Welcome to the Owner Operated newsletter.

In this week's show, I spoke with Artem Lopatchenko, CPA, owner of AdvantaClean of Cary-Apex, co-owner of Ace Handyman Services of the Greater Triangle and Johnston County areas, real estate investor, and adjunct professor of accounting at Western Connecticut State University.

Artem is raising money to send supplies over to the people of Ukraine (his home country). Please support his efforts by sending him an email.

Check out the episode here:

Listen to this week's show on Spotify, Apple, or Google Podcasts.

We covered:

• Artem's journey from Ukraine to the United States
• His path from barely being able to speak English to teaching accounting at the Western Connecticut State and owning several businesses
• Real estate investments as a vehicle for wealth generation
• Keeping a full (but productive) schedule
• Considering the real cost of failure
• The growth of Cary-Apex Advantaclean franchise since his acquisition
• Playing to win vs. playing not to lose
• Buying an ACE Handyman Services franchise territory with his business partner
• How he combined multiple franchises under one office location with shared staff

Full Transcript from the show (roughly 80% accurate):

Acquiring an Advantaclean Franchise at 28 Years Old, with Artem Lopatchenko

[00:00:00] Jonah: Everybody it's Jonah on here with Artem. And we wanted to record a little bit of a different intro for you today. So as I was editing the episode and kind of processing everything, the, uh, obviously the Ukraine situation happened and Artem, and I talked about it. He wanted to say a couple of words in the beginning here.

[00:00:24] So I wanted to give him a platform to do so. Artem, what do you have to say, man?

[00:00:28] Artem: Yeah. I mean, everything that's happening right now is absolutely heartbreaking. Um, for those people who have heard about the attack on the nuclear power plant, the biggest one in the country, I'm sorry, in Europe. That's my home city.

[00:00:43] Right? So it's, uh, it's definitely heartbreaking to see it. Um, there's been a lot of moments where. We got to see the most beautiful parts of humanity with all the help, um, during the darkest times of humanity and [00:01:00] probably our generation. So there's been a lot of aid. Um, and even after all this was over Ukraine, still gonna need aid.

[00:01:08] Um, for those who have local organizations or local churches around, all I ask is, uh, you work with them and that just now, while it's front and center, but continue to do so because a country like America, can't recover from a hurricane Sandy for five, 10 years. So still people recovering a country in east, uh, in Eastern Europe, that's being bombed and burned.

[00:01:34] They're now going to recover in a couple of months. It is going to take decades and people are going to need help. So, um, work with your local organizations as people come start coming across to this side of the world. Just be friendly, open up your contacts, help them, uh, get stabilized, make sure they don't get burned.

[00:01:55] There's in every, unfortunately in every situation like this, there is a, the [00:02:00] vultures you want to rip people off. There is going to be people who try to pretend that it costs money to work with a recruiter. There's going to be people who just try to rip people off, right. Just be the guide to say like, Hey, in America, this doesn't fly.

[00:02:16] Here's the right way to do it. And, um, I'm collecting items to send out to Ukraine. Um, Jonah's gonna post my, um, ups box, um, directly, um, for those who are, would rather donate, um, donate to a red cross, donate to a local charity. That's. Sending money out. Um, I also have my personal Venmo. I have no problem sharing that information as well through Jonah, Jonah was going to post it.

[00:02:44] But, um, for those who don't feel comfortable going through me now, the problem that's not, that's not what it's about. This is about raising awareness. I am sending money directly to people I know. And, um, we are buying baby [00:03:00] food as often as we can, as it gets delivered. And, um, through friends of friends, it's being driven around to people who are still in shelters and people who don't have the means of even getting baby food.

[00:03:11] Um, but just donate, do, uh, donate, help out an organization. Um, and don't forget about this. And two or three weeks just, uh, stay vigilant and, um, make it a quarterly thing, make it a monthly thing to just check in, make a small donation, whether it be manpower or. Monetarily or donations of items.

[00:03:35] Jonah: It's going to go a long way.

[00:03:37] I appreciate it. What a minute. And like Artem said, I'll link everything down below. Um, we'll get into the episode, but keep Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers, everybody

[00:03:54] Hi everybody. It's Jonah Palone and welcome to owner operated conversations with small business [00:04:00] millionaires. If you're interested in learning about the stories of American small business owners and why small business is great for our country, this is the podcast for you and my role at mid street, helping people sell their companies throughout the Southeast.

[00:04:12] I've been fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes, look at the lives and organizations of hundreds of business owners. I created owner operated to let you in behind the curtain. Follow me on this journey and subscribe to my newsletter@jonopalone.com.

[00:04:33] okay. Right. Um, thank you for coming my friend. Um, the audience has no idea what we've just been through with the technical difficulties, but we are now here. Um, so first question for you. How do you introduce yourself at parties?

[00:04:44] Artem: So I introduced myself as Artem. I don't go by my last name and after awhile I started introducing myself as John and bars, just because it's easier to say, Hey, my name is John, as opposed to Artem.

[00:04:59] That started [00:05:00] as a running joke that after a few shots that become John Arden. Right. But it's to the point where people are like, how do you say your name? And just call me John and John became a second nickname.

[00:05:11] Jonah: Okay. So cause, cause you know, for the audience that doesn't know you're at, you're actually from the Ukraine, right?

[00:05:15] Yes I am. Okay. So what we'll get into your backstory, but I want to give people sort of a primer on who you are and what you do, because it's fascinating to me. Um, so let's start, start with that. Just tell me a little bit about your story. What do you do today? Kind of where you're at and then we'll get into your back story and how you got to where you are.

[00:05:31] But what does Ardam do right now? When, when you're at a party, someone shakes your hand and they say, alright, and what do you do? What do you, what do you tell

[00:05:37] Artem: them? I hesitate and I have two. Compose my thoughts and see, figure out which party I'm at and what my audience is. But right now I'm a residential real estate investor.

[00:05:49] I own a franchise, a restoration franchise called advantage queen. I just purchased another franchise, uh, an ACE handyman franchise. And I'm also an adjunct professor. [00:06:00] So depending on where, which conversation I'm having, I tell people I'm one of those things or a mixture of both. Okay.

[00:06:09] Jonah: Which one are you most proud of at this point?

[00:06:12] Artem: I think they're all. Interconnected, I can't say a more proud of one or the other. I'm proud of all those in different ways. And also I would not have all four if I did not have all four of them made some straight, whole building blocks are owned. They're connected. And if I didn't have the one, the others probably would've never happened.

[00:06:37] And you strip away any one of those, the

[00:06:39] Jonah: other three might crumble. Okay. So let's talk about your background and how you got to where you are today. So you're from the Ukraine. Um, I guess walk through your story a little bit for me. Yup.

[00:06:49] Artem: So came here when I was 10, uh, back in 2002. Does he have an idea of how old I am?

[00:06:56] Um, you can do the math, um, [00:07:00] didn't know English for the most part. Um, the no child left behind bill had just passed. I got pretty sure I got an a in math, failed everything else. And they're like, yeah, pass this kid. He would do just fine. Um, fast forward to high school. I was bored out of my mind. My sophomore year almost failed.

[00:07:19] Sophomore year of high school almost failed gym. How do you fail a gym? You don't put on your uniform. You have to wear uniforms in gym. I refused to, um, cause I had a sprained, a spring, a thumb couldn't participate anyways, but they made me put on a uniform. I wasn't gonna do that. So I almost failed out sophomore year.

[00:07:37] So then halfway through my sophomore year. Have they teacher by the name of Ms. Kushner, can't forget her, um, taught English. We had to do our career track college pre sat prep stuff. Right. Um, and I remember her saying like, Hey you three pointing at my table. And the other two, um, she was like, [00:08:00] you know, high school or colleges don't really look at your whole entire, um, high school career.

[00:08:06] If you get your act together, your junior and senior year. Ah, okay.

[00:08:12] Jonah: So you're like, I still have a chance at this point. Yeah. Right. Like I

[00:08:14] Artem: didn't even think college was even the thing for me at that point. So moved after my sophomore year from Pennsylvania to Connecticut didn't know anybody was born on my mind the entire summer, wasn't old enough to work most places.

[00:08:30] Plus we were in the middle of the recession. So the retail jobs are going to individuals have bachelor's and master's degrees or seven years of education of a experience, not 16 year old kids without a driver's license. Right. So I read the student handbook back and forth many times, and I was like, wait a second.

[00:08:51] I can graduate early. So I convinced my advisor to let me graduate early so I can go back to Pennsylvania [00:09:00] and. Go see my friends and get into college and Pennsylvania. Yeah. Graduate early. Um, everything lends up. I get accepted into your college of Pennsylvania and, um, a Western Connecticut alum. So I, everything worked out except for the part, or actually made it back to PA cause my mother was like, you're not going to live on your own at 16.

[00:09:23] So you're commuting to school. So that's kind of my background story. Um, studied accounting at Western Connecticut. Um, got through the program in three years as well. I overloaded, uh, one summer on credits because I realized it was cheaper for me to bust out 24 credits in the summer than it was to pay for dorming.

[00:09:46] Right. So,

[00:09:48] Jonah: so you were always a kind of a mask.

[00:09:51] Artem: Yeah. I mean, like I, math makes sense. That'd be in said the highest math class I ever took was stats and we took, pre-calc never took, [00:10:00] pre-trade never took trig or calc. Okay. Most people I know have taken higher math classes and not have.

[00:10:05] Jonah: Yeah. Interesting. Okay.

[00:10:07] So, so walk me through that point. So you're in Connecticut now, or I guess, so you have to stay in Pennsylvania with your mom. Is that

[00:10:12] Artem: how it worked? Nope. Uh, we were in Connecticut. I went to school in Connecticut for the three years. Um, studied accounting. Um, why does study accounting? Well, I got a $1,000 scholarship.

[00:10:26] If I entered the university as an accounting major and I just never switched it. I wish I was alive, but it was a, and then a few, like switching it. And then after awhile I started reading all the Yahoo finance and all the other articles that like top 10 top careers or top 10 lowest unemployment. I was like, well, accounting is consistently top five and I don't hate it.

[00:10:49] So I just take

[00:10:49] Jonah: through it makes sense. Okay. So, but you're in this sort of traditional trajectory still based on what you've said so far, um, you're gearing up for an accounting [00:11:00] career. You graduate school, what happens next?

[00:11:03] Artem: Um, I got a job in. Got up and job part-time and Danbury really didn't want to leave.

[00:11:10] Danbury. My mother was in Edison, New Jersey at this time. So if you don't know how far this from Edison to Danbury, it's about two and a half hour drive each way. Um, decided the best thing I can do is commute from Edison to Danbury two or three times a week for part-time work. Decisions were made. They were just paid right.

[00:11:33] Ended up going full-time at that company, um, in October after graduation. And then start funny enough, actually applied for a part-time job. At like one of the, something at the mall and got the job pretty much on the spot. It was a cool extra money. Um, or just take your drug test. You got the job. Cool.

[00:11:58] I've never had to take a drug [00:12:00] test in my life for a job and not that would fail the test whatsoever, but I just didn't know that you have to take the drug test before your first day. Yeah. So called them was a case. So when they get my schedule and they're like, oh, you didn't show up to your drug test.

[00:12:15] And today would have been your first day and you're no longer eligible to work for us. Brutal. I was like, what do you mean I'm not eligible? Like I have a big boy job. I'm asking you for a minimum wage job. Doesn't that automatically qualify me to like, I, if I didn't need to take a drug test for an accounting job, what's going on.

[00:12:36] They're like, oh, not only, not only are you. Not employed with us. You also aren't allowed to apply for another six months to work for us. So I went home, got really, really mad ordering my CPA books. Wow. Okay. Um, started studying for my CPI. Right. Um, and, uh, so if you're on October and [00:13:00] November after graduation, by that summer, I had passed, I believe two parts of my past one was studying for another started, uh, working for a residential developer.

[00:13:11] And that's kind of where my passion for real estate came to him, working for him. Just seeing that. The world of real estate, uh, it's just, it's fascinating.

[00:13:21] Jonah: Is it exciting or entrepreneurial side of things? Just being able to make decisions quicker than you were probably used to with all the bureaucracy of school and CPA stuff, or

[00:13:30] Artem: so it wasn't even that it was one being able to solve problems that mattered.

[00:13:37] It was a smaller office and contractually, when you get an invoice, right. Being able to say, Hey, this is part of your contract, or this is not part of your contract rather than seeing ones and zeros on the screen. I saw that like, Hey, me being able to interpret this contract right here, right now, impact the company by thousands of dollars.

[00:13:59] One way. [00:14:00] All right. So KA could kind of see how my mistakes cost the company a lot, or me doing well help the company a lot. Um, from there bounced around, worked for a commercial developer, worked for a medical device company, worked for a software company. That was my last career job. And then no, November of 2020, I purchased, um, the, at the band, the clean franchise,

[00:14:32] Jonah: which is surely where our conversation starts.

[00:14:34] Yeah. So, so you were, what agent, what would that be for you? 28, 29 at that point when you purchased November 20, 20, you said? Yeah. So late twenties. Yeah. Yes.

[00:14:46] Artem: Um, 2020. So in 92,

[00:14:50] Jonah: 28, 28. Yeah. So, so. That was the first time you really took a leap of faith in some ways. Right? So you're leaving this career. You'd been in career for, [00:15:00] gosh, what would that be?

[00:15:02] Nine years ish, something like that. What was that scary? Decided to buy the franchise and go out on your own like that.

[00:15:10] Artem: Yes. And no. So you have to remember about four months before that we watched the entire world, I guess a little bit more than four, but we watch the entire world get shut down. And a quarter of everybody pretty much get laid off in the same week.

[00:15:29] Right? COVID shutdowns come around. People get laid off. Some have Severen, some without sovereigns and crazy on the spot. People had no employment, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years of servitude gone. Right? Yeah. Now when you work for one employer and they say you're out, what are your options?

[00:15:53] Jonah: Find another job, right?

[00:15:55] Start your own thing, correct. By an existing.

[00:15:59] Artem: Correct. [00:16:00] When you have a business and one of your customers fires you or says, Hey, you're going out of business or, Hey, um, we're bringing this in house. What are your options to make up the

[00:16:11] Jonah: revenue? Find another customer. I heard a quote, I'm on a podcast. I was listening to a couple of days ago.

[00:16:16] It's like, if you're an employee, you have one customer. You don't have several, you have one customer and that's really your boss. If you're, if you have your own show, you've got many. So that's, that's what you're saying as well. It's just, it's just cool to see. So, but you, so you kind of recognize the risk of the situation.

[00:16:30] You said, listen, I don't really have job security. The job security that comes is really what I create myself.

[00:16:38] Artem: And I'd never thought I had jobs security, none of my jobs. Like there are jobs. I knew that I probably wasn't gonna get fired from. Yeah. But at the end of the day, just because your boss isn't gonna fire, you doesn't mean the owner's not going to solve.

[00:16:53] Doesn't mean that an employee or a customer is not going to Sue the company for everything there is, right. Doesn't mean that [00:17:00] the founder doesn't retire, right. There are outside of performance. There are risks that can pretty much end your career or end your current job unless you control your

[00:17:13] Jonah: own destiny.

[00:17:14] And, and, you know, I'll, I'll push back on that because one way to control your own destiny is to buy a business and control, you know, your, your, your future another way is to up your skills so much that it's just not, not an argument that you're really valuable to whoever can employ you

[00:17:30] Artem: without a doubt.

[00:17:30] Right. Unless something happens to that company. Right? Yeah. Think, think of some of the largest companies that have gone Bo like Lehman brothers examined the ring, right. They had some of the best talent in the world and they still went belly up.

[00:17:51] Jonah: Nobody build them out. Right. Bear

[00:17:53] Artem: Stearns. Right? Same thing.

[00:17:55] It's true. Just because you have talent, if you pigeonhole yourself [00:18:00] to one entity now, could those people go and get another job without a doubt when they're that good? Yes, they can. That being said, there's still that moment of panic uncertainty.

[00:18:13] Jonah: Yeah. You're massively uncertain. I totally get it. Okay.

[00:18:16] Interesting man. So, but you gather kind of elephant in the room, I guess, would be your age. You know, you bought the franchise when you were 28. A lot of folks that I know from school, or just in general, through being in life, they don't recognize. What you just described, which is putting that risk into your own hands until later in life.

[00:18:38] Was there, were there any mentors you had along the way that kind of show what opened that up for you? Did you always know you were going to run your own show? Were you reading books? Were you listening to podcasts? How'd you how'd you get there mentally?

[00:18:51] Artem: So definitely listen to another podcast. Um, read a lot of the books.

[00:18:58] Um, like [00:19:00] every good entrepreneur I've read rich dad, poor dad and millionaire next door and all the classics. Right? The richest man in Babylon. Um, I've always been a. And oddity in itself. Right? I have never had just one job. It's always a job and the master's program job and the CPA, multiple jobs, jobs, and being, um, volunteering for a not-for-profit like, it's always something, um, I operate best at Doug 90 to 95 mark at a hundred, they get anxiety under 80.

[00:19:33] I get restless. I get anxiety because I feel like I'm forgetting to do things. So I operate in that very thin, um, segment. Right. Um,

[00:19:45] Jonah: You like a full schedule.

[00:19:46] Artem: Yeah. But it needs to be a full, productive schedule, not running around schedule. Uh, but yeah,

[00:19:52] The one thing that I did know for certain is

[00:19:55] 1 If I failed and I had to sell the business or [00:20:00] write off some of the expenses throughout that.

[00:20:02] It's still cheaper than some people spent on college in comparison to what I spent. Right.

[00:20:08] 2. When else am I going to do it? And there's always a way to make more money. Like, I don't care what anybody says. If you go outside, everybody has a help wanted sign. Right., you can work multiple jobs. You can have a side hustle.

[00:20:25] You can always make more money. You can't relive your life and go, Hmm. I wonder if I could have, right. So for me it was making sure that I don't go, "I wonder if I could have." I'm hoping it goes, well, I hope I crush it. Right. But even if a doesn't, my mentality was well, I try

[00:20:46] Jonah: At least I tried, I love that.

[00:20:49] This show is brought to you by mid street, mergers and acquisitions, a business intermediary based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, that specializes in selling businesses generating one to $25 [00:21:00] million in revenue throughout the Southeast.

[00:21:02] If you own a business and are considering an exit, check out their website and contact them@midstreet.com. That's M I D street.com. Now back to. That's so tough for some people, man, some people they have this analysis paralysis thing. They, they, they want to stay kind of on the safer side. And, you know, I guess a big Astros to talk about here is that in to something that I believe, I'm curious to hear your take on it too, you know, entrepreneurial ventures and getting involved in small business and being an owner in something.

[00:21:33] I mean, that is not for everybody. Some people really enjoy living kind of more of a relaxed life, or even just like a equally stressful life where they're, they're not the person who's responsible for everything. I mean, I've seen hundreds of business owners at this point and it's like, there's a massive continuum of stress.

[00:21:52] You know, a lot of people are more on this side of it where they're, you know, really stressed, but there's just a wide variety of people and what they're interested in and [00:22:00] what works for them as, as, as far as what I've seen, you know, not everybody, sir. It's kind of like, you know, this concept of, should everybody have.

[00:22:09] This is a thought experiment. I'll talk about with some of my friends. It's like, does it make sense for everybody? Like, should everybody have children? I know some crazy people, you know, like they definitely shouldn't be having kids in my opinion. And I think the same is true in the context of employment, not in the same way of, you know, negativity, but it's just not necessarily a thing that everyone has to go.

[00:22:27] Do, you know, people are wired differently. Like you talked about, like you have to operate in that 90 to 95%. There are people who are more like 60 and that's okay for them and that's okay. You know, so interesting. So let's talk about it. You said that it costs, you know, relatively similar to a college education.

[00:22:45] Can you talk through some of the growth you've experienced from the company, from when you bought it to now and how you've scaled it to where you are right now. It's we were talking about this a little while ago. You and I met before, but I'd love for the audience to hear a little bit more like insights about, about the company and how you [00:23:00] grow it.

[00:23:00] So grew it, so from an employee standpoint, when you bought the business, how many employees were in there and I

[00:23:08] Artem: just want to clarify one thing. Yeah. My downside would have been the cost of the college educated. Got it, got it. Okay. Um, when I bought it, I had one, two man crew and a part-time or who would help out from time to time and a project manager.

[00:23:23] Got it. So three, three FTEs and a part-timer.

[00:23:29] Jonah: Wow. Okay. And where are you guys at today?

[00:23:33] Artem: So I have three office people full time, and then I have five. Yeah. I have five tax are, so that's the fact that we two and a half crews, three office people, um, involved full time. And then we'll probably touch base about, on this a little bit more later, but, um, the partner who I purchased the [00:24:00] next franchise with he's also going to be helping me run things on identically and sonically was it was that five, eight almost done.

[00:24:09] Okay.

[00:24:09] Jonah: Wow. Significant growth. That's really cool. One of the things that struck with me when we were having a conversation earlier was that you said I would never do the sub million dollar thing again. I would never get in before a million dollar. And where are you and where are you talking about revenue?

[00:24:23] Yes. Okay. Why,

[00:24:25] Artem: how do I explain this without getting very passionate and swearing? Uh, you can get past it on the show. The first million is a grind man. Um, the first 500 cake, right? The 502 million mark. You are clawing at everything yourself, because you can't afford, you can't afford to staff up properly, but you also can't afford to grow.

[00:24:52] Right? So the only way you grow is you have to do, you have to take on the lot and you really fighting for. Everything. [00:25:00] Right? Every, um, marketing opportunity, every customer, every line item on the invoice. And then when you get to a certain size, people start seeing your trucks everywhere. Um, people start seeing it though, the sort of events you have, a marketing person or an office person to help you.

[00:25:17] You have a VA, whatever it might be right now, your time is freed up. You don't feel super anxious, like you're overwhelmed and you can focus on those three to five activities every day. Actually make a difference, right? You get on the call with age over an HR company and say like, Hey, what benefits can I offer my guys?

[00:25:39] Well, that one conversation that figuring out can they afford this in the budget. That's going to change the trajectory of recruitment for the next 18 months. So next time that I'm down the guy or I'm down the truck. When I go to post a job, I am more competitive in the same dollar [00:26:00] price range, getting higher caliber of people which translates to better work, which translates to, or people calling back.

[00:26:07] Right. It's a positive snowball. It works the other way too. Right? When you're, when you're stretched too thin and you're missing appointments or, uh, making mistakes, not answering the phone on time, man. Yeah, that kills me right now. To be competitive in the space. Nowadays you have to pick up the phone. You don't even have to show up for three weeks.

[00:26:30] You answering the phone makes you competitive now. So that's kind of why the first million is a grind because. You have a lot of operation stuff, but you're kind of on your own. You don't have the necessary dispensable, disposable, expendable income to throw into things to scale

[00:26:50] Jonah: as

[00:26:50] Artem: much. And yeah, like there are a lot of fun toys in our industry and I want them all right.

[00:26:57] But Sorento, certain things you don't need if [00:27:00] you're not doing a certain amount of yeah,

[00:27:03] Jonah: it makes sense. And, and I've, you know, we're selling a disaster restoration company right now. I've seen some of those toys. It's it's cool. Um, so advantage clean. Why did you choose, uh, why did you choose to go with a franchise versus trying to start your own show?

[00:27:17] Artem: So let's back up and talk about why I got into restoration.

[00:27:23] Jonah: You could, you could have low Pachinko restoration right now. I hope you know that I

[00:27:27] Artem: could, so I needed. My crawlspace done at my own property. And I gather quilt. I was like, well, based on this quote, it gets me pretty close on what my down payment needs to be to buy the company.

[00:27:43] I'll just buy the company and fix it myself, make sense. Right. Logical, most people would just buy the company as opposed to hiring a professional. So I don't know, but okay. I actually looked at a series of franchises and businesses. [00:28:00] Um, I didn't know anything about the van. The queen didn't know anything about their competitors.

[00:28:06] I just know that I saw a restoration company. I got introduced to the seller and a gentleman by the name of Mark England. Um, later on I found out that he was franchisee number six. So he's one of the OGs like we're talking Drake and M and M performing at the super bowl. Right. So super knowledgeable been around for 10 years.

[00:28:28] Um, people loved them. Right. And I knew that people liked them. Cause, um, first or second conversation with him during my, I guess the fact-finding it was, I must have already signed my NDA. I'm not sure if I even saw the financials yet, but doctor on the phone. And he was like, yes. So he was talking about responding to a hurricane.

[00:28:54] He was like, yeah. So there was an event in Oriental. Um, and [00:29:00] uh, we went down to dry things out to the cat. There was this little boutique shop. I can remember the woman's name, but he's like, yeah, Ms. Betty, um, she had half her store flooded. We dried it out and then I guess her Tucson's helped out. And then we ended up helping driving both of their houses.

[00:29:16] And as soon as he said to us, like, man, That happened three years ago, he remembers the name of the customer and her two sons. My biggest weak point at that time was just that right. Just customer facing, uh, not letting anything bother me. And I wanted to buy that business because of him not because of the brand name or anything.

[00:29:42] Right. And when I bought it, it was conditional on the fact that the first six months he had to be around to help me out with the training.

[00:29:50] Jonah: And how did you get linked up with him in the first place? Uh,

[00:29:54] Artem: BizBuySell

[00:29:55] Jonah: you go, there you go. Yep. That's awesome, man. Wow. But [00:30:00] so why, but why franchising? Why did, why, why not start your own thing?

[00:30:03] I mean, was it because of all the systems and processes that were in place already,

[00:30:08] Artem: you're asking very smart questions. Like I operate at a, I know 80% of the information, the rest I figure out. I was at that 80% and I was like left the rest. I'll figure out, right? Yeah. If I had a. Good opportunity to come up.

[00:30:25] That was a non franchising opportunity. I may have bothered, but the reality is 90% of the listings are going to be franchises. Right? A lot of the non-franchise brands, they are they're passed down because there is a name attached and the family takes over. Or a lot of times they don't even know to sell right.

[00:30:47] Have a franchise. A lot of people know that already built in yeah. That you can sell some of the mamas. Yeah. They don't even know that

[00:30:54] Jonah: that's your counselor. Yeah. I mean, plus for them, it's all baked into their network a lot of the times, and they have folks who [00:31:00] that's, all they do is handle like helping transact and stuff like that.

[00:31:02] So like, McDonald's works that way. Um, okay. So in one thing I do want to talk about it eventually is the, the real estate investing side, because that, that we've talked about this before, and that fueled a lot of your ability to, to even do these small business enterprises, but real quick, let's talk about, um, the handyman services, which you've got coming up.

[00:31:20] Cause I'd love to learn more about your thoughts on that. Um, what, so how did you, how did you get involved with that opportunity? And maybe let's just start by talking about Dan, is that a good way to start talking about that? Okay.

[00:31:31] Artem: So, ah, where do we. I may just think through how it's going to be the easiest one to go with.

[00:31:40] Actually, let's go back to the real estate piece. Okay.

[00:31:43] Jonah: And start there, go back to the start there.

[00:31:45] Artem: So we mentioned that I'm from Connecticut. I met Dan in Connecticut probably six, seven years ago. I've known him that long, right? Wow. We are both now in Raleigh. No, he did not follow [00:32:00] me here, but, um, I kind of just decided on a whim that I'm going to move to.

[00:32:05] Raleigh gave my notice without meeting anybody here, having a job or it's crazy, Holly. It's like, you know what, that spot on the map where everybody's going, I'm going there. And my boss, like what. Well, if it doesn't work out, I was like, my worst case scenario is I come back and I work across the street.

[00:32:20] Like I'm out of the couple of thousand dollars from moving costs, but then it goes back to my, what if conversation? I love that I had to find out. Yeah. So I moved down. He followed me, uh, about six months later, but the real estate piece, um, bought my first condo 2015, right around time. I met Dan. Okay. Um, didn't buy anything else until two or three years later, again, paralysis analysis, trying to go super conserved, like, oh, it needs to have all of these, uh, cost baked [00:33:00] in because of what if scenarios get whatever.

[00:33:02] Um, finally pulled the trigger on a condo in a. Next complex over, uh, I pretty much just broke even though that it was like, you know what, who cares? It's not going to retire me. It's not going to put me under what new learn my lessons right. Closed on that February of 18. Okay, could you not a week later, a neighbor of mine in my complex, like, Hey, heard you just bought a condo.

[00:33:27] I was like, yeah. Then she was like, oh, that's awesome. Um, I look at the sound, my two bedroom. I was like, you don't go, I'm eligible for a new primary residence. So about the one with a 401k loan as my 20% down. And then the other one, um, just put 5% down, got a roommate. My cost of living actually went down because I had a roommate I'm interested the other one.

[00:33:51] So then I was there for about year, year and a half. Um, and then when I was moving down, the Raleigh, [00:34:00] I wanted the house, never bought myself a nice property. I've always fixed them up on the way out for my tenants. My you've

[00:34:06] Jonah: never had one beat up. Right.

[00:34:08] Artem: Um, most AC units never worked, whatever. Right. Um, it's like, you know what, I'm going to move down the Raleigh.

[00:34:16] I want a house.

[00:34:18] Jonah: You want an AC unit that works when you moved down the Raleigh,

[00:34:21] Artem: um, had a real estate agent. I was working with, um, Alex hardware. They'd go. I don't know if you know him, but he's incredible. Showed us around all these houses, just highest and best losing left. And right now, mind you, this was 2019 and it was stupid.

[00:34:37] At that time, I went through my mortgage lender. I was like, wait a second. I'm eligible for this much of a house. Can I bring you two townhouses for a combined value of that and be approved in the, well, it makes sense to us. Let's do it. So I bought a, another townhouse as a primary and then. Another [00:35:00] townhouse as a rental fast forward a year later bought my first house.

[00:35:06] That was actually, you know, nice AC everything worked, no of repairs needed by another primary. Okay. Now, as I'm buying these things, time is helping me out, right? We are in the growth market. So because we were in the growth market, my net worth is growing well, those properties, they are time. My mortgages are being paid off by my tenants.

[00:35:31] So there's a spread of net worth happening.

[00:35:34] Jonah: One of them major benefits of the, of leverage and buying multiple properties instead of just buying one property and paying it all.

[00:35:42] Artem: Absolutely. So that helped me with the pre-call and being eligible for a franchise. Right. They look at your net worth. They look at everything.

[00:35:56] A lot of my net worth was tied into tied in [00:36:00] to real estate, but it was significantly better than the bare minimum needed because real estate has been crushing it for the last couple of years. Right. Um, Then Dan moves down like a year and a half ago. Um, he started dabbling. He started getting into real estate himself.

[00:36:21] He bought a, um, he bought his first primary. He's under contract on his first primary. Now mind you, this is Q4 of 2021. This just happened him. So he's under contract for his new primary. I call him, I'm like, Hey, how much cash do you have? And whenever I call him and I ask those questions, he knows like, it's.

[00:36:45] I'm about to ask him some stupid and bizarre or smart and bizarre, but it's never just say, oh yeah, no problem. He's like why?

[00:36:53] I was like, there's a condo for sale in Raleigh for 55. K I'm on the way to go look there, look at it. [00:37:00] We have two options. Either we buy them cash or I figure out how to buy than cash, but I'm buying them.

[00:37:08] He was like, okay, let's buy them cash toured the place. Now it's a condo. It's a studio. 500 square feet. What can go wrong? Right. So I looked at the HVAC unit. That was fine. Toured the unit. There's pretty much no mechanical. We waived all of our inspections, we waved all the diligence.

[00:37:31] We put $10,000 in due diligenc on a $55,000 property, we offered 5 over and we locked it down four $60. It was a one week close. The ironic part of this is that he technically bought that before he ever bought his first primary. Interesting. Luckiliy, Dan's been saving his entire life. So he had the proper reserves in place, so that did not mess up his portfolio and he's bought another rental since.

[00:37:59] But [00:38:00] the plan with them almost, what's a rip it up, fix it up, um, rent it out. We didn't have any debt on it. So cashflow would have been great. We figured we should be able to get at least a thousand a month on it. HOA is like a hundred bucks. Taxes are a hundred bucks rents for a thousand. Those numbers made sense to us.

[00:38:20] Right? We finished it up was probably like $10K into it. So if you're tracking the numbers, we were all in at about 70 at this point, um, I was like, Hey, there is no properties in Raleigh for under $130K on the market right now. Let's see what happens. He was like, yeah, whatever. Let's see what happens Western for one 40, we got now for over 70 or something stupid like that.

[00:38:42] Yeah. So didn't even entertain lower the price to $125, the same guy who offers us 70 came back at like 90 clearly. It's one of those individuals who just needs to have a deal. Right. And told, uh, our real estate agent, by the way, same agent I've been using for the [00:39:00] last two years. All of these transactions, same guy.

[00:39:02] Okay. Um, texted him back. I was like, look, tell the buyer prospective buyer that if you don't get this, we can just refinance this, get all of our money out. And we were in a good position. Right. So they came back, gave us a west price cash offer. So there was no appraisal didn't ask for any money. The inspection period, which we took that money to buy an ACE franchise.

[00:39:31] Jonah: That's wild man. Right. So how much did you end up making on that? When it was all said and done. So

[00:39:37] Artem: after, before commissions, what's a us probably one. How much do we get put in the bank? Let's see if it's 1 25, whatever point, whatever 0.05 or 1 25 is like 10 grand, right? Something like that. Seven grand. So 1 7, 1 16 minus [00:40:00] 70, whatever that is almost 50

[00:40:01] Jonah: grand.

[00:40:02] Almost 50. Yeah. Very interesting. Okay. Wow. So that was what you used to buy the ACE hardware. Really? It was.

[00:40:10] Artem: Uh, ACE handyman

[00:40:16] Jonah: but I guess one of the, I guess, one of the lessons I'm trying to convey to the audience that you took it full advantage of is by buying properties and increasing your net worth. It just gives you a lot more flexibility over what you can do. Like, because those, all those properties, a lot of those properties appreciate it.

[00:40:29] If not all of them, you were able to have more flexibility. You could have done some cash out refinances. You could have sold some properties, and now you have actual money that you can work with to buy a business. If you want. Granted your opinion now is I would never do the less than 1 million thing ever again.

[00:40:44] So you would probably need. One 50. Um, but it's just interesting to hear that. And that was what fascinated me about your story. It was like real estate was kind of one of the keys that unlocked your entrepreneurial journey.

[00:40:56] Artem: Yep. And I mean,

[00:40:58] I think being a real [00:41:00] estate investor or a landlord, it's kind of like owning the business with training wheels.

[00:41:05] That's the best way I can describe it. Right. Um, your downside is limited. Your noise and issues are limited, but it's still technically a business, right? So you can treat it as a business. You can scale it to whatever you want it to be, but your downside, islimited, because you're protected by the asset, and to your point, having the rentals and also being an adjunct [professor], um, It allowed me to not have to take money out of the business, which allowed for the scaling.

[00:41:32] Right? Um, that's where a lot of other individuals get themselves in trouble, right? They buy business expecting to pull money out or they have to pull money out. Cause they have kids or a family to support whatever it might be by constantly tapping into the business. They're handicapping themselves and going back to the whole fun toy situation and under a million mark, some of those stories, you can't get the quarter million dollar [00:42:00] jobs unless you have those stories, right?

[00:42:02] You can't grow and make your business a multimillion dollar business on $400 sales, right. Dementia. You need those. Grand slams bunts are great. Right. They still won games and doubles when games, games, but hitting a couple of grand slams in the single game. It feels good. Right? So that's the other thing that allowed me to scale is I'm not pulling money out of the business.

[00:42:29] Right. I'm relying on things outside the business and just reinvesting all the money into future endeavors or into my business. I

[00:42:38] Jonah: love that, man. Is it cool seeing Dan start to from my perception and correct me if I'm wrong, it seems like he's starting on the path now is how I would kind of describe him.

[00:42:49] And he's one of your closest friends, if not your closest friend, is that not really cool to see him starting out?

[00:42:55] Artem: So it's funny. So. Four years ago, [00:43:00] Dan texted me. He's like, Hey Ken, um, can I use your Amazon prime account order? Or something was again, whatever I was like, what are you ordering? He's like, oh, I just need to order myself a, uh, some Bluetooth headphones and a weight vest for working out.

[00:43:14] I was like, Hey, do me a favor, double up the order, just send me one of each and then get herself on. Let me trade, just switch out the credit cards. The reason I did that, because I knew he would spend about five hours of his day researching how to save $14 on those things. Right. So he's always been that way.

[00:43:34] Whereas me, I have the mentality of my directionally, correct. Like we go into New York, which was that north. Okay, great. I'll get on the right highway when I need to, but. As long as I'm going north, eventually I hit New York, right. I might not be on 9 95 go in the most optimal ways way, but I'll get to New York.

[00:43:54] Whereas Dan's like, okay, well let's pre map everything. And you know, which gas stations we stop [00:44:00] at and which snacks we buy in what time increment to make sure we get there in the fastest way. Fast forward to today is just like, yeah, I'm not spending half a day for 70 bucks. I got better than,

[00:44:14] Jonah: and I used to be like that too. And I've started to change as well. It's it's you realize that progress is more important than perfection and it's, you really have to sit with that concept because for a lot of people, they have this it's, it's like shackles, man. Some people are totally crippled by their own sense of like what needs to happen or what, like what's perfect instead of just getting started

[00:44:38] Artem: and the west side, I can describe it as.

[00:44:41] And by the way,

[00:44:43] A lot of the franchise owners, other business owners, I see both extremes, right? And it comes down to, are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose? Right. If you're playing to win, you can swing for the fences. [00:45:00] You're not going to get it every time, as long as it doesn't put you under.

[00:45:03] And you're smart about it. Like don't swing for the fences before the pitcher throws a ball, right. That's just being silly. Um, but try, try to go for those big opportunities. You're not going to get them all, but try, set yourself up and be ready for them. Some other owners, they, um, they try to hyper optimize everything down to the lowest penny possible and while that's important.

[00:45:29] You can only save so much. Your growth was unlimited, right? Correct. At a certain point you're better off spending money or chasing revenue. Right. Then trying to save a couple dollars here and there on your cost of goods sold or fixed costs or whatever.

[00:45:45] And then the day there's so many hours in a day, right.

[00:45:50] I can't be doing sales for 80 hours a week. I'll burn out because I have a business to run. I now have a biz dev person whose entire job is [00:46:00] to do sales and also help me with marketing and babysit me when necessary. Right. Because my, my brain goes in 14 different directions, same time. And she can be like, okay, can we focus on these two things and get them done?

[00:46:13] Right. Yeah. Yes. Could I have not spent the money on that salary without the doubt, back to the first million being the grind, right. Not spending that money or I should say, not investing that money into her, puts me back into that under million dollar grant, uh, some of the better advanced queen franchisees, I was talking to one of them the other day needed to bounce an idea off of him.

[00:46:40] He's like, yeah. So, um, you know, it's like, yeah, water is great. Fire is great. Like how the couple, a six-figure fire jobs come through this year. We had, um, I had a couple, 200 plus thousand dollar water jobs. I'm running this towel. It's like those four jobs is my revenue [00:47:00] STR. So that's a differentiation between playing to win and reinvesting into the business, having the right equipment or the fun toys as I call them.

[00:47:10] Right. Having two or three salespeople and an office manager. Two productions manager and the customer satisfaction manager, or being a w the estimator and the salesperson and the project manager all at the same time with two crews and you see it in your business, you know, your business has to right.

[00:47:30] That's a separation between under a million over a million it's

[00:47:33] Jonah: mindset question. There's no question. And it's also this concept that I've talked about it again and again, of working on the business versus working in the business, which I know, you know, um, how do you balance that at this stage now? I mean, obviously when you took over, I bet you had to work in the business a lot.

[00:47:48] And I bet that it was a challenge for you to rip away time to working on the business where you had probably these pressing things that really mattered, you know, that were like urgent job related things, but you also knew, like, I [00:48:00] really need to start working myself out of certain positions, into hiring people and spending time on that.

[00:48:05] So what was it a challenge number one. And how did you, were there any strategies along the way that helped you work on the business? Was it, you know, did you wake up a little bit earlier on some days, were you grinding at night while everybody left? Like how did you make the time for that? Cause it's so important.

[00:48:21] And I see so many owners skipping that just staying involved in the business. They're always going to be the estimator until they sell the company. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that for them maybe. But for you, like, I know you want to scale, I know you want to grow, so how, you know, how did you manage that process?

[00:48:38] Artem: So a lot of bubble gum and duct tape, right? Doing our best. Right. Um, had a couple of good hires early on. My estimator is great. My project managers, I had to switch out, got a better personality, better fit. Um, so that helped a little bit, [00:49:00] right. Still weren't quite there fast forward to December of 2021. So just very recently, I got an office.

[00:49:10] So before we had a, we had a warehouse in apex, we had some of the equipment over in Kuwait, in the, my garage, and then some of the equipment was on the vehicle. Right. So if you ever had a water job, we never knew where's what, right. So now we have an office. Well, for warehouse. Nice. When we got the role on the job, we know yep.

[00:49:30] Go in the back of the warehouse. What do we need? 3d Hughes, 12 fans. Great. What to do for DQ 16 fans, some way flat it's all in the truck. We'll bring the extra back. And this shit to that. I hired my dev person in January. I'm onboarded three new hires on the production staff in January. So now you're slowly working towards a culture and centralization.

[00:49:58] The other thing that's helping is. [00:50:00] ACE and advantage queen are going to be sharing an office. So because you're starting ACE together, you want to run ACE properly. Right? Have the structure, have the weekly meetings, have all that done, right. Well, I can't do it for one side and not the other. Right. So now, because we have a open date of April 11, two or two months, just under two months out.

[00:50:29] I'm almost being forced to build out the routine, the weekly routine and all the, all the systems, systems, job responsibilities and all that stuff. So the purchase of one is helping stabilize the other in more ways than just sharing fixed costs. You're now also going to be sharing the best practices between the both brands, um, stealing the better of the two ideas and then running both in

[00:50:57] Jonah: an even better manner.

[00:50:58] And so we talked about this part [00:51:00] briefly before as well, but how were you able to get approval from both franchises on being able to do that? You know, having both under one roof, they, you know, on one hand they probably see it as a, as a significant benefit because you'll be able to just handle a lot of the customer's issues on the other hand, it's another brand.

[00:51:17] So how, how did you, how did you go to them and say, Hey, listen, this is what we're thinking about doing, can we get approval for this? Yep. So.

[00:51:24] Artem: ACE knew from the get go that I own another brand. Um, the reason handyman business is, um, you have restoration clients. I'm sure, you know, one of the biggest problems is you take down the wall or you take down a ceiling.

[00:51:40] If you need a handyman to come back in, you might be two or three weeks out before somebody can come in. They're telling a customer, Hey, I know you have mold on that. Uh, drywall. We'll be back in two weeks. If that doesn't fly also, Hey, we'd be somebody we'll be back in two weeks to put this back up also, that's a fine, [00:52:00] so they kind of just help the two out also.

[00:52:04] Um, so between the cross selling and then being complimentary, that's how my territories are also almost a perfect overlap. I have some areas of EISA they'll own Fred being the queen. I have way more than the queen territory than ACE, but, um, There's significant overlap. The customers are also going to overlap and ACE doesn't touch mold.

[00:52:27] They don't touch water. They'll touch duct cleaning. Right? So none of that stuff that vena queen touches and Advanta queen, they don't do any handyman stuff. So they're complimentary and that can see where there might be some overlap, like replacing a drywall, do some advanced queen owners do it. Sure.

[00:52:47] Right. But it's such a small. Percentage of everything that gets done, that both brands advan that queen, they just wanted to make sure that I wasn't gonna take focus off of [00:53:00] advantage queen just exactly. And watch it go backwards. And ACE wants to make sure that be, grow the brand properly. And my answer to both of them was I think the one plus one is going to equal three.

[00:53:11] Um, I'm going to be going to plumbers and the people I used to compete with, they're now going to be feeding me work at ACE. I'm going to be feeding them work from ACE. Eventually they're gonna be like, well, advantage clean might not help us out, but our team does so advantage. Queen's a competitor, but ACE is a $75,000 customer.

[00:53:32] Therefore Ardam is a seventy-five thousand dollar customer. So it was exactly art and cause it doesn't matter which brand I'm calling from. It's a, Hey, help me out on the plumbing. It could be for my own rental. It could be for those, but if I call and I say like, Hey, any way you can, uh, waive a fee on the, on the plumbing or, Hey, can you not hit me with the weekend rate and just charge me the regular rate.

[00:53:59] [00:54:00] Those conversations are going to be $75,000 conversations. Right? Brand AB and 20,000 brand BB and 40,000 and our rentals, I mean 5,000.

[00:54:08] Jonah: It's interesting. So as you're creating, I've got a couple more questions for yard and I'll let you go and get back to what you're building as you're building this real estate services, disaster restoration, empire property, empire, where are you going with this?

[00:54:23] What's your, what's your vision with it? So do you even have solidified goals of where you'd like to go or are you just trying to take it wherever you can and kind of live in the moment and, and continue to progress? How do you think about the future? And do you have a vision for where this is all going?

[00:54:37] Artem: So the right interview, I guess I know exactly what I want, but I don't. Um, I know that I want to own a portfolio of businesses that operate independently successfully. And operate even stronger collectively and real estate is always going to be at the center of it. Right? [00:55:00] Whether it be my real estate, a lot other people's real estate, everything is a home services brand, right.

[00:55:06] Handyman piece feeds, restoration, restoration, food chain demand. So what's next? Is it a property management business? Maybe Dave, you pick up a HVAC, plumbing and electrical later on, maybe. Right. Um, I don't know where we're going to be three to five years from now. I know that Dan and I. Do not want to be at 80 hours a week, three to five years from now, everybody who knows my personality would call shenanigans and say like, okay, maybe you'll be able to take a vacation, but you're still going to work 80 hours a week just because of my personality.

[00:55:39] Right. But I do want to get to a point where working 20 to 30 hours a week is where we have to be the rest of it does honor autopilot, right? Yeah. We can stop this whole constant growth mindset if, and if you

[00:55:55] Jonah: want to, you want the ability to have that. Yeah. I love that, man. Um, [00:56:00] okay. So wrapping up here, what are some of the, and we've talked about some of these, but from what you know now, sitting in your shoes, what are some of the major lessons you've learned along the way that, that you continue to live your life by we've already kind of covered a couple of them.

[00:56:16] And one of those is just kind of the principle of constant progression, moving the needle forward, getting to this point where. You're not in this paralysis of analysis mode, taking action. Like you, you, you were in a mode of, you know, you had a corporate job for awhile. You were probably diligently saving vine properties and stuff, but you weren't, you know, it's, it's that snowball that happened over time.

[00:56:39] That now you're at the point where you're making decisions on a daily basis and you can't waste the time writing business plans to figure out where you're going. You have to make decisions and believe in yourself. And even if it's the wrong choice, that's okay. We'll, we'll adjust. We'll go this way next.

[00:56:55] You know, it's like, okay. So what are some of those other lessons that you've learned along the way that have helped? [00:57:00] Can you think of any that come to mind that you'd like to share? If we were sitting down and you were telling me, Hey, this is, you know, you're, um, you're looking at my shoes about what I'd like to do, Jonah.

[00:57:07] Here's what I would recommend. I mean,

[00:57:09] Artem: even going back to like early college, right? I think your first few jobs, and I'm not the first one to say this, your first few jobs are all about learning. Forget the income, right. If I could do the over again. I would be an intern as a, uh, I would try to be an executive assistant for somebody for freight, right.

[00:57:31] A business owner. I would be their admin. If that's a career, I wanted to just learn everything I could. That education pays dividends and way you ways you can't even calculate. The other thing is that I'm a big believer that every book I've ever read has earned me thousands of dollars. Couldn't tell you which book is going to be a $50,000 book, which books is going to be a $10 book.

[00:57:59] [00:58:00] However, I will tell you this, that if you don't read the five, $10 books, when you're not going to $50,000 book, it's not going to connect. So you constantly read, constantly educate myself. And from time to time, it clicks. And the third lesson, which piggybacks off of that is. 1% better. People think like, oh 1% of the big deal, $1, a dollar and a penny, most people don't care.

[00:58:27] Right. But the difference at 1% better when you're talking about businesses or sport professionals like Michael Phelps, uh, tiger woods, Tom Brady pick some of the greatest players ever. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars on diet, nutrition, and coaching to be what, a quarter of a percent, a 10th of a percent better because of that, 10th of a percent is elite [00:59:00] versus pro.

[00:59:01] Right now, the difference between pro and college, it might be a couple of percentage points, right. But. It's not that much different to tell you what, if you and I tried to run a 40 yard dash against the slowest on the folk player right now, I guarantee you those smoke us 100%, but the difference between the slowest and the fastest quarter of percent, or I'm sorry, quarter of a second, a second.

[00:59:25] If I embrace a swallows guy, it will be like what? He runs a five and a half 40 yard dash. I run it eventually. Right? So that, those against the, through us, and it just learns as much as you can take the opportunities to learn, right. Take the free internships, um, work for free volunteer, read books, and eventually all the things you learn, they stack.

[00:59:50] And I was just talking to Dan about this. I was like, yeah, I run my businesses. The same way that my employers used to run businesses. [01:00:00] So one business was very good at buying revenue, right? Meaning they would acquire a smaller customer or a book of business, and that's how they would grow by multiples.

[01:00:10] And that's kind of how my mind is like, oh, is there a retiring plumber whose book of business I can acquire and tuck them in and pay them a couple of dollars for, um, the book of business or their consulting or their referrals. Right. That's kinda how my brain works. If I had different experience in my corporate, I'd run my business entirely different.

[01:00:29] Interesting. And everything you do is going to impact you in the future.

[01:00:34] Jonah: We're going to ended their article. That was awesome, man. Thank you for, for coming. Um, lastly, how can people support you? You know, if they're, if they need some help with their house, where do they go? What can they do and how can they reach out

[01:00:44] Artem: to you?

[01:00:46] The, if it's a restoration thing, so Firewater. Duct cleaning order control, advantage of green dot coms. Think it's backslash carry dash, Inc. Um, but I'll link to it. If you go to [01:01:00] authentically and type in your zip code, even if you're outside my territory, you pop in your zip code. The closest franchise is going to help you out.

[01:01:06] That's the beauty of franchising, right? They can help you out. As far as ACE, you're going to be, uh, ACE, handyman services, greater triangle and Johnson county. If you don't even have a website yet I

[01:01:19] Jonah: could link to it eventually. And you guys are opening April 11th, right?

[01:01:23] Artem: Oh, I'm with is when you're opening.

[01:01:25] Um, I believe the F the first week we'll be doing friends and family kind of week after you open the door straight away.

[01:01:33] Jonah: Very good, man. Right. Thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for having this episode of owner operated as sponsored by on tops roofing, a family owned and operated business servicing the triangle area of North Carolina since 1990.

[01:01:47] With a longstanding commitment to quality work and customer service on tops has grown to be recognized as one of the most respected roofing contractors in the triangle. They offer roofing work window replacements, [01:02:00] siding, replacements, and gutter installation services. Check them out at on tops, roofing.com.

[01:02:05] That's on tops, roofing.com. Thank you for listening to owner operated conversations with small business millionaires. Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter@jonahpalone.com, where I share the takeaways from each episode and share any resources or tips I find valuable. And if you like the episode, please leave a review on iTunes.

[01:02:24] It really does help the show grow and send it to a friend that you think would benefit from it. Thanks so much.

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- Jonah