From Candy Bars to Cleaning Empires: Dom Williams on Systems, Mindset & Multiple Revenue Streams
- S3E204
- 34:45
- May 29th 2025
Serial entrepreneur Dom Williams sits down with the Blue-Collar Twins to reveal how a kid running county-wide candy routes now leads a 200-employee cleaning company, owns drive-thru “drink barns,” flips HUD rentals, and is launching a lounge—while coaching other service-business owners past the six- and seven-figure ceiling.
You’ll hear:
- Early Hustle → Corporate Wake-Up – the Wall Street layoff that pushed Dom full time and helped CNC Cleaning hit $1 M in six months.
- Play Business for Life – treating strategy like a game and using daily “pulse meetings” to keep the scorecard honest.
- Systems over Self – Sears-inspired SOPs that let a 200-person team run without him on site.
- Numbers that Matter – cash-flow detective work, margin targets (25 % residential; 15 % commercial), and the bank-balance myth.
- Diversifying the Right Way – acquiring Lexi’s Drink Barn, scaling HUD duplexes, and threading Indiana’s liquor-law maze to open Demure Lounge.
- Coaching Corner – the common blind spots for $500 k–$1 M service firms and Dom’s framework for moving owners from operator to architect.
Stick around for a quick CTA to Paul Giannamore’s Private-Equity Masterclass playlist—and start “playing business” on a bigger board.
From PE Teachers to Pest Control Owners: The Julio Twins Share Their POTOMAC Experience
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgiannamore
Produced by: www.verbell.ltd
Timestamps (podcast.co-ready)
00:00 – Cold-open: Dom on systems that let owners step away
00:35 – Jason & Jeremy introduce Dom, the serial entrepreneur
01:40 – Fast rundown of CNC Cleaning, Lexi’s Drink Barn, real estate & Demure Lounge
02:30 – Candy-bar syndicate at 12: first taste of leverage
03:50 – High-school expansion: five schools selling for him
05:00 – Dropping a clothing line; choosing cleaning for low entry & recurring revenue
06:50 – Year-one grind: two day jobs + night QC on homes
08:50 – Cash-flow crises and selling his way out
11:00 – Corporate layoff → full-time leap; $1 M revenue in six months
14:00 – Chrysler-300 moment: “I’ll never work for anyone again”
15:30 – SOPs inspired by Sears, Avis & Verizon
17:30 – Power of industry conferences and peer networks
18:50 – Manifestation & mindset: believing before scaling
19:50 – Coaching clients: testing belief, fixing data first
20:25 – Reading P&Ls correctly; COGS-to-revenue benchmarks
21:30 – Buying a duplex (the “dupy”) and house-hacking advice
24:00 – HUD rentals, vetting tenants, and guaranteed checks
25:30 – Cleaning margins: 25 % residential vs 15 % commercial
26:50 – Acquiring Lexi’s Drink Barn; lifting average ticket size
28:10 – Launching Demure Lounge under Indiana’s beer-and-wine rules
29:50 – Economic headwinds: residential leads dip, commercial steady
30:30 – Monday pulse meetings: KPIs, accountability, real-time fixes
31:20 – Future vision: build, exit, repeat—never stop “playing business”
32:00 – New coaching program: from in-the-business to on-the-business
32:50 – Contact Dom at domwilliams.com; socials
33:20 – Outro & Masterclass CTA
The Boardroom Buzz: Grow, Sell, or Exit
Boardroom Buzz is the straight-talk playbook for owners who built their service businesses from the crawlspace up and want to master the next move—whether that’s doubling down on growth or preparing for a life-changing exit.
Hosted by Jason & Jeremy Julio—“The Blue-Collar Twins” who turned a service-truck start-up into a multimillion-dollar success—and mentored by veteran deal-maker Paul Giannamore, the show turns boardroom finance into stories you’d swap over a tailgate. Expect 40-minute deep-dives that unwrap one real transaction and one valuation lever you can pull today, plus quick “Market Pulse” riffs that flag shifts every operator should watch.
If you’re a majority or significant-minority owner eyeing the $5 M–$100 M revenue range, tune in for gritty war stories, step-by-step tactics, and the confidence to choose your own endgame. New episodes every Thursday. Presented by POTOMAC M&A.