Ed used to work under me. He started as a technician, moved into sales, and we butted heads more than once along the way. Now he owns his own electrical company, and he built it with no debt, no Google leads, and no idea if it was going to work.

In this episode we talk about the jump from W2 employee to owner and  why he named his company after his late father. We get into commission structures, what it's like training someone who used to sit across from you at the shop, and the customer story that changed his perspective.

This one is personal. Ed was in the room for years before he ever ran his own truck, and this conversation is proof that the path from technician to owner isn't a straight line for anybody.

Jered Williams, known online as The Wealthy Plumber, built a plumbing company from a one man show with a beat up truck into a $5 million operation, in a town of 60,000 people in Fairbanks, Alaska. He did it with no training program, no playbook, and a CSR he still calls the best hire he ever made. Trent and Jered sit down to break apart exactly how he did it, from the water heater call that changed how he priced every job after it, to the review policy that means he won't always give an angry customer their money back, to the sales philosophy he says most technicians completely misunderstand. If you run a trades business and you've ever wondered what actually separates the guys who scale from the guys who stay stuck, this one is worth the full watch.

Ryan Lee ran an outdoor lighting business for twelve years before he figured out what was actually working. In this episode he breaks down the three things that changed everything for him, starting with a pricing mistake that's quietly wrecking margins for landscape lighting companies everywhere. We get into what he charges per light, why the old time and material math doesn't work anymore, and the exact order he tells business owners to fix things in before they ever think about buying another lead. Ryan also opens up about selling his business in 2019 and what that exit actually looked like once the dust settled. If you've ever wondered why some home service niches print money while others struggle to get off the ground, this one's for you. 

Mark Shapiro built a real estate portfolio worth over a billion dollars. Then it all came apart, and he was sentenced to 85 years in federal prison for a crime he says he never committed. Over 14 years later, President Trump gave him a pardon.This episode covers all of it: the rise, the fall, what actually happened inside, and how he's rebuilding now that he's out. Trent and Mark also get into why AI won't touch the trades, real estate speculation, and the mindset Mark says got him through the worst of it, one his own brother taught him at sixteen years old.If you own a trades or home services business, don't skip this one. There's a hard conversation in here about which jobs survive automation, and it's not the ones you'd think.

Sean Michael Crane spent his childhood watching addiction destroy his family. By 14, he was headed down the same road. By 23, he was facing a potential life sentence for attempted murder, sitting in a six by six jail cell with nothing but time.

What he built in that cell is the reason he's here today.

Sean now coaches some of the biggest operators in the trades, and the pattern he keeps finding is always the same. The guy who can scale a company can't scale himself. In this episode, Sean breaks down what he built with nothing, why willpower never lasts, and the only kind of change that actually sticks.

If he could rebuild himself in a jail cell, what's your excuse.

Sean Michael Crane | Unstoppable365.com | Instagram: @sean_crane_official

Trent Lowenstein | @TrentLowenstein

#tradeslife #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #entrepreneurship #trentandfriends

Some conversations change you. This is one of them.Chance Forman has been building something out of nothing since he was a kid. He's the kind of man who figures it out no matter what's in front of him. Then his daughter Lilly was born. And everything changed.What followed was seven years of hospital rooms, cross-country train rides, care conferences, doctors who told him to let her go, businesses that crumbled while he wasn't looking, people who disappeared when things got hard, and a love for his daughter that never once wavered.This is a conversation about what it means to be a father, a husband, and a human being when the worst possible thing happens and you have to keep going anyway.Chance also shares what he learned about leadership, resilience, and the kind of strength that doesn't look like strength from the outside. His story will change the way you see your morning. It will change the way you see your kids. It might change the way you see yourself.Viewer discretion is advised. But we encourage you to listen to every word.Get Involved With Lillian’s Legacy:Website: LillianBijouFoundation.OrgEmail: [email protected]: @lillianbijoufoundationConnect with Chance Forman:Instagram: @chance.formanConnect with Trent:Email: [email protected]: @itstrentlowensteinFacebookl: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DLSewd4Vh/Alyssa HigginsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheel.life.in.the.wheel.world/?hl=enYouTube:  @WheelLifeInTheWheelWorld ​

Harley Winters spent years at the highest levels of the sales training world as the former CRO for Jeremy Miner. He walked into a room full of home service business owners and made one claim: emotion is the only deciding factor in every decision your customer makes. The room had opinions.What started as a conversation about sales gurus targeting the trades turned into one of the more honest and heated debates we've had on this show. Business owners, contractors, and entrepreneurs pushed back from every angle — on the ethics of emotional selling, on where persuasion becomes manipulation, and on what happens to the trades industry's reputation when the wrong people are teaching your sales team.The second half of this conversation gets uncomfortable in the best way. Trent and Harley work through real scenarios — the kind that force you to define your own line between closing a deal and taking advantage of someone. If you're in the trades, you've either seen this play out or you work for someone who has.Featuring Harley Winters and Trent Lowenstein, recorded in front of a live studio audience.

Trent Lowenstein took the stage at a Standard Plumbing Supply event hosted at the Any Hour Services office to walk trades business owners through the exact flywheel Next Level Pros teaches — from marketing spend to customer retention.Trent breaks down why 8–12% is the marketing benchmark and how to allocate it across channels, what a $200 lead actually means for your CSR's job, the sales process steps that drive higher close rates and average tickets, and why reviews, memberships, and referrals are how you reduce customer acquisition cost over time.If you run a trades business and want a clear framework for where your numbers should be and why, this one's worth your time.

From sleeping in his car with just $200 in his pocket to becoming the "Batman" of the home service space, Dmitri Lipinskiy's one-in-a-generation story proves what happens when you refuse to quit. In this raw confrontation, we pull back the curtain on how he exposes corrupt contractors, fights multi-million dollar lawsuits, and defends both homeowners and ethical business owners from intentional fraud. If you want the ultimate blueprint on grit, business execution, and building an unshakeable reputation in a broken industry, this is an episode you cannot afford to miss.**Subscribe to Dmitri's YouTube Channel  @RoofingInsights3.0  👉https://www.youtube.com/@RoofingInsights3.0/videos

Trent Lowenstein sits down with Dustin Van Orman and Bill Russell — two guys who've done six exits across five verticals, totaling over $130 million in sales — to break down exactly what makes a trade business worth buying.If you're sitting at $2-5 million and wondering what it actually takes to attract private equity, this is the conversation you need to hear. Dustin and Bill get into the real metrics buyers look at, why a 20% EBITDA at $3 million is actually a red flag, how to structure equity for your team so nobody wants to leave, and why turnover is the number one EBITDA killer most operators never see coming.This one goes deep. Two days of recording, one conversation you won't want to miss.What's covered:- What PE buyers look for beyond the financials- The 40% gross margin floor and why it matters- Lifestyle business vs. enterprise business- The trailing 12 equity model for sales reps- Why retention is your most important growth lever- Onboarding that actually keeps people