Start it. Grow it. Own it. I've done all three with my own money.
Fifteen-plus years owning small businesses: a chimney and fireplace company in Bucks County built into a multi-million-dollar operation, the AI software that runs it, and commercial real estate along the way. Whatever you're building, you'll get further with someone who's already made the mistakes.
*One campaign, one company, and the company was mine. Your results will vary. I'll show you exactly how we did it.
What brings you in?
Different doors, same workshop. Pick the one that sounds like you.
I run a trades or local service business
The whole business: marketing, in-home sales, pricing, operations, growth. My edge is AI and technology, used to cut overhead and cut out the middlemen. Fixed prices, no jargon.
See consulting → For Event OrganizersI need a speaker who's actually done it
Keynotes and workshops on AI for the trades, the toolbelt generation, and how doing good locally became my best marketing channel. Operator proof, not consultant theory.
See speaking → Signature SystemI want my business to matter here
The Giving Loop: a quarterly system that partners your business with a local charity your community picks, and turns doing good into your strongest local marketing.
See the Giving Loop → MentorshipI want to start my first business
First Business Launch: eight weeks, one-on-one, from “I should start something” to open for business, with someone who's started several. Part of BlueCollar Foundry, my mentorship work.
Start a business → Parents & TeensI'm a parent of a hands-on kid
AI is rewriting the career map your kid is about to walk into. A free conversation guide, workshops for parent groups, and the 6-week cohort where your teen launches a real side business.
For parents & teens → FreeI'm here to learn
Field Notes: free lessons on starting, growing, and owning a local business, plus true stories from my own company. Plain English, no gate, no fluff. Written with the AI tools I teach.
Read Field Notes →
I didn't learn this in a classroom. I learned it in the field, and then I taught the software to keep up.
I went to college, but it never fit. I learned more managing restaurants to pay my way through school than I ever did in a lecture. Since then I've spent fifteen-plus years owning and operating small businesses, bought commercial real estate along the way, and built a chimney & fireplace company in Bucks County into a multi-million-dollar operation, making every mistake in the book along the way. Hired wrong. Incorporated wrong. Messed up the books. All of it.
The difference between my company and most trades shops? When I hit a wall, I built my way through it. Our estimate software, our marketing systems, our AI tools: I didn't buy them off a shelf. I built them, for my own trucks, my own techs, my own customers. That's the experience I bring to every business I consult with, every stage I speak on, and every student I mentor.
You can't fake having done it. That's the whole pitch.
The Giving Loop
Once a quarter, we ask our community to nominate a local charity. We build a real relationship with them, run a “tag for charity” campaign with every customer, volunteer together, and close the loop with a public donation. Then we start again.
We ran it with Kisses for Kyle, a local charity supporting families with children battling cancer. Our trucks and crew managed and delivered donated gifts across the area.
revenue that month
My own company's result from one campaign cycle. Individual results vary. The playbook shows the exact steps we ran.
The tools I build, not just the advice I give
Everything I teach runs on things I've actually built. Two of them are for sale.
Emberline: the fireplace sold at the kitchen table
The sales tool I built for my own chimney & fireplace company. Measure the opening, see every unit that fits with the clearance math shown plainly, and hand over a branded, priced estimate on the spot. It also embeds on your website, so homeowners check their own fireplace and send you the lead.
See Emberline → Featured ServiceForgeline: websites that sell, not brochures that sit
Websites with AI doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes: conversion-first structure, SEO baked in, and custom tools built for your product or service, like estimators and fit guides that turn visitors into leads. You own everything: domain, hosting, content, leads.
See Forgeline →Book a free 30-minute fit call
Tell me where you are and what you're after. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you that too, and point you somewhere better.
Booking a talk instead? Use the speaker inquiry form. It asks the questions event organizers actually need answered.