$6M → $25M Plumbing Company in 3 Years (Part 2)

Last week I wrote about Aizik's approach to hyper-focused global talent roles at J Blanton Plumbing.

But there's a deeper economic principle at work here that most business owners miss completely.

Aizik accidentally referenced it during our conversation when I made an analogy to Adam Smith's labor specialization theory.

His response: "I'm gonna steal that actually. That describes what I think better than the way I described it."

Here's why this matters for YOUR business.

The $200M Problem

Traditionally, you needed MASSIVE scale to justify true specialists.

Want a full-time person dedicated to municipal permit processes?

You'd need enough volume to justify a $75,000 salary plus benefits. Same with safety auditing, recruitment, or custom software development.

Most companies In a particular industry, hit this wall around the same level of revenue.

They need specialists, but the math doesn't work.

So they make do with generalists wearing multiple hats.

The result is mediocre execution across critical business functions - which stalls growth!

The Wealth Creation Mechanism

Adam Smith figured this out in 1776 with his famous pin factory example.

One person making pins from start to finish might produce 20 pins per day. But divide the work among specialists - one person draws the wire, another cuts it, another sharpens the points - and suddenly you're producing 48,000 pins per day with the same number of people.

The wealth isn't created by working harder. It's created by SPECIALIZATION.

But Smith's example required a certain scale to work. You needed enough pin demand to justify having specialist pin-makers.

The Global Talent Breakthrough

Here's what Aizik figured out: global talent changes the entire scale equation.

That municipal permit specialist who would cost you $75,000 in Chicago?

You can get the same expertise for $18,000 annually from someone in Buenos Aires.

Suddenly, the specialization that required $200M in revenue is accessible at $10M.

WEALTH CREATION UNLOCKED.

How This Plays Out

Aizik's permit specialist doesn't just call villages and cities…. they become genuinely excellent at navigating municipal bureaucracy.

They know which inspector to call at which municipality.

They understand the specific requirements for different types of excavation work.

They build relationships with permit offices.

A generalist handling permits occasionally?

They're starting from scratch every time.

The specialist gets faster, more accurate, and more effective. That expertise becomes a genuine competitive advantage.

Same principle applies across his operation:

His safety auditors can learn to understand OSHA requirements deeply, recognize patterns that indicate potential violations, and catch issues before they become penalties.

His recruiters can learn to understand where skilled tradespeople congregate, how to get their attention, and ultimately how to recruit them! Way faster than someone doing recruitment as a side task.

The Compound Effect

This is where it gets interesting.

Most business owners think about global talent as cost savings. "I can get the same work done for less money."

That's thinking TOO FREAKING SMALL.

The REAL advantage is accessing specialization that creates compound returns over time.

Each specialist doesn't just do their job - they get genuinely good at it in ways that create lasting competitive advantages.

Your competitors are stuck with generalists because they can't justify the economics of specialists at their scale.

You can build a team of genuine experts for the same cost they're paying for mediocre generalists.

The Strategic Flip

This changes how you think about growth entirely.

Instead of "How do I get big enough to afford specialists?" you ask "What specialists can I afford right now that will accelerate my growth?"

Instead of waiting for scale to justify expertise, you use expertise to create scale.

Aizik didn't grow to $25M and then hire specialists. He hired specialists and grew to $25M.

The specialization enabled the growth, not the other way around.

The Question

What $18,000-per-year specialist could unlock your next level of growth?

Maybe it's someone who becomes genuinely excellent at customer follow-up and retention. Or reviews and referrals. Or someone who masters your specific industry's compliance requirements. Or someone who builds deep expertise in your particular type of sales process.

The math has changed. The specialists are available. The question is whether you're thinking big enough to use them.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

“There were these Fridays where I would like, it would be like, 5 or 15, nowhere and you're going home. And I'm going home because of the amazing team at Sagan that has helped us scale so rapidly and help us serve our customers so well”