Back from the Brink: When Everybody Quits Day 1

February 24, 2025
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I

've been seeing the phrase "high agency" on Twitter lately.

How, thanks to AI, there's never been a better time to be a high-agency person.

Well I suppose it's stating the obvious to say that acquisition entrepreneurs are high agency.

Buying an existing business to lead it and build it further — if that's not grabbing life by the horns, I don't know what is.

Well today's guest Jack Carr sees your "high agency" and raises you.

Jack Carr of Rapid Response in an attic
Jack living the HVAC tech life

He bought a small HVAC business; really too small, by his own admission. (He calls businesses like these a "buyer's trap.")

And on the very first day of his ownership, all the technicians quit, leaving just him and the part-time dispatcher.

What to do?

Become an HVAC technician himself, of course.

Which he did, and it worked. We spend lots of time on how he pulled it off.

Jack Carr of Rapid Response cleaning a duct
Jack being high agency

Two and a half years later, the business is 17 employees and did $3m in 2024 revenue. Jack's targeting a run rate of $4 to $5m by the end of 2025.

One more thing to call out: Jack's enthusiasm for ETA.

Even having gone through what he did, and essentially buying the shell of a tiny company, that shell had a ringing phone, a Google My Business page, and customers. And that made all the difference.

Enjoy this wild story with Jack Carr, owner of Rapid Response Heating and Cooling in Brentwood, Tennessee.

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Back from the Brink: When Everybody Quits Day 1

24 hours into Jack Carr's ownership of a tiny HVAC business, disaster struck. Just 2.5 years later, it did $3m in sales.

Key Takeaways

Introduction

Listen to the introduction from the host

've been seeing the phrase "high agency" on Twitter lately.

How, thanks to AI, there's never been a better time to be a high-agency person.

Well I suppose it's stating the obvious to say that acquisition entrepreneurs are high agency.

Buying an existing business to lead it and build it further — if that's not grabbing life by the horns, I don't know what is.

Well today's guest Jack Carr sees your "high agency" and raises you.

Jack Carr of Rapid Response in an attic
Jack living the HVAC tech life

He bought a small HVAC business; really too small, by his own admission. (He calls businesses like these a "buyer's trap.")

And on the very first day of his ownership, all the technicians quit, leaving just him and the part-time dispatcher.

What to do?

Become an HVAC technician himself, of course.

Which he did, and it worked. We spend lots of time on how he pulled it off.

Jack Carr of Rapid Response cleaning a duct
Jack being high agency

Two and a half years later, the business is 17 employees and did $3m in 2024 revenue. Jack's targeting a run rate of $4 to $5m by the end of 2025.

One more thing to call out: Jack's enthusiasm for ETA.

Even having gone through what he did, and essentially buying the shell of a tiny company, that shell had a ringing phone, a Google My Business page, and customers. And that made all the difference.

Enjoy this wild story with Jack Carr, owner of Rapid Response Heating and Cooling in Brentwood, Tennessee.

About

Jack Carr

Jack Carr
Olivia Rhye
Product Designer

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