Double Your Profit Day #26 You Won't Believe How EASY it is to Multiply Your Winners - Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: Owned and Operated

Episode: Double Your Profit Day #26: "You Won't Believe How EASY it is to Multiply Your Winners"
Host: John Wilson
Release Date: August 26, 2025

Episode Overview

In this quick but actionable episode, John Wilson drills into the critical business strategy of “multiplying your winners”—focusing energy and resources on what’s proven to work, while cutting out distractions and underperformers. Building on the previous episode’s theme of cutting complexity, John demonstrates how doubling down on your best-performing areas can drive exponential profit in home service businesses.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The “One-Two Step”: Cut Complexity, Then Multiply Winners

Summary: John explains the importance of first trimming underperforming elements of your business and then reinvesting those freed resources into top performers.
Insight: “We want to do less, but do way more of the less.” [00:15]
Context: This approach helps streamline focus and avoids spreading time and money too thin.

2. Real-World Example: Reallocating Resources

Case Study: John shares a personal experience from his company, where a new construction plumbing department was consistently underperforming.
Action: They made the strategic decision to cut the failing department and shift resources to their successful plumbing service department.
Quote:

“We had a new construction plumbing department, and this department was a dog. This thing was not making any money, and we cut it... What we ended up doing was... take all of those resources and move them to the department that is winning.” [00:30]

3. Applying the Pareto Principle

Core Idea: Identify the 20% of your business producing 80% of the results and multiply that success.
Opportunities:
- Clone the successful department by opening in new locations
- Acquire companies with similar winning characteristics
- Invest more heavily in already strong departments
Quote:

“If you have a department that’s doing excellent, then how do we clone that department?” [01:10]

4. The Critical Role of Data

Discussion: Emphasizes letting accurate data—not gut feeling or top-line revenue—drive decision-making.
Required Tools: Good record keeping, reporting, bookkeeping, and leveraging tools like your accounting system or CRM.
Common Pitfall: Many owners mistake “big” for “profitable,” neglecting profit analysis.
Memorable Quote:

“You need your accounting system or your CRM to tell you what’s working.” [01:40]

5. Real Estate Analogy: The Hidden Losers

Example: John commonly sees for-sale businesses where a large revenue department (like new construction) is actually unprofitable and dragging down the company.
Lesson: Sometimes, eliminating a high-revenue but loss-making division can increase overall take-home profit.
Quote:

“They would actually drive more take-home dollars if they killed the $5 million department and just reallocated those resources.” [02:05]

6. Data-Driven Multiplication

Summary: The episode circles back to the theme of data-led leadership.
Action: Regularly review and analyze departmental and business-wide numbers at both the top and bottom line before multiplying efforts.
Final Word:

“When you have a winner—as determined by data and not just top line but what’s bottom—then you want to multiply it, and you want to let data lead you down that road.” [02:38]

Notable Quotes

John Wilson [00:15]: “We want to do less, but do way more of the less.”
John Wilson [00:30]: “We had a new construction plumbing department, and this department was a dog. This thing was not making any money, and we cut it... take all of those resources and move them to the department that is winning.”
John Wilson [01:10]: “If you have a department that’s doing excellent, then how do we clone that department?”
John Wilson [01:40]: “You need your accounting system or your CRM to tell you what’s working.”
John Wilson [02:05]: “They would actually drive more take-home dollars if they killed the $5 million department...”
John Wilson [02:38]: “When you have a winner—as determined by data and not just top line but what’s bottom—then you want to multiply it, and you want to let data lead you down that road.”

Major Takeaways

Action First: Cut resources from underperforming segments.
Multiply Success: Shift saved resources, money, and attention to areas with proven profit.
Let Data Lead: Always analyze financials deeply—profits matter more than revenue.
Scale Smart: Consider growth through new markets, strategic acquisitions, or intensified investment, but only for what’s demonstrably working.

Timestamps for Reference

00:00: Introduction; setting up the topic
00:15: The cut/multiply principle explained
00:30: Example of reallocating resources from failing to winning departments
01:10: Cloning success—new markets, acquisitions, or internal investment
01:40: The importance of good data and bookkeeping
02:05: Real-world business sale example, importance of bottom-line analysis
02:38: Conclusion and actionable advice

This episode offers concentrated practical wisdom for home service business owners seeking to maximize profitability by focusing relentlessly on what truly works—and letting go of the rest.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
Welcome back to double your profit. Today we're talking about multiplying your winners. So the last video we did was cut complexity. Right in line with that is multiply your winners. So it's sort of like a one, two step, right? So hey, we're going to go in and we're going to cut out the things that aren't productive. We want to do less, but do way more of the less. Once we cut that out, we want to multiply the winners. We had a new construction plumbing department, and this department was a dog. This thing was not making any money and we cut it. What we ended up doing was we looked at another department inside the business, which was plumbing service, and we said, hey, this, this department's doing really well. And this new construction thing, this is not doing well at all. Well, how do we just cut the loser? Get rid of the soft and hard costs associated with dealing with a less than productive department and take all of those resour sources and move them to the department that is winning. You find the Pareto principle, you find the 20% that's driving 80% of your results and you multiply it. So if that's your plumbing, if that's your H vac, if that's your electric, you want to clone the success of what's working, whether that's in people, in departments, in businesses and whatever it is. If you have a department that's doing excellent, then how do we clone that department? And maybe that means we launch a new location, a new market, maybe that means we acquire other companies that have those same characteristics. Or maybe we just really invest inside the existing department that is driving our success. When you're looking at multiplying your winners, what really matters is like you want to let the data lead you. And this is why good record keeping, good reporting, good bookkeeping is so important. Because you don't really know what your winners are without the data. You need your accounting system or your CRM to tell you what's working. I see this mistake a lot. Like it's almost kind of comical. I'll look at these businesses that are for sale and it has like a $2 million service arm and a $5 million new construction arm. And the service arm is doing 100% of the profits and the new construction arm is bleeding the service arm dry. Like they would actually drive more take home dollars if they killed the $5 million department, just reallocated those resources. So when you have a winner as determined by data and not just top line, but what's bottom, then you want to multiply it, and you want to let data lead you down that road. Thanks for watching.