What happens when your business hits a wall, leads dry up, and life throws you a curveball all at once?

In this episode of the UpScale Business Coaching Podcast, Damien (owner of Valet Norwest Alarms ) shares how his Sydney based security business went from struggling to find work to having more jobs than he could handle. Alongside UpScale coach Christian, he opens up about the mindset shifts, systems, community, and accountability that helped him double his revenue, improve profitability, and prepare to grow his team.

Damien also shares the incredible story of losing his brand new work vehicle after just 10 days in an unexpected incident, how he almost walked away from coaching, and why sticking with the process completely changed the direction of his business.

If you're a tradie or construction business owner who feels stuck, wants more consistent leads, better systems, and a business that doesn't rely on constant firefighting, this episode is packed with practical lessons and real experiences.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to solve lead generation problems

• The difference between thinking like a tradie and thinking like a business owner

• Why accountability speeds up business growth

• The value of surrounding yourself with other successful trade business owners

• Building systems that support growth

• Hiring the right people at the right time

• Why community can make all the difference during tough times

• Setting bigger goals once you've achieved the first milestone

Need help growing your business?

Follow us on Instagram for daily tips for trade and construction business owners.

📲 UpScale Business Coaching

Book a free session with one of our Growth Specialists:
https://upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast

Watch more trade business insights on YouTube:
https://upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube

Take the Tradie Quiz and find out where your business stands:
https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear real success stories from tradies who have transformed their businesses:
https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Join us at an UpScale Live Event:
https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

This year the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, supporting free mental health counselling for tradies, truckies, farmers, and blue collar workers. If you'd like to support the cause, you can donate here:
https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Follow Christian's journey and connect with the UpScale community for more trade business insights.

Erina sits down with Hannaka from Wi Paint in North Brisbane for a conversation that's as honest as it gets.

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

Twelve months ago, Hannaka was carrying the business on her teaching salary, leads weren't converting, and she was ready to walk away. Today, they're booked out 3 months in advance and rebuilding their team for growth. So what actually changed?

In this episode Hannaka shares how putting their faces in their Meta ads attracted clients who specifically wanted to work with them, what it took to invest in the business when the money wasn't there, the hard lessons of hiring as a first-time employer, and why big goals need daily action behind them, not just good intentions.

If you're in the thick of it right now, this one's for you.

We've got the tools you need to scale your business, automate, hire, and delegate. Book your call with our team to talk strategy and learn more about our program.

This year the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, mental health support built for tradies. Cheer us on here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Connect with your hosts:Erina: @erinaroxxMitch: @mitchvan_

If the words "cold outreach" make you want to switch episodes... stay with us. This one is worth it.

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

In this episode, Mark sits down with Tom from the UpScale team for a straight-talking conversation about one of the most underrated ways to get consistent work as a tradie.

No fluff, no complicated strategies — just real talk about how picking up the phone, walking into offices and having genuine conversations with potential clients can completely change the trajectory of your business.

Tom shares the story of a client who was losing money month after month until they committed to 100 cold calls a day. Within a couple of months they turned it around and now consistently turn over $450k a month with a healthy profit margin — and they still do cold outreach at that size.

You will also hear a simple four step framework to get started, even if you have never done it before:

Step 1 — Pick your targetStep 2 — Get their detailsStep 3 — Arm yourselfStep 4 — Make contact

Plus a brilliant real life example of cold outreach done right — from a guy opening a Mexican restaurant near the UpScale office who walked in with a big smile and a flyer and had the whole team planning to show up on opening day.

Whether you are just starting out or already running a busy trade business, this episode will give you the push and the plan to get out there and start having real conversations with real people.

Because you can not sell a secret. 💪

🎙️ Hosted by Mark and Tom Gibson from the UpScale Business Coaching team.

🏃 BIG NEWS — This year the UpScale team are lacing up their runners for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, a mental health service supporting tradies and blue collar workers across Australia. If you want to cheer us on or chip in, head to:https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Note: Mitch (@mitchvan_) and Erina (@erinaroxx) do not appear in this episode so their handles have not been included. Let me know if that needs to change!

Most tradies work hard, send the invoice and move on. But do you actually know if that job made you money? Like really know?

Download our Free Tradie Job Profit Calculator here

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

In this episode, UpScale Accounting Coaches Erina and Lucy sit down to walk you through one of the most valuable tools the UpScale team has built — the Back Costing Calculator. And the best part? It is completely free and available in the show notes.

Back costing is simply the process of looking at a completed job and asking: what did I charge, what did it actually cost me, how long did it take, and did I actually make money? It sounds simple but you would be surprised how many trade business owners skip this step entirely — and it is costing them thousands.

Erina and Lucy break down exactly how the tool works, step by step, including:

How to work out your true breakeven rate per hour per personHow to apply that to individual jobs and see your real marginsWhy your most common jobs should be the first ones you back costHow your team's efficiency directly impacts your profitability (the Johnny vs Steve example is gold 🔥)How to use the true labor rate feature to uncover what you are actually charging per hour on each jobWhy this should be reviewed at least quarterly — especially with costs rising the way they are right now

Whether you have an admin team to help you or you are running it all yourself, this episode gives you a clear and practical way to finally understand what is happening inside your numbers — without needing an accounting degree to do it.

As Lucy puts it — you don't need to be a management accountant. You just need to be willing to look. 👀

📥 Download the FREE Back Costing Calculator in the show notes and start your back costing journey today.

🎙️ Hosted by Erina and Lucy from the UpScale Accounting Coaching team.

Connect with Erina on Instagram: @erinaroxxhttps://www.instagram.com/erinaroxx/

🏃 BIG NEWS — This year the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, supporting the mental health of tradies and blue collar workers across Australia. Come cheer us on or show your support here:👉 https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Are you hiring to keep up, or hiring to grow? In this episode of the UpScale Business Podcast, Erina and Riley break down one of the most common dilemmas trade business owners face: knowing when the timing is right to bring on a new team member.

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

Riley shares his take from an operations perspective, looking at how efficiently a current team is working and whether billable hours are being maximised before pulling the trigger on a new hire. Erina flips it around with a firsthand story from the early days of UpScale, when getting an office before it felt "necessary" completely changed the way the business was taken seriously from day one.

Together they cover the real cost of hiring too soon (or too late), why your onboarding process can make or break a great new hire, and how to use lead generation as a lever to fill capacity rather than scramble to find it after the fact.

You'll also hear about a client who hired two people at once because he couldn't choose between them, then worked harder than ever to justify it. Spoiler: it paid off, but it's not a strategy for everyone.

In this episode you'll learn:

How to know if your team actually has capacity before you hire, the difference between hiring reactively versus proactively, why onboarding is just as important as the hire itself, a simple formula for calculating lead generation hours based on team size, and how to build a hiring system so good it works every time you scale.

Whether you are a solo tradie thinking about your first hire or a trade business owner with a growing team, this one is worth a listen.

Connect with your hosts:Erina: https://www.instagram.com/erinaroxx/Riley: https://www.instagram.com/mitchvan_/

We've got the tools you need to scale your business, automate, hire, and delegate. Book your call with our team to talk strategy and learn more about our program.

A note from the UpScale Team: This year, we are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, a charity providing free mental health support to tradies and blue collar workers. If you want to cheer us on or chip in, you can find our fundraising page here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Follow UpScale Business Coaching:Daily content for trade businesses on Instagram: @upscalebusinesscoachingBook a free session with our Growth Specialist: upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcastWatch tips and insights on YouTube: upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtubeFind out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: upscale-coaching.com/application-podcastHear from tradies who have done it: upscalecoaching.com.au/success-storiesLive Coaching Events 2026: upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

Capacity For Growth: When Should You Hire in Your Trade Business?

When Cam is running Kerabo Carpentry Business and before he jumped into coaching, he used one word to describe where his business was at: drowning. No systems, no financial clarity, subcontracting for builders week to week with no idea where the next job was coming from. Sound familiar?

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

In this episode, David sits down with Cam (https://kerabocarpentry.com/) to talk through what it actually took to go from a solo chippy doing hourly subcontracting work to running a team, managing three job sites at once, and having two days a week in the office instead of quoting at midnight in the spare bedroom.

The turning point? His first child. Cam looked at his bank account, looked at what was coming, and realised that being a great carpenter and knowing how to run a business are two completely different things.

This episode covers:

What it felt like to run a business with no systems, no financial structure, and no certainty from one week to the next

Why Cam almost couldn't imagine trusting anyone else to do the work the way he wanted it done, and how he got over it

The difference a proper follow-up sequence made to how many quotes actually turned into jobs

How weekly toolbox talks on Mondays and Fridays have helped him hold his team accountable without micromanaging

What it looks like now to finish work, go home, and actually be present with his family

Where Cam wants to take Kerabo Carpentry next, including a builders licence, a factory, and eventually working nationally

If you're a tradie who feels like you'll always be the only one who can do it right, or you're stuck quoting at night while the family's asleep, this episode is for you.

Hosted by David Probert.

🏃 Big news: this year the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, providing free mental health support to tradies and blue collar workers across Australia. You can support the team here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Want to see the UpScale team live? Grab your tickets to the next event at https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

Why Most Trade Business Owners Are Leaving Work on the Table

If you're waiting for the phone to ring, you're already behind. In this episode, Mitch and Jason sit down fresh off the UpScale Live Tour across Australia and New Zealand to unpack one of the biggest differences they keep seeing between tradies who are growing fast and those who are stuck: cold outreach.

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

They break down why most trade business owners avoid it (hint: it's the same reason you don't talk to strangers at the bar), what actually happens when you stay consistent with it, and why the first conversation was never supposed to get you the job anyway.

You'll also hear about the "ten before ten" challenge that one Gold Coast tradie used to land $700 worth of work in his very first week, and why the UpScale members' room looks so different from the room full of tradies who haven't started coaching yet.

In this episode Mitch and Jason cover:

• Why cold outreach feels uncomfortable and how to get over it fast
• Walk ins vs phone calls vs emails and which one actually works
• How often to follow up and when to back off
• What questions to ask during a discovery conversation to understand what really matters to your client
• Why pricing is rarely the reason you lose a job
• How to build a simple nurture sequence that keeps you front of mind without eating your whole week

Whether you're an electrician, plumber, carpenter, or any other trade business owner trying to build a steadier pipeline of work, this one is worth a listen.

Drop your "ten before ten" results in the comments. The UpScale team wants to hear how you go.

Hosted by Mitch Van Bergen (@mitchvan_ https://www.instagram.com/mitchvan_/) and Erina Roxx (@erinaroxx https://www.instagram.com/erinaroxx/)

🏃 Big news: this year the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, a charity providing free mental health support to tradies and blue collar workers. If you want to cheer them on or chip in, you can find their fundraiser here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Want to see the UpScale team live? Check out upcoming events at https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

In this solo episode of the UpScale Business Podcast, Mitch Van shares the biggest lessons from the first half of the UpScale Live Tour across Australia and what trade business owners are really struggling with right now.

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

From Sydney to Melbourne, Hobart to Newcastle, Mitch breaks down how business challenges can change depending on the location, but one thing stays the same. Too many tradies feel like they’re doing it alone.

This episode dives into:
• Why so many business owners never reach the freedom they started their business for
• The hard truth about getting off the tools
• Why hiring tradies takes more than just posting a job ad
• The difference between business owners who stay stuck and those who grow
• How community and accountability can completely change your business
• Why surrounding yourself with the right people matters in trade and construction

Mitch also shares insights from inside the UpScale community, including the launch of local business hubs across Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast where tradies are building real connections, sharing work, raising industry standards and helping each other grow.

If you’re a builder, electrician, plumber, landscaper, painter or trade business owner trying to scale your business, build a team and create more time and profit, this episode is packed with real talk and practical perspective.

Follow Mitch on Instagram:
@mitchvan_

Need help growing your trade business?

Follow us on Instagram for daily tips and strategies for tradies:
@upscalebusinesscoaching

Book a free session with our Growth Specialist:
UpScale Coaching

Watch more business insights on YouTube:
UpScale YouTube Channel

Take the Tradie Quiz and see where your business stands:
Tradie Business Quiz

Hear real success stories from trade business owners:
UpScale Success Stories

Check out our 2026 live coaching events:
UpScale Live Events 2026

This year, the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon to raise funds for TIACS, supporting free mental health counselling for tradies, truckies and blue collar workers across Australia.

Support the cause here:
TIACS Gold Coast Marathon Fundraiser

You've looked at the schedule and it's quiet. What do you do right now to get work through the door today?

Need help growing your business? 

• Follow us on IG for daily Content for your Trade Business  @upscalebusinesscoaching

• Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast⁠

• Watch insights and tips on YouTube: ⁠upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube⁠

• Find out where your business stands with our Tradie Quiz: ⁠https://upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who’ve done it, and learn what it really takes to grow a successful trade business. https://www.upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories/

Live Coaching Events 2026:

https://www.upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

That's exactly what this episode is about. We brought together four people for a Royal Rumble style debate — Team Black vs Team White — and gave them one challenge: come up with the best ways to get work fast, no fluff, no long-term strategies that take months to kick in. Just real, actionable things you can do today.

And they did not hold back.

Between the four of them, they packed this episode with more than 20 practical ways to fill your schedule when things go quiet. Some of them are obvious but rarely done consistently. Some of them are a little old school. And a couple of them are genuinely creative in a way that most trade businesses would never think to try.

Here's a taste of what gets covered:

Following up open quotes that are sitting in your pipeline right now, reaching out to past clients with a simple message, walking into local businesses and introducing yourself, running a targeted SMS or email campaign with real scarcity, sending your idle techs out to do some doorknocking with a simple script, turning on Google Ads during business hours with high intent keywords, posting on local Facebook community groups with photos and immediate availability, reaching out to tradie mates for overflow or subcontracting work, sharing client introductions across complementary trade businesses, posting on Facebook Marketplace as a free way to promote availability, following up leads that never got quoted and lost quotes that went to a cheaper competitor, printing door hangers and walking the streets, tracking installed assets in your job management system and calling clients when servicing is due, and offering a try before you buy voucher to cold outreach prospects you've been trying to land.

The conversation wraps up with something worth sitting with: most tradies will hear all of this, do one thing, and then stop. The ones who actually grow are the ones doing an unreasonable volume of activity consistently, whether they're busy or not. That's the real secret.

Pick two or three from this list and go do them today.

Also, the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon this year to raise funds for TIACS, a free mental health service built for tradies and their families. If you want to get behind the cause, you can donate here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

From $20K months to a $111K record: Jarren shares exactly what changed in his business Fore Front Electrical after five months with Upscale Business Coaching.

In this episode, we sit down with Jarren Ganzer, a trade business owner who joined Upscale in January and hasn't looked back.

In February he did around $20K, March was $27K, and by April he'd cracked $111K in a single month. But the numbers are only part of the story.

Jarren opens up about what his business actually looked like before coaching — quoting on guesswork, no real systems, working hard with no clear plan, and telling himself he'd sort it out "next time." Sound familiar?

We get into the messy middle: the six months he spent knowing something needed to change but not pulling the trigger, the conversations he was avoiding with himself, and what finally made him commit — not just to coaching, but to his business as a whole.

We also talk about what the first 30 days of coaching actually looked like, why getting a job management system in place was a turning point, and how the community side of things surprised him more than anything else.

If you're a trade business owner still running on gut feel and long hours, hoping it'll sort itself out — this one's for you.

What's covered in this episode:

What Jarren's business looked like the week before joining Upscale, why he waited six months before pulling the trigger, the first thing coaching changed in how he ran day to day, which job management system he landed on and why it mattered, what's shifted at home for him, his partner Amy, and his son since the numbers started moving, the beliefs he had to drop to get to where he is today, and what he'd say to the version of himself sitting down for that first session in January.

A big shoutout to Jarren for being so open and honest — this is exactly the kind of conversation that helps other tradies know they're not alone.

Also, the UpScale team are lacing up for the Gold Coast Marathon this year to raise funds for TIACS, a free mental health service for tradies and their families. If you want to support the cause, you can donate here: https://fundraise.tiacs.org/fundraisers/upscalegoldcoastmarathon2026

Connect with UpScale Business Coaching:

Follow on Instagram for daily content: @upscalebusinesscoaching

Book a free session with our Growth Specialist: upscale-coaching.com/schedule-podcast

Watch tips and insights on YouTube: upscale-coaching.com/upscale-youtube

Find out where your business stands with the Tradie Quiz: upscale-coaching.com/application-podcast

Hear from tradies who've done it: upscalecoaching.com.au/success-stories

Live Coaching Events 2026: upscale-coaching.com/upscale-live-events

Upscale Business Coaching Podcast — Episode Description