Tommy Mello | A $200 Million Home Service Business

Tanya Peddy enlisted in the U.S. Army and traveled the world before finding a second career in the trades. She's a welder, a pipe fitter, and now a licensed plumber working for Brandt Mechanical. In her words, the best part of her job is that she gets to, "make shit with fire." A woman's attention to detail can provide a much needed advantage as a welder. And while the Army provided discipline, she found that the construction industry was nowhere near as strict. 

Gus Antos is the founder & CEO of the multi-million dollar home service business, Milestone. He's a blue collar businessman who understands the necessity of a well-trained fleet. He placed value and quality over the quantity of service calls, and grinded through the first five years to now being one of the highest grossing trades-focused businesses in the Dallas/Fort-Worth Metroplex. If you ever wondered if plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work makes for a good career, look no further than this testimony from an industry titan. And the good news is, the trades are in serious need of hard workers. There is a labor shortage, no doubt, and it's only a matter of time until that becomes a major national security threat.

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Tradesmen built America. This is the "Blue Collar Channel"... Where you can listen to the top tradespeople around the world. Everything you need to learn about getting into the trades, becoming the best tradesman, starting your own business, and using networking and social media... To GROW in the trades!!!! and using networking and social media... To GROW in the trades!!!!

Corby Sirkel is one of the elite welders, having welded on every continent except Antarctica — from the 114 ambient temperatures in Egypt, to the inner bellies of the gold mines in Perth, Australia. He has no formal welding education and no college degree, but his passion to be the best has taken him to unimaginable places in a trade most outsiders know nothing about. He started in concrete and realized quickly he didn't want that forever — though he'll be the first to admit that between the frigidly cold winters and the long hot summers, it made a man out of him. Today, Corby is the Global Technical Services Engineer for Epiroc Drilling Solutions.

Brian Cohen is a business strategist for SF&P Advisors in South Florida specializing in the acquisition and purchasing of service companies with a portfolio in excess of $3 billion. He details what successful business owners have in common, and the patterns he sees in multiple plumbing, electrical, and HVAC companies with valuations in the millions.

Kimberly Ray was the fifth employee at Rescue Air & Plumbing in Dallas, TX. She reimagined the way a residential service call center operated, stressing the importance of a good wage and great company culture to not only retain employees, but help them perform at a high level which elevatated Rescue Air's bottom line. She also bridged the gap between Installers and Sales Reps, enabling them to work hand-in-hand to increase sales and customer postivity.

Rescue Air provides heating, cooling, and plumbing services in the Dallas Fort-Worth Metroplex.

Before there was Google, Dennis Yu was one of the original algorithm writers at Yahoo!. In this episode, he does a deep dive on how residential service companies can optimize their’ online presence, detailing the few things you must do to rank high on any search engine. He also discusses why marketing agencies fail on almost every promise they make, and how small business owners can navigate the internet in order to boost sales, awareness, and credibility.

David Johnson built fences as a young man before “officially” joining the skilled trades. Now, as VP of Sales for BoomNation — an online community for America’s forgotten blue-collar laborers and skilled tradesmen — David stresses the importance of bridging the gap between what the trades can offer and what the younger generations want in a career. His ultimate goal is to bring more young men and women into the trades, and he points to the successful careers of welders, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians as examples. BoomNation also works with contractors to pair them with the right talent for any given job.

Libby DeLucien is the CEO of 3 trades-oriented businesses, one of which is WootRecruit, the premiere recruiting software for service businesses worldwide. Early in life, she managed a chaotic schedule, working with North America's largest collection of Asian Elephants, shuttling them around the country for Ringling Bros. Circus. Through keen observation of poor management and failed systems, Libby dedicated herself to build a company with a foolproof standard operating procedure. She expresses a sentiment of extreme ownership for failures in business, reminiscent of Jocko Willink and Jordan B. Peterson.

Not many tradesmen can say they took control of the major company they started at, and almost none of them can say they took the business from $8 million a year to 9 figures in revenue. Bert Wells apprenticed for many well known tradesmen before earning a college degree from Texas Tech. With the newfound knowledge, Bert ascended the ranks to become a major player in the commercial trades. He's now the President & CEO of Beard Integrated Systems.

In college, Tyler Hoskins struggled to find a major that excited him. He overslept, partied too much, and bounced from job to job, sometimes getting fired, until he found plumbing. And while math wasn't his forté, plumbing gave him a sense of meaning and a way in which to provide. Now, as a tradesman plumber, specializing in leak detection and slab leaks, he makes over $200,000 a year, and has found a career.