On this episode of Construction Champions Podcast Andrew
Brown and Ron Nussbaum talk about the opportunities that are in the
construction industry right now. Whether you’re in school or working in the
industry right now, the next 5 years can completely change your life if you get
Andrew Brown is on a mission to tackle that and similar
misconceptions head-on. In 2002, Brown co-founded Toolfetch.com, an eCommerce-based
industrial distributor that caters to skilled trades. On LinkedIn, Brown is
arguably the distribution sector’s biggest champion for the skilled trades on
the strength of the short videos he frequently posts on there.
As for the inspiration behind Toolfetch and his greater love
for the skilled trades, Brown points to Sept. 11, 2001 as a life-changing day
for him as then a 23-year-old working on Wall Street in New York City.
“The planes had just hit the building, and I got this crazy
idea to call my friend in Rhode Island, and to go down there (Ground Zero) and
try to help,” Brown told me on the MDM Podcast. “I couldn’t just sit there. So
I convinced him to come in. A handful of days after, he comes in with a big
blue van truck with a big American flag on the back. He’s dressed as a
tradesperson. He’s got overalls and a hard hat for me. We find ourselves racing
down the West Side Highway going from checkpoint to checkpoint. We park the van
and, all of a sudden, we’re standing where World Trade Center where once stood.
The entire day, I was helping emergency workers and tradespeople find
survivors. I was watching the tradespeople on-site — who had no PPE on — doing
whatever it took to find survivors, They were running into unstable structures
and helping clear the path for emergency workers to find survivors. And after
that experience, I had a life-changing event, not only personally, but
Brown explained that he quit his Wall Street job a couple of
weeks later and spent the following months trying to find a way to give back to
the tradespeople he saw on that day at Ground Zero. So, he and his brother
co-founded Toolfetch in 2002 as an online tool and equipment reseller to
welders, carpenters, plumbers and other blue-collar trades around the world.
Today, the business’ catalog has over one million different products from
approximately 650 different vendors.
But beyond providing a resource for tradespeople to procure
tools and equipment from, Brown was compelled to be a voice for the industry.
“I see this as my way to connect with them,” he told me.
“I’ve been doing it on a consistent basis, speaking to them behind the scenes
around the country and listening to all their issues with the skills gap and
wages. I just felt like I needed to be a voice for the blue-collar skilled
trades. And that’s when I started putting out content and connecting with
https://twitter.com/toolfetch
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-brown-b1736a5?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BXymKam8SSZyk1fayjlcbxw%3D%3D
https://www.toolfetch.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Toolfetch
https://www.facebook.com/toolfetch
https://www.instagram.com/toolfetch/
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www.constructionchampionspodcast.com and everywhere you listen to podcast.
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#construction #constructionlife #constructionindustry
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#management #leadership #constructionchampions #ronnussbaum #nuttnest
