Author: Nick

Why did I move to Athens GA?

From 2013-2017 my partner and I rented a small apartment in Boston as our company “office” and went there very day with our employees. We were still very hands on and we were most productive together. It was a scrappy time where we really accomplished a lot to set us up for the success we […]

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April 30, 2019 4 mins read

How to build a “frankenbusiness” by copying the best practices from the big players in your space (Ep 46)

Show notes from podcast episode 46. The great thing about entering an existing market is that the moving parts are already out there ready for us to study. The customers are there. The competitors are one click and one phone call away. There are three factors in business on which we can choose to compete. […]

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April 29, 2019 8 mins read

How 142 hours of guerrilla marketing earned a moving company in Phoenix $30k a month in recurring revenue

Show notes from Episode 44. A lesson in the power of getting face to face with people in this interview with entrepreneur Max Maher. He owns a company in Phoenix called Skinny Wimp Moving. Hes 23 years old and brings in over a million a year in sales with a 30% profit margin. He did […]

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April 26, 2019 2 mins read

How to start a custom closet building company

I moved into a new house recently and all of my amazing storage space had cheap crappy wire shelving inside. The main issues were my walk in closet: And my laundry room: I didn’t get a before picture of the pantry but it was also pretty bad. So I called California Closets and Inspired closets. […]

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April 25, 2019 11 mins read

24 months of work and $100k down the drain – the ups and downs of entrepreneurship

Show notes from podcast episode 45. I rarely dive into my my own business here but I have a story and a lesson worth sharing. I’m always learning and failing and getting back up and pressing onward. I got some bad news this week. A self storage development project that I had been working on […]

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April 24, 2019 12 mins read

The ways early success can set you up for future failure

Show notes from Sweaty Startup podcast episode 43. Your ego begins to cloud your judgement Ego is a touchy balancing act. Early on the ego is what leads to success. It’s what suppresses the fear of failure and the anxiety that goes along with a new business. It’s what allows someone to be comfortable doing […]

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April 16, 2019 6 mins read

How to overcome analysis paralysis (episode 42)

Show notes from The Sweaty Startup podcast episode 42. Analysis paralysis is the act of over-analyzing and over-researching a potential business venture to the point of taking no action at all for long periods of time. Ready… Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Never firing a shot. I would say this (along with the fear of failure) […]

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April 12, 2019 7 mins read

Overcoming anxiety and the fear of failure (episode 30)

We all know that feeling of failure. That feeling of inadequacy. The feeling of rejection. The feeling of embarrassment. The anxiety that comes along with entrepreneurship and generally anything that is worth doing in life. Mine was a basketball game in southern Indiana. Basketball is intense in southern indiana. I was a sophomore and I […]

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April 9, 2019 13 mins read

Successful people aren’t busy (episode 41)

Successful business owners are assumed to be busy. They hear “I know you are very very busy” all the time. Successful people aren’t busy. It’s great that people respect their time but successful people are not busy. They just say no a lot. They prioritize what they spend their time doing. They don’t do things […]

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April 5, 2019 11 mins read

Silent partner in a roofing business?

I live in Seattle. My girlfriend’s brother has a lot of expertise in the roofing industry and wants to start a business with me. Heres the catch – he doesn’t have citizenship so he would need me to form the business, get insurance, run the administrative side of things, and set it all up. I […]

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April 4, 2019 6 mins read
Top Articles

Businesses I Love

These are all businesses and markets that I love. The competition is weak. The market is growing. The costs and risks are low. The odds are good. You can analyze the market and make accurate decisions on where there is opportunity to thrive. You can win. Start small. Start low skilled and low risk if […]

Idea Generation 101

This is an analytical approach to identifying and exploring new business opportunities. This is designed around service-based businesses but the concepts can be applied to any business. In order to compete you need to have a competitive advantage in one of three areas: speed, price or quality. The goal here is to look for holes […]

Essential Tools

There is a proven playbook to grow companies. What tools to use, agencies to hire, strategies to employ. I’ve launched 9 companies in my life – two of which are fairly large with 40 + employees and hundreds of thousands in monthly revenue. People ask me all the time for vendor recommendations. Who builds my […]

179: How profitable is a self storage facility?

In today’s episode, Nick talks about a self-storage facility that he and his partner bought in July of 2019. He goes over the numbers of buying it, operating it, and income from units being rented out, as well as expenses. His goal is to show you just how profitable a self-storage facility is. This property […]

Businesses I Hate

Prefer a more positive outlook? Check out the businesses I love. I don’t like businesses that have a lot of passionate people involved. Businesses that are fun and are a lot of people’s hobbies. Passionate people think with their hearts instead of analyzing the markets. Passionate people make poor decisions. Passionate people start companies because […]

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