Fix It. Stop Flipping It

Hello,

Over the past year, I have learned a valuable lesson.

In the real estate world, there are many fix-and-flip contractors. Very few of these build long-term wealth. Their success depends on the volatile economy and housing market. The majority of wealth in real estate goes to those who hold real estate long-term and rent/lease it out. There are more tax advantages, recurring revenue, and a rising market. Refinancing opportunities as equity increases is gravy on top.

In business, I have found that most owners have a “fix it and flip it” mentality. They think they can build or turn around a business in 12-36 months and then sell it. This happens for less than 1% of new businesses.

I have found that the best way to get rich in business is to fix what you have. Then, keep improving it.

As Alex Hormozi said, “Focus on more and better, before new”

Many of us view other industries and investments as untapped. We believe that our current one has exhausted its potential. In reality, we need to make our products and services better. The TAM (total addressable market) is far larger than most of us figure. 

With Augusta Lawn Care, this is all I have started to think about this year. Do not reinvent anything. Make what we've got bulletproof and dummy-proof. Make sure there are no excuses for failure. You can’t find leads? Okay, I will fix that. You can’t retain employees? Okay, I will fix that. You can’t grow fast enough? Okay, I will fix that.

With Copilot CRM, we shipped more than 12 very large feature additions in 2023. In 2024, we have shipped only a handful of small enhancements. Why? After we tripled our user base, it caused huge issues for our members in 2024. To fix this, we rebuilt the entire code infrastructure and security protocol. The idea of adding new features and “innovations” is appealing to me in every regard. It is why we started Copilot. But fixing the product and taking a year to do that will prove to be the right decision.

For your product or service, the same is true.

Your customer wants you to do a better job. They want calls answered faster. They want your employees to be more professional. They want your trucks and equipment to look cleaner. They want billing and estimate acceptance to be smoother. Do these things, and several things will happen:

Positive word of mouth begets more leads.

Price insensitivity increases, and you can raise prices as you add value.

Your team will feel stable in the vision and direction you set. It stops changing.

You will stand out from the competition as you gain skills in one field.

Have an awesome week ahead!

PS - To join Augusta Nation as a franchisee for daily Q&A livestreams with me and other owners, check this out

PSS - To join my mastermind group, join the Copilot community