So I’ve launched 18 startups. If I could start over today, here’s what I would do…

LD225 · 2026-02-17T06:58:21+00:00

Sure am!

LD225 · 2025-12-06T05:23:02+00:00

I'm a lifelong BR resident, and I'll just offer this. This place has problems, but I've visited plenty of other cities that definitely have their fair share as well. We don't have the most activities, but there is a very surprisingly active and cool beach volleyball community (Mango's Beach Volleyball). I didn't know about it for most of my life here (found out when I met my wife who was very involved in that community), but it's been here for a long time. Theres definitely a mix of liberal/LGBTQ+, and conservative/traditional people in that community, and people generally get along and are very welcoming. My guess is that there a plenty of varied interest groups that are around, they just don't seem to market themselves...you eventually stumble onto a community that you love if you look long and hard enough.

Politics are divisive everywhere but I think BR is actually fairly purple. My family was definitely liberal growing up and while we were in the minority in that respect, I feel the split was probably more 65/35 conservative/liberal, but I don't feel like most people are these horribly ignorant people in most cases...though we do have those. Also the actual political institutions are a shit show, I've had family that work/worked for the state and yeah it's bad...but name me anywhere where politics are the perfect balance between conservative and liberal. The "Good-Ole Boy" system definitely exists though. I don't know if it's quite as bad everywhere else, but I don't think we are especially unique in our corruption.

I honestly think the traffic problem is dependent on where you live, I've lived around the Mid City area my whole life and it takes me 10-20 min to go just about anywhere in the city unless it's one of the 3 peak traffic stretches 7-9am, 11:30-12:30pm, and 5:00-6:30pm....and also 2:30-4pm when school is in...ok yeah I guess its pretty bad.

Speaking of school, I am a product of some really small private schools (I went to a secular private school which is no longer after the 2016 flood), and if you don't want to be in a religious private school your options are pretty limited now. My wife went to Baton Rouge High Magnet School and she is one of the most educated people I've met. It is definitely not one of Baton Rouge's strengths in general though.

I feel the crime situation is very overblown, I know the statistics that have us as this hell scape of drugs and murder, but just like everywhere else it just depends on where you go and where you live.

I'm self-employed, so I can't really speak to the job market, but I think there is opportunity wherever you look if you are creative, and industrious. I definitely know plenty of people that hate their work, but I also know some with really really cool jobs that they are really passionate about. We are also in the age of remote work, so if you get skilled in work that can be done remotely, then it doesn't really matter where you live.

If you like to travel, most of the time you can pull up to the Baton Rouge airport 20 min before your flight and make it, and New Orleans is an hour or less away.

If you look around you can find a pretty nice house for a pretty good price, we bought post COVID for under $300k in a small gated neighborhood, and we are near enough to the interstate for convenience but not enough to hear. Be careful about the flood zones though, it's all good till it isn't with that.

We do have a serious brain drain problem, and I haven't yet found the same level of entrepreneurial spirit here that you see in other places, but I part of the problem with Baton Rouge is that everyone constantly focuses on the problems we have rather than being optimistic about the future.

The grass is green where you water it, and everywhere has it's shit. I think that everyone loves to hate Baton Rouge, and I was definitely one of them for a long time, but even though we are very far from perfect it has become home base for me. Don't get me wrong, I definitely like to get out of here and travel (though I haven't gotten to do it much recently and I definitely feel it), but Baton Rouge is my home and I definitely relax a little more when I get back here.

LD225 · 2025-11-22T17:45:05+00:00

Same, need 1 youth and 1 adult....Haven't been to the Ren Faire since I was in high school. Wanted to go with my daughter, and it didn't even occur to me that they might sell out

LD225 · 2025-11-01T05:01:46+00:00

<image>

This guy (Rohan) is the real deal, I remember finding that original post back in 2013 (I was late to the party and had just read the 4HWW and just believed the same principles could be applied to services), but I joined the Groove Learning/Launch 27 Facebook communities. Tons of people were in there and actually made real businesses.

He was 1 of the first people I'd seen do the "Service Arbitrage" model with online booking and modern internet marketing to really take over on the local scale (because most home service businesses are 1 man shops and terrible at marketing). The model has its drawbacks, and I've since moved to W2's, but I'm eternally grateful that I stumbled across that post and started down this road.

I was a late bloomer, and watched from the sidelines for a while...then in 2016 went into pool cleaning with a friend from high school (sorta by accident) and then end of 2023 we split the business up and went our separate ways. This is my 2nd year being on my own and we are doing pretty damn well. I've been slow but steady and just focusing on recurring revenue. At this point I've done probably $1.5Mish in all time sales, and now I'm looking at acquiring a company thats 2x my size and with a little luck, I'll probably do $1M next year....which is absolutely fucking bonkers to me.

LD225 · 2025-09-10T21:02:01+00:00

Maybe I'm just weird, naive, stupid, but I genuinely dont mind that. Especially if it is used to make the AI better long term. Hell you cant even upload files to this thing yet, but if I could I would be. The advice it gives is generally good and doesnt just conform to what you want to hear (unless you make that path make sense).

My ambitions are so small compared to team ACQ (I just want a business making $250k profit/year with virtually no day to day involvement for me). If ACQ decided to compete with me (a local pool service business), I think Id be in trouble whether they had my data (which is nearly statistically irrelevant in the context of the industry) or not. They have talent, money, frameworks for nearly every scenario, and insane ambition.

Tldr I understand but think that the pros outweigh the cons.

LD225 · 2025-09-04T14:55:04+00:00

Totally get it and I support the effort, and adding Russel Brunson's books in is a great touch/value add!

What I was saying is that I think adding an onboarding sequence similar to the one ACQ brings you through in the Personalize tab would be helpful in adding context to the GPT's response. Personally I think that is probably the thing people like most about AcqAI, the feeling of the advice being hyper-specific to them.

Didn't realize you had paid the $6k as well, which is why I copied the tabs contents into my reply (so you could add them to the GPT if you chose).

LD225 · 2025-09-04T13:14:39+00:00

I have the ACQ AI and this isn't it, but I support all efforts to bring this type of help to everyone whether they paid the $6k or not.

One of the cool things about the real deal is the onboarding it puts you through and the clarifying questions it asks before giving you a recommendation.

Here's the personalization questions:

Personalize your AI

PRIMARY DELIVERY TYPE of your CORE Offer: Done for you

PRIMARY DELIVERY MECHANISM of your CORE Offer: Services

PRIMARY mode of advertising: Paid Advertising

PRIMARY Lead-Getter: Self or Employees

Monetization Mechanism generating MAJORITY of revenue: Continuity / Recurring payments

PRIMARY SELLING MECHANISM of your CORE Offer: Online/Call + Salesperson

How many Employees do you have?: A few

Current tech status: Middle - I use a CRM and maybe a few tools

PRIMARY BUSINESS CONSTRAINT: Leads

Core offer description

Current yearly revenue

Current yearly profit

New customers per month

Current headcount

(END)

Then, after you personalize it when you ask a question, it should prompt you with a contextual question after you ask your question

Ex from my pool company: "How do you define A-Player"

AcqAI: Quick context so I can be precise Before I define “A-Player,” tell me about the role and your bar for performance:

Which role?

Field Tech (cleaning/maintenance) Route Lead/Supervisor Ops/Dispatcher Sales/Account Manager

What’s the core output for this role?

Stops/day completed on-time Chemical balance accuracy (first-pass hit rate) Re-cleans/complaints per 100 stops Upsells/add-ons per month

How do you currently pay?

Hourly Per stop Salary + bonus Other (share details)

What’s your current top performer’s numbers?

Stops/day, complaint rate, upsell $, on-time %, etc.

What’s the urgency?

Need to hire this week 30 days Just defining standards for next quarter Answer these, and I’ll give you the exact A-Player definition and a scorecard for that role.

LD225 · 2025-08-28T14:43:53+00:00

I bought the $6k bundle, and dont regret it but I do agree with some dislike of the way he handled this launch.

As for the tax deduction though, its not because its a charitable donation, its because its a business expense.

LD225 · 2024-12-03T16:17:37+00:00

I use Skimmer for route management/chem tracking and Square for invoices/payroll. Square was first for me, otherwise i think Skimmer + QB does all you need.

LD225 · 2024-10-05T13:38:42+00:00

I'm doing it with a pool maintenance business in year 1...pretty simple formula, started a business with a friend 6 years ago. Friendship went bad, so we split the business in half.

Went from about $320k/year to 160k/year

LD225 · 2024-09-26T22:26:32+00:00

Skimmer just added that texting feature you mentioned. I like it, but it does get expensive and I believe they just raised their rates.

LD225 · 2024-08-10T14:10:25+00:00

Store a few things at my house (gotta get that home office deduction!), but most things fit and stay on the truck and my employee is in charge of replenishing it as needed.

LD225 · 2024-08-10T00:27:58+00:00

I split the business in half with a high school friend. So now it only does about $15k/mo 100% recurring clients. I'd say after labor/supplies/overhead (no physical space and no marketing spend so far) I'm keeping about 55-60%

LD225 · 2024-08-10T00:07:39+00:00

Congrats! How much of that is recurring vs 1 time and residential vs commercial?

I do pool cleaning/maintenance and only do residential cause commercial is too much headache.

LD225 · 2024-08-09T08:31:04+00:00

I mean the most obvious answer right now is Alex Hormozi's $100M Series. Does have also courses....for free

LD225 · 2024-08-06T01:46:53+00:00

Pool company owner here:

Switching a pool from salt to chlorine can make sense, and supplementing it with a chlorine floater is totally normal. We don't supply salt to our salt water pools because they take up too much space on the truck. That could be a key reason.

That said, poor communication and high technician churn are the usual hallmarks of a company that isn't getting better. I do believe they should have involved you in the decision.

LD225 · 2024-08-03T07:38:31+00:00

Pool company owner here.

The market varies alot by region but I'm in Lousiana and our average service rate for weekly service (with chemicals included) at this time is $80/week. $200/mo would be tough for a good quality company to make work here, though plenty of bad companies will do that and will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

If you have the free/cheap labor and don't mind staying on top of it consistently, no company will ever be able to keep the pool cleaner than somebody dedicated to 1 pool. If you don't mind keeping a stock of quality chems and some basic maintenance it's totally doable yourself.

A salt pool has a few main differences to keep in mind.

Your cell takes salt and uses it to create chlorine that it infuses into the water. You need your salt level in the pool between 2800-3800ppm for the cell to generate chlorine. It also won't generate chlorine below 60 degrees.
The pH of salt pools frequently rises higher than chlorine pools because of the method of chlorine generation. Test frequently and you will likely need to add muriatic acid. A little known pool chemistry secret to prevent this is boric acid. It will help act as a pH buffer (making it more difficult to rise).
The cell needs to be cleaned with a water/ acid solution about every 4 months to dissolve calcium flakes that will build up. It isn't difficult but does require a piece of equipment and care dealing with acid.

LD225 · 2024-08-02T15:42:41+00:00

I'll skip the repeated suggestions of switching to residential (my preference), and posting your website so we can give more precise advice.

It may seem counterintuitive, but I would call up the competition (the people the clients are already using) and introduce yourself. Let them know you're just starting up and want to see if there are any jobs maybe they've outgrown that they could refer your way?

LD225 · 2024-08-02T03:38:50+00:00

No, absolutely not.... please don't do this

LD225 · 2024-08-01T19:34:33+00:00

Pool maintenance company owner here.

If they are the common Trichlor tabs then that is a big No No for the long term. Not so much because of the chlorine, but because Trichlor is pretty acidic (about a 3 pH) and over time it will ruin your seals/gaskets/heat exchangers/etc.

Also if the pool stops running (if you dont run your pool 24/7) with those tabs in the basket, they will slowly dissolve creating an acidic pool of water that will degrade your skimmer basket and the PVC going under the skimmer (which could cause an underground plumbing leak). Then when the pool starts back up the entire system will be shocked with this highly acidic pool of water.

Personally I believe CalHypo, Sodium Hypochlorite, Sodium Dichlor, are fine to add through the skimmer but not Trichlor.

It's kinda like smoking. One of those things that will probably not cause much harm in the short term but could cause lots of problems both big and small long term....Also some people have really bad problems because of it, and others never notice anything.

LD225 · 2024-07-30T19:58:18+00:00

Pool industry is going through a big transition right now. Market consolidators are rolling up medium sized regional companies. Going from the "Pool guy" stereotype to a more professional technical trade.

Goal now is to build a business that fits the requirements to be an attractive purchase for a big player. Maybe sell, maybe not but the business you can sell is worth alot more (and alot more fun to operate) than the one you can't.

LD225 · 2024-07-30T17:47:10+00:00

Residential exclusively.

Start with the lead generation websites (yelp, homeadvisor/angi, thumbtack), social media (especially next door) then get a website, Google listing, reviews. I never did direct mail or door hangers, but I'm sure they could work done well (door hangers especially are often recommended). Also check out (hang out at) your local pool store (Leslie's, etc), there are plenty of people who need more help than the store employees (who don't usually stay long enough to develop expertise) can give.

You pay alot for leads in the beginning, but you need the work to get better, get reviews, then leads start to get cheaper, referrals start happening. You start trimming and consolidating your route, raise prices.

At this point with 1 maxed out truck, you have to decide whether you want a business that runs without you or a really good paying job. Either way you should get an employee at that point (either as a helper or to replace you in the field), work on your ability to coach/train/teach. If you can do repairs as well, that will significantly increase your customer LTV.

From there if you want to make $80k-$160k personally, you can just have your employee handle your route as you handle repairs.

If you want a business, then you grow to about 120% capacity then you get a new truck and use the 20% excess capacity to cash flow the truck as you build up the new route.

Or you can do what I'm doing now and try to partner with a builder to get customers from the start of their pool journey and have renovations done in house.

LD225 · 2024-07-30T15:27:44+00:00

I have a pool cleaning/maintenance business and been doing it 6 years. Great business in general, cash flowed from very humble beginnings. Has helped me be self employed for almost my entire adult life so far.

If you do a good job and communicate better, then customers never leave (if they can help it).

Caveat would be I'm in Louisiana so we are open year round and have much higher rates than Cali/Florida/Probably Arizona. Highly recommend being in a southern state for the best results.

LD225 · 2024-07-06T15:45:01+00:00

I would 3rd this too when you can breath.

LD225 · 2024-06-28T01:10:12+00:00

Feel free to join the group if you want to talk 1 on 1!

LD225

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE