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NO. 7 · 7‑MINUTE READ Tuesday, July 7, 2026 |
| Operator Notes comes out twice a month. Short, useful, and always worth the open. |
Hey fellow Hoosiers,
A stack of new Indiana laws went live July 1, so this issue leads with what to actually do about them, not a recap you can find anywhere. Below: a noncompete trap the FTC is now enforcing, up to $5,000 per worker to train your crew, cheaper HVAC equipment, and where value is hiding if you are buying or selling.
You can reply to this email anytime, or reach me directly at [email protected].
Small rooms. Real operators. Practical conversations.
ON THE OWN CALENDAR
Three to hold
July 23: From Corporate Misfit to King-Maker, an Evening with Paul Lushin (Indianapolis). Paul became a business owner at 17, founded Lushin and Associates in 1997, built it into one of the country’s leading Sandler Training franchises, and completed an ESOP transition in 2023. He is hosting us at Lushin HQ to walk through 46 years of building, and what he would warn the next 17-year-old founder about. 4:00 to 7:00 PM, $15, free for members. Heads-up: we pushed this a week, from July 16 to July 23, for a scheduling conflict. Everything else is the same.
August Details Coming Soon: a working lunch on life after the acquisition. We are testing a more interactive format, a Thursday or Friday roundtable on the operational wins and headaches that come after you buy a business. Details are firming up. Reply if you want first dibs when we open seats.
Sept 17: Build It or Buy It, a conversation with Matt Truty, Fort Wayne. Matt led a technical team at Sweetwater and founded BT Pro Solutions, which has since acquired two companies. He is joining us at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium to talk through the real trade-offs of starting versus buying. 4:00 to 7:00 PM.
ONE BIG ASK
Host an OWN Night: October through December
Each month, OWN is hosted at a different Indiana business. September is set (Fort Wayne). We need help filling August, October, November, and December. Three formats that work well:
Facility tour: walk us through what you have built. Founder story: 30 minutes on what it took. Teach something: a system or framework you use to run better.
Want to host? Reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn and we will find a fit.
OWN MEMBERSHIP
Coming soon
We are rolling out a low-cost annual membership in the coming weeks. Members get free access to every OWN event we put on, and more. Details and pricing will land in your inbox soon.
IN THIS ISSUE
01 The noncompete you have used for years may now be a liability
02 Up to $5,000 per worker to train your crew, stacked with WOTC
03 HVAC: the R-410A trap, and a tariff cut worth requoting
04 What outside buyers actually pay right now
05 Ecosystem vendor spotlight: Zeke Studio
FLAG THIS
The noncompete you have used for years may now be a liability
On June 22 the FTC finalized an order barring pest-control giant Rollins from enforcing noncompetes against more than 18,000 workers, and made the company tell them they are free to compete, even to start their own business. Here is the trap: 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 is the same fact pattern as a 700-location giant.
What to do: pull your standard agreement this week.
Keep noncompetes only for the few people with real access to trade secrets or key relationships, and move everyone else to non-solicit and confidentiality terms. Read more →
51%
Stat of the issue. 51% of small-business owners say they have few or no qualified applicants for open roles, up five points in June. It is a quality gap, not a quantity gap.
Source: NFIB, June 2026
COSTS, CASH & CREWS
Where your margin is leaking
HVAC: the R-410A trap. A new EPA rule lets you keep installing pre-2025 R-410A units until existing stock runs out, but no new R-410A systems are being built, and the federal phase-down drives the cost to recharge one up for the next decade. Quote new installs on A2L equipment (R-454B or R-32) by default, save R-410A stock for repairs, and put a refrigerant-cost note on any R-410A quote. One piece of good news: the Section 232 tariff on residential HVAC dropped from 25% to 15% through 2027, so requote equipment with your distributor. Read more →
Input costs, year over year
| Aluminum | +30% |
| Copper wire | +22% |
| Steel | +12% |
On any job heavy in copper, aluminum, or steel, shorten quote validity to 15 to 30 days and add a materials-escalation clause. Source: PPI via ConstructConnect
Up to $5,000 per worker to train your crew, and you can stack WOTC. 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 this year: new hires must earn at least $19 an hour, and trained incumbents get at least a 5% raise. Get the training 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. Read more →
Public-works retainage got cheaper, if you know to ask. Indiana capped retainage on public projects over $200,000 at 6% until a job is half done and 3% after that, down from 10% and 5%. Many subs still sign contracts that over-withhold. Check the clause against IC 36-1-12-14, push back if it is higher, and ask to have retainage held in escrow. Read more →
OSHA’s heat inspections are back, and hot trades are on the list. OSHA relaunched its heat inspection program, running no-notice checks in high-risk industries on heat-advisory days. Write a basic plan now (water, shade, rest, acclimatization for new hires) and get a free, confidential, no-citation review from Indiana’s INSafe program at [email protected] or (317) 232-2688. Read more →
AROUND THE STATEHOUSE
Indiana moves worth watching
Indiana’s job market is still tight. Unemployment held at 3.3% with 94,000+ open postings. Wage pressure isn’t easing. Read more →
Indiana’s data-privacy law can now be enforced, but most of you are exempt. It only applies at 100,000+ Indiana consumers, which leaves out most operators. Clear that bar and the Attorney General can now sue (up to $7,500 per violation, 30-day cure). Read more →
FROM WASHINGTON
Two federal shifts that change your math
The U.S. did not renew USMCA. At the July 1 review the U.S. declined to renew the trade pact in its current form and 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. Read more →
New payroll boxes on the 2026 W-2. The federal deductions on tips and overtime are the headline, but the tracking falls on you. Qualified overtime and tips now get separate W-2 codes for 2026 wages you are paying right now. Confirm with your payroll provider before the third quarter closes that qualified overtime is being tracked separately. Read more →
FOR BUYERS & SELLERS
Where value is hiding
Skip this if you are focused on running the business. If you are buying, selling, or just want to know what your company is worth, here is the deal-side read.
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 $16M. It is a useful reference point for what your business is worth before anyone calls. Read more →
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 are what close the gap. Read more →
Financing reality this summer. 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 deals to today’s cost, not a hoped-for cut. Read more →
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 one question that matters: ask any lender whether they can approve your loan in-house or have to send it to the SBA. That drives your closing timeline more than the rate.
If an ESOP is your exit, mind the repurchase obligation. The NCEO’s latest guidance is blunt: the duty to buy back departing employees’ shares, and your management bench, decide whether the company survives a decade after you leave, not the sale itself. Have an advisor model a repurchase study 10 to 15 years out before you commit. Read more →
TOOLS + SECURITY
Two things to act on
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. Read more →
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. See prompts to try →
WORTH A LISTEN
Two for the drive
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, a live call inside ten minutes, and a local number so texts do not hit spam. Some operators doubled revenue without spending a dollar more on marketing. Listen →
Everyday AI, Ep. 782: stop prompting, start automating. The real time-saver is not better chatbot prompts, it is pointing AI at one repeatable job, like proposals, follow-ups, or data entry, and letting it run. A practical listen on where to start and how to get your team actually using it. Listen →
ECOSYSTEM VENDOR SPOTLIGHT
Z.Studio
Z.Studio is a Carmel-based branding and web design studio. They do strategy-first identity and websites that make growing, owner-led companies look as established and credible as they actually are, without the agency bloat or the endless retainer.
The reason we vouch: Founder and owner Zeke Bautista built the OWN Indiana brand you are reading right now, and they are behind our new website launching soon. If your marketing looks bootstrapped next to your reputation, that gap quietly costs you deals. Worth a conversation.
DEADLINE RADAR
Dates to put on the calendar
| Jul 15 | Indiana Tax Amnesty opens. Penalties and interest waived on pre-2024 liabilities, through Sept 9. Check eligibility first. Details → |
| Jul 31 | New-hire I-9 edition. All new I-9s must use the current form; if you onboard electronically, confirm your vendor updated. Details → |
| Sep 4 | FHLBank Indianapolis Elevate grant. Up to $20,000, but your bank must register by Sept 4 (applications Sept 7 to Oct 1). Details → |
| Sep 28 | Opportunity Zone nominations due. The program is permanent and the map is being redrawn. Details → |
| Now Live | Three July 1 laws. The FAIRNESS Act, SB 243 (trust-tax liability now reaching bookkeepers and fractional CFOs), and data-privacy enforcement all took effect. If you are not on E-Verify or have not checked who has INTIME access, handle it this month. Details → |
| Ongoing | WOTC / Form 8850. The hiring credit is lapsed for 2026, but keep filing within 28 days of each hire to claim retroactively if Congress restores it. Details → |
EVENTS WORTH YOUR TIME
Where to be
July 15: ACG Indiana “Beyond the Nine to Five,” Indianapolis. An early breakfast on building your network. Free for members, $45 otherwise. Details →
July 23 to 24: HR Leadership Seminar, French Lick. Two days on talent, culture, applying AI, and staying compliant, built for owners and whoever runs your people. $599 members, $699 otherwise. Details →
Aug 27: Indiana Women’s Collaborative, Indianapolis. A full day of leadership sessions and networking for women across industries, at the Convention Center. $299 members, $349 otherwise. Details →
Thanks for reading. Reply anytime, or reach me directly at [email protected].
Jared Luegers
Founder, OWN Indiana