Building Better Leaders Through Coaching and Accountability with Dan Dowdy

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, our guest is Dan Dowdy, leadership coach, keynote speaker, author, and founder of Built For The Trades, where he helps contractors, business owners, and leaders build thriving companies by developing exceptional leadership skills and high-performing teams. Drawing on years of experience leading organizations and coaching businesses across the skilled trades, Dan shares practical insights on creating healthy workplace cultures, developing people through accountability and trust, improving communication, and making the shift from simply managing employees to truly leading them. We also discuss the importance of servant leadership, intentional coaching, empowering teams to take ownership, and building businesses that grow through strong leadership rather than constant oversight. Whether you're a contractor, entrepreneur, executive, manager, or business owner, this conversation offers actionable strategies for leading with purpose and building organizations where both people and performance thrive.

You can find him on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-dowdy-989b8111a/
https://builtforthetrades.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@builtforthetrades
https://www.facebook.com/BuiltForTheTrades
https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-for-the-trades/
https://www.instagram.com/builtforthetrades/

Transcript

Dan Dowdy 0:00

Um, integrity is a big one. Quality is a big one. Uh, but second, everybody needs training, everybody needs maintenance, everybody needs accountability when it comes to operating a business. So just because you hired somebody like you, similar to your core values, and you put them out in the field, if you just turn a blind eye to that, you can't expect that they're always going to be working to your standards. There needs to be a trust and verify to that.

Davis Nguyen 0:26

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swin, and I'm a business coach and a founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're gonna learn lessons that took far guests years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in minutes. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is going to give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:10

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Dan Dowdy, a second generation master plumber and certified John Maxwell coach, trainer, and speaker whose 20 plus years in the home service industry have shaped a mission to give back to the trades and empower individuals and businesses to achieve their full potential. Dan brings a rare combination of hands-on trades, expertise, and world-class leadership development to an industry that desperately needs our both. His coaching approach is rooted in the belief that true success begins within, focusing on personal growth, leadership development, and building a lasting legacy that goes far beyond revenue and business metrics. Dan helps tradespeople and entrepreneurs lead with purpose and growth from the inside out, proving that the same grit and craft craftsmanship that builds great plumbing systems can build extraordinary lives and businesses.

Dan Dowdy 2:19

Welcome to the show, Dan. Well, thank you for having me, Pedro. I appreciate this time. And that introduction kind of puts a little pressure on me. Great introduction.

Pedro Stein 2:30

Dude, I was in Brazil just chilling, you know, and you were doing everything. I I mean it it's on you. I'm you're the one to blame, right? You you built that your own. Uh now moving forward, okay. Great to have you, man. Excited to record an episode with you. And you know what? Uh, I'd love for us to rewind a bit because you could be doing so many things, right? And sometimes I joke about this on the episode, like, you could be a plumber. Well, you are literally a plumber, right? But you could do other different things with your life. You could be a chef, you could be a dentist. Well, you chose coaching right now, right? So, can you walk us through why coaching and a little bit on the origin story, how that came to fruition?

Dan Dowdy 3:15

That's a long story. You sure you want to?

Pedro Stein 3:18

You can give us a a quick briefing about that.

Dan Dowdy 3:22

I'll hit the highlight. So uh, you know, I'm second generation in the trades, uh, born and raised. The time I could work, I was I was doing plumbing. Um joined the family business as a young adult, uh, about 10 years in, was put into a leadership role in the business, and at that point realized there had to be a better way. It wasn't that we weren't successful, it was just that we were like most family businesses where the owners were doing most everything in the business, and we were definitely limiting the growth of the business. That's when I hired my first business coach. That was around 2010. Uh, and the rest is history. At that point, I not only learned about uh processes and systems, learned about leadership and management, uh, but I was always a student of business and leadership. So I was always reading books, listening to podcasts, uh, going to conferences, and really just applying what I was learning. That 10 years of coaching in my plumbing business went from it being dependent on the owners to being fully independent of the owners. And that's really around a combination of leadership and communication and how we manage people, but also consistent systems and processes and really developing the people around us, developing, developing them into leaders who um can make decisions, own decisions, and and really have the um have the right knowledge to be able to make the right decision in what they're doing. Around 2018 is when, you know, like a faith is a big part of my journey. I found my walk with God and and he really started to put new dreams on my heart of what would be beyond the plumbing, which I never thought there would be anything beyond the plumbing. Uh was running a very successful multi-location business in Texas and um ended up realizing that there's a great need both for leadership coaching and for business coaching in the trades. And there's not a whole lot of people that come at it from being a tradesman, um actually doing and applying what they learned in the field and coming to it from that angle, which I think is a very relatable story for a lot of tradespeople out there who may be listening. And uh so around 2019, sold my share of that business, stepped into coaching full time, um, started a company called Built for the Trades. And really what it stands for is um, you know, that you're a good person, uh, you run your business with integrity and that you're passionate and you love the trades, whatever trade it is. And uh, you know, that's really the prerequisite of who we like to work with. From that point, all we need is somebody who's willing to be coached and grow. Um, if we can meet that, we can grow our community and grow, grow businesses all over the nation. And uh yeah, the rest is history, man. About six years doing this, um, family life, been married 22 years, have four children. And if I'm I'm not coaching, uh, you know, nowadays I enjoy we were talking about watching the World Cup. Uh I love playing sports, I love golf, I love uh coaching my son's baseball team, I love working out and just taking care of myself. So that's uh high a highlight of how how I made it to your podcast.

Pedro Stein 6:32

Oh, nice. Okay. Interesting. I I love the the fact that you saw uh the family business and you're like, okay, maybe there's a better way of doing things, right? So I like that. Not that that's anything wrong with it, it's just how can we improve it, right? Um, there's that. Now I'm curious about one thing because you started like six years ago, build for traits, right? And um at the start in the coaching journey, and I'm not sure how your uh went, but sometimes, and I'm a coach too, we're like, uh, I'm helping people, I'm giving some tips here, I'm guiding people in the early days, right? And then we realize, okay, this is a real thing. I'm building a real business around this. So when that happened for you, that that you realize, you know, okay, this is not just advice giving. Just I'm not just hopping on phone calls with buddies and helping them with business. It's more about I can actually charge people for this, you know, I I can launch an LLC or whatever that looks like.

Dan Dowdy 7:36

Yeah, for me, I may be a little bit different, but I saw it as a business from day one. And so um I, you know, I was giving advice to other plumbing business owners uh all across the nation that I had relationships with uh for free before I ever started coaching. And then when I knew I wanted to go into coaching, I already had one engaged client before I ever started the business. And the best advice I ever got was hey, pick a price and just go to market as a coach and just offer coaching at whatever cadence you want to offer coaching at the price that you want to offer it. It just really simplified it in my head. I wasn't trying to offer all these different services at first, and I just wanted to start, you know, start from scratch and build the business. Uh one client quickly turned it into three clients, and uh, but it hasn't always been just clients coming in left and right. That's just really how I started my business, Pedro. But the funny thing is, is uh owning a plumbing business and owning a coaching business is so different. Uh there's still businesses, but there's just so many different ways of of marketing the business, I guess, is where it's so different. Marketing the business has been a learning curve for me over the last six years.

Pedro Stein 8:52

Okay, interesting. And it sounds like from the get-go, you already have a clear idea on who you you're gonna serve, and and you kind of told me that. But eventually, there's a certain type of evolution that happens within, and I'm not sure if that happened to you, uh, that we we keep we keep trying, we we actually we keep attracting the the same type of people, right? Uh in the early days, there's a little bit tasting the water, so I I can help anyone, or maybe I'll I'll niche down or not. So, can you walk us through the evolution of that, like your ICP, your ideal client profile, and who do you serve now?

Dan Dowdy 9:33

Yeah, yeah. You know, we are built for the trade, so we offer services to all different types of trades, mainly if you think blue-collar or construction type trades, home services. That's our main focus in the in the trades that we serve. Um, from day one, I was looking for clients that were doing like a million to a million and a half in annual revenue, up to about 10 million. Uh, and really, that was my experience in growing the family business. So, first, it it made me feel comfortable in coaching that. Uh, second, you know, anybody doing a less than a million per year is a very hard client to coach because they're usually out in the field turning the wrench and doing the different things. And then the ones that are over 10 million are usually selling the private equity. They're not family owned anymore, and we don't really step into that space. So that that became my avatar of family businesses in the US that were doing between one and 10 million in annual revenue. And as that evolved, what I realized was was there was really an underserved community of trades owners that were doing zero to one million. And I wanted to, I wanted to be the coach for the underdogs. You know, I felt like every podcast you heard was people doing 10, 20, 30, 40, 100 million dollars per year. Nobody was talking directly to the guy out there or the gal out there turning a rent, doing, you know, $20,000 a month in their business, uh, just trying to make a living. And as we evolved, we started to evolve different services into our coaching. One-to-one coaching services for us is an owner out of a truck, fully has a team that's operating for them, and they're ready to grow their business. But our group coaching programs were designed uh specifically for that startup to $1 million in annual revenue. So typically one to five employees in a business. And that's really taken off for us, too.

Pedro Stein 11:33

Okay. And when you you say trades, I mean I'm picturing it's not just plumbing, right? Uh would you like give me a rundown on like five top trades you work with?

Dan Dowdy 11:43

Yeah, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, um, roofing, flooring, remodeling. Um we've done anything from underground utility work, uh, a lot of different things. And you're right. When you said earlier you attract who you are, I would think I would say about 60 to 70 percent of our business is uh plumbing. But uh we even have a company that does countertop prefinishing. And you know, so there's all kinds of different clients. We have automotive as well. I can't believe we have great some great automotive clients. Um so that's that that's probably our top right now of who we're serving. We've even gone a little bit outside of of construction trades and worked with like some print shops and things like that. Um, but what what what we're looking for, you know, like when you think about our avatar, I mean, at first it's just a good integrity-based owner, has a good reputation, and they're they're coachable. They they've reached a point in their business where they can't figure out how to go beyond that, and they're finally ready to be coached. That's that's somebody that we're always gonna talk to.

Pedro Stein 12:50

Okay. Now, let's do a quick game of pretend, right? If you do, if you allowed me. I would love to pretend I'm your avatar, okay? Your ideal client profile. Let's say I'm a business owner between one and ten million, okay. Family business, plumbing. We could go with the bread and butter. Um now, how would I be able to find you in the first place, right? Marketing-wise.

Dan Dowdy 13:17

Okay. Yeah, so the easiest way to find us would be on any of the social platforms under Built for the Trades. Um, we're we're on all of them. Uh, we have a little YouTube channel as well. We have a podcast as well. So as far as people that aren't in my in my uh networking sphere, so to say, that's probably the easiest way to find us. Podcasts like this are great ways to expand the audience. Uh, but I I would say our top two, like um our top two referral uh areas is gonna be in in networking and also current uh existing client referrals is how we consistently grow our business.

Pedro Stein 14:02

Okay. So still in the game of pretend, I'm still your avatar. I'm uh looking at your YouTube channel, um listen to one of your podcasts, even as a ghost uh host or a guest, and I'm like, okay. Or even I was referred to work with you, right? And I'm like, they seem cool, right? I reach out and I go through the sales process. We can speed up that a little, up to you. Let's just I can simply put there's alignment. Okay. You guys see that you can help me. I'm coachable. Um, I see that you guys can help me. So can you walk me through and give us a little bit of uh peek behind a curtain of how does it look like to work with Build for the Traits, right? And uh outcomes I can expect.

Dan Dowdy 14:45

Yeah, you want to hear more about like the sales process and then what it looks like or just more.

Pedro Stein 14:50

I think more about the the I think one thing and on a side note, I was a high-ticket sales closer for a landscape business coach for a while. Okay, yeah, and sometimes, man, I was in calls and they had a hard time grasping what coaching meant. Right. So I I think about a little peek behind the curtain of what are we actually going to do, right? More about the structure. Are we talking about one-on-ones? Uh, is there a framework? What exactly happens on day one, you know? And uh a little bit of uh this is what it will look like if we you follow the steps and this is the the outcome we're talking about.

Dan Dowdy 15:30

You know what I mean? I got you. Yeah, what is coaching? That was that was a big part of my story when I left the plumbing trade and going to coaching. All my friends are like, dude, what are you doing? Like, what is even what is the coach even? Right? And I'm like, yeah, that's gonna be fun to sell. Um, you know, so the first thing I realized is is this the faster the client jumps in, the faster they jump out. I've learned through coaching that closing on the first call is never the way to go. Uh, we have a three-step process, and the three-step process is simply relationship building at first, if they want to go to the next call. We always we always work to book the next call. We're gonna qualify, make sure we have the right people on the second call. And then at that point, we go through our business freedom roadmap. It's actually been one of the one of the best selling tools by accident that I ever built. And it's just a 10-step framework. And it asks 10 different questions, and the client can score themselves from one to 10, 10 being the best. Uh, the total score is 100. And what I tell every every potential client that comes in is if you have never been coached, typically you score between a 10 and a 30 out of 100. If you've been coached, you may score somewhere around 50 or 60. Uh, and then we I just take them through each area. So the first thing we ask is like your vision for your business. Do you have your vision, your mission, your core values established, similar to what you see behind me on the screen? Is that established? Is it on the wall? Do you talk about it often? And then we jump into financials. Like, do you have a PL and balance sheet? Are you reviewing that monthly? Do you have a budget established? And then we jump into KPIs, and then we jump into recruiting for the business. We jump into how often are you training your team? We we jump into leadership meetings and the structure of your leadership meetings. Uh, we jump into 10 different areas of the business, which is really more systems and processes in the business, but it at least gives them a direct reflection of how they're operating. And uh, and that's usually that point where that light bulb goes off. They're like, okay, like I need built for the trades. Now, the outcome that we give, that the whole goal of working with our clients is not just they grow in their revenue and they grow in their profitability. We want to see their business grow and have some independence separate than the owner to where they can actually enjoy their family, they can go on vacation, they have the right people in place to be able to operate it for them. And, you know, for different industries, it's different, Pedro, because I think the more college-educated industries, running a business is probably something that's taught more to them. But for the blue-collar trades industry, you got to remember my audience, they graduated high school and they worked for somebody else, and they finally got tired of being told what to do. So they're like, screw you, I'm gonna go start my own business.

Speaker 3 18:19

Right.

Dan Dowdy 18:19

And then they go out there and they're just turning a wrench, and that's all they know, and they they grow their business through hard work. And one day they wake up and they're like, wow, this is a real business. Like, I don't I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing beyond working in a truck. And and and and so our our avatar is is is just that simple. So whenever we come in and we show them the framework, it sells itself. But beyond that, the the leadership um and the mindset and how you communicate with your people is really powerful. Um, but it's kind of hard to score that, you know, and in in a initial assessment. But for everybody listening out there, it's just a one-page document that sells majority of the work that we do.

Pedro Stein 19:06

Interesting. Appreciate you sharing that. Now, I'm curious about one thing, man. You know, I have a little bit, I work with those guys almost three years, right? So I I I kind of I'm curious about one a couple things. So, first of all, yeah, uh, I'm not sure, and you can correct me here if I'm wrong, if it's a blue collar thing, if it's a generational thing, and I didn't want to put everyone in a box. It's just a a pattern I realize. And I saw it also in on my dad, right? Which is letting go of a little bit of being resourceful, of doing everything by yourself, you know, of oh, uh, I don't want to step out of the field because uh it's not gonna look as good as when I am there, you know. That type of I believe your clients may face that or you've you help them transition from stepping out of the field. But at the same time, I understand you're not currently like exactly helping them, at least on the one-on-one. That's more for the group setting, right? But how do you tackle that mindset? Because like my dad, he was like, he grew up on a farm, he was used to do things on his own and got to a point that he starts in he needs to start delegating, and that's the struggle. And I saw that in uh the landscapers, for example. But please, I would love to understand your point of view on that, you know, and how to navigate that that mentality.

Dan Dowdy 20:34

Yeah, the first thing is to realize that we all we all only have so much capacity to do everything ourselves, and so the first pain point a client's gonna feel is that overwhelmed, losing any kind of uh work-life balance to sacrifice for their business. And some people are okay with that for a while, but eventually you reach a point that uh you're ready to move beyond that. Some people do, not everybody. Uh, you know, how do you convince them to do that? I think the first thing is is is you gotta educate them on you can't just hire people and let them run wild and expect it to be the same results as you. There's actually a system to getting people to operate to your standards. And and the first thing is that I I believe every business should have a good set of core values that you live by and your team lives by. So you want to be hiring people that resonate with your core values. Um, integrity is a big one, quality is a big one. Uh, but second, everybody needs training, everybody needs maintenance, everybody needs accountability when it comes to operating a business. So just because you hired somebody like you, similar to your core values, and you put them out in the field, if you just turn a blind eye to that, you can't expect that they're always going to be working to your standards. There needs to be a trust and verify to that. And, you know, so that's kind of how we get people to move forward. If people still don't Move forward, the biggest motivator is pain. Because what a lot of business owners don't realize is that it's all good until you can't do it anymore. So in the trades, it's usually hurting your back, hurting your knee, doing something like that to where you actually can't produce revenue for your business. What is your life going to look like when that happens? And um, and so the pain is always a good motivator for people when you realize that. And that's even the same in the coaching space. You know, if I stay a solopreneur coach, you know, I'm only as good as my ability to serve my clients. So same thing with Built for the Trades, just gradually growing it and delegating responsibilities and getting it dependent on other people not being me is the trick.

Pedro Stein 22:47

Oh, I'm jumping on that boat. Okay. Here comes the first curveball. And I am a coach too. Okay. I'm a coach too. So there it is that and I see a lot of that happen in the in the space. And I'll throw it out there like this. A lot of coaches out there are advocating against burnout, are talking about capacity. But sometimes, and I'm saying it's their your case, that's why I'm gonna ask, they are burning themselves out because they're wearing all the hats, right? They're the marketer, the sales guy, uh, the delivery, the coaching itself, right? And the business, in a way, is it does rely on them. And honestly, coaching calls can really suck your energy dry, right? So, how do you think about capacity so you don't stretch yourself too thin, you know? Yeah.

Dan Dowdy 23:37

Wow, that's a big question. So whatever.

Pedro Stein 23:40

Sorry, man. Yeah, no, I think I want the answer because I, you know, I I I here's the kicker, and I'm gonna add a note there. I worked in corporate, right? And um whenever I hit the clock there, I was like, Sayonara to everyone, you know, it's uh it's like I'm an employee, bye-bye. And then I became a business owner, and then I'm like, dude, sometimes this doesn't even feel like work because it, I mean, there is the outtake of energy, right? But I'm having fun at the same time and like what I do, even in the podcast, too. And my wife sometimes is listening to me outside, and she's like, is that even work? You're laughing so hard, right? I'm like, I'm like, yeah, but I need to create some boundaries, right? For me, or I'll I'll burn myself out. Either way, whether I'm having fun or not. So I would love to hear your approach on it.

Dan Dowdy 24:30

Yeah, so just from the very beginning, you know, like going into business for myself, um, great advice was given to me that you know, you need to have a great routine and treat it like it's like a normal job. So I never stopped waking up early. I've never stopped my routine, never stopped showing up to work every day. Uh, because it is a slippery slope when you're not reporting to anybody else, taking off Fridays, taking off Mondays, next thing you know, you're not working a whole lot. And then I just frameworked out my week. I said Mondays is my admin days, Fridays is my production days and sales days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm gonna cram in as much coaching as possible. That's worked for me since day one because I don't work the weekends, and I've always carved that out as family time. That's just who I am and what and the way I've always operated. Uh, but yeah, for me, so if I'm doing admin on Mondays, you know, I may be taking some one-to-one referral partner calls in the afternoon on Mondays. Friday mornings, the first half of the day, I'm doing podcasting, I'm shooting reels, I'm batching stuff for the for the week. And then um the second half of the day, I'm doing sales calls, and I may I may cut out early every once in a while. Uh that worked for me to start, you know, and it still works for me today. As I've grown the business, what's you know, hiring VAs are great. I mean, I I have two great VAs in my business. The first one I hired was like uh my social media guy, my admin guy, and my executive assistant. So he was all in one. He's all I could afford. And uh, we just let it grow from there. And what I started doing was just slowly getting things off my plate that wasn't uh networking sales or coaching. And and that worked over time until eventually I hired a full-time uh admin person as well. So I have one that focuses on the marketing piece, the other one that focuses on administrative work. Uh, and then as I've grown the community, you know, finding other coaches is really tricky. I'm a little unique being Built for the Trades and being in the trades. My vision all along has been to um coach people up to sell their business. Once they sell their business and they want to coach again, they can come back and coach with Built for the Trades. If they love the community, they're a good person. And luckily that's worked out for me. So my first coach is one of my first clients. Uh he's out of Colorado, uh, built and sold a big plumbing HVAC electrical business. Him and I worked together for a lot of years. Uh, he's retired, but he works part-time coaching with me. So that helped me kind of delegate some of the coaching responsibilities. And then now I have another full-time coach uh that that uh started us part-time for me. And uh it's still kind of tricky being in that phase where you have two other coaches in your business because people still look to you as like the expert for Built for the Trades, especially if that's the way you market your business. Uh, but I have found that you know, through different avenues beyond one-to-one coaching, like group coaching or masterminds or the school community, if those coaches are there and they're sharing their knowledge, people are starting to connect with other people besides Dan. And it's really opened up some good opportunities to grow the business and kind of expand my capacity and what I'm doing.

Pedro Stein 27:46

Interesting. Okay, I like I love the answer actually. Now, let me ask you about another thing you brought up. You mentioned that at the start, you you were giving some free advice, right? Business advice for certain people. Yeah, and uh the same guy I work with, right? My my client in the landscape industry, I was talking with him about that. And I see that happen in the coach industry itself, right? Uh, a lot of people doing pro bono work or offering services for free, and people are no showing, you know, people are not committed, they have no skin in the game. Sometimes they perceive uh something that is free as worthless in a way. Okay. So uh I'm not sure if you still do that or did that, or uh what's your take on it, right? Because for me, I'll give you a side note here. It's like it's almost like I'm thinking about my college days, right? Um we're playing Texas Homem-Hold'em with the buddies at no stakes, and everyone is so courageous, right? All ends here and there, and then you put a dollar in the pot and the game changes, right? So for you, man, like your opinion on free coaching and all that, how how does that look like for you? I I'm curious.

Dan Dowdy 29:06

Well, I mean, first, I think that uh anything free is typically not appreciated, and so you gotta definitely charge for your services. But as far as just building relationships with people, I've always been a man of just giving, and that's how I built a lot of relationships. So if anybody called me up and said, Hey Dan, do you have a process for this or do you have advice on this? I would say, sure, let me let me just give it to you. Um, you know, so I'm I'm a big fan of that. But when it comes to being in coaching and needing to make a living, people typically move when it's painful, and so I believe that people should be paying. And uh depending on how their willingness to move or not, sometimes I believe they should be paying paying more and uh to get them to truly move. But that's my opinion is I think anything free is not appreciated typically.

Pedro Stein 30:00

Dan, I'd love for us to shift gears for a second. Okay, talk about future a little bit, you know, build for the trades. I'm curious about where you're taking all this. Looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Dan Dowdy 30:16

There's a lot of next steps I'm excited about. That's part of my problem, Pedro. Is I always living in the future and expecting my team to execute and and they think I'm crazy sometimes. So uh near future, actually, today we just launched um social media services as a part of our offering because uh, you know, with the trades clients that we serve, one of the biggest reasons why we lose the client a lot of times is because of revenue uh issues, and and there's not a whole lot of trades companies that really enjoy the social media aspect of it. I have a great team that does it well, and so we've launched that service. Uh, we're also gonna get into networking and building some networking groups. Built for the Trades is a great name to have a networking group. Uh so we're gonna launch into that as another avenue to grow our business. Uh, and then, you know, in the future, like overall vision for Built for the Trades is that uh, you know, Built for the Trades is a marketing umbrella for different professionals that offer different types of services that serve the trades clientele to come in and operate under this name, uh, which is you know, and be able to serve our audience. But when I think out long term, there's a big issue with just getting the next generation into the trades. And it's kind of twofold. What I want to do is make the trades accessible for everybody through through an online app to be able to get all the soft training skills to be able to be a good person to step into the trades uh within a community that's pretty cool and well-branded, and you can wear the swag and all the different things and be proud of the trades. But on the on the other side of it is we want to coach enough uh enough companies within within the United States that if you know that person that takes all the courses and takes their assessments and says, Hey, I want to go to California and I want to work in marketing and a plumbing business, there's gonna be a built for the trades company over there that they can plug into. And what they all know that that company has good values, they have a great vision, and they have leaders that actually want to help their people grow. And and to wrap all that up, like we want to make it cool to be in the trades again. We want to make it accessible, and we want to build a community of like-minded people in the trades.

Pedro Stein 32:39

What's out there getting me excited? That's awesome, man. I'm imagining someone applying for a job, and it's almost like validating that company has values, it follows certain aspects of how we we want to do things. And and I think you you mentioned something very interesting because a lot of people out there right now want to work behind a computer. I'm I'm I'm one of blame, right? But it's cool to be on the trades if you're that there are different people all over, right? Uh, it's not just about a computer. I mean, the outdoors are cool too, depending on what you do. If you have like a very solidified business that can give you a path to grow and not just doing that on repeat. So I think it's almost about also selling a vision to your employees and make it cool, right? Not just put it on the generational thing, but trying to make it cool, like you did, like you just said. That's one of your goals. Um, now I'm curious about one thing because whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, right? Uh, something new, always something we're refining in the present. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Dan Dowdy 33:48

What am I not trying to improve and tighten up my business? I think I think the biggest thing that we're working to improve and tighten up is really just the onboarding process of our clients, uh, the offboarding process of our clients, and then giving our coaches a good support system uh administrative-wise to be able to let them focus on networking, selling, and coaching. Uh, you know, we have been refining that lately, Pedro. And what I've seen is we've made a lot of mistakes in the process. Um, it could be all kinds of different mistakes. But what I keep encouraging my team is that this is just part of growth. As long as we're not repeating these mistakes, we're just fine. You know, it's just part of the growing pains of growing a business. And you know, if if you come to if you're a coach and you want to come to work with Built for the Trades, you want to be a part of this community. I want Built for the Trades to take a lot off your plate to where you can just focus on what you really enjoy doing. That's a big benefit to being a part of the community. And so I'm building a back-end support team to be able to do that for our coaches.

Pedro Stein 34:57

Interesting. Yeah, I was talking with my brother uh today, actually. He owns an AI company here in Brazil, right? And we were talking about systems and all that. And he was like, Yeah, dude, um, sometimes I go to businesses that are like revenue 10 to 20 million, and they have like five types of systems, AI uh wise, right? And then sometimes I go to smaller companies, they they have a plenty of stuff, like more than five, like 10, 20. And it's just overkilling it, right? It's not about having a lot of stuff, it's about having the right levers to pull, like uh the right systems to apply to X, Y, and Z. And like, oh, it happened, this problem happened. Now we need to create this entire huge thing. Not necessarily, right? You you grow and you create slowly, but don't repeat repeat the same mistakes uh as it sounds like. So I'm right there with you.

Dan Dowdy 35:52

Now we're yeah, we're definitely in a world where AI and automations and all these things are convenient. But I think people are becoming a lot, you know, numb to that, especially if that's a big part of our sales process and stuff like that. But um, it is very convenient, and the AI is still only only getting started. I mean, I can't believe it lost just the last two years, how much it's progressed since you know, but I know it's been around a lot longer than that, but it's been in my world for the last two years, and it's just crazy how much it uh has helped simplify a lot of things.

Pedro Stein 36:27

Okay. I mean, since we're talking about future, I want to talk a little bit right now. Um dive into a certain type of um sci-fi territory. Okay, let's pretend we have a time machine in front of us. You can go back in time. We're we're gonna have two stops. First one, go back in time the your first day you opened shop for your coaching business, okay? Yeah and you can give yourself one piece of business advice you wish you knew back then. Like, what would that be?

Dan Dowdy 37:00

One piece of advice I wish I would have known. Man, when I started my business, it was it was it was funny. A lot of fun, lot, a lot of crazy conversations with people. But anyways, um one piece of advice is that uh I wish I could have gave. You know, I think you know well, I I think a really good piece of advice that I get I've gotten along the way is is the importance of owning your audience and talking to your that audience that you own and not being fully dependent on social platforms and stuff like that to influence your people. Uh I started that about two, about a year and a half, two years in the business with I, you know, finally it's like, okay, I gotta build an email list. Started with like five emails, and now that email list is about 3,600, 3,700 strong. But we talk to them every week, we add a lot of value. It's a great selling tool, great nurturing tool uh for our audience. And so I would have started that from day one.

Pedro Stein 38:00

Okay. Interesting. I'm curious, you got me curious about the fun conversations.

Dan Dowdy 38:05

Oh you know, when I started, I you know, so when I sold my plumbing business, uh, we sold everything we owned. We moved it, moved into a camper for six months. It was only supposed to be a few weeks because we were building a smaller house and just had our fourth kid. It was it was pretty stressful times. And I just remember leaving that camper and going to like the nearest coffee shop or going to the library and using their internet and uh just making sales calls. And I just remember the other people on the other end of the line are like, like, what are you doing with your life? Like, I can't believe you're coaching. Like, what is even coaching? I remember just reflecting on that, thinking, like, wow, I may have made the wrong decision. Uh but that's gotta be relatable to a lot of people listening. Uh, coaching is such a great career, it's such a fulfilling career. Like, one of the things that f fulfills me the most, Pedro, is is when people reach their potential, like whatever that is. Like they start to reach the next level, they start to accomplish the goals, they start to build the business or have the life that they want. I love that about life. That just really excites me. And so being a support system to that is really cool.

Pedro Stein 39:19

Dude, do you have a time machine about my time machine? That's like almost like my follow-up question. That's that's our second stop, okay? Which is basically pick up a moment in time in those six years that you felt the most fulfilled, right? That that made you realize, okay, ah, this is why I'm doing this. You know? You have one of those? I mean, there are plenty, I imagine, but if you have one that is like the best, love to hear it.

Dan Dowdy 39:51

Yeah, the best, the most fulfilled. I have a lot of mistakes I've made along the way, but no, most fulfilled uh in my coaching journey. Um I would say, you know, it the the first most fulfilled feeling I had was when the third client I ever picked up, after two years of coaching, was able to get his business to a point where he could sell it and retire. Uh, because he was a granddad. He wanted to get it to a point where it was profitable enough to where he could live the right rest of his life comfortably. Uh he was also one of my biggest clients at the time. That's another piece of advice is don't put all your eggs in one basket. I was at that point, he was probably he was probably 50 to 60 percent of my income. Um, we built it and helped him sell it. And uh when I lost that client, it was like, okay, I need to make sure I have a lot more diversity now. I can't put all my eggs in one basket. Uh, but that was a very fulfilling feeling, and and he now he works with me and we're great friends and we do things outside of work, even though we're not in the same state. And uh I would say to this day that's been pretty fulfilling.

Pedro Stein 41:06

I love that. Okay. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with your follow your work, then and by the way, we're gonna have all the links in the description, right? Okay, about what's the best way for people to find you and connect with you?

Dan Dowdy 41:20

Yeah, builtforthe.com is our website, or just type in Built for the Trades on any social media platform. It's a great way to connect with us. Um, you know, um, yeah, either one of those two avenues is a great way to connect. And we just say if you're just curious whether you're a coach out there and you're wanting to grow your coaching practice, and I mean I'm always open to sharing what I've learned, just like I've been on this podcast, or I'd love to hear from you as well. But just becoming a part of our audience and and being able to, you know, be in the in the Built for the Trades community is huge. And that's one thing that like when I think about my journey and separating myself from my competitors. Uh, one thing I was told on along the way too was just like know who you are and own that. Like, either people are gonna love you or they're gonna hate you, but don't try to please everybody. And and ever since that day when I decided, you know what, I'm gonna bring in my values, my faith, my my family focus, my fitness focus, like being a good person, like that doesn't resonate with everybody. Some people are just like, you know what, that's cool, but I don't really care about that. I just want I just want growth and profit. There's people for that too, you know, but um own who you are, be who you are, be genuine, and you and you'll start growing your business.

Pedro Stein 42:39

Okay. You know, there were a few moments that I from this conversation I would love to highlight. Okay. Uh let's start from the the origin story. When you were at your, you know, your your your uh your business, your own family business, and you were like, yeah, there has to be a better way, you know, because the owners were doing everything. So been you do have skin in the game to do what you do today, right? You've been there and done that, and that always reminds me of this book, right? The emeth book, especially for the trades. I think that's one of that really pops up to people that we're always talking about. That's a very important reminder, okay. Then moving forward, I would say the assessment. I like that it's not a one-call closed. I think, especially in the trades, and that I had like the way I felt when I was doing that sales, for example, they need an extra layer of trust. It sounds like they have a way of doing things that it's like different, it's not as fast. They need to know you a little bit more. I might be off here, and you can judge me on that, but I like the assessment you created for the second call. You know, okay, what do you want to do about this? You know, it's just like you can either go the way you're doing things and try to get divorced in the next year. Okay, I want to be so hard with them. But or you can try something different, right? Something new, a proven method, whatever that looks like. Or we can plug in and just help you achieve whatever you want to achieve, you know, fill it, fill out the gaps. Now there's that. Last but not least, right? Whenever we were talking about the free stuff, uh, that really caught my attention. You mentioned that you want to be of service, you love giving away value, you know, helping people. That's mainly who you are, right? So, and that's aligned with what you told me earlier, too, that you wanna care about the underdog, right? So that's the reason why you built the group coaching aspect to it, to structure off to help that small guy that it's overlooked sometimes. And they need help. Oh god, they need no. This was just my long-winded way of saying, you know, Dan, I appreciate you you being here with me today and uh caring so openly. So great having you on. Thank you, Pedro. It's been a joy, man. Appreciate it.

Davis Nguyen 45:01

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business through six, seven, and eight figure years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplesorcle.com and see what we can do to help you and your business.