Monday Apr 07, 2025

14: The Brandon Vaughn Episode

In this episode, host Sid Graef welcomes Brandon Vaughn, a serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown multiple successful businesses in the home service space. Brandon began by taking over his father’s small window cleaning business, then scaled it into a 70-employee operation. Along the way, he discovered the importance of developing a broader entrepreneurial mindset, investing in the right people, and letting go of self-limiting beliefs. Brandon has since founded the Conquer coaching program (serving business owners nationwide) and is now focused on his new venture, HireBus, a platform designed to simplify the hiring process. He also shares insights on the power of adversity, continuous learning, and the excitement of growing through challenges. This is an uplifting, experience-rich conversation for any business owner looking to accelerate their own “huge transformation.”

Show Notes

  • Guest:

    • Brandon Vaughn – Founder of All-Clean SoftWash (scaled from 1 to 70+ employees), Creator of Conquer coaching program, and CEO of HireBus – a next-level hiring solution for business owners.

  • Key Topics Discussed:

    1. Scaling a Small Service Business: Brandon’s journey from a single-truck operation to a 70-employee powerhouse.
    2. Mindset Shifts: Overcoming self-limiting beliefs by seeking mentors, coaches, and peer accountability.
    3. Unlocks for Growth: Hiring a sales team, adding new locations, and learning to invest in top-tier talent.
    4. New Venture—HireBus: Simplifying the hiring process for small businesses in a variety of industries.
    5. Future Plans: Rolling up multiple businesses via Hammer & Forge, exploring acquisitions, and remaining “coachably humble” as an entrepreneur.
    6. Advice to New Entrepreneurs: Focus on finding and empowering the right people—avoid “doing it all” yourself.

  • References & Mentions:

  • Resources (mentioned every time):

 

Transcript

[Sid Graef]:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Huge Transformations Podcast. I'm Sid Graf out of Montana.

[Gabe Torres]:
I'm Gabe Torres here in Nashville, Tennessee.

[Sheila Smeltzer]:
And I'm Sheila Smeltzer from North Carolina. We're your hosts and guides through the landscape of growing a successful home service business. We do this by interviewing the best home service business builders in the industry—folks that have already built seven- and eight-figure businesses, and they want to help you succeed.

[Gabe Torres]:
Yep. No fake gurus on this show—just real-life owners that have been in the trenches and can help show you the way to grow profitably. We get insights and truths from successful business builders, and every episode is 100 percent experience, zero percent theory.

[Sheila Smeltzer]:
We're going to dig deep and reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our guests will share with you the pitfalls to avoid and the keys to winning. In short, our guests will show you how to transform your home service business into a masterpiece.

[Sid Graef]:
Thanks for joining us on the wild journey of entrepreneurship. Let's dive in.

[Sid Graef]:
Welcome back to the Huge Transformation Podcast. I'm Sid Graf, your host, and today's show is really cool—it's quite an honor to have Brandon Vaughn on the show today. You may know Brandon Vaughn as the guy who built All-Clean SoftWash—a power washing company in Oregon—from zero employees (just one guy) up to 70 employees in a very short period of time, or you might know him from the Conquer coaching program, or you might know him from HireBus. He is truly a serial entrepreneur, but he started on the ladder, in the truck, running a home service business, washing windows with his dad. Eventually he took over his dad's company, grew it exponentially, then sold it. He built another business to serve home service businesses, and he continues to do that. He's a visionary in the truest sense. The great thing about Brandon is he's always been in the service business, looking to serve people: “How can I help and serve people?” Our conversation today—I wish we could do an hour longer than we did, but everyone's got time limits. I'm so thankful Brandon was able to join us. Enjoy our time with Brandon Vaughn.

[Sid Graef]:
Hello, everybody, and welcome back. It's the Huge Transformations Podcast, and today you're going to be really excited, like I am. We have my friend and an industry leader for a lot of years, Brandon Vaughn, on the show. Brandon, thank you so much for joining us. How are you?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
What's up, Sid? I'm doing great, man. Thanks for having me.

[Sid Graef]:
Good. For those who can't see: Brandon, you're on the treadmill. You posted—and I chatted with you about it—your body fat dropped. You credited the treadmill and just action or movement for doing this. Where are you at now?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
I've lost 45 pounds in about five and a half to six months, dropped about 15 percent body fat—down to nine and a half percent body fat. Literally, I just walk nine to twelve miles a day. I'm on my walking treadmill at my desk, on Zoom six or seven hours a day. I just decided one day to walk instead of sit, and the fat just melted off. It's been one of the best things I've done for my health—it's awesome.

[Sid Graef]:
Wow, that’s awesome. The ADHD—my wife always laughs at me because when I'm on the phone, I pace in the front yard, back and forth. One time they set up a time-lapse camera on me because of how ridiculous it looked—like a caged animal, just walking back and forth. So this actually satiates that need to be moving while talking. That's cool.

[Sid Graef]:
This is the Transformation Podcast, and we were talking earlier—it's not really an interview, it's just a couple of questions to hear your story, because everybody starts somewhere. Generally, when you start, you have an idea or dream, but you don't really know how it's going to turn out. A little bit of background—I'll let you fill in all the blanks—but you bought your dad's window cleaning company from him, and it was just you or just you and a helper, and then you grew it into a substantial soft wash company in Oregon. You had, if I recall correctly, either 60 employees or 60 trucks—something like that.

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Yeah, about 70 employees, 24 service trucks. Yeah, I just started out as a guy on the tools. I've been in home services my whole life. And I'll be honest with you, when I first made my growth plan in year one, it was taking the business, which at the time was doing about 100,000 a year—and had been doing that for about 20 years—and doubling it over the next five years. That was my goal. Even at the time, I looked at it and thought, “Man, is that even possible?” My dad was like, “I don't know.” But I had to grow it, and I really had no idea what I was capable of doing. I got some really good coaches and mentors along the way and could never have imagined I'd be doing what I'm doing now. I’d say the huge transformation for me has mostly just been mindset.

[Sid Graef]:
Yeah, that is so—I'm going to come back to that and dip into it because that's actually the fourth question I had, and you just answered it, which is great. You built and sold that company, you anchored and built the Conquer coaching program that has helped so many home service businesses, and you've had several other businesses and investments. Now you're all in on HireBus, helping not just home service businesses but other companies hire efficiently and hire A-players and all that. You just answered this, but I still have to ask: when you first started, your biggest goal was just doubling from 100,000 to 200,000?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Yeah.

[Sid Graef]:
Along the way, as you're hiking up the side of the mountain, the higher you go, the further you see. What were some of the inflection points where you realized, “Wait a second, this isn't a 200,000-a-year thing, this could go to 2 million, 10 million,” etc.?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
I'd say there were a few different unlocks for me. The biggest one came when I hired my first salesperson. That was unlock number one, because there was finally someone else in the business whose livelihood was dependent on selling and growing, putting food on the table, so to speak, for the techs. Up to that point, I openly acknowledged I was the bottleneck. There's only so much Brandon can sell. Brandon was doing six to eight estimates a day, hustling to keep all these trucks busy. When I hired a really great salesperson on commission only, that unlocked me to say, “Okay, Brandon, you just learned how to print money—this is huge.” We ramped up to five salespeople very quickly, then started doubling and tripling every single year.

Then the second unlock was when I went out and started my second market. I picked a location 45 minutes to an hour away, opened shop, put two techs in a truck there, had a part-time salesperson assigned to that territory, and grew that one. I was able to grow that location faster than I grew my original location. That was unlock number two: “Okay, this is how I grow. I can just duplicate the proven model and keep expanding.”

[Sid Graef]:
I'm going to step backward into your head during that because you said it was all mindset. Did you do anything specific or have any key steps for expanding your mindset?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Someone told me: if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. I found myself constantly in an echo chamber, whether it's a Facebook group or something else, where we all had the same struggles. If I asked a question, they'd say, “I don't know.” Then they'd ask me questions, and I realized I was answering their questions. I had to change my environment. I went out and got a coach—Kedma—who was my first coach. She broke a lot of self-limiting beliefs about letting go of control and provided perspective because she'd spoken to hundreds of business owners, some way bigger than me. That perspective gave me confidence—“Yes, of course it's the right choice, go do it.” I was like, “Okay, alright.” So that accountability was huge.

Also, I'd tour people’s shops that were bigger than mine, bigger operations, and that’s where I started to see what was possible.

[Sid Graef]:
Was there a point where you realized, “I'm the king, I have the answers,” but then you get around bigger players and discover, “Whoa, there's a lot more possible…” That’s the Dunning–Kruger effect.

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Yeah, the peak of Mount Stupid, or "child's hill"—teenagers who just know everything. Once they learn more, they're like, “Oh crap, I know nothing.” I believe the Dunning–Kruger curve looks like a roller coaster—it's not just one hump and a valley and then back up. It's every day. Right now, this week, I'm doing things I'm terrified about—never done them, don't know what I'm doing. Last week, I'm on top of the mountain about something, and this week I'm in the valley of despair, hopefully next week on the slope of enlightenment, right? The journey never ends. The quicker you acknowledge you know nothing, the quicker you can be receptive to solutions. That’s absolutely critical.

[Sid Graef]:
When you were growing your original business or in Conquer or even now, did you ever hit points where you're like, “Oh my God, I'm so frustrated, I'm ready to quit; I'd sell this for a dollar”?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Yeah, once a week. That’s not a fake number either. Let me remove the mystery: every successful business owner I talk to, especially really successful ones, feels that way constantly. The difference is the length of time they allow themselves to feel that way shortens over time. I no longer let it paralyze me. But the feeling of “What am I doing, why did I do this?”—that’s normal. To get somewhere you've never been, you have to do things you've never done, and that means embracing pain. Pain is part of growth. If you're comfortable, you’re complacent. If everything's great, maybe you're on the verge of death in your business because you're not innovating.

[Sid Graef]:
I spoke to an entrepreneur whose greatest fear was that “this is all I have,” that he'd be in the same place next year. But he's grown well beyond that. Let’s look at your pattern: you started with your dad's business, then built Conquer, and now HireBus. Do you go out looking for needs, or do you see it as, “This is my problem, probably others have it too?”

[Brandon Vaughn]:
I’d say it's the latter. I'm not out looking for a problem, but I'm presented with problems daily. One of the coolest things about coaching is I have over a thousand hours of my own coaching calls. I've heard just about every problem in the book. Even starting Conquer, I said, “Man, I wish I'd had this when I was in the thick of growing my company—done-for-you systems, done-for-you pricing so I wouldn't have to do 50 hours of refinement.” Same with hiring: the constant frustration—people ghost you, or you hardly get any applicants, or you hire someone and they're terrible, or you don't want to fire them because you're scared you won't replace them. It's all these self-limiting beliefs. So I asked, “What if we could make it so it's no longer painful to hire? You just click a button, and the top 3 percent of talent shows up on your calendar to interview?” That’s what we've built. It's been fun—customers give us feedback, we fix it. That’s what I’m doing with HireBus.

[Sid Graef]:
If you compare and contrast where you started to where you are now, you've got a bigger perspective of what's possible. You probably couldn't have imagined you'd be here. If you tried to crystal-ball it ten years from now, where do you see it going?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Oh boy. I just started a company called Hammer & Forge—that’s an acquisition company buying up businesses. I've spent the last few years leaning into my “investor era,” buying, holding, and selling companies. One project is rolling up electrical companies. We just bought a 40-year-old electrical company, and now we can deploy a team of vendors, support people—Yeti Books for bookkeeping, Denzel for marketing, HireBus for hiring GMs—then rinse and repeat, buy more companies, fold them together. I see HireBus as a multibillion-dollar company because our problem isn’t just for home services but for all small businesses. We're helping a roofing company hire 60 sales reps in three months, also working with healthcare, hospitality. It's massive. That's where I'm spending 90 percent of my focus. I anticipate having a holdings company with additional companies where I'm an investor owner, and I'm also focusing on having an incredible family. That’s my biggest priority now—being a great dad.

[Sid Graef]:
Looking back, what would you do differently? Or what advice would you give to younger Brandon or someone early in their home service career?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
I’d really try to pound into younger Brandon’s head: it's all about the people you pick. Build your business as if you have no arms and legs—don’t DIY everything. It's good to possess that skill, but there are people dumber than you who built bigger companies because they intentionally released control and found people way smarter. Every time I've done that, I've had more time freedom, less stress, and way more fun working with insanely smart people. I feel that's been the biggest unlock as an entrepreneur—realizing that's where I need to focus.

[Sid Graef]:
Would younger Brandon listen to you?

[Brandon Vaughn]:
I hope so. I'd say, “You invented a time machine? We’re geniuses, so of course I'll listen.” But seriously, I've read the books, listened to the podcasts that say the same thing, and there's probably someone listening now who's heard it 10 times. The question is, “Now do it.” Some people only do it if forced. One of our Conquer members had a health emergency—they physically couldn't do the work or drive for sales, so they hired techs and salespeople. The business doubled the next year. Why wait for something like that? It's scary to do, but if we do it by choice, that's ideal.

[Sid Graef]:
Thank you so much for spending time with us, talking about your journey and transformations, and giving sound advice. Whether they're early or in the middle, there's no end until you quit. You can keep growing.

[Brandon Vaughn]:
That’s right. Simon Sinek calls it “the infinite game.” The players change, the rules change, the scope changes—there's no winners or losers. The journey is the thing you win. We’re so blessed to do what we do, and the more we come from a place of gratitude, the more we realize it doesn't have to be a dumpster fire all the time. Get better people on your team, though—that really helps.

[Sid Graef]:
For sure—thanks again. That's a perfect place to stop. Thanks again for your time and for, as always, being generous with sharing and helping and delivering wisdom. Thank you very much.

[Brandon Vaughn]:
Thank you, Sid. Anyone who's listening—if you want us to help you find someone for your team, hirebus.com/huge—love to talk to you and help more.

[Sid Graef]:
Hello, my friend, this is Sid. Thank you again so much for taking your time to listen to today's episode. I hope you got some value from it. And listen, anything that was covered—any resources, books, tools, anything like that—is in the show notes, so it's easy for you to find and check it out.

I also want to let you know the mission for The Huge Convention and for this is to help our blue-collar business owners like you and me gain financial and time freedom through running a better business. We do that in four ways:

  1. Our free weekly newsletter: It's called The Huge Insider. I hope you subscribe. It is the most valuable newsletter for the home service industry, period—paid or otherwise—and this one's free.
  2. The Huge Foundations education platform: We have over 120 hours of industry-specific education and resources for you. Every month we do a topical webinar and Q&A with seven- and eight-figure business owners. It's available to you for a $1 trial for seven days.
  3. Of course, The Huge Convention: If you haven't been, you've got to check it out. It's every August; this year, it's in Nashville, Tennessee, August 20–22, 2025. It is the largest and number-one-rated trade show and convention for home service business builders. We have the biggest trade show where you can see all the coolest tools, meet vendors, and check out software to run your business. We have world-class education and educators and speakers who will teach you how to run a better business. And it's the best networking opportunity in the home service business space.
  4. If you want to pour jet fuel on your business, check out the Huge Mastermind. Now, it's not for everyone—you've got to be at over $750,000 in revenue and building toward 1 million, 5 million, 10 million in the next five years. It's a network, a mentorship, and a mastermind of your peers. We help you understand and implement the Freedom Operating System. You can get info on all four of these programs and how they'll help you advance quickly just by going to thehugeconvention.com and scrolling down to click on the Freedom Path. Or you can find links in the show notes.

Sorry if I sound a bit wordy, but I just want to let you know about the resources available to help accelerate and advance your beautiful small business. So keep on growing, keep on learning, keep advancing. If you like the show, please take 90 seconds and give us a review on iTunes—then subscribe and share it. It would really mean the world to us, and it would help other people as we continue our mission to help folks just like you and me.

Thanks again for listening. We'll see you on the next episode.

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