Zach did everything he was supposed to do went to college, got the tech job, bought the house.

Then one day he looked around and realized he couldn't fix a single thing without calling someone.

That bothered him enough to start learning skills on the side while keeping his white collar career going.

What started as picking up welding and hunting turned into serious research about what happened to trades in this country and why people treat that kind of work like it's beneath them.

When he was eliminated his tech position after 12 years and his savings ran out after 11 months, those side skills kept him afloat.

Trapping and taxidermy paid the bills until he landed another tech role. COVID sped up what he'd already figured out being completely dependent on everything working perfectly all the time is a bad bet.

We talk about how schools systematically got rid of shop classes, why looking down on skilled work makes no sense, and how learning to handle things yourself changes what you think you're capable of.

• How realizing you can't handle basic problems in your own life pushes you to learn practical skills even while working a desk job.
• Why education policy changes over decades systematically removed shop classes and created the skilled worker shortage we're dealing with now.
• The confidence that comes from learning hands-on skills carries over into everything else you do, not just the specific task you learned.
• How many people are quietly interested in becoming more self-reliant but won't say it out loud because of what others might think.
• Why the idea that white collar jobs are secure and blue collar work is beneath people turned out to be completely backwards.

Make sure to subscribe to Blue Collar BS where we explore how different generations approach work, leadership, and building careers in the trades.

Do you want to hear more stories like Zach's that challenge what you thought was possible and inspire you to try something different? We've got some amazing guests lined up!

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Brad's father recently passed away, inspiring us to take time to honor the everyday heroes who show up without seeking recognition the people who teach us the most important lessons without even realizing they're doing it.

Brad shares memories of his father who worked as a Teamsters driver and never missed a day of work, taught discipline without lectures, and showed integrity by owning mistakes when his job was at risk.

The lessons came through presence rather than instruction being available when needed even if lengthy conversations weren't his style, showing up consistently for 45 years regardless of how he felt, and demonstrating values through actions instead of words.

We explore how the most powerful teaching happens through observation rather than explanation, why consistency builds the credibility that matters when mistakes happen, and how being present counts more than being perfect.

1. How daily consistency builds the kind of credibility that carries you through mistakes and tough times.
2. Why the most important lessons get taught through actions and presence rather than lectures or explanations.
3. What integrity looks like when you have to own up to decisions that put everything at risk.
4. The difference between being available and being perfect why showing up matters more than having all the answers.
5. How learning to observe patterns and connect dots comes from watching people who lead through example.

Please subscribe to Blue Collar BS where we talk about the real gaps between generations in blue collar work and what it takes to lead across different age groups in today's trades. Sometimes the most important episodes aren't about business at all they're about the people who shaped who we become.

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Sam DeWitt got told like every millennial to go to college and get a degree.

The path from there to becoming a master mechanic wasn't anything he could have planned, moving through different roles and companies before landing somewhere that changed his entire perspective on what leadership could be.

His supervisor Bob showed him what servant leadership actually looks like creating space for people to grow by recognizing where they need help and empowering them to learn instead of expecting them to already know everything.

We explore how admitting what you don't know opens the door to real learning, why seeking knowledge directly from people doing the work beats any manual, and how hands-on practice with real failure scenarios builds the next generation of skilled technicians.

1. Why companies banking on operators training replacements fails when the operator is protecting their own job instead of teaching.
2. How servant leadership that recognizes strengths and weaknesses across teams while empowering people to struggle and learn changes careers.
3. Why maintenance requires some innate ability beyond what's teachable and finding people who want to work on broke stuff every day is hard.
4. Why creating the right training tools can work better than prescribed ones.

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Nush knew by sophomore year that traditional college wasn't her path.

Automotive classes in high school led to NASCAR Technical Institute, then CNC machining when motorsport jobs required connections she didn't have.

Now she's built Sisterhood of Trades, a Discord community of 850 women worldwide supporting each other across different trades.

We explore why women still face basic safety issues like inaccessible restrooms and unlit parking lots that employers ignore while claiming to support women.

Nush shares the harsh reality where reporting harassment leads to punishment instead of accountability, how LinkedIn networking creates more opportunities than degrees, and the vision to fund scholarships providing toolboxes for women entering trades so they don't start behind like she did.

1. How a worldwide Discord community of 850 women proves there's massive demand for peer support across trades.
2. Why employers claiming to support women while ignoring accessible restrooms, lactating rooms, lit parking lots, and safe building access is empty lip service.
3. The accountability gap where women reporting harassment about their bodies face punishment while leadership protects the men creating hostile environments.
4. How university paths aren't the only option and successful fulfilling careers exist without the debt.
5. The scholarship vision to provide toolboxes and resources so women don't start trades careers at a disadvantage.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS where we talk about the real gaps between generations in blue collar work and what it takes to lead across different age groups in today's trades.

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Fresh out of college with a construction management degree, Bryce walked onto job sites telling field crews how to build based on what the book said.

Fast forward to 2022 when he became a general manager and led his company to their largest financial loss ever at $1.5 million, forcing him to lay off 66 people.

Instead of quitting, Bryce stood in front of the 35 remaining employees, wrote "I'm sorry" on a whiteboard, and owned the failure completely.

We explore how treating people like numbers on a spreadsheet destroys companies, why chasing titles instead of impact sets you up for disaster, and how Bryce turned things around by asking field crews to teach him instead of pretending he knew everything.

He shares his journey through alcohol and nicotine dependence trying to handle stress, the weekend journaling session that saved his career, and why the middleman mindset matters more than any title on your business card.

1. Why requesting to work with the toughest superintendents who didn't respect him became the turning point for earning trust.
2. How treating a 100-person company like a spreadsheet with budgets and assets instead of people led to catastrophic financial loss.
3. The moment where owning complete failure in front of his team changed everything.
4. How to retain Gen Z talent by showing them the impact they're making instead of dangling titles and pay as the only rewards.
5. How building personal power through relationships beats title power every time, especially when you're the middleman holding culture together.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS for practical advice on running your business better. Leading through failure requires more vulnerability than most people are willing to show - are you ready to own it?

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Too many trades and construction business owners ignore their accounting until tax season hits, then spend days manually entering receipts from shoeboxes instead of using technology that does it automatically.

We tackle the business operations side that gets pushed aside when you're busy doing the work that actually gets you paid.

Steve reveals his manual QuickBooks process while Brad walks through why people fail to pay themselves properly, the three different rates you should be charging as owner-operator-CEO, and how to stop leaving money on the table with bad estimating.

We explore tactics for building overhead into quotes without overcomplicating the math, why technology like receipt scanning apps can save days of work, and how understanding your customer's busy season changes your sales follow-up game completely.

1. Why paying yourself only after everything else is taken care of means you're getting a fraction of what you're worth instead of paying yourself first.
2. How to calculate what you actually need to charge by separating your field labor hours from your CEO hours from your ownership compensation
3. Why most jobs are quoted wrong because overhead and profitability aren't properly estimated into the numbers.
4. The garage door company example where tactical empathy in follow-up messaging closed the deal after understanding their busy season.
5. Why seven touches before giving up beats three attempts, but only if you change your approach when the message isn't landing.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS for practical advice on running your business better. If you're still using shoeboxes and spreadsheets to track your money, this episode is for you.

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Starting with a shop vac in a Ford Ranger, DT built a grease trap company that now runs 14 trucks across Washington State with his sights set on going national before turning 40.

He's built a team that runs the business smoothly when he's not there, and employees talk up the company so much they're recruiting people from completely different industries.

We explore how unconventional leadership creates this level of ownership, why creative benefits matter when you can't compete with corporate packages, and what happens when you give people freedom to figure things out instead of controlling every process.

1. Why 13 years of trial and error taught DT that internal communication was the missing piece until hiring a CFO.
2. When employees ask for more responsibility, letting them take it and own it completely creates better results than telling them exactly how to do it.
3. Monthly company shutdowns for yard day and meals show employees you value spending time with them beyond just getting work done.
4. How DT's willingness to admit he screwed up 100 times makes employees want to help build the company instead of just collect paychecks.
5. Why mistakes are inevitable but what you do about them determines whether your team fears failure or learns from it.

Make sure to subscribe to the Blue Collar BS podcast where we talk about the real gaps between generations in blue collar work and what it takes to lead across different age groups in today's trades.

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Home service is now 4% of the US workforce and the fastest growing industry in the country, yet many successful businesses still struggle with basic invoicing and cash flow management.

Joe Kaye, a tech veteran who worked construction through college, started exploring investments in blue collar businesses and discovered a massive gap between the amount of work available and the systems companies used to actually get paid.

He teamed up with co-founder Luke to build Procured, a field service management software helping businesses get paid the same day jobs are completed instead of waiting weeks to send invoices.

We explore why younger people are choosing trades over college debt, how 60-70% of home service businesses now embrace technology, and Joe's rapid-fire revelations including his vendetta against Reese's for changing their formula and why being 10 minutes early means you're on time.

1. Why tracking financials only when checks arrive creates cash flow chaos that makes it impossible to know if you can pay rent, staff, or buy equipment.
2. The real cost of waiting 30-plus days to send invoices after completing jobs when you're paying for trucks, materials, and payroll today.
3. How the gap between available work and getting paid is crushing successful businesses that should be thriving.
4. Why younger workers choosing trades over college debt are forcing the industry to adopt technology or get left behind.
5. The invoice that never gets sent because there's no system to track what's been completed versus what's been billed, leaving thousands of dollars on the table.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS where we talk about the real gaps between generations in blue collar work and what it takes to lead across different age groups in today's trades.

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Construction is the second leading industry for death by suicide, yet most leaders don't know how to recognize when someone's struggling or how to have those check-in conversations.

Jessica Hallahan grew up in a household full of addiction and poverty, became a drug and alcohol counselor, then burned herself out at age 24 before founding Journey to Yourself to help individuals and teams build resilience.

We explore how different generations approach mental health from boomers who view it as unnecessary (62% are skeptical according to SHRM) to Gen Z who reports the highest rates of mental health issues and takes the most time off.

Jessica shares why the angry person might need help just as much as the sad one, how older generations actually did care about mental health by going to the bar to "comment" about work, and why bringing your whole 70% is better than pretending you're at 100% when you're not.

1. How to spot when someone's really struggling versus just having a bad day by watching for behavior that's different from their typical pattern.
2. Why accountability goes both ways where leaders need to check in but employees also need to communicate when they're struggling.
3. The difference between using ADHD or other diagnoses as awareness versus excuses and what to actually do with that information.
4. Creating open door policies that actually work by leaders modeling vulnerability about their own rough days instead of hiding behind closed office doors.
5. Why Gen Z needs the "yes and" lesson where you can acknowledge bad days and still understand other people have their own struggles too.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS for honest discussions about leadership challenges you're actually facing. Mental health isn't just a younger generation obsession share this episode with someone who needs to understand why it matters for everyone on their team.

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Most business owners are sitting here in early January without any real plan for 2026 because they're still trying to close out 2025.

Steve makes the case for one single measurable outcome that determines a successful year while Brad pushes back with the reality of "we just want more" thinking.

Using gross margin improvement as an example, we walk through how to get every department aligned on the same goal, why supplier accountability is an untapped opportunity, and how to turn objectives into 12-week strategies.

We also tackle why leadership is hard when you actually have to make decisions, how the Hoshin planning system creates 81 squares of complexity nobody needs, and why squirrels with shiny objects will always try to derail your focus unless pet projects directly support your singular goal.

• Why "we just want more" or "we want better" fails without defining what that actually means in measurable terms.
• The trust but verify approach to supplier invoices especially around tariff line items that might have been passed through five times.
• How employees come back with excuses about SAP tickets and IT problems when you give them nine goals instead of one clear focus.
• The danger of operating in a one-year vacuum where beneficial three-year projects get killed because they hurt this year's numbers.
• Why amazing things happen when you make actual decisions instead of living in "I'll think about it" mode that keeps everyone guessing.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS for more real conversations about running and growing your business. Share this episode with a business owner who's still trying to figure out what 2026 looks like.

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