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đź’° From Debt to a $200 Million Home Service Business
School of Hard Knocks
July 11, 2024
What’s good, Hard Knocks Community? 💰
Welcome to another amazing episode of the School of Hard Knocks Newsletter! We recently did a live call with Tommy Mello in our paid community that was full of exciting insights. Tommy walked us through an entire masterclass where he covered scaling, the importance of choosing the right money making vehicle, processes, systems, delegation, and more.
Today’s Schedule
Tommy Mello’s Journey of Resilience and Determination: How He Created a $200M Home Service Empire
From the Hard Knocks Library: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
In Case You Missed It: We interviewed Wealthy Shoppers all across Dallas, including the former CEO of TGI Fridays
Let's go!🔥
From Debt to a $200 Million Home Service Business
Tommy Mello is the founder and CEO of A1 Garage Door Service. They're one of the biggest blue collar companies in the entire United States and do over $200 million every year.
Tommy grew up a pretty humble guy. He started his entrepreneurial journey shoveling snow and mowing lawns in the Detroit suburbs. His mom and dad divorced when he was seven years old and his mom worked hard to support the family.
Since he never wanted to bother his mom, Tommy learned how to work for whatever he wanted. He also credits his dad for showing him how to win. When you lose, you don't get that participation trophy.
Fast forward to when Tommy grew a bit older, he ended up falling into the garage door industry. His roommate at the time was a manager and he painted garage doors on the side for his company.
After realizing how much money they could make on their own, Tommy and one of his roommates started up their own garage door company in 2007, and according to Tommy, they made every mistake in the book.
Tommy wound up parting ways with his partner in 2010 because of his drug use, but that didn't stop him from going all the way. Along with his mom, Tommy moved from Michigan to Phoenix, Arizona and grinded.
He learned how to be a great marketer, how to build out a strong culture, and got the right mentors, which paid off big time. Tommy worked hard to grow and scale and eventually sold half of his business and got north of $27 million of EBITA on profit.
This year, Tommy hopes to break $300 million. His company is now in 20 states and has a little over 800 employees. Right now, they're upwards of 25% to the bottom line.
Tommy stayed committed to seeing his vision through, which hasn't been easy. He's had to deal with police showing up on job sites and he even lost two technicians under some pretty horrific circumstances.
His main goal, and his advice for other entrepreneurs, is to stay focused and have a plan.
Our conversation with Tommy covered some valuable business fundamentals. He has a unique style of combining technical things like scaling, delegating, and marketing with old-school, blue collar principles.
Tommy Mello
Here are four main takeaways from our call:
Know How to Network
If you plan on heading to large-scale networking events, Tommy says you'll need to be comfortable and confident when talking to people. You can't be timid, you have to walk right up and own the conversation. Practice your elevator pitch and learn how to give and ask for referrals.
Before you enter the big leagues and try your hand at meeting Gary Vee or Grant Cardone, spend time at your local BNI group or Chamber of Commerce. They'll help you hone in your networking skills so you can rub elbows with the best of the best.
Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?
When you're an entrepreneur, you're going to fail sometimes. You won't always pick the best business idea the first time around, and you have to know when to walk away. However, if you know you've picked the right one and you're faced with adversity, Tommy says you'll need the right people around you to lift you up.
When you look at the five people closest to you, if you're not inspired, you're in a cage. When you surround yourself with the wrong people, they'll hold you down. You don't have to completely remove those people from your life, but you do have to hang around people who want to see you win.
Marketing A-Game
Half of Tommy's marketing strategy is attracting the right people to work on his team. He stacks his deck with A-players that get stellar reviews, work on weekends, self-police each other, and truly want to win. Tommy says that while he's a great coach, he's an even better recruiter.
The other half of Tommy's marketing plan goes to Google. Social media works for getting the word out, but in Tommy's business, customers are hitting Google to find the answers to their problems. He's also not afraid to contact the competition with the best reviews on Yelp or Facebook or the best ads to learn about their winning formula.
Success leaves clues, it's all around us. All you have to do is the work.
Time Machine
If Tommy had to start his business all over again in a new city, he'd target a smaller market where he can dominate and stand out. There, he'd have the chance to build a better experience without dealing with as much competition.
He would also tell his younger self to find that number one mentor that's been where he wants to go. Sometimes you need to stop looking at social media, reading books, and listening to 10 different people. Find that right person, listen to everything they have to tell you, and plug your ears and get to it!
So many people look for answer upon answer and never implement anything they learn. To succeed, you'll have to take action.
Connect with Tommy here:
Hearing directly from today's top entrepreneurs could be the missing piece of your own journey. Inside the Hard Knocks Community, you'll get to interact with successful entrepreneurs like Tommy on live calls.
Don't miss out! Sign up for the Hard Knocks Community's School of Mentors!
Words of Wisdom
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
In Case You Missed It
We visited the wealthiest shopping centers in Dallas and interviewed luxury shoppers on how they were able to become successful. We interviewed people in a variety of industries such as banking, consulting, restaurants and more! This video is filled with heavy hitters with these entrepreneurs doing up to $1 billion a year in revenue. Click the video below to watch🔥
Let Us Hear From You
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