Jason Phillips is a leader in the home improvement industry. Hailing from Plano, TX, he is CEO and President of Phillips Home Improvements, and renewing homes is his passion. While his career began humbly, Jason quickly saw opportunities to improve the customer service and quality of workmanship that homeowners were receiving industry-wide and resolved to provide a better experience. A WOW experience.

Early on, he decided he could help others earn better livings and enjoy a more life-giving work culture if he were boss. So he started his painting business, poising his company to create WIN-WIN situations for homeowners, team members, and vendors alike. With carefully timed additions of roofing, gutters, siding, and replacement windows over the past 21 years, Jason continues to create WIN-WIN situations.

Take a listen as Ron & Jason talk about the nitty-gritty of starting a business, and even though Jason is in the home improvement business that is not his focus.

John Ruhlin is the founder of The Ruhlin Group, a gift logistics company that helps clients like the Chicago Cubs, Wells Fargo, Caesar's Entertainment, Miami Dolphins, Morgan Stanley, and The John Maxwell Company execute year-round gifting strategies.

John's unique approach to relationships led him to become the #1 salesman for a $250 Million direct sales company by the time he was 23 (out of 1.5 Million reps). He now speaks widely about strategic gifting and relationship building and helps CEOs and sales teams drive referrals and open doors to elusive decision-makers.

Chad E. Foster is a motivational keynote speaker, sales/finance leader, and inspirational change agent who works at Red Hat/IBM. He was the first blind executive to graduate from Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development. Despite going blind while attending college in his early twenties, Chad started at Accenture and has built a career in the technology industry where he has directed financial strategies and decisions resulting in more than $45 billion in contracts. He speaks to corporate audiences and professional athletes to help them develop resilience in the face of uncertainty. He has been featured with NBC, Forbes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, Thrive Global, Chief Executive Mag and continues to inspire audiences across the world with his personal story.

Listen in as Ron and Chad dive deep into what it takes to overcome challenges, and hear why it's important to choose the right story to believe.

Over the past several years Tom and his team have helped 1000’s of home improvement contractors earn the respect & dignity equal to the value that they bring to their clients. They understand the challenges that are faced when running a business. For over 5 years, he has been training contractors to sell VIRTUALLY to their prospects, and nobody teaches this better than Tom's team. They teach businesses to connect with prospects in ways their competitors never will, allowing them to stand out and sell more. Helping contractors has led to Tom building a podcast and movement called The Contractor Fight.

The Contractor Fight leads groups of home Improvement contractors who are taking back control of their businesses & fattening their wallets. Tom is one of the most sought-after contractor coaches & consultants in the United States.

He got his start in the contractor coaching/consulting business after successfully building a Chicago painting business from scratch into a multi-million dollar enterprise in three years. He did this, he says, through a truly solid client experience process.

Mike Michalowicz is the entrepreneur behind three multi-million dollar companies and is the author of Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan, and his newest book, Fix This Next. Mike is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and regularly travels the globe as an entrepreneurial advocate.  He is an active partner in multiple companies, including an American manufacturer, a business growth consultancy, an augmented reality tech firm, and a certification organization for accountants, bookkeepers, and business coaches.  In this episode, Mike and Ron go deep into the business of entrepreneurship and the harsh reality of what it takes to survive and succeed.

On this episode of the Cleaning Up Podcast, we have Ellen Rohr. Ellen was a Plumber’s Wife now she is the Business Makeover Expert® Ellen got involved in her husband’s company after his partner died unexpectedly. It seemed like lots of money was moving through the company, but at the end of the month, there was never any money left. Thankfully, Ellen found terrific mentors, savvy contractors who taught her how to keep score in business, how to put a simple business plan together, and how to make money.

She started Bare Bones Biz, a venture capital and consulting company in 1995 to help folks of all ages turn their big ideas into successful businesses.  Ellen is also a successful franchisor, helping launch a plumbing franchise to 47 locations and $40 million in sales in under 2 years.  Ellen is currently the president of Zoom Drain and Sewer, LLC. She takes ordinarily dry-as-dust business basics and makes them simple and fun. 

Ellen is also the author of four business basics books:  Where Did the Money Go?, How Much Should I Charge?, The Bare Bones Biz Plan, and The Weekend Biz Plan.

In this episode, Joey shares his expert advice on improving customer retention, as well as the 8 stages a customer goes through from his book, Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days. Listen to learn why focusing on existing customers is so important and how to turn them into your biggest fan in just a few months. For almost twenty years, Joey has helped organizations retain their best customers and turn them into raving fans via his entertaining and actionable keynotes, workshops, and consulting projects. He has a long history of energizing and motivating audiences to enhance their customers’ experiences. He is an award-winning speaker (yes – they do have speaking contests) at both national and international conferences – competing against New York Times bestselling authors, business leaders, and internet sensations/celebrities. 

#2 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Never Lose a Customer Again.

Joseph P. Sheehan was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  He is a 2nd Generation Pest Management Professional (PMP) the President of Colony Pest Management, Inc. which has been in business for 18 years, and the founder of Synergy Scents K9 Scent Detection, in business for 10 years. He is past President of the Professional Pest Management Association of New York City and was influential in the merging of the three New York Associations in 2012. Joseph is an active Regional Board Member for the NYPMA and holds a BA in Psychology from SUNY Old Westbury. Joseph and his Father, Edward Sheehan host the Colony Confidential Podcast, a training, and education resource to give back to the Pest Management Industry.  Joseph is a big believer in giving back and over the past years has created annual fundraising events to promote awareness and generate donations for cancer research, NYC youth arts and sports programs Sponsoring the Daily News Golden Gloves and The Emerald Guild Scholarship Fund over the past 9 years and is one of the School of Visual Arts’ Corporate Partners for the Arts.  Joseph currently serves as a Trustee for the Suny Old Westbury College Foundation.

In this first episode, we sit down and talk with John Lee Dumas. John is the founder and host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews entrepreneurs seven days a week.