How Jeremy Started With Nothing But Grit

Jeremy has had various ventures going all the way back to when he was just a young man. He actually flunked out of law school, so he's had a few bumps and bruises along the way.

At the time they started thinking about getting into another business that they could run with a small group of people, Jeremy was very focused on how he could support his family with possibly just his family. At the time they were living in Tampa, Florida. Jeremy was not happy with his career and they were ready to get back to Texas.

They started doing some research into different things they could do. Jeremy has always worked in and around construction, and they just kind of fell into the restoration idea.

In 2005, Jeremy started heavily researching certifications and courses and classes. He moved back to San Antonio in January of 2006.

But here's the thing: Jeremy didn't know how to get water damage jobs. So he bought a truck and a ladder and some paint brushes, and he and his wife went out and started painting houses.

Jeremy told me that's how they started, just with grit and getting in there and working as hard as they could.

The First Water Damage Job He Had No Idea How to Do

Their painting business kind of picked up and they had a few helpers here and there, but for the first year or so it was mainly just his wife and him.

They got a few water damage jobs here and there and tried to figure out how to do them.

Here's what happened: Jeremy was on some message board somewhere (he thinks it was some kind of carpet cleaning message board), and they were messaging back and forth. He met somebody in Louisiana and the guy said hey man, when I got in this business I didn't know what I was doing, so when you get on your first job just call me and I'll walk you through it.

That's pretty much what happened. They got on their first water damage and Jeremy had no idea what he was doing. So yeah, the guy walked him through on the phone and Jeremy couldn't believe it. They had their first successful job and put that in the books, and his confidence kind of built up from there.

Now Crown Restoration is a full service restoration business. They do water damage mitigation, mold remediation, fire damage restoration, and contents restoration. Later on they got into the construction part of the business as well.

The Plumber Partnership Strategy That Changed Everything

I asked Jeremy what made him start the plumbing company, One Tom Plumber.

The restoration industry has some particular pains and challenges as far as claims go. In the years past it was excellent, claims were faster, margins were higher. So they were looking for other areas they could pivot and grow their business and feed themselves leads through the plumbing company.

Emergency plumbing, especially in the commercial world, is in high demand. So that was kind of their idea, to leverage the two businesses to exchange leads.

I wanted to jump back to the start of Crown Restoration. How difficult was it to start up that business and really scale it?

Jeremy said yeah, it was really tough. The main issue they had is they just didn't know how to get leads.

They placed a few ads for painting and people responded right away. That went really well. But as far as the leads on the restoration company to get it going, those were the biggest challenges.

There are issues with a 24-hour business. Jeremy was on call and gave nobody his phone for about eight straight years because he was super concerned about every single lead that came in the door.

So what does Jeremy now know about lead generation?

What they kind of tapped into in those days is they figured out how to get leads from plumbers. That was their primary lead source.

When there's a water damage, usually when a toilet overflows or there's a leaking pipe, typically the first person that is called is a plumber. So building relationships with plumbers that gave them referrals really was kind of the pivot point of their business.

Jeremy was so clueless about internet marketing and digital marketing. There were a couple of third-party companies that had their own lead generation and they paid per lead for a long time. Those were hit and miss. That was pretty tough back in the day when you're paying $500 for a lead and some of the leads that come through are total junk.

They just did not understand the digital space, so they focused on plumbers and later on other person-to-person referral based business.

The Exact Strategy for Building Plumber Partnerships

I wanted to learn more about these partnerships Jeremy was building. Did he partner with several plumbers and what did that interaction look like?

The value transaction was that plumbers have a pain point as well. That pain point is every once in a while they do a whoopsie. Something will happen and they'll drop a water heater through the attic or it goes tumbling down some stairs with carpet on it or a warranty issue.

Jeremy developed the value proposition: if you call me when you have a water damage or you create a water damage, I'm going to show up within an hour and I'm going to make you look like a hero to your customer.

That's what they did. That gives them permission to play with the owners.

The second relationship piece is getting access to the plumbers because they're the ones who see the water problem. Then Jeremy thinks they paid something like $100 per lead. They would show up and pay them right on the spot, and that was kind of their deal that they were known for.

I wanted to get tactical. What exactly was Jeremy doing to reach out to these companies?

Jeremy said just show up. Just show up at their door and talk to them. Hey, can I talk to the owner? Hey, can I talk to the general manager? Just try to get a conversation going.

Anywhere Jeremy could meet a plumber, even if he met a plumber at a supply house, he would work back and forth up and down the chain any way he could to get in.

In those days they were also generating their own plumbing leads. They had a big company they were really trying to get into and they wouldn't talk to him. So Jeremy would show up with a handful of plumbing leads and walk in the door and say here's five plumbing jobs for you, will you talk to me now?

They did anything they could just to get them to listen and let them in the door.

I love that. I think it's so important and very overlooked, just getting that in-person interaction whenever you can. If you are a local business trying to make partnerships, you shouldn't be trying to text people or call them when you can meet them in person.

How a Neighbor Became the First Hire

Jeremy has a great story about his first hire. He showed up and bought a bunch of used equipment from a guy trying to get out of the business. The guy had a bunch of junky equipment and Jeremy bought it for nothing.

Jeremy started bringing this equipment into his garage and his neighbor across the street was watching and curious. Jeremy brought up this old junky carpet extractor and put it in his garage. The neighbor would stop by and talk.

That really picked up one day when Jeremy bought a box truck that had fiberglass panels on the side but didn't have a side door for his extractor. So Jeremy went and bought some hinges and got a saw and cut a big hole in the side of the truck just so he could make his own doors because he couldn't afford them.

Jeremy's neighbor came over and Jeremy was covered in fiberglass because he just cut a big hole in his truck. The neighbor said hey man, if you get this thing going I'd love to help you.

His good friend Rex Davey was his very first hire, and they've been really good friends since then. Jeremy owes that guy a lot of his gratitude and success.

After that they hired Andrew for repair work.

But one thing that's extremely pivotal to Jeremy's success is his wife has been in the trenches, a hardworking roll up her sleeves kind of person with enormous energy and work ethic.

Beyond that, Jeremy has six children. They're all adults now. Four sons first and then two daughters. They started working for him when they were 12. He would take them to job sites to do demolition and carry heavy things.

For several years they stayed small, stayed mom and pop. They had a real pivotal thing that happened that made them change to want to build a team.

The Moment That Changed Everything

Jeremy and his wife had worked for so long. Jeremy had been on call for so long. With a big family, Jeremy coached a lot of sports with his kids and it was really important that he was available to them.

They went almost unbranded for several years, just doing under a million in revenue and keeping it really tight, really lean.

But in 2015, Jeremy's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. That kind of rocked his world.

Jeremy's wife and him have been together since she was 17 and he was 18, so it was tough. It was really tough for Jeremy to try to figure out how he was going to get through this and take care of her.

Jeremy's wife is way tougher than him. She's the one who had cancer but Jeremy was the one that was taken the hardest. She's got a very resilient attitude and bounces back really fast.

Jeremy kind of put the business on autopilot for some months while he was trying to figure out what to do next. They made it through.

In 2016, Jeremy stumbled across some groups that inspired him and helped him. He really started learning more about building an organization.

In 2016, they decided okay, we're going to take this, we're going to grow it, we're going to turn it into a legitimate business. That's been the journey since 2016.

Jeremy said really, he lived in his own little world and did the best he could with the knowledge he had. They always worked really hard but there were just things he didn't know. He didn't really know how to grow a business and have an organization and have a manager and learn how to give up control.

Jeremy's always been pretty OCD about his work and very specific about the way he wants it done. But he learned that he was the bottleneck. He was the problem.

Jeremy met a gentleman that was life-changing. The guy was helping Jeremy, coaching him, and they were on a phone call. He said hey, are you willing to change? Are you willing to change?

Jeremy told me, "The question just almost knocked me out of my chair because it just hit me right in the heart and I realized oh, I'm the problem. I'm in the way."

Jeremy thinks a lot of business owners get to that point, maybe sooner than him. But that was the biggest thing, when he realized he was in the way because he was trying to control every little bit of his business. That's very difficult to duplicate.

You have to focus on the things you're really good at and let 80 percent good be good enough.

The Vision That Came on the Porch

Now Jeremy has built an organization, actually two big businesses. What were the steps to scaling it to multi-million dollars?

They started developing business development strategies. Jeremy went to tons of conferences, had consultants in his life, hired experts, read books, opened up himself to coaching.

The specifics: creating clarity, creating culture, creating vision and understanding how to communicate that vision. Understanding how to get an organization to buy into what you're doing.

Give people an opportunity to make mistakes, give people an opportunity to help and learn and share the burden.

Jeremy would say the biggest thing that's helped him is to get a lot of the things he's not really good at off of his plate.

I asked Jeremy what his vision for Crown Restoration is.

It really has to do with an inspiration he had on his porch one day. It has to do a lot with his faith. Jeremy was going through one of those moments sitting on the porch thinking what am I doing with my life, what am I going to do next, I'm so tired. Just trying to figure out, really praying, God what do you want me to do?

Jeremy really did get some powerful clarity about what his life was to be about.

That has to do with being an inspiration to his family. Jeremy had a very clear understanding about what he was going to do next. That was: as you sit on your porch, as you're in your house, remember the goodness of God and teach these to your children and your children's children.

Jeremy had this idea of a porch, him sitting around his porch and teaching everything he knows to his children and his children's children.

Jeremy bought some acreage and built a barndominium. He has this big barn and there's a house inside the barn and he's got about 3,000 square feet of porches.

The reason he has 3,000 square feet of porches is because of a particular scripture in Deuteronomy 6:5-7.

Their core values are attitude, heart, urgency, and grit. Their vision, their core focus is: we inspire people towards passion and excellence in the service of others.

That's the vision. How does Jeremy do that and how does he inspire as many people around him towards passion and excellence as they serve other people? If he's not doing that, he really doesn't want to do this.

That's his vision as far as the cultural piece of their company.

Jeremy doesn't get energy from sucking water out of houses or cleaning up sewage water. He gets energy and inspiration from seeing other people go up with them. When his oldest daughter graduated from college and joined the business, Jeremy's energy went through the roof.

Doubling Revenue Every Year in the Plumbing Business

I asked Jeremy what it looked like starting One Tom Plumber in 2021. Was it easier because he'd already started a business before?

They doubled their business for the first three years. So yeah, they scaled it pretty quick.

The business is a really great bolt-on for the restoration industry. There's so much synergy between the two businesses.

The plumbing business is great. It's very transactional. You do the work and you get paid, where restoration is quite a bit more different.

The challenge they had getting the plumbing business going is in a rapidly growing area, how do you recruit and keep plumbers?

In regular fashion, like Jeremy's done all along, when you have a hard time getting plumbers you just make your own. Jeremy's oldest son is now a plumber in one of the businesses.

I wanted to get clear on what Jeremy would mainly credit that 2x growth every year to.

They just hit the streets, old-fashioned style. They hired some business development reps and they went out and knocked doors.

As far as growing a restoration business in the commercial world, the pathway is very long. You go around and drop donuts and say don't forget us. You have to stay top of mind.

With the plumbing business, you walk in and say we're an emergency based plumber, we'll be here within an hour if you call us, and you just turn around and walk out and they go wait wait wait stop, we want to talk.

That's really a great door opener and it starts the conversation.

But yeah, really just the same as what Jeremy's done since 2006, just go in and kick open a door and say here I am.

They have two business development reps and a sales manager.

They serve about 2.7 million people, so they divided the city up right down the middle.

It's really about finding pains and problems and providing solutions. It's not about vomiting what you do, it's about finding out what people's needs are. When you find out what people's needs are, you don't really sell, you just provide solutions.

If you ask what a problem is and you're told what the problem is and you ask if we can provide a solution for your problem would you give us a shot? That's it.

My Main Takeaway

1. The biggest thing I learned from Jeremy is that you don't need to know everything before you start, you just need to be willing to figure it out as you go. Jeremy started Crown Restoration in 2006 and didn't even know how to do water damage jobs. He literally had someone in Louisiana walk him through his first job on the phone. He bought junky used equipment for almost nothing and cut a hole in the side of his box truck with a saw to make his own doors because he couldn't afford the $1,200 door. But he and his wife just showed up every day with grit. For the first year it was mainly just the two of them painting houses and taking whatever water damage jobs they could get. They kept going, kept learning, and eventually figured it out through plumber partnerships.

2. The second takeaway is that in-person relationship building trumps digital marketing for local service businesses. Jeremy was clueless about internet marketing. They paid $500 per lead and some were total junk. But what worked was building relationships with plumbers. He built a value proposition: if you call me when you have a water damage, I'm going to show up within an hour and make you look like a hero to your customer. He would just show up at plumbing companies' doors. He even showed up with a handful of plumbing leads and said here's five jobs for you, will you talk to me now? That person-to-person approach became the entire foundation of their business.

3. The third insight is that realizing you're the bottleneck is the turning point from small business to real organization. Jeremy stayed under a million in revenue for several years, working on call for eight straight years. He was OCD about his work and very specific. Then in 2016, a coach asked him: are you willing to change? That question almost knocked Jeremy out of his chair and he realized oh, I'm the problem, I'm in the way. He learned that trying to control every little bit and making everything exactly perfect is very difficult to duplicate. You have to focus on what you're really good at and let 80 percent good be good enough. Since that mindset shift, he's scaled to over $7 million.

4. The fourth takeaway is how Jeremy uses his faith and vision to build company culture. After his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and Jeremy was burned out, he had a moment on his porch where he got powerful clarity. He had a vision based on Deuteronomy 6:5-7 about sitting on his porch teaching everything to his children and children's children. That's why he built a barndominium with 3,000 square feet of porches. Their core focus is: we inspire people towards passion and excellence in the service of others. Jeremy doesn't get energy from sucking water out of houses, he gets it from seeing other people go up with them.

5. The fifth insight is about emergency response and building a team that's always ready. Jeremy runs 24-hour emergency businesses. One missed phone call is worth about $2,000 to $3,000. They have a live person answering all the time. You have to find a special kind of person that if you call them at midnight they jump right out of bed. Jeremy also built opportunities for emergency response people to have the same earning potential as a plumber on a truck, which solved the churning issue. Now Jeremy has crafted an owner's role with published KPIs, and one of his KPIs is to be out of the office at least two days a week.

Jeremy is on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can check out Crown Restoration and One Tom Plumber online. His advice to new local business owners who want to grow to multi-millions? Find a coach, hire your weaknesses, and find somebody who's an expert in marketing that can help you get leads.