How I launched a $4 Million Dollar Business In One Year

A lot can happen in one year. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on one in particular: The 365 days where I took an electrical company acquisition and grew it into a four-million-dollar powerhouse—pun intended.

Key Takeaways

• Adapt and Pivot Quickly: From construction to residential.
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• Leverage Existing Customer Base: Offer discounts and cross-promotion bonuses to win over that acquisition’s audience.
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• Lead Generation Strategies: LSA, GMB, Radio, mail, and more.
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• Structure for Success: Build a team of all-star technicians and give them a pay structure that motivates.

Reading time: 4 minutes and 20 seconds

How I Started a $4 Million Business

Let's go back a couple of years.

We bought an electrical business that had heavy exposure to new construction and technology. It focused on commercial projects—a great business.

The challenge was timing.

I bought that business in Q4 of 2021. And as we all know, 2022 saw drastic changes. Interest rates, material prices with a ten percent increase, and rising fuel costs.

All at once. It made the lockdown year look quaint.

It was at that point we needed to change course and adapt. We shut down that construction arm and turned the electrical side towards residential, like our other services.

It was at that point that things took off. How? Ramp up, customer services, utilizing all of our marketing mediums, and building a killer team.

Leads, Leads, and Leads

Part of buying a business is having an installed base of people. However, we also had the added advantage of now being able to offer electrical services to our HVAC and plumbing customers.

There’s a real power in offering multiple services. It keeps things in-house, for one. It gives an easy answer when our field techs are asked “Hey, do you know a guy who could do this?”

Yes. I do know a guy. Me.

At this point, you can keep people in your ecosystem, give discounts, and generate leads via word of mouth. Great customer experiences will always be your best lead gen.

That said, we also took it as an opportunity to use every marketing channel available to us.

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
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• Google Local Service Ads (LSA)
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• Mailers
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• Radio Ad
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• Email to Current Wilson Customers
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• Expended Membership Offerings

We were able to quickly expand our slate of technicians. But how do you get the best?

Performance = Payment

Time for the most “well, duh” advice of all time. If you pay people well and offer the ability to earn more, they tend to work harder. When it came to expanding from one electrical tech to three, and then to six, it was all about compensation.

Hourly pay, plus a monthly bonus based on performance. And given that electrical tends to be a high-dollar service, we had every tech pulling in about half a million each.

This system worked incredibly well because we hired the right people who were good at offering options to customers and discussing their pain points. However, techs were only half the story.

Using tools like the ServiceTitan Price Book Pro, the sales team we hired was able to offer options and stay informed.

Honestly, the hardest part was that lead generation. But. once we get people into the Wilson ecosystem it turns them into satisfied customers.

Whatever way we could fill the schedule, we did it. And that’s how you can do it.

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