EPISODE 236: When you look at incredibly successful 9-figure home improvement businesses—the kind that have absolutely exploded and are raking in gobs of cash (and notoriety), you may wonder how what THEY do applies to what YOU could do in your own business

Well, if you think your business is too small and their methods won’t apply, then I strongly encourage you to catch this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast.

In it, I sit down with Tommy Mello, the founder and CEO of A1 Garage Door Service, the largest non-franchise residential garage door company in the US, operating in 43 markets across the country. 

Tommy is also the author of Home Service Millionaire and Elevate, and host of The Home Service Expert podcast.

Tommy isn’t just running a $250 million business—he’s doing it with nearly 25% net profit! In this powerful episode, he unpacks the exact systems, compensation methods, and mental frameworks that helped him create his behemoth.

Together, he and I talk about why it's actually not hard to double, triple, or quadruple your business when you're still small.

We also share how to hire smarter, the best ways to manage your time as an owner, and how to create equity incentives that drive next-level loyalty.

Additionally, we discuss:

• Why most contractors lose money without realizing it
• The equation that predicts revenue, capacity, and ROI
• What holds owners back from “just doing it” when they finally get the advice they need
• Why the phrase "I buy how I want to be bought from" might reveal a lot about you
• Why MC Hammer went broke

If you’re ready to leave the grind behind, then don’t miss this episode.

Tune in now for more!

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet Tommy (00:48)

Why you need to plan for the end (06:10)

Why some people work fast and some don’t (12:43)

Why you need to fail forward (19:38)

The five Fs (27:03)

How to be a people’s leader (35:44)

How to make $10 million (43:31)

The numbers don’t matter, the strategy does (55:52)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Learn more about Tommy’s work: https://www.tommymello.com/

⚡ Get your copy of Tommy’s book, Elevate: https://angels.homeservicemillionaire.com/order-537068861647523872885 

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⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 235: Most people, entrepreneurs and home improvement business owners included, believe that success is the secret to happiness.

But what if it was the other way around? 

What if cultivating a positive mindset and a happy outlook is the key to achieving everything you want in life?

This is exactly what I discuss in this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor alongside my guest Briana Hetherington.

Briana is the founder of Altruistic Advisory and a mindset and business consultant who specializes in home improvement companies. She is a certified life coach and an Orange Frog workshop trainer, helping entrepreneurs develop positive psychology principles in business and leadership.

In this episode, Briana and I delve into the psychology of success and the Orange Frog concept, which teaches how positivity and mindset shape business outcomes in very pragmatic ways.

Together, we’ll be discussing:

• The key psychological factors that determine success (and how)
• Harvard studies on the advantages of positive mindset and its effects on performance
• The role gratitude actually plays in financial growth
• Shifting through different phases of leadership as your business grows
• Practical ways business owners can reprogram their brains

… and so much more!

If you’ve ever felt stuck or unhappy in your business, struggled with self-doubt, or been crippled by stress, this is THE episode for you, so make sure not to miss it.

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet Briana (01:48)

Orange Frog theory? (02:52)

The power of perspective (07:04)

How our belief systems shape our world (16:08)

A quick exercise for you (19:42)

How happiness fuels success (23:10)

Five healthy habits for happiness (26:56)

The importance of social investment (37:53)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Connect with Briana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briana-hetherington-b417077b/

⚡ Learn more about Altruistic Advisory: https://www.altruisticadvisory.com/ 

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⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 234: If you’re not using EOS yet, then chances are you’re missing out on a proven system to gain traction towards real results across many areas of your home improvement business. 

Implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is such a surprisingly simple way to break through team, process, and prioritization issues and take your business to the next level. It’s a great way to bring clarity and accountability to your team, from management all the way down to every member of your staff.

To discuss this in more detail, I’ve invited the amazing Bill Burkhardt Jr. to sit down with me on this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast.

Bill is the co-owner of Four Seasons Kanga Roof, a family-owned roofing business in Detroit. Bill has a background in marketing, recruitment, and admissions from his career in private college prep school administration before joining the family business.

In this episode, Bill and I discuss:

• How implementing EOS transformed the business operations inside Four Seasons Kanga Roof
• The specific strategy that drives them to do service and repair work on top of replacement roofs 
• Why creating a cheap maintenance program for your clients can ensure consistent business across the board, even during hard times
• Emotionally detaching yourself from pricing
• Why they play the "penny game" with their team once a year

… and so much more!

If you're looking to recession-proof your business, build lasting client relationships, and drive profitability, then this is the episode for you.

Tune in now.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet Bill (01:25)

How EOS can transform your company (06:29)

Why you need an EOS implementer (15:15)

Are you pricing yourself right? (22:11)

Why do roofers do repairs? (26:17)

Netflix for your roof? (30:39)

The importance of keeping your business recession-proof (35:07)

One last question (36:26)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 233: Being willing to learn and adapt to emerging trends isn’t just a great way to differentiate yourself from your competition today—it's necessary to avoid the slow death of being left behind as customers and the market change.

It’s time to consider the new strategies that are shaping the future of the industry! But don’t take my word for it; hear it straight from my guest this week, Benji Carlson.

Benji is the Director of Content Marketing at Breakthrough Academy and the host of the Contractor Evolution podcast. He has worked with hundreds of trades and home service businesses and has a unique insight into new trends that are starting to propel some companies way ahead of the pack.

In this episode, Benji and I will be diving into THREE emerging trends for home improvement businesses in 2025 and beyond. 

We look at:

• The emergence of the self-serve sales processes and its impact on our industry 
• Clever performance-based pay structures for your entire team that motivate employees and control costs 
• What modern brand building really means and whether Benji and I agree on its importance for contractors

We also touch on the changes in customer behavior we’ve been seeing lately, why some customers hate talking on the phone (and how they want to communicate instead), and why someone who is "team human" still uses AI.

Are you ready to position your company for success over the next decade and take it to the next level TODAY?

Then tune in now!

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Why modern brand building matters (05:47)

Self-serve sales processes explained (07:09)

Customer experience as a competitive advantage (18:50)

Why you need performance pay (22:55)

How technology can help grow your business (47:47)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Stop wasting time on tire kickers and start attracting A-players today with our HIRING RESOURCES, free to listeners of The Wealthy Contractor Podcast: https://trybta.com/wealthy-contractor/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 232: 2024 was a tough market for the home improvement industry. Economic uncertainties and rising costs threw a wrench in many contractors' plans, but not for my guest today, Kirk Koskiniemi.

Kirk took his roofing business from $10.4M to $16.7M over the past year AND raised profits at the same time. He and his team achieved this with a single mantra: "Do fewer things better".

In this episode, Kirk lays out the areas they worked on to achieve this amazing feat during a year other home improvement companies were stumbling.

We talk about how he optimized his sales funnel’s various conversion points, increasing average ticket size to drive down marketing costs (even on small repair jobs), what a typical week looks like for his sales reps, and the magic behind “handing out leads like they are diamonds”.

You’ll also find out why their average NSLI (Net Sales Per Lead Issued) went from $5,600 to $10,500 in December when they were low on leads—and why they are thinking of switching sales goals from overall revenue to the highest NSLI.

We finally chatted about how our Accelerate LIVE! event played a major role in his growth with its big learning and networking opportunities.

Hit play now to hear how Kirk simplified his way to success and how you can too.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Kirk’s 2024 business performance (00:20)

Challenges and benefits of remote management (14:52)

Business growth and sales team focus (15:10)

Sales funnel optimization and marketing strategies (15:52)

Sales rep performance and training (21:12)

Rehash and lead management (30:39)

Accelerate LIVE! event and networking (34:42) 

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 231: You want your home improvement business to run like a well-oiled machine? Then you’ll want to take a page out of the book of none other than corporate America.

Although there’s no venture out there like running a home improvement business, there are SOME lessons we can learn from larger corporations. From precise money management tactics to the best tips to become a better leader, big companies bring a wealth of proven strategies you can use to grow your business.

I discuss all of this in more detail with my guest in this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast, Lee Diamond.

Lee is a former Fortune 200 executive that has had the MOST unique entrepreneurial journey. After a successful corporate career, Lee partnered with his son to acquire a home improvement business in Denver, Colorado. 

Together, they’re blending corporate sophistication with the flexibility and grit of small business ownership to create the company of their dreams.

In this episode, Lee and I will be discussing how he modernized his company, everything you need to learn about change management, the importance of building a team culture that will prevent great employees from being hired away from you, and so much more.

Are you ready to transform your business?

Then tune in now and discover Lee’s blueprint for success!

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Lee’s journey from corporate exec to entrepreneur (01:23)

Blending corporate skills with entrepreneurial grit (11:40)

Profitability and scaling (21:09)

How to develop leadership within your team (39:46)

Secrets to empower your employees (45:34)

Self-development is key to business success (48:45)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 230: To be a great business owner, you need to understand yourself. 

Why is that so important?

Once you truly know what kind of leader you are, you’ll be able to understand what it takes to do these three things: manage your time efficiently, delegate, and implement. 

I discuss all of this (and more) in this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast with my guest John Anglis.

John is a seasoned leader who built a highly profitable home improvement business that operated independently of him before selling it to a private equity firm. Today, John is a consultant who specializes in sales training and organizational growth.

John and I will be discussing his journey building a multimillion-dollar business and selling it. We’ll also be talking about what typically gets in the way of efficient implementation, how he uses his DISC to understand how people see him and be a better leader, how business owners sometimes abdicate instead of delegate, and the importance of networking as an entrepreneur. 

John will also preview his upcoming talk at our Accelerate LIVE! 2025 event, which will be focusing on creating impactful organizational structures through the various “break points” of company growth.

Are you ready to scale your business to the next level with John’s insights?

Then tune in now.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet John (01:01)

Why DISC profiles matter (07:34)

Time management for entrepreneurs (10:03)

Delegation vs abdication (12:34)

The key to success is implementation (20:07)

Breaking growth plateaus (24:02)

The platinum rule (29:02)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 229: Lead volume is down. Cost per issued appointment is skyrocketing. Marketing to homeowners is getting harder and more competitive.

So what do you do?

In this episode, we dive into this with my guest, Justin Bartley, the founder and president of Next Door & Window.

With over two decades of experience in the home improvement industry, Justin has mastered the art of squeezing more out of your marketing dollars, so much so that this year his business grew 15% with very little change to how many sales appointments they ran.

In this episode, he shares many hard-won secrets behind his company’s consistent growth in the face of a changing market. 

He discusses the power of direct mail marketing, reaching a 0.6% marketing cost with repeat customers, and fighting rising marketing costs with sales processes. 

He and I also touch on what CRM data they think is critical at Next Door & Windows, how business owners can free themselves from day-to-day operations to focus on what they’re really good at, and much more.

Are you ready to take the first step towards a more successful business?

Then tune in now!

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Lead generation after the pandemic (02:31)

Repeat customers are the answer (06:11)

Direct mail marketing for customer retention (11:23)

You need sales training to drive growth (19:13)

Lessons from 2024 (34:25)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 228: Are you struggling to bridge the gap between ideas and execution in your home improvement business?

Knowing how to turn your plans into actions is a quintessential skill every business owner struggles with but should hone into one of their primary competencies .

After all, success in business comes from unrelenting action and knowing how to EXECUTE ideas systematically.

To discuss this in more detail, I’ve invited Jon Graboyes to sit down with me in this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast.

Jon is the 3rd generation owner of Graboyes Windows and Doors, a 75-year-old family-owned business specializing in replacement windows and doors in suburban Philadelphia. 

In this episode, Jon and I discuss how he brought transformative change to his company. We cover “the list” of things he tackled coming out of COVID that kept the business moving in the right direction, what changes in marketing had to happen in order to double revenue, and where they get the data that keeps their marketing costs low. 

We also talk about how Jon’s company more than tripled its profit, the hard act of replacing all the people that no longer serve your company, what a P&L should NOT look like, what being part of a mastermind group does for your business, and much more.

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet Jon (03:06)

People management in a family business (09:12)

Dealing with internal conflict (11:54)

Let’s talk about marketing (19:02)

You need to know your numbers (27:47)

Working with EOS (35:38)

The importance of working on yourself (38:11)

Jon’s life after work (43:42)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!

EPISODE 227: As a home improvement business advances through various stages of growth, scaling operations is one of the hardest and SCARIEST things we go through as owners. There’s a LOT of risk and we don’t always know which steps to take next.

As your business gets bigger, so do your operational needs—they also get more complex. And it’s up to you not only to scale it all, but to do so while making money. (Hopefully really good money all along the way.) 

The question I often hear is : “Where do I even start?”

And to answer it, I’ve brought in an expert to this week’s episode of The Wealthy Contractor podcast, Megan Curry.

Megan is an absolutely astounding business leader and operator who specializes in team development, company operations, and scaling businesses profitably. She is the COO of Revelare Home and the co-founder of The Profit Masters.

In this episode, Megan and I will be discussing what she’s learned from looking at the finances  of hundreds of home improvement companies and the strategies you need to grow a home improvement business, whether you’re at $1mil/yr or $20mil/yr.

We’ll also be touching on team development and how to optimize your workforce, shifting from a focus on sales and marketing to concentrating on what impacts profitability, why you should plan your operational needs from a perspective of profitability BEFORE you grow, what percentage of your budget to spend in which areas, and much more.

Whether you’ve just started or you’re a seasoned contractor, I’m sure you’ll gain some great insights from this episode.

Tune in now.

P.S: Megan will also be a speaker at our big annual event, Accelerate LIVE! 2025, so make sure to get your tickets now before they sell out to hear more from her and other top industry experts. Learn more in the additional resources below.

Key Takeaways: 

Introduction (00:00)

Meet Megan (02:07)

Profitability and growth (12:39)

Let’s talk about Profit Masters (22:42)

Accelerate LIVE! is coming soon (35:10)

Additional Resources:

⚡ Save your seats for Accelerate LIVE! 2025: https://www.AccelerateEvent.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Profit Masters: https://www.TheProfitMasters.com/ 

⚡ Learn more about The Wealthy Contractor Success Society: https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/SuccessSociety

⚡ Brian’s book, The 7 Secrets To Becoming A Wealthy Contractor, is now available. Visit https://www.TheWealthyContractor.com/ for a free copy (just pay shipping).

⚡ Follow us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWealthyContractor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheWealthyContractor/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TheWealthyContractor/

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The Wealthy Contractor is a podcast for home improvement professionals who want to grow their business, work less, and make more money. Follow us for more!