Season 2 · Episode 8

Most contractors don’t burn out because they lack systems. They burn out because they’re trying to solve the wrong problem.

In this conversation, Christene Marie sits down with Adam Swauger, co-founder of Reconstruct Consulting Group, to unpack what actually holds leaders back as they try to grow. This is not another conversation about delegation or hiring. It is about what is happening underneath the surface. Identity, internal capacity, and the quiet absence of hope that limits what is possible.

If you are working harder, pushing longer, and still feel like something is not clicking, this episode will challenge where you are looking for answers and point you back to what actually needs to change.

Most conversations around construction leadership focus on systems, processes, and team management. Those things matter. But they only work when the leader behind them is aligned.

Adam shares how hope drives resilience, why empathy is a critical leadership skill, and how learning to listen, both to others and to yourself, can change how you lead your business and your family. Through personal experience, including addiction, recovery, and rebuilding, he brings a perspective that most leadership conversations miss.

This episode is for the contractor who knows there is another level, but realizes it will not come from doing more of the same.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:45 Adam’s story and role of hope in resilience and leadership

13:34 Raising your ceiling and expanding what is possible

18:03 The power of listening and presence

28:22 Journaling, reflection, and self-awareness

34:38 Empathy and understanding people deeply

38:20 Identity versus business performance

42:16 Leadership, legacy, and what really matters

49:07 Fixing internal alignment for the calling of your business

1:01:18 Outro

Books Recommended:

Podcast Episode Recommended:

Adam Swauger is the co-founder of Reconstruct Consulting Group, where he works with construction business owners to bring clarity to chaos and align their leadership, systems, and long-term vision.

He previously ran a remodeling business through seasons of addiction, mental health challenges, and recovery. That experience now shapes how he approaches leadership and growth. His work goes beyond operations and focuses on the internal development required for sustainable progress.

Today, he partners with leaders across the construction industry to help them build businesses that reflect who they are and who they are becoming.

https://reconstructconsultinggroup.com/ 

The Craft & Calling is a podcast for builders, tradespeople, and leaders who are committed to doing more than just growing a business.

We explore the intersection of craftsmanship, leadership, and calling. The goal is to help you build something that lasts, both on the job and at home. Through real stories, practical insight, and honest conversations, this space is designed to strengthen how you lead, live, and show up every day.

From foundation to finish, this space was built with you in mind.

Explore more conversations and resources at:

Foundation First Marketing helps home service businesses build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and real performance data.

Get a free marketing quote.

Season 2 · Episode 7

Most contractors don’t fail because they lack opportunity. They stall because they’re building the business on the same identity that got them started.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling, Christene Marie sits down with Matteo Palisca, co-founder of Reconstruct Consulting Group, to break down what it actually takes to scale a home service business beyond the early stages. From $800K to $3M and beyond, growth isn’t just about better systems. It’s about becoming the kind of leader your business requires.

If you’ve felt stuck, overwhelmed, or like you’re doing everything right but still not breaking through, this conversation will challenge how you think about growth. You’ll hear why most contractors stay trapped in the operator role, how distraction quietly kills momentum, and what it really means to focus on what moves the needle.

This isn’t about chasing more. It’s about building something that lasts, at work and at home.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:12 Matteo’s journey from builder to business operator

7:29 Why identity drives your business ceiling

12:52 Understanding inherited beliefs and leadership psychology

17:07 How to install new patterns and leadership habits

24:15 Mentorship, accountability, and real growth

30:21 Roles, structure, and operational clarity

39:31 Building a business that supports your life and legacy

50:37 Outro

Matteo Palisca is the Co-Founder of Reconstruct Consulting Group, where he helps contractors bring order to the chaos that often comes with growth. He works with home service business owners to build systems, structure, and leadership habits that allow their companies to scale without sacrificing their time, relationships, or long-term vision.

Matteo’s approach is grounded in real-world experience. After helping grow a home service business from a small team to over 80 employees, he saw firsthand how quickly growth can break a business when there’s no structure behind it. Today, he partners with contractors to redesign their operations, clarify roles and responsibilities, and build accountability into their teams so the business no longer depends on the owner to carry everything.

His work goes beyond systems. Matteo helps leaders rebuild how they think, communicate, and show up, both on the job and at home. Because in his view, a business that grows at the expense of your life isn’t success. It’s just a different kind of burnout.

https://reconstructconsultinggroup.com/ 

The Craft & Calling exists to cultivate the legacy of tradespeople through connection, craftsmanship, and calling. We believe real growth is relational, and that the businesses you build and the lives you lead are deeply connected.

Every episode brings real stories, practical principles, and honest conversations designed to strengthen your leadership on the job and your presence at home. From foundation to finish, this space was built with you in mind.

https://thecraftandcalling.com/linktr/

Foundation First Marketing helps home service businesses build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and real performance data.

Get a free marketing quote.

Season 2 · Episode 6

What actually limits the growth of a contracting business?

For many owners, the answer isn’t marketing, demand, or opportunity. It’s the hidden leadership ceiling that appears when a trades professional moves from technician to business owner.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling, Christene Marie sits down with entrepreneur Patric Shannon, founder of LeadSnap and Websiteness & The Concrete Marketers, to talk about the real reason many contractors stall in business growth. After spending years working with hundreds of contractors and building multiple companies himself, Patric has seen the same pattern play out repeatedly: hardworking tradespeople try to scale their business while still operating like technicians.

The result is predictable. Long hours. Constant pressure. And eventually burnout.

Together they unpack the leadership shift required to grow a business that doesn’t consume your life. From the “law of the lid” in leadership to the importance of recovery, mindset, and building the right team, this conversation challenges the hustle narrative that many contractors have been taught.

If you're a contractor or service business owner trying to scale your company while protecting your health, family, and long-term vision, this episode offers a grounded perspective on how real growth actually happens.

Because building a business should never cost you the life you're building it for.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:25 The “law of the lid” and why leaders limit business growth

5:16 The technician vs business owner mindset shift

9:27 What the CEO role actually requires in a growing company

12:07 Leadership, emotional intelligence, and building a healthy culture

15:46 The role recovery plays in leadership performance

19:39 Why Patric changed his daily routine as an entrepreneur

23:46 The burnout cycle and building a personal recovery practice

29:55 Starting with the end in mind for your life and business

34:10 Defining the vision that guides your business decisions

37:23 Outro

Recommended for Stress Relief and Recovery: Shakti Mat

Recommended Books: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

Patric Shannon is the founder of LeadSnap and Websiteness & The Concrete Marketers, companies dedicated to helping contractors and concrete businesses improve their online presence, lead generation, and marketing systems.

Before entering the marketing world, Patric spent a decade as a professional poker player, where he developed a deep understanding of decision-making, psychology, and performance under pressure. Those lessons now shape the way he approaches leadership and business strategy.

Today Patric works with contractors across North America, helping them strengthen their marketing foundations, build more scalable businesses, and step into the role of true business owners rather than remaining stuck in technician mode.

https://leadsnap.com/ 

https://www.websiteness.com/ 

The Craft & Calling Podcast celebrates the builders of our communities - contractors, tradespeople, and service leaders who take pride in their work and the lives they build through it.

Hosted by Christene Marie, each episode shares real stories, proven principles, and thoughtful conversations designed to strengthen leadership on the job and presence at home.

At The Craft & Calling, we believe legacy isn’t just what you leave behind.

Explore more conversations and resources at:

Foundation First Marketing helps home service businesses build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and real performance data.

Get a free marketing quote.

https://foundationfirstmarketing.com/

Season 2 · Episode 5

How Construction Owners Build Leaders and Strong Teams

Many construction business owners find themselves stuck in the middle of everything. Every decision runs through them. Every problem lands on their desk. And over time, the business that once created freedom starts to feel like a trap.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling Podcast, Christene Marie sits down with project manager and former company partner Sam Hoffman to talk about one of the most overlooked drivers of sustainable growth in construction businesses: leadership development and communication.

Drawing from their experience working together in a family painting business, they unpack what it really takes to build strong teams in the trades. From identifying natural leaders in the field to creating systems that improve communication between the office and the jobsite, this conversation explores the practical steps owners can take to grow beyond being the bottleneck in their own company.

If you're a contractor trying to scale your business, develop better leaders, or strengthen the connection between your field team and leadership, this episode offers grounded insight from real experience in the trades.

🔍 What We Talk About

⏱️ Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:52 The communication gap between owners and the field

6:30 Why every successful construction business is built on relationships

9:01 Leadership principles that work in both business and life

14:06 Why your leadership team represents the mission of your company

17:18 How systems help construction businesses scale

20:40 Identifying and developing field leaders

26:54 The cost of poor communication and lack of leadership

28:36 What real quality looks like in construction operations

34:40 The process of stepping back as an owner and trusting your team

38:17 Outro

👤 About the Guest

Sam Hoffman is a project manager with more than fifteen years of experience in the construction and painting industries. He previously served as a partner in Hoffman Painting and Finishing, a family-owned company where he helped implement leadership structures and operational systems that strengthened quality control and allowed the business to scale more sustainably.

During his time in the company, Sam focused heavily on developing field leadership, improving communication between the office and job sites, and creating clear expectations for team leaders. His approach centered on empowering crew members to take ownership of their work while maintaining high standards of craftsmanship and accountability.

Today, Sam continues working in the construction industry while sharing practical insights on leadership, communication, and team development in the trades.

🎙️ About The Craft & Calling

The Craft & Calling Podcast is dedicated to the builders, contractors, and trades leaders who are shaping their businesses and their lives with intention. Through real stories, practical leadership insights, and honest conversations, each episode explores how to strengthen both the craft of the work and the calling behind it.

From foundation to finish, this space was built with you in mind. The mission of The Craft & Calling is to cultivate the legacy of tradespeople through connection, craftsmanship, and calling.

🔧 A Note on Foundation First Marketing

Foundation First Marketing helps home service businesses build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and real performance data.

Get a free marketing quote.

https://foundationfirstmarketing.com/

Season 2 · Episode 4

Most contractors are tracking the wrong numbers.

Clicks. Impressions. Leads.

But you can’t deposit clicks in the bank.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling, Christene Marie sits down with Austin Houser, founder of Basecoat Marketing, to break down what actually matters when it comes to marketing performance. If you’re a contractor wondering how much you should spend on marketing, how to measure marketing ROI, or whether your agency is truly accountable, this conversation brings clarity.

We unpack the difference between ROI and cost of marketing, why vanity metrics are misleading, and how contractors can track revenue the right way. You’ll also learn how Google reviews, CRM tracking, and performance-based marketing tie directly into sustainable growth, profitability, and long-term legacy.

If you’re building a business you want to scale, sell, or pass down one day, this episode will help you measure what truly matters.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:33 Meet Austin Houser & performance-based marketing

4:11 Vanity metrics vs real revenue tracking

7:10 Cost of marketing vs ROI explained

8:19 How to calculate marketing ROI for contractors

10:50 The 80-20 rule and how your branding matters

13:43 Google reviews strategy that drives local rankings

16:52 Review capture scripts and disputing reviews with Google

19:18 Incentivizing reviews without violating guidelines

23:00 CRM tracking and two-way data sync

25:31 Getting comfortable on camera as a contractor

29:14 Final takeaways on marketing measurement

30:28 Outro

Get in contact with Austin:

Austin Houser is the founder of Basecoat Marketing, a performance-based marketing agency dedicated exclusively to the professional painting industry. With a team of 30+ specialists, Austin helps residential and commercial painting contractors scale through data-driven marketing and disciplined measurement.

His approach centers on cost of marketing, CRM visibility, and revenue accountability rather than vanity metrics like clicks or impressions. Austin works closely with contractors to ensure their marketing investments produce measurable financial return and sustainable growth.

The Craft & Calling cultivates the legacy of tradespeople through connection, craftsmanship, and calling. Every episode shares real stories, proven principles, and practical strategies designed to strengthen your leadership on the job and your presence at home.

We hone the craft.

Legacy isn’t just what you leave behind. It’s what you build today.

Foundation First Marketing helps home service businesses build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and real performance data.

Get a free marketing quote.

Season 2 · Episode 3

Many construction business owners start with grit, skill, and long hours. Early growth comes from doing everything yourself. But eventually that same model becomes the bottleneck.

In this episode, Christene Marie sits down with Danny Kerr to explore what it actually takes to scale a construction business without sacrificing your health, your family, or your long-term vision. They unpack why contractor burnout is often a systems problem, not a motivation problem, and how leaders must evolve if their businesses are going to grow sustainably.

This conversation is for contractors who feel stretched thin, owners stuck at a revenue ceiling, and leaders who want to build a business that runs without depending on them every hour of the day.

🔍 What We Talk About

⏱️ Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

6:30 The habit of hard work and savings starting young

10:11 Organizational structure for construction businesses

16:19 Support groups and what you can learn from them 

20:32 Separating your identity from the business 

27:34 First steps founders, owners, and operators can take to get in touch with their goals

31:42: Outro

📂 Resources From This Episode

Recommended exercise: Create a five-year “Painted Picture” vision for your construction company. Define what leadership, systems, team structure, revenue, and culture look like when the business no longer depends entirely on you.

Conduct a bottleneck audit:

👤 About the Guest

Danny Kerr is a construction entrepreneur and business leader known for helping contractors build scalable companies through systems, leadership development, and organizational clarity. With experience growing a painting business from a small team to a large operation, Danny brings real-world insight into what it takes to scale without losing control, culture, or personal freedom.

https://www.btacademy.com/ 

🎙️ About The Craft & Calling

The Craft & Calling is a community built for trades leaders who care deeply about both their work and the life they are building alongside it. Through real conversations and practical insight, the show explores leadership, legacy, and what it means to build businesses that last.

Explore resources, conversations, and the community at:

🔧 A Note on Foundation First Marketing

This conversation reflects the kind of leadership and strategic thinking that also informs the work of Foundation First Marketing, where Christene Marie serves as a co-founder.

Foundation First partners with home service businesses to build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and long-term vision, helping owners grow without losing trust, culture, or control.

Get a free marketing quote, grounded in real performance data.

Season 2 · Episode 2

Why Most Home Service Leads Never Convert and How Systems Fix It

Rethinking follow-up, visibility, and leadership when missed calls and broken systems quietly cost home service businesses real growth.

Many home service businesses invest heavily in marketing but still struggle with low conversion. Leads come in, phones ring, and opportunities quietly slip through the cracks.

In this episode, Christene Marie sits down with Leandra Grenier-Green to unpack why most lead loss is not a marketing problem. It is a systems problem. Together, they explore how follow-up, visibility, accountability, and operational clarity directly impact revenue, customer experience, and team performance.

This conversation is for owners who feel busy but uncertain, who are generating demand but not seeing consistent results, and who know their business needs structure to grow without chaos.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

3:06 Why most leads never convert

6:57 Missed calls and silent revenue loss

9:24 Call tracking to improve marketing ROI for home services

14:58 Lead scoring and inconsistencies in the call center

18:59 Designing a customer journey that converts

23:47 Google Ad campaigns and where to start

28:28 Data checklist from Foundation First Marketing

31:19 Outro

Customer & Marketing Data Checklist

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KxGYWYuak0R10JR777jC8rsp8ETX7jem/view?usp=drive_link 

Leandra Grenier-Green is an operations leader with a passion for building strong, scalable systems and empowering high-performing teams. With a decade of experience in agency environments, she specializes in turning chaos into clarity so founders can focus on growth.

Leandra has helped scale digital marketing agencies by leading operations, people development, and internal strategy. Her work sits at the intersection of process and people, helping businesses grow sustainably without burning out their leaders or teams.

The Craft & Calling is a community built for trades leaders who care deeply about both their work and the life they are building alongside it. Through real conversations and practical insight, the show explores leadership, legacy, and what it means to build businesses that last.

Explore resources, conversations, and the community at:

This conversation reflects the kind of leadership and strategic thinking that also informs the work of Foundation First Marketing, where Christene Marie serves as a co-founder.

Foundation First partners with home service businesses to build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and long-term vision, helping owners grow without losing trust, culture, or control.

Get a free marketing quote, grounded in real performance data.

Season 2 · Episode 1

The Future of Visibility Is Being Built Now: How AI, Content, and Trust Are Reshaping Home Services

Rethinking how home service business owners should approach AI, visibility, and trust as search and customer behavior rapidly evolve.

As AI, automation, and new search behaviors reshape how customers find and choose service providers, visibility is no longer just about rankings or ads. It is about trust, consistency, and showing up where decisions are actually being made.

In this conversation, Christene Marie sits down with Jennifer Bagley to explore how home service businesses can adapt without losing credibility, connection, or control. They discuss why content is becoming training data for AI systems, how Google Business Profiles and daily publishing influence discoverability, and what it means to build a brand that stays relevant as technology accelerates.

This episode challenges owners to rethink visibility not as a marketing tactic, but as a long-term leadership responsibility.

0:00 Intro

0:45 Guest Intro

2:27 Why visibility is changing

3:52 What first steps and tools trades owners can take with AI

10:08 The first prompt you should use with conversational AI

18:02 The difference between a bot and a companion in AI

24:36 Mastering AI and leveling up to agentic AI 

32:22 Jennifer's story: rethinking the business structure and implementing AI

39:45 Running a business from your own MCP 

44:41 What leaders must rethink now to gain more time, money, and freedom

50:46 Outro

Knowing Show – Prior Conversation With Jennifer Bagley

🔗 https://youtube.com/live/A2CC2EDGfsE 

Jennifer Bagley is a nationally recognized expert in AI enablement, digital strategy, and business transformation. She is the CEO of CI Web Group, where she helps contractors and service-based businesses scale with strategy, automation, and measurable results.

Jennifer is also the Co-Founder of JustStartAI.io and serves on the board of OnePath.ai. Her work focuses on aligning leadership, operations, marketing, and AI to create real business outcomes.

The Craft & Calling is a community built for trades leaders who care deeply about both their work and the life they are building alongside it. Through real conversations and practical insight, the show explores leadership, legacy, and what it means to build businesses that last.

Explore resources, conversations, and the community at:

This conversation reflects the kind of leadership and strategic thinking that also informs the work of Foundation First Marketing, where Christene Marie serves as a co-founder.

Foundation First partners with home service businesses to build marketing strategies grounded in clarity, systems, and long-term vision, helping owners grow without losing trust, culture, or control.

Get a free marketing quote, grounded in real performance data.

Blue-collar grit. White-collar systems. A path to freedom, presence, and legacy.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling, host Christene Marie sits down with Mike Abramowitz, co-founder of Better Than Rich, to unpack what it truly means to move from constant hustle into a Time Rich life.

Mike shares his personal journey growing up in the trades, watching relentless work ethic come at the cost of presence, relationships, and emotional health - and how he chose to break that generational cycle. Together, they explore how business systems, emotional intelligence, nervous system regulation, and intentional leadership are inseparable when building something that lasts.

This conversation is for trades owners and operators who are tired of firefighting, want their time back, and are ready to build a business that fuels family, freedom, and legacy - not burnout.

What if your business could support your life instead of consuming it?

🔍 WHAT WE TALK ABOUT

0:00 Intro

2:25 Growing Up in the Trades

5:16 Out of the Grind and into Creating a Predictable Business 

13:12 Generational Legacy: Reparenting, Healing & Emotional Maturity

15:20 Buy Back Freedom for Inner Work and Emotional Health

21:41 Simple Emotional Intelligence Frameworks

24:42 Nervous System, Boredom & Creativity

30:36 The Time Rich Six Framework Explained

39:29 Why Immersion Beats Coaching

47:27 Books and Next Steps You Can Take

Mike will Build 4 Systems. 30 minutes. No Pitch. 

Book your Call Today:

https://betterthanrich.com/gsd/ 

📚Books Recommended in this Episode:

 https://thecraftandcalling.com/linktr/

Mike Abramowitz is the co-founder of Better Than Rich, where he helps high-earning home service and trades business owners buy back their time, scale predictably, and lead with intention.

Drawing from his upbringing in the trades and decades of experience building systems-driven companies, Mike developed the Time Rich Six Framework, which blends business systems, AI-powered operations, and leadership boundaries to help owners grow past $5M without burnout.

Through immersive installs and proven playbooks, Mike has helped hundreds of businesses reclaim tens of thousands of hours - allowing owners to build profitable companies while staying present for family, health, and life.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeabramowitz1/

#CraftAndCalling #TradesLeadership #TimeRich #SystemsThinking #BusinessSystems

You don’t need a studio.  You just need your phone and your story.

In this episode of The Craft & Calling, host Christene Marie sits down with Reuben Rock, one of the most trusted digital marketing voices in the home-services world, to talk about the shift every contractor, cleaner, and trades owner needs to prepare for, and why it starts with simple selfie-style videos shot on your phone.

Reuben breaks down why authentic, real-location videos outperform polished agency ads, how field technicians can become your best content engine, and why 2026 will be a turning point for marketing in the trades. He also shares the exact systems he used to scale home-service companies using iPhone ads, YouTube placements, and Google’s full ad ecosystem.

If you’re a trades leader who wants more leads, more clarity, and a marketing engine that feels human, you’ll take notes on this one.

🔍 WHAT WE TALK ABOUT

0:00 Intro

3:05 Youtube Ads being Reuben's secret weapon

6:06 How to start creating simple ads with your iphone selfie-style

11:28 Google Business Profile and documenting jobs

14:46 Elevator Pitch and How Trades Teams Can Document Work for Unlimited Content

18:37 Answer Engine Optimization for the trades and your business content 

24:04 From yellow pages to Google Ads program: staying ahead of the game

27:15 How companies began to service trades businesses

31:35 How to get started on creating video content 

38:19 Creating a 5 star experience for your customer

46:31 Referral partners and how to get them

https://thecraftandcalling.com/linktr/

Reuben Rock is a nationally recognized digital marketing expert and one of the leading Google Ads strategists in the home services industry. Praised by industry leaders: “probably the best Google Ads guy in the world right now,” according to Kasim Aslam.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reubenrock/

#CraftAndCalling #TradesLeadership #HomeServiceBusiness #ConstructionBusiness #LegacyLeadership #HomeServicesMarketing #OperationsSystems #ContractorBusiness #BuildYourLegacy #ResultsMarketing #DigitalMarketingForContractors #ServiceBusinessGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #ScaleYourBusiness