals your duct work. Mm-hmm. Um, so this company, all they do as a franchise is, uh, they just go around. They get contracts with all the HVAC companies to sell it.

We take a certain percentage. It was like 20%. They take [00:15:00] the other 80% do the work and we just sell. So. Really interesting business. I mean, high ticket, they're like five, $6,000 jobs. Probably more in some areas where there's more duct work. Um, so you're making 4K per job. Um, and then it's B2B in the sense that your sales actually aren't too the individual, even though you could probably run the residential side, uh, the sales really are to other HVAC companies.

'cause that equipment costs like 120 k. Yeah. Like it's super expensive. 

Chris Barr: No, I, I think that kind of the two or tier three, um, concept does honestly sound appealing and I, I am definitely not opposed to it. Uh, I think as I'm in this process of redefining my thesis and my buy box, I think that that is, and you kind of mentioned this earlier, that we kind of start off with one vision, then get kind of pushed or pulled in certain directions based on findings and kind of the, the course of fate, if you will.

Um, so would I. See [00:16:00] myself targeting more of a tier two or tier three sector after kind of exploring. A more tier one sector, just simply because those opportunities are more easy to identify, target. There's more active listings out there. There's really more volume for me to review, which is really what I need to get back to is reviewing a high volume of deals.

Um. Could that process lead me to a more tier two or tier three sector? Absolutely. And would I be opposed to it if I came across the right opportunity? Absolutely 

Jack Carr: not. Yeah. Because I mean, right. Tier two, tier three actually I think fit your personal goals a lot better, right? Tier, tier two, tier three are great businesses, right?

I love them. Water heater only business, or this Aeros Seal business, or, hey, we just do pipe lining businesses like AstroTurf only, no landscaping. Uh. They do great. Mm-hmm. Because they only get to like maybe two or 3 million top line, but they have decent margins on the bottom side. Their issue never is [00:17:00] growth.

Right. They usually generally have. Mm-hmm Or excuse me, their issue is growth. They can only grow up to a certain point and then they're capped. Right. They're capped. 'cause there's only so many people who want aero seal at any point in time in, you know, those four counties. Um, so to grow bigger mm-hmm. You have to go county by county by county versus um.

A plumbing business, they're not generally capped. 'cause every house you put in there is more plumbing. There's more toilets than, than there are businesses to be able to handle them. And so for you, 'cause as I think that, I don't wanna speak for you here, but as somebody who has said multiple times on the show, like, Hey, I'm not Jack, I'm not the hypergrowth person that you are.

I'm just looking for like a nice wage. Yeah. Build something in my community and enjoy, like, I think that fits really nicely. 'cause they tend to be, um, I don't wanna say more laid back businesses, but they tend to be simpler. Right? 'cause you're, we just only do aero sale. Yeah. We partner with HVAC companies like that's.

That's the business model. 

Chris Barr: No, and it's, and it's funny [00:18:00] and you, you more or less got it right, um, in kind of my non-attachment to hyper growth or anything like that. And again, I used to feel very guilty about that. I used to feel like, ah, I'm not, I'm not the go getter that, that Jack is out there and I wish I, maybe I should be, you know?

Exactly. So much shame around that. But again, I think that that's, or for example, I felt a, a lot of guilt around. Specifically. Drawing my search around my geo area that I want to be in and be like, oh, if I was a real search, or if I was a real go-getter, I would do a nationwide search and I'd go where the opportunity is and it's like, nah, man.

That's the beauty of ETA in general is you get to, it's like Burger King, man. I get to have it your way. Like, you know, I get to paint and say, I, I love where I'm living. I wanna stay in this area. I want to be a pillar of this community right here. Um, I can look at it and say, I don't have any hypergrowth needs.

I don't need to do any kind of roll up or exit strategy or something like that. I can own [00:19:00] a well functioning business that has consistent profitability, um, and show up and kind of build my own nice little program. And, and there's nothing wrong with that. And I think that I had to, I had to come to terms with that and it took a little while.

But yeah, I think that for those reasons, um, yeah, a tier two could really fit. My end state agenda, um, pretty well. So yeah, excited to explore that a bit more. 

Jack Carr: No, I definitely agree. And, uh, you, you had it. That's the key. That that's the only, there's very few, um, there's very few benefits to actually ETA, uh, I mean, some of the big ones are generational wealth that you can drive.

Uh, that one's a given, but the other one is you. Build your own adventure is have it your way. Yes. Do what you want. You have to deal with the consequences. It's not a, you know, free from consequences. Mm-hmm. That being said though, like that is the, the key is again Yeah. People not being able to tell you what to do.

You can make those choices. [00:20:00] Mm-hmm. Which I respect that at any point in time. So now that you, we've kind of locked down what you're looking for and kind of going back in your mindset, what strategies are you. Initially taking, you talked a little bit about ai, you talked about mm-hmm. You know, your broker network.

Where's your starting point and what is your focus? 'cause Right. You, you listened to the podcast last time and our advice, and that's what drove that lead, correct? It was mm-hmm. Correct. Yeah. A, um, somebody working to scrape data or walk us through how that last lead came to, to play, and then, are you doing the same strategy this time or are you gonna moderate it?

Modify it. 

Chris Barr: Yeah. As much as I wanted to target pressure washing that first time around, pressure washing's so small, and there's so many kind of like local Yoel, small, tiny operators that I was like, I can't cast my net that tiny. So I included pressure washing and painting because those [00:21:00] two, um, you know, tend to play off of each other.

So I had someone scrape data, um, found someone on Upwork to go find me. Um, every pressure washing and painting company in my four counties, and I kind of gave them some guidelines. 'cause as much as I'd love to, like businesses aren't gonna post what their revenue is on their websites, it'd be nice, we're making this much money.

It'd be super nice. But, um, not the case. So I said, Hey, listen, look for site images that have like team pictures. Look for like branded trucks on their, you know. Websites and web pages, et cetera. So, um, kinda looked for the descriptions of what kind of contracts they service. So I kind of gave them some guidance of what to look for and said, go find me.

Everybody, um, went chugging through that list and yeah, ended up getting in touch with the operator who's like, are you a broker? Like, what's your deal? And me like, no. I'm like, I'm trying to buy a business like, oh. Because we're actively trying to sell. Our last buyer just [00:22:00] fell out and we're about to take it back to market.

So I was curious. I'm like, oh my God, this couldn't be more perfect. Um, so yeah, that's kind of how that one ended up not really falling to my lap because it took a lot of building a machine and working that machine to get there. But when it, when it tips and it falls, it really does seem like it happens all at once.

Jack Carr: Yeah, but not, I mean, yeah, it was a machine. It took a little bit of work from a systematic point of view, but from like a, the ability for someone else listening to copy that, it wasn't like, that's not a overly expensive 

Chris Barr: no. Cost me 150 bucks. I think I had to pay that guy on 

Jack Carr: upward. Yeah. So 150 bucks to drive.

Yeah. Scrape all that data. If you're hyper focused on a specific industry or a specific area, it's a really easy thing for somebody to do. Uh, the s so P'S not hard to generate for that individual either. And so great opportunity to, um, copy that strategy, utilize that strategy. And my favorite thing is you mentioned like how do we focus some of our AI [00:23:00] initiatives moving forward and.

I'm, I'm the anti, I love ai, but I'm the anti AI guy in this case because the amount of AI garbage that we get daily, weekly, hourly, like my inbox is just full of it. It's, Hey, are you selling your business? Hey, are you selling your business? And. I think that's an opportunity, and I've said it before on here, and anybody listening, I'll say it again.

The opportunity is to write something unique to Somebo, a business owner. Mm-hmm. Because anything that's actually unique. Gets through and people read it because it's different and unique. My LinkedIn inbox has 25, 35, 45 different messages that are ai, ai, ai, ai, mass produced, mass produced, mass produced mass produce.

But if you said, Hey, Jack, I saw you on, on Jack acquisitions and um, you know, I was curious about this. You know, you talk a lot about your business and da da dah, dah, dah. I wanted to know this, this, and this, and, and hey, we are looking to buy the business. Are you interested in selling? They'd at [00:24:00] least get an answer back.

You know what I mean? Like I, I think it would take more time upfront to do from a time sink, but you would actually get a response from me rather than a. Vomit generation that we usually get word generation vomit coming from chat GBT. So probably one of the most important decisions you can make in your ETA journey is which SBA lender You are gonna pick a lender who will be in your corner to get you closed on the deal, as well as set you up for future expansion.

That is why we partnered with Alan Peterson from First Internet Bank. He and his team take a how can we approach as well as I personally know they specialize in home service acquisitions. Mention the show or my handsome bald head and receive a reduced good faith deposit, as well as a detailed deal review and maybe even a buy-side.

Prequalification, no strings attached. Head on over to Alan FIB. Dot com. That's A-L-A-N-F-I b.com, [00:25:00] or click the link below to get connected. 

Chris Barr: Sure. And I think that that wasn't really so much my, um. Vision on how to use ai and I'm still very infantile and kind of how to go about using that tool for what I'm looking for.

But I've like, and I've, I'll be using AI for something else. Suggest like, do you want me to draft this for you? I'm like, no, I hate your wording. I like my words. I like, it's sounding like a human, not things sounding like you. So I would still be. Kind of drafting any mass email blast. It's more how do I use them to kind of automate responses, kind of automate who, who's getting response, automate traction, automate kind of results, KPIs, um, stuff like that and metrics more I could follow.

Then the actual messaging that I still am very intent on coming from me. Um, and as far as kind of that personalized, I mean, 'cause that's in the, I was actually just rereading, um, the HBR guide to buying a business today. Mm-hmm. Which is like. Um, and [00:26:00] so it was kind of talking about this approach of mass blasting letters and emails and all this stuff out there versus doing it in a personalized fashion and kind of the pros and cons of each.

Um, and I think you really have to do both to do it effectively. And the machine gunner have a phrase which I love, which is accuracy by volume. Like you gotta throw enough grounds down range, um, to hope that something will hit eventually. So I think that doing that. Tangentially alongside with personalized outreach for more kind of targeted businesses that I really wanna chase.

Um, being able to kind of juggle both I, I think is what I'm looking to do on my next round of searching. 

Jack Carr: I will say that it has to at least somewhat work. Somebody has the secret sauce somewhere because, um. I mean, otherwise everyone wouldn't do it. Yeah. So, uh, I've seen it with mailers. I've seen people have, you know, the hoping for that 1%.

I, I think where my, my point comes across though, where I'm really trying to drive across for most searchers out there is that you are not gonna be able to generate that volume. [00:27:00] You know, it's, hey, if, if is a 1%, which I, I would've. Probably argue it's less than that. 

Chris Barr: Oh, yeah. 

Jack Carr: Um, for a good business. 'cause we've, we've ran those campaigns before and we've, we've seen four to six to eight leads, and they're all really hot garbage.

I, I'm talking to one right now, I'm not under NDA because he's a solo, uh, shop that shut down. So mind you, he's shut down his shop. Not that it's, it's still going. He's had it down for about six months now, and it did. 370,000 in top line. He wants 300,000 for it. For his business. That's no, and that's just his book of business and his.

His 50 reviews. Yeah. So that's some of the stuff you get. Um, but yes, you get 

Chris Barr: knock off about five zeros and we can talk. But, uh, yeah, 

Jack Carr: exactly. So, you know, volume does work. Um, it has to, but the volume that you and I would have to generate to be able to get that is like, and, and not to mention like the, I don't think that that volume's in the Fort [00:28:00] Worth area or not Fort Worth.

Mm-hmm. Fort Lauderdale or Fortmeyer area. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have a hundred HVAC businesses in that county, so how would you even get to that 1% type of stuff? And then the one that is gonna write isn't, you know, is not the one you want. 

Chris Barr: No, I, I, I a hundred percent agree. Um, and again, that's, I think that.

We're relying on, again, as much as it's a grind and a slog that personalize, pick up the phone and call somebody. Um, yeah, it's a grind. It's a slog. It's not always fun, but it's, that's kind of my bread and butter coming from a real estate brokerage, coming from, um, a VP of acquisitions background. Like that's what I do, is I pick up the phone and I, I dial for dollars and I, you know, I, I talk to people, so, you know, it's something I'm always, that's always gonna.

Continue to be my bread and butter. I guess my question is doing more of a mass volume approach and kind of again, that machine gun's mentality of, of accuracy by volume and throwing stuff out there, [00:29:00] does it hurt you? You know, it might not be. The most effective route. But is it something if, especially if I can automate it and kind of have it going on passively on the side, is it something that works against me in any way?

And, and it very well could, even from an opportunity cost standpoint, or maybe it's, oh, I recognize your name. I get the fricking junk emails from you. I, I, there are ways it could. Run counter to what I'm trying to do, but seems like it also couldn't hurt to have it going outside. That's actually for, 

Jack Carr: I don't, I don't think it hurts you.

I don't, I don't know of a single name that I saw that has given me that junk mail. Um. I mean, if it came from like a branded something or another, maybe, but most of the time it's some search group doing some search thing and that's what you get and you don't remember any of it. So I'm, I'm with you on that one actually, that it probably doesn't hurt.

And there's a, you increase, right? There's different types of luck. There's a whole, there's a whole book on it. I, I, I'm not gonna speak to it 'cause I didn't read the book. But I heard someone give a synapsis once, which is solid work to, uh, [00:30:00] give people advice on a podcast with, but essentially there's multiple different types of luck and like just trying something is, increases your chance for that type of luck.

So, I mean, yeah, you can't, like, it can't hurt you. And if it increases your chance of getting lucky and someone seeing the right email at the right place at the right time, why not? Small cost association probably as well. That was a solid bit. Guys, everybody, if you want to clip that and uh, say, whenever I think I'm talking about something that, uh, is important, just, just send me that and be like, Jack, shut up.

Something about, some luck, about some fucking thing. Get it. Good times 

Chris Barr: stolen. Valor stolen. 

Jack Carr: Yeah, never read the book. I now have to go read the book. So sweet guys. Um. Awesome, man. Uh, I'm really excited to see you getting back into this. I mean, I, I'm sorry, I don't think for all the listeners out there and for you, Chris, I'm, I'm, I'm given our chances of getting this closed by December 31st, pretty little.

Um, [00:31:00] but I'm hopeful. 

Chris Barr: I am too. You never know and you never know. Um, but I think that was the other good kind of light bulb that came on is researching a lot of averages. I think the standard is like 18 months for a search is what it takes a lot of people out there. Two years is not uncommon. So, you know, heck, if I am where I am, uh, at this point.

I'm not too far off track. I still feel confident we'll get something closed. Am I gonna meet your one year timeline? Uh, I wish I could, Jack. I know I'm not, I'm not super hopeful myself. But 

Jack Carr: that being said, it's also, you also like, I mean. I think I killed three deals, man. Like we killed three deals before we found our gem, which wasn't that good.

So like, it happens is, is kind of what I'm getting at is you like it, nothing that's happening in your timeline outside of the fact that we put a very, very, um, you know, fast and, and loose, uh, timeline on you that, you [00:32:00] know it, it's normal. So enjoy. Um, yeah. I'm excited to see what comes next and if, if we start to drive, you know, new areas and new locations and new, um.

Industry. So it's gonna be fun. 

Chris Barr: Yeah, that'll be exciting. I'm excited to keep you guys posted. 

Jack Carr: Awesome. Crystal, thanks for joining us and thank you listeners for joining us today. Um, we're almost at 300 subs on YouTube, big stuff. If you like what you heard, like, subscribe, share, pretend you're gonna share to YouTube, just copy the link and say, Hey, we're gonna share this and then never share it with anybody.

Um, need to trick that algorithm into giving us in front of people. We appreciate y'all and, uh, see you next time.