The Trade Talks

Dustin Stelzer is a master electrician and the founder of YouTube channels JOURNEY 2 MASTER and ELECTRICIAN U. In this episode, he discusses how social media heightened his ability to communicate, and the ways in which it grew his many trades-based businesses.

Alex Gonzales dropped out of high school and started plumbing for his father at a young age. He later joined the Army and learned several life skills that apply to his work ethic and business acumen. Now, as a master plumber, he's learned to do everything with maximum effort, and to never second guess yourself because failures in the field will teach you more than any textbook.

Josh Campbell, owner of Rescue Air & Plumbing, details how his penchant for learning, and his never-ending pursuit of happiness, helped him evolve from a master electrician to the owner of a multi-million dollar residential services business. From the recent acquisition of Roger Wakefield's Texas Green Plumbing, to his massive expansion servicing over 60,000 customers, Jeff Campbell is showing no signs of slowing any time soon.

Dubbed "The Home Service Expert," Tommy Mello started a modest garage door business which has expanded to 18 states and exceeds $200 Million in revenue. He's written two books (Home Service Millionaire and Elevate), one of which details his meteoric rise from $50,000 in debt to $30 Million in seven years. In this episode he discusses the importance of a leader's ability to delegate, their willingness to learn from the experts, as well as being approachable and visible for every employee.

John Trammell is the Director of Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) Technologies for Brandt. Starting out as an apprentice plumber and pipefitter, John has climbed the ranks and worked on some of the nation's largest commercial projects. VDC is a fabrication database akin to a virtual hardware store.

Known as "The Fixer" across social media, Matt's path to becoming a content creator seemed carved in stone. While studying his passion of Audio/Video in school, Matt was introduced to construction where he found stable and fulfilling work. But it would be ten years and many, many jobsites later before he took the leap to combine the two. Now, as a full-time content creator, Matt "The Fixer's" mission is to equip homeowners with the necessary tools to tackle their own maintenance and repairs.

In Russia, Dmitry Lipinskiy aspired to be a teacher. However, upon emigrating to the States, and to support his growing family, Dmitry called several friends and received the same answer on how to make money: ROOFING. In 7 years, Dmitry built and sold a multi-million-dollar roofing business and now owns several other businesses including the Online Roofing Business School, and the formidable rival to Angie's List, Directorii, which connects homeowners with elite contractors and is backed by Dmitry's personal $20,000 guarantee.

Tyler Sasse is a welder, entrepreneur, and the successful content creator and founder of Western Welding Academy which is responsible for churning out the world's top welders through a rigorous six-month curriculum. As a Top Hand award winner, Tyler discusses why this should be the bar (not the exception), his vision for the future, commraderie in the trades, and why the one million job deficit in the skilled trades is one of our nation's greatest security threats.

Father/Son duo Paul and Jordan Selleck used the lockdowns as an avenue for content creation in the construction trades. From simple plumbing videos, to now documenting the build of not one, but two dream homes from the ground up, Paul and Jordan discuss their journey forging a successful content creation business, and the kind of influence a strong mentor can have on young impressionable minds—something many take for granted.

Laura Giudice tried her hand at college twice before finding stability and success as an apprentice plumber. She discusses what she has learned from the older generations, what it's like working union in Canada—not only as a new, green tradesman—but as one of the few females on any job site.