$8 Million a Year on Pen and Paper, The Story of A+ and Carrie Kelsch

A+ Garage Doors did up to $8 million a year on pen and paper. Carrie Kelsch started the company in 2005 as a mortgage broker and single mom who wanted a business she could put on a shelf and forget about. It took eight years to reach $1.5 million. Then she fixed the systems, and everything changed. Today A+ runs four markets across Utah and Nevada and is the largest company inside Guild Garage Group. She's joined by Mitch Kelsch, Chief Business Officer, who took the entry level installer job on purpose and did $1 million in sales his first year in the field, and Marc de Schweinitz, CMO, who came from Dow Chemical and Cint into a trade nobody thinks about until it breaks. We cover three private equity turns, why your technicians decide your pricing, what it actually costs to let people into your shop, and the hiring filter that starts with "is this a good human being?" CHAPTERS 00:00 The team from A+ Garage Doors 02:19 A mortgage broker who never planned to run a garage door company 03:07 Cabinets, collision repair, and taking the entry level job 05:10 $1 million in sales his first year as a technician 06:37 Twenty years in marketing, then garage doors 08:03 The go kart through the garage door 08:57 From an island to 30 contractors in your shop 09:53 What Tommy Mello's shop tour changed 11:02 "I didn't want to share any of it" 12:09 Finding out they were second largest in the country 13:06 What A+ is focused on right now 13:54 Las Vegas, Reno, and the Guild partnership 14:33 Eight years to $1.5 million 15:01 The 13 week program that changed the trajectory 16:13 $8 million a year, still on pen and paper 17:36 Why the company is named A+ 18:16 "They had to explain to me what the World Wide Web was" 18:51 Her advice on AI: go now 20:05 The accident that pulled Mitch into the office 21:42 Google Sheets, BambooHR, and filling the gaps 22:47 Stop making the software fit your business 24:44 Diversifying channels before Google goes down 27:01 Highest ROAS channels if you're starting from zero 28:53 Scaling the review engine 30:14 Why they still make techs ask for the review 31:21 Three private equity turns, explained 33:02 QuickBooks to Intacct, BambooHR to ADP 34:16 Oak Hill and what comes next 34:40 Why founders become the bottleneck 35:17 Where private equity helps and where it hurts 36:02 Being the largest company inside Guild 37:50 Hiring: is this a good human being? 39:22 The $1,500 employee referral check 40:27 Winning awards as a recruiting strategy 42:03 Your technician decides your pricing 42:40 The California hire who felt like he was giving it away 44:11 Why a front door costs double a garage door 45:11 Working on the business, not in it 46:12 Giving people permission to delegate 48:03 "I fired myself and hired someone to replace me" 48:37 The A+ tech stack today 49:53 The database they were protecting 50:32 Hitting the 2025 goal the day before New Year's Eve 50:49 Adobe, Canva, and getting disrupted 51:45 "Why would I use that software, I'll build my own" 54:38 Book recommendations 56:38 One thing every owner should do next week 58:50 Trades for Wishes MENTIONED A+ Garage Doors Guild Garage Group Oak Hill Capital ServiceTitan Tommy Mello and A1 Garage Door Service Any Hour Group Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Trades for Wishes The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack Jim Rohn Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger Booked Out is presented by ReferPro. We help home service businesses turn their existing customers into a referral engine. Learn more at referpro.com Subscribe for new episodes with the operators actually building in the trades. #garagedoor #homeservice #trades #contractors #privateequity #servicetitan