From Corporate to Blue-Collar Operator: Eric Cunningham shares how he left National Instruments and tech startups to buy a 25-year-old residential plumbing company in Austin, TX.

We unpack acquisition entrepreneurship, the “learning/stupid tax,” and the shift from sales ops and engineering leadership to running a home-services trades business day to day.

Eric gets specific on recruiting and retaining plumbers, building trust and culture in a blue-collar team, improving CSR booking conversion, and growing lead generation beyond word-of-mouth.

We also cover family dynamics, risk tolerance, and why Main Street ownership beats corporate politics.

You’ll learn:

• How to evaluate and buy a plumbing business

• What changes in the first 90 days actually move the P&L

• Tactics for technician hiring, onboarding, and performance

• Turning service calls into long-term customers with education and empathy

If you’re exploring buying a service business or scaling a plumbing company, this episode is your field guide.

Eric's Business: Good Clean Plumbing

Guest: Eric Cunningham

Host: Faiez Rana

Brought to you by Offshore Launch: delegate to elite remote talent with experience in your trade.

What happens when a private equity exec walks away, gets sober, and builds one of the top residential solar companies in America?

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, Faiez Rana sits down with Bret Biggart, the Founder & CEO of Freedom Solar — a company that’s grown into a $200M+ powerhouse, ranked #5 residential solar installer in the U.S., and named one of the Best Places to Work in Austin and Houston.

But this isn’t just about solar.
It’s about sobriety, identity, and building a business rooted in trust.

Bret got sober at 35 — the same year he founded Freedom Solar. And what followed wasn’t just professional growth — it was a total transformation in how he leads, makes decisions, and shows up for his people.

If you're building a home service company, navigating leadership in recovery, or simply trying to grow without losing yourself — this episode will speak to you.

Inside, we talk about:

• How to attract and retain top talent

• The power (and pressure) of open book management

• Why letting go of control builds real leadership trust

• Setting goals without getting trapped in outcomes

• Letting go of old identities to scale to new levels

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Bret Biggart

Freedom Solar  is a top-rated solar & battery backup provider for homeowners & businesses. Claim $10,000 in solar tax credits before they end in 2025.

Brought to you by Offshore Launch.

Delegate to elite talent with experience in your trade.

Today on Blue Collar Ballers, I'm sitting down with Miss Dafna, owner of Pink’s Windows Fort Lauderdale—a fast-growing window and pressure washing franchise.

When Dafna unexpectedly lost her job, she didn't panic. Instead, she leaned into an opportunity she found by chance—buying and rapidly building a home services franchise, all while balancing life as a single mom.

From personally cleaning windows to strategically partnering with competitors, Dafna has grown Pink’s through sheer determination, community relationships, and authentic storytelling.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How Dafna has scaled from 0 to multiple territories in 8 months

• Why embracing competitors as collaborators is her secret growth strategy.

• How posting vulnerably on LinkedIn turned into real-world business opportunities.

• What new franchisees get wrong—and how to set realistic expectations for success.

If you’ve ever thought about franchise ownership, building a trades business from scratch, or leveraging authentic storytelling and collaboration to generate growth—this episode is for you.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Miss Dafna

Pinks Windows Fort Lauderdale

Pinks Windows Boca Raton

Brought to you by Offshore Launch.

Delegate to elite remote talent with experience in your trade.

Dan Dowdy started earning $5/day on plumbing jobs with his dad at age 5.
By 2009, he stepped into leadership of the family business—learning the hard way how to manage people, delegate, and scale without burning out.

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, Dan shares hard-earned lessons from 20+ years in the trades and what he now teaches owners across the country.

We cover:

• The 4 levels of leadership—and why most owners get stuck at level 1

• A step-by-step system for delegation that doesn’t backfire

• How to keep good people when you can’t always pay the most

• Why consistency beats charisma when it comes to culture

• How to set goals without spinning in circles

• What makes husband-wife partnerships work—or fall apart

If you’re in the weeds every day and feel like you’re guessing your way through leadership, this one’s for you.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Dan Dowdy

Reid Rupp started mowing lawns at 14. By 25, he was running a $10M remodeling company—after buying it with less than $400K down.

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, Reid breaks down what really happens after you buy a business—beyond the highlight reels.

We cover:

• How he structured the deal using an SBA loan + seller financing

• The hidden risks (and people issues) he didn’t see coming

• What caused gross margins to collapse—and how he fixed it

• His CRM-driven lead system that runs 24/7

• Why “overpaying” might actually be the smartest move

• How he’s now building a national exterior remodeling platform

Reid doesn’t sugarcoat it. If you're thinking about buying your first business—or want to scale without the BS—this is the one to queue up.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Reid Rupp

From Pro Baseball to Coaching 1,000+ Sales Teams: How Ryan Groth Transformed the Way Contractors Sell

Ryan Groth, Founder of Sales Transformation Group, didn’t just walk away from a pro baseball career—he reinvented himself into one of the most respected sales trainers in the trades. Today, he’s helped 1,000+ contractors build scalable, high-performing sales teams.

In this episode, we go far beyond comp plans and sales scripts.

We unpack the real drivers of sales performance: identity, ego, decisiveness, and culture. Ryan reveals the mindset shifts contractors must make to stop babysitting underperformers and start leading winning teams.

🔑 Here's what you'll learn:

• Why most owners accidentally cripple their sales teams

• How to build a compensation plan that creates culture

• Why your indecisiveness is killing your close rate

• How to turn order-takers into confident consultants

• The key to aligning personal vision with company incentives

If you're still selling every job yourself—or watching your reps flounder—this episode will challenge your thinking and give you a roadmap to change.

Follow Ryan here:

• Sales Transformation Group
• Linkedin
• The Sales Athlete Podcast

Host: Faiez Rana

Andy Fuller was watching Jurassic Park when a wild idea struck: mosquitoes have been around since the dinosaurs — and they’re not going anywhere. That insight became the seed for Mosquito Hunters, a side hustle he launched while working a corporate job. Today, it's a national franchise with over 150 locations and a new “3-in-1” model combining pest control, mosquito control, and holiday lighting.

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, host Faiez Rana sits down with Andy to unpack the full journey — from spraying lawns in a branded uniform during lunch breaks to building a franchise system that supports generational wealth.

You'll learn:

• Why Andy franchised before going full time

• The systems that helped him scale nationally

• How franchisees drive innovation (think: Big Mac and $5 Footlong)

• Why the best franchisors act like Sherpas, not bosses

• What makes a franchise sellable, not just successful

Whether you’re building a service business, thinking about franchising, or just love a good underdog story — this episode is packed with insight.

🔔 Subscribe to Blue Collar Ballers for more stories from the builders behind America’s most essential businesses.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Andy Fuller

Most home service business owners dream of a big payday—but 80% never find a buyer.

Not because their business isn’t profitable.

But because it’s unprepared.

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, business attorney Mitch Zoll pulls on two decades of experience and breaks down 6 hidden landmines that quietly sabotage business exits—especially in trades like HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and construction.

You’ll learn:
• The difference between a job and a sellable business
• How overlooked leases, vendor terms, and employee issues can kill a deal
• Why systems—not hustle—are what buyers actually buy
• How to separate your identity from your business before it’s too late
• Why a non-compete is only as strong as your relationships
• A quarterly discipline every owner should practice to avoid costly surprises

If you're in the trades and want to sell your business someday, this episode will help you start preparing today.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Mitch Zoll

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, Faiez Rana sits down with Steve Huber, founder of Billion Dollar Contractor and the architect behind two of the most dominant sales organizations in solar and roofing.

Over the last 12 years, Steve’s teams have sold and installed more than $2 billion in residential home improvement projects for over 100,000 homeowners across 20+ states.

→ From $0 to $40M in year one
→ 7x Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company leader
→ Executive Director of Sales at Semper Solaris, the #1 residential solar + storage company in the U.S.

This episode is packed with tactical gold for founders doing $1–$3M in annual revenue and ready to build a real sales team.

You’ll learn:

• Why high close rates can be a red flag—and how to unlock revenue hiding in your funnel
• The difference between hiring and recruiting top performers (and how to design a system A-players want to join)
• How Steve scaled a sales org to $300M+ by managing outputs, not micromanaging inputs
• Why you should “sell your weaknesses” and how smaller companies can out-recruit the big guys
• How to avoid breaking operations when scaling sales—and what to do when it inevitably happens

Whether you’re still selling every job yourself or struggling to scale a sales team, this episode will challenge your assumptions and give you a clear roadmap to build a team that performs.

🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Blue Collar Ballers.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Steve Huber

What happens when a corporate lawyer helps a plumber recover $60K in missed revenue—and stumbles into a broken industry?

He builds a business to fix it.

In this episode of Blue Collar Ballers, I sit down with Marc Visent, founder and CEO of Knowify, a construction management platform now used by over 2,000 contractors. We unpack Marc’s journey from the legal world into construction tech—and the costly mistakes most contractors don’t even realize they’re making.

You’ll learn:

• The one insight that sparked Knowify—and revealed how much money contractors leave on the table

• Why job-level profitability visibility is non-negotiable for scaling trades businesses

• The silent killers: missed change orders, committed costs, and unmanaged estimating time

• How Marc translated contractor complaints into software that actually works

• His playbook for building a trades business today—from acquisition strategy to operational structure

Whether you’re a contractor, operator, or investor in the home services space, this episode is a masterclass in identifying hidden margin leaks and building smarter systems from day one.

🎧 Listen now to hear how a lawyer with no trades background built a platform contractors actually love—and what you can do to avoid the profit-killers he sees every day.

Host: Faiez Rana

Guest: Marc Visent