The Home Service Expert Podcast

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Billy Cline spent 15 years running a door business without a playbook. Then he found this podcast, read the E-Myth, and started doing the work. Today YourNewDoor.com is a Dallas residential door replacement company that has doubled every year for three years, runs all W-2 crews with no subcontractors, and closes high ticket jobs entirely by phone. Tommy and Billy break down selling doors over a screen share, why his close rate went up after a 25% price increase, how he took over a struggling competitor for no money and watched its phone number sell over $1 million, why he never kills an old brand, and why owners who say nobody wants to work are looking in the wrong place.

Connect with Billy Cline ⟶ https://www.yournewdoor.com/

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 03:41 - Bring Culture Into Their Homes 05:45 - The Marble Jar Theory 07:56 - Fifteen Years Without A Playbook 18:36 - How He Paid For Harvard 20:36 - Meeting Roy Williams 26:31 - Never Kill Your Old Brand 28:43 - Home Service Vs Home Improvement 36:50 - Why Customers Really Call 39:47 - Selling Doors Over The Phone 44:53 - The Guided Buying Experience 45:50 - Close Rate After Raising Prices 47:56 - Chase Margin, Not Revenue 57:49 - Nobody Wants To Work? 59:09 - One Key Hire Away 1:05:00 - Why Tommy Posts Everything 1:07:41 - A Competitor For No Money 1:18:39 - The Affiliate Installer Program 1:24:27 - Advice To His 2020 Self 1:29:44 - Don't Ever Quit

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Lakota Tidd dropped out of college at 21, started Top Home Improvements in his mom's garage with two lawn chairs and no money, and built it to $20 million in seven years by knocking doors, including the day his pen froze solid in a Michigan blizzard with nothing on the board. No digital marketing, no bought leads: $14 million came from canvassing and events alone, and in March his events team did $1 million in revenue in one week. In this episode he breaks down how he recruits and pays canvassers, why he treats them like kings, the sword and shield mentality that got him through five years as a lone wolf, the scarcity paradigm that kept him stuck at $10 million, why he stopped tracking nothing and built a board, and what he would say to the owner who is spending $40,000 a month on leads that never come.

Top Home Improvements ⟶ https://www.tophomeimprove.com Follow Top Home Improvements ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/Tophomeimprovements/

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:55 - Two Lawn Chairs And A Frozen Pen 04:26 - Lone Wolves Die Alone 06:26 - The Sword And Shield Mentality 08:50 - What You Focus On Grows 10:08 - Treat Your Canvassers Like Kings 11:18 - Fresh Blood Every Single Week 13:32 - Hiring Is Guessing, Firing Is Knowing 16:01 - Competing With The Summer Programs 18:05 - Spending $40K A Month And Waiting For Leads 19:46 - Does Door Knocking Hurt Your Reputation? 21:24 - How Canvassers And Event Reps Get Paid 24:57 - Why $100 Million Is Not The Goal 28:54 - Kids, Leftover Time, And Balance 31:15 - Showers For Soldiers 34:47 - Profit Matters More Than Revenue 35:59 - The Law Of The Lid 38:06 - Build The People, Not The Business 43:20 - The Barbaric Way To $20 Million 45:15 - Enjoy The Bottom While You Have It 48:56 - The Sickness Of Indecision 52:32 - Five Books, Read Many Times 56:31 - Real Confidence Vs Fake Confidence

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Chau Nguyen sold two tech companies, bought a 1974 Bronco that kept breaking down, and turned that headache into Vintage Modern, a $60 million luxury vehicle company that hand builds classic inspired trucks for LeBron James, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lopez, and Tommy himself. He did it with no outside capital and no ad budget: he posted three times a day for seven years, built a following of millions, and made social media his number one sales channel. In this episode he breaks down why organic leads buy at three times the rate of paid leads, why rich customers are tighter with money than most contractors assume, how to market a home service company to the affluent, why the founder has to be the face of the brand now, and the hiring mistake that nearly held his company back.

Vintage Modern ⟶ https://vintagemodern.co Follow Vintage Modern ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/vintagemodern/

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:37 - The Bronco That Made His Wife Smell Like Gas 03:33 - From Coupon Books To A Top 100 App To 40 Cars 06:14 - No Investors: Sales Paid For Everything 07:15 - How Do You Charge For 900 Hours Of Craftsmanship? 10:42 - His Kids Taught Him Instagram 14:23 - Organic Vs Paid: Why Organic Leads Buy 3X More 16:25 - Your Product Probably Has A Hole In It 20:46 - Scarcity, Exclusivity, And Selling To The Elite 26:30 - Why He Has Never Paid An Influencer 29:18 - How A Home Service Company Markets To The Affluent 35:13 - Rich Customers Are Tighter Than You Think 38:12 - The Mark Wahlberg DM And The Tyler Perry Referral 42:16 - Should The Founder Be The Brand? 47:36 - Competing With Ferrari At $60 Million 51:03 - Robotaxis, EVs, And Listening To Paying Customers 54:52 - Productive Paranoia: Why Winning Is The Dangerous Moment 59:07 - The One Piece Of Advice He Has Never Shared 1:03:03 - On His Hands And Knees Under The Car 1:07:36 - The Two Books He Has Listened To 50 Times 1:12:11 - Where To Find Chau 1:13:36 - Grinding From Zero To 5 Million Followers 1:18:00 - What Comes Next For Vintage Modern

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Sara Nay is the CEO of Duct Tape Marketing and the author of Unchained. In this episode, Sara and Tommy break down why most contractors rent their marketing instead of owning it, which accounts your agency should never control, why referrals alone stall a home service company around $1 million, how to get found in AI search, and the two fixes to make this week if your marketing feels like chaos.

Get Sara's free marketing audit for home service owners ⟶ https://dtm.world/hsep Duct Tape Marketing ⟶ https://ducttapemarketing.com

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 02:59 - Tommy Spends $5 Million A Month On Marketing 04:34 - Do You Need More Leads Or A Better Journey? 05:58 - What's Broken About The Agency Model 07:47 - The Accounts You Should Own, Not Rent 08:32 - When The Agency Keeps Your Website 11:41 - Random Acts Of Marketing 13:00 - One Person Can't Run Six Marketing Roles 15:33 - Direct Response Or Brand? 16:38 - 87% Of Searches Now Touch AI 19:34 - Should Contractors Publish Prices? 20:38 - The $400 Steakhouse Problem 23:23 - Interview Your Best Clients 23:46 - Record Every Sales Call 28:49 - Nextdoor, Angi, Yelp: Pick Two And Own Them 33:19 - The A Team Sells You, The Interns Run You 34:38 - The Five Questions To Ask Your Best Customers 36:59 - A 91% Booking Rate And The Calls You Still Miss 38:11 - The Money Sitting In Your Old Customer List 39:33 - Why Competition Becomes Irrelevant 41:46 - Why Referrals Alone Are Dangerous 43:14 - The Sign: Pay More Per Lead, Always Win 44:53 - Marketing To The Affluent 47:38 - What Marketers Get Wrong With AI 50:40 - Your Home Page Is What AI Reads First 56:29 - The Founder's Brand Beats The Company's 1:00:06 - Use Your Voice To Pull Stories Out 1:06:30 - Buy Back Your Time 1:09:22 - Delegating Versus Dumping 1:10:24 - Two Fixes To Make This Week 1:13:33 - Sara's Final Advice

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David Bach is a ten-time New York Times bestselling author and the man behind The Automatic Millionaire. In this episode, David and Tommy break down why $3,000 a year saved from age 15 to 19 beats saving from 27 to 65, the one hour a day rule for retiring a millionaire, why a tech making $250,000 can still be broke, why owners should buy the building their business is in, and David's idea for a flat tax on IRA accounts.

Get The Automatic Millionaire, 20th Anniversary Edition ⟶ https://davidbach.com

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:37 - The Number One Rule: Pay Yourself First 03:17 - Save One Hour Of Pay A Day 03:57 - How 565,000 People Became 401(k) Millionaires 06:46 - The Myth About Investing Aggressively When You're Young 07:32 - Tommy's Roth IRA At 16 08:56 - What $20 A Day Becomes 10:06 - The $27.40 A Day Leak 13:38 - The Corvette Ride That Started It 16:19 - Born To Spend Or Born To Budget 18:15 - A Lesson At McDonald's At Age Seven 24:10 - Homeowners Are Worth 40 Times More Than Renters 27:31 - Why A Garage Door Is Worth Financing 28:29 - Buy The Building Your Business Is In 30:04 - Wealthy But Not Free 31:49 - Why High Earners Start To Resent Their Jobs 32:49 - Making $250K With Nothing Saved 35:25 - The Chart: Start At 15, 19 Or 27 39:33 - Why David Holds Zero Private Equity 41:07 - The Advice He Wishes He Had At 20 45:01 - Batteries Included People 48:11 - $46 Trillion Sitting In Retirement Accounts 50:42 - The IRA Flat Tax Idea 58:37 - Social Security In 2033 1:00:48 - Why The Trades Aren't Going Away 1:01:40 - The Barber Who Saved 75% Of His Income 1:04:55 - What Money Taught David About Himself 1:08:10 - Discipline And Non-Negotiables 1:18:05 - What People Said At His Father's Funeral 1:25:00 - The 20th Anniversary Edition

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Dan Kuschell grew up on welfare in Detroit, built a direct mail company to $1 million in its first year at 22, and now helps home service companies grow through Breakthrough3X. In this episode, Dan and Tommy break down the one message method, why "know, like and trust" is the wrong model, the five pillars Dan found across 5,000 companies, how to ask for introductions instead of referrals, and the family photo mailer Tommy sent to 3,000 neighbors. Get Dan's free gift package for home service owners

⟶ https://breakthrough3x.com/tommymello Growth to Freedom Podcast ⟶ https://www.growthtofreedom.com/

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 03:23 - From Welfare In Detroit To A Million Dollar Mail Business 05:05 - The Coach Who Blackballed Him And The Mailer That Fixed It 10:04 - 34,000 Leads A Month And Why Recruiting Comes First 14:44 - A 1 In 500 Surgery Two Weeks After His Son Was Born 16:19 - The Questions That Rebuilt His Life 18:49 - Tommy's Grandmother And The Good Hours 24:18 - The Question That Took Six Weeks To Answer 27:33 - When Being A Man Of Your Word Holds You Back 31:20 - Could You Take 30 Days Off Your Business 34:17 - The One Message Method 39:06 - Five Pillars Found Across 5,000 Companies 42:36 - Why Know, Like And Trust Is Wrong 45:01 - One Post A Week And $5 A Day 46:00 - Agencies That Own Your Website And Ad Accounts 48:28 - Answer Every Lead In A Minute Or Less 52:39 - Why Hiring Ads Bring In Customers 55:35 - Be The Chairman, Not The Technician 1:00:14 - Is Branding A Waste Under $20 Million 1:02:34 - Partner Gifts That Create Referrals 1:08:44 - The Truck That Does Everything And Stands For Nothing 1:09:27 - Fix Your Pricing First 1:13:22 - Stop Asking For Referrals, Ask For This 1:17:28 - A Family Photo Mailed To 3,000 Neighbors 1:20:55 - Where To Find Dan 1:25:38 - Two Books That Shaped Dan 1:26:57 - Play A Bigger Game

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Dr. Robert Cialdini wrote Influence, the book behind almost every sales training a home service tech has ever sat through. In his second visit with Tommy he goes past the seven principles into the smallest changes that move the biggest numbers: the two words a restaurant added to its booking call that cut no-shows 62%, the one question that took Boy Scout popcorn sales from 15% to 52%, why "967 reviewers" beats "967 reviews," the number one rule of sales every trainer teaches backwards, and the $75,000 envelope Charlie Munger mailed him for a single chapter. Then Tommy puts him on the spot with two live persuasion role-plays. Learn more from Dr. Cialdini and the Cialdini Institute: https://cialdini.com Influence Unleashed, December 5 and 6 in Tempe, 75 seats, $500 off with code A1GARAGE

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 00:53 - 75 seats in December 03:16 - Who Robert Cialdini is 04:29 - You already paid for this research 05:44 - What ethical influence actually is 07:17 - The seventh principle: unity 08:01 - The couples study and the word "we" 12:54 - Two words that cut no-shows 62% 14:20 - Chris Voss and getting to "no" 15:00 - The Boy Scout popcorn question 16:35 - Social proof and the McFlurry 18:54 - Say reviewers, not reviews 19:38 - Authority: who vouches for you 21:00 - The number one rule of sales 22:22 - A welcome line that lifts conversions 23:42 - Scarcity done honestly 24:52 - Advice to young Robert 26:40 - Put them in the boat with you 28:19 - Ask for advice, not opinions 29:43 - The $75,000 envelope from Charlie Munger 32:44 - Two mints and a 23% tip 34:16 - Give first, before they decide 37:41 - Why 89% beats 90% 40:06 - Warren Buffett's letters and honesty first 42:37 - "You're worth it" 45:12 - Pre-Suasion: the moment before the message 48:39 - Live role-play: talk me out of your book 50:17 - Building a following the ethical way 51:59 - Rapid fire 54:14 - Charlie Munger on why wealth matters 57:39 - Tommy makes it right with a customer 59:46 - What changed his mind, and what's next

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Zac Garside spent eight years training CSRs before he noticed the most profitable channel in home service was the one nobody used: the customer list. Now his agency Send It runs email for some of the biggest contractors in the country, including A1. In this episode Zac and Tommy break down why contractors rebuy customers they already paid for, the one-email-a-week plan any company can run tomorrow, the Will/Won't research framework that tells you what homeowners are really afraid of, and why two CSRs with identical scripts book at completely different rates.

Get Zac's free swipe file of 20 top-performing campaigns: https://withsendit.com/expert

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 00:46 - From training CSRs to running email 01:58 - Booking jobs the week you need them 02:54 - How to stay out of the spam folder 04:45 - The subject line has one job 06:35 - The 6x in 60 days guarantee 07:40 - Open estimates first, then members 10:36 - Homeowners read email. Owners don't 13:03 - Email, SMS and direct mail 14:09 - It has to come from a friend 15:54 - Tommy's neighbor letter and $225,000 20:44 - What a good open rate looks like 24:49 - The next wave: personalization 29:31 - The two-year spring campaign 34:31 - Broadcasts, campaigns and automations 37:27 - "You're never talking to them again?" 44:20 - Starting from scratch 45:23 - One email a week, four segments 49:26 - The Will/Won't research framework 52:53 - Same script, 90% vs 50% 55:58 - Making customers feel something 1:00:41 - The easiest ROI in home service 1:03:40 - One piece of advice: trust 1:06:00 - Free swipe file and where to find Zac

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Revenue is everywhere in home service right now. Profit is not. Tommy sits down with his mentor Al Levi, author of The 7-Power Contractor, and Jim Leslie, president of Home Service Freedom, to break down why: the hiring excuse every contractor uses ("nobody wants to work") and the answer Jim gives back, what a lost tech really costs, the five things of staffing, why you should triple your pricing, why the owner who is the best CSR, dispatcher and tech is the ceiling on his own company, the zero-or-two cranes rule for your org chart, and the listening tour every owner should take this week. Al is retiring at the end of the year. His last small-room session is at Freedom 2026: Monday, October 26, 6 PM, Mandalay Bay. Use code ALFREEDOM at freedomevent.com to unlock a seat in the room with Al and Jim.

Home Service Freedom: https://homeservicefreedom.com | The 7-Power Contractor: https://7powercontractor.com

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 00:50 - Al, Jim and Freedom 2026 02:03 - Revenue for vanity, profit for sanity 03:49 - Put your pricing online 05:50 - Three kinds of testimonials 06:38 - Lead times and the boom-bust cycle 11:19 - The five things of staffing 11:32 - What a lost tech really costs 12:35 - Al's last room at Freedom 15:00 - The empty truck in your yard 15:44 - Stand on the bridge 16:39 - Triple your pricing 17:51 - Fighting commoditization 22:15 - Would you send me to your mom's house 25:29 - They just don't want to work for you 27:22 - The best CSR, dispatcher and tech 28:15 - Zero cranes or two 30:09 - The five-year org chart trap 32:26 - Burning tokens on technology 35:33 - There is no silver bullet 40:40 - What your accountant should say 42:24 - $2.6 million to the bottom line 46:54 - The listening tour 50:04 - Al's three-month notice 55:57 - One thing to do this week 59:45 - The room at Freedom

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Most home service owners hear virtual assistant and think someone to answer emails. Alyssa Shivers and Mia Juan of Ready Roles think bigger: five callers on $5.75 an hour brought one moving company almost $500,000 in paid estimates in a single month. In this episode they break down what owners get wrong about VAs, why a $3 an hour VA gives you a $3 outcome, the 10-day onboarding that makes a remote hire work, the flat fee model where every dollar after that goes straight to your VA, how many calls a data activator makes a day, and the real reason most VAs fail (it is not the VA). If you are still reading your own email, this one is for you.

Ready Roles: https://readyroles.com | Mia Juan on YouTube: search "Mia Juan" VA readiness checklist from Ready Roles: [LINK OR ATTACHMENT FROM READY ROLES]

-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 00:55 - What a VA actually does 02:13 - Data activators explained 05:56 - The first-hire mistake 08:01 - The owner is the problem 10:00 - Night shift in the Philippines 13:47 - $3 an hour buys a $3 outcome 15:11 - VAs and AI tools 20:16 - My Home Story Pro 21:19 - $500K from five callers 23:18 - The pitch and the script 26:35 - The Dream 100 list 29:10 - The time study 30:00 - How to start with a VA 33:04 - Ten minutes a day 34:46 - What to pay a great VA 40:25 - The octopus executive assistant 41:38 - Eight steps of delegation 42:34 - The owner who blamed his VA 48:30 - The Big League Movers story 52:58 - What it costs 54:56 - 200 calls a day 58:08 - Go after the big players 1:01:58 - Closing advice

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