Scale Past $10M With the Right Hires

How to hire a GM or operator for your home service business — without making a $100K hiring mistake. If you're scaling a business past $10M and your leadership team can't keep up, this episode is for you. John Wilson sits down with Brendan Aronson, Founder of The Military Veteran (TMV), a recruiting firm that places military veterans into executive and operator roles at home service companies. They break down how to scale a business from $10M to $25M by hiring the right operator — and why most hiring mistakes aren't talent problems, but clarity and process problems. Whether you run an HVAC business, plumbing business, or any home service company, this is the hiring playbook you need. 🔑 What You'll Learn: • What "operator" actually means in a scaling home service business • Why hiring becomes the bottleneck as companies grow past $10M • How military leadership experience translates to business (and where it doesn't) • Enlisted vs. officer backgrounds — what each brings to the table • Hiring for PE-backed platforms vs. family-owned businesses • The reference check process that separates great hires from disasters ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 Why Veterans Make Great Operators 02:25 Translating Military Experience to Business 14:20 Hiring Leaders Who Scale 20:07 AI Call Handling With Avoca 21:11 Hiring GMs Interview Process 32:24 Reference Checks And Wrap Up 🎙️ Host: John Wilson — https://x.com/WilsonCompanies 👤 Guest: Brendan Aronson, Founder of The Military Veteran (TMV) https://themilvet.typeform.com/to/BDwkmCU0?typeform-source=www.themilvet.org 💼 Sponsors: Big Reputation — AI-powered review + SEO platform for home service pros. First month free → https://www.bigreputation.ai/?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=oao&utm_campaign=freeheatmap Avoca AI — Train your call center and improve technician performance → https://www.getavoca.ai/partners/oao FieldPulse — Field Service Management that saves you hours each week → https://www.fieldpulse.com/book-demo?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=OwnedandOperated #homeservicebusiness #hiring #hvacbusiness #plumbingbusiness #electricalbusiness #businessgrowth