Tommy Mello - $1 Billion Company Founder (A1 Garage Doors) | Why Control Keeps You Small
➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com
➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory
Tommy Mello is a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of A1 Garage Door Service, which he started in 2007 with $50,000 in debt and transformed into North America's largest independently-owned garage door company, now operating in 19 states with over 700 employees and generating over $200 million in revenue. He is also a bestselling author of books including "Elevate" and "Home Service Millionaire," host of "The Home Service Expert" podcast (ranked in the top 0.1% of podcasts), and an Inc. Magazine columnist who shares strategies for scaling home service businesses. Mello had his first major exit in 2022 with nearly $30 million in EBITDA, distributed $100 million to employees from the transaction, and continues to focus on creating millionaires among his workforce while building toward his goal of reaching multiple billions in company valuation.
➡️ Show Links
https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommymello/
➡️ Podcast Sponsors
Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/
ShipStation - https://www.shipstation.com/ (Code: SuccessStory)
Square - https://square.com/go/success
SurveyMonkey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/scott
Monarch Money - https://www.monarchmoney.com (Code: Success)
Claude - https://claude.ai/success
Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott)
Revenued - https://www.revenued.com/
NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/
Indeed - https://indeed.com/clary
➡️ Talking Points
00:00 – Intro
01:25 – Tommy Mello’s Origin Story
09:49 – Scaling From $20M to $500M
12:49 – You Can’t Out-Delegate Me
14:30 – A $100M Exit Gift
20:13 – Sponsor Break
22:57 – You’re Focused on the Wrong Things
25:27 – What Drives Him Now
29:54 – Fear After Winning Big
38:16 – Sponsor Break
40:46 – Taxes Every Founder Misses
45:40 – Why SaaS Is Chasing AI
48:48 – Hire Smarter Than Yourself
52:17 – Life vs Business
58:28 – When Business Becomes Identity
1:02:38 – The Lesson He’d Teach His Kids