Growing the route after you own it

You bought the route to *own* a business, not to babysit one. Growth comes in three flavors after acquisition; pick the one your route is built for.

1. Density growth (safest). Add stops within your existing service zones. Every new account you can fit on an existing route day is essentially pure margin, you're already driving past. Tools: Google Business Profile, neighborhood Facebook groups, door hangers in your existing service neighborhoods, $25 referral credits. Target: 1–2 net new accounts per month with zero added drive time.

2. Adjacent acquisition (faster). Buy a small bolt-on route in a neighborhood next to yours. A 30-stop route at 8x bought with seller financing can be self-funding within 12 months and immediately improves your route density. This is how most operators get from one truck to two.

3. Service expansion (riskier). Add repairs, equipment installs, deck cleaning, or tile/grout. Higher revenue per stop, lower margin %, more skill and inventory required. Worth it if you have a tech with the chops; a disaster if you're learning on customer pools.

The trap to avoid. "Growth at any cost" with cheap accounts in scattered neighborhoods. A $90/month account 25 minutes from your nearest stop is a *negative-margin customer* once you account for windshield time. Track route economics per stop and per day, not just per account. Some accounts you should fire, that's growth too.

A simple post-acquisition growth target: 10–15% net annual revenue growth (after churn) for the first three years, mostly through density and pricing. Faster than that without systems and people in place tends to break the operation.