Hey fellow Hoosiers,

New Indiana laws took effect July 1. This issue walks through what to actually do about them: a noncompete risk the FTC is now enforcing, up to $5,000 per worker for training, cheaper HVAC equipment, and where value hides if you are buying or selling.

Founder of Lushin and Associates in 1997, a leading Sandler Training franchise, ESOP transition in 2023. Forty-six years of building. 4:00 to 7:00 PM, $15, free for members.

Matt led a technical team at Sweetwater and founded BT Pro Solutions, which has acquired two companies. The real trade-offs of starting versus buying. 4:00 to 7:00 PM.

August: a working lunch on life after acquisition, a more interactive roundtable on post-close wins and headaches. Reply if you want first dibs when seats open.

On June 22 the FTC finalized an order against pest-control giant Rollins, barring it from enforcing noncompetes against more than 18,000 workers and requiring the company to tell them they are free to compete. When the national noncompete ban died, most owners assumed they were clear. The FTC is now going after broad, company-wide restrictions case by case, and the problem is scope, not size. A 40-person shop where everyone signs one blanket agreement mirrors the fact pattern of a 700-location giant.

HVAC: the R-410A trap. A new EPA rule lets you keep installing pre-2025 R-410A units until stock runs out, but no new R-410A systems are being built and recharge costs climb for a decade. Quote new installs on A2L equipment (R-454B or R-32) by default, save R-410A stock for repairs, and note refrigerant cost on any R-410A quote. Good news: the Section 232 tariff on residential HVAC dropped from 25% to 15% through 2027, so requote equipment with your distributor.

Input costs, year over year: aluminum +30%, copper wire +22%, steel +12%. On any job heavy in those, shorten quote validity to 15 to 30 days and add a materials-escalation clause.

Up to $5,000 per worker to train your crew. Indiana's Employer Training Grant reimburses up to $5,000 per new or incumbent worker trained and kept six months, in sectors including construction and manufacturing. New hires must earn at least $19 an hour and trained incumbents get at least a 5% raise. Get the plan on record with the state before the hire starts, then screen the same person for the WOTC credit on Form 8850 within 28 days.

Public-works retainage got cheaper, if you ask. Indiana capped retainage on public projects over $200,000 at 6% until a job is half done and 3% after, down from 10% and 5%. Check the clause against IC 36-1-12-14, push back if it is higher, and ask to hold retainage in escrow.

OSHA heat inspections are back. No-notice checks in hot trades on heat-advisory days. Write a basic plan (water, shade, rest, acclimatization) and get a free, confidential, no-citation review from Indiana's INSafe program.

The job market is still tight. Unemployment held at 3.3% with 94,000-plus open postings, and wage pressure is not easing.

Indiana's data-privacy law can now be enforced, but most of you are exempt. It applies only at 100,000-plus Indiana consumers. Clear that bar and the Attorney General can sue for up to $7,500 per violation, with a 30-day cure period.

The U.S. did not renew USMCA. At the July 1 review the U.S. moved to bilateral, year-to-year talks, with Canada and existing tariffs left open. If you buy inputs, packaging, or equipment with cross-border content, plan for less certainty before your next big sourcing or capital decision.

New payroll boxes on the 2026 W-2. Qualified overtime and tips now get separate W-2 codes for wages you are paying right now. Confirm with your payroll provider before Q3 closes that qualified overtime is tracked separately.

What outside buyers actually pay. Stanford's 2026 study of 862 professional acquisitions puts typical pricing around 6 to 7 times annual profit, with a median deal near $16 million. A useful reference for what your business is worth before anyone calls.

The middle-market benchmark, with a catch. The freshest GF Data shows an average of 7.3 times profit, but the discount for smaller companies is widening. Do not anchor to headline multiples; clean, provable earnings close the gap.

Financing reality. Prime holds at 6.75% after the Fed's fourth straight hold, and SBA 7(a) acquisition loans are pricing around 10% or more. Underwrite to today's cost.

SBA lenders worth knowing in Indiana (editorial, not paid): Huntington leads 7(a) volume in the state, Fishers-based First Internet Bank is a national 7(a) shop built for acquisitions, and Indiana Statewide (Cambridge Capital) and Premier Capital handle the 504 side. The question that matters: ask whether they approve in-house or send it to the SBA, because that drives your closing timeline more than the rate.

If an ESOP is your exit, mind the repurchase obligation. The duty to buy back departing employees' shares, and your management bench, decide whether the company survives a decade after you leave. Have an advisor model a repurchase study 10 to 15 years out before you commit.

Running SharePoint on your own servers? Patch it now. Federal officials flagged an actively-exploited flaw in on-premises SharePoint, common in older manufacturing and engineering IT. Ask your IT provider today whether the fix is applied.

Let AI finish a task, not just draft one. Pick one back-office job, like turning your AR aging report into first-draft collection emails, and test it on a plan around $20 to $30 a month. That is where it starts saving real hours.

Owned and Operated, Ep. 319 (built for the trades). John Wilson and Jack Carr on why most shops do not need more leads, they need to work the ones they have: 15 to 20 touches in the first three days and a live call inside ten minutes. Some operators doubled revenue without spending a dollar more on marketing. Everyday AI, Ep. 782. The real time-saver is not better prompts, it is pointing AI at one repeatable job (proposals, follow-ups, data entry) and letting it run.

OWN is hosted at a different Indiana business each month. September is set in Fort Wayne. We need hosts for August, October, November, and December: a facility tour, a founder story, or teaching something you use to run better. Reply here or message me on LinkedIn.

Thanks for reading. Reply anytime, or reach me directly at [email protected].

Jared Luegers
Founder, OWN Indiana