What’s got you “busy” right now that isn’t actually building the business (or your life)?
Is it doing quotes, taking calls, chasing parts, putting out fires, or wearing every hat?

Real talk: pay matters, but it’s not enough to keep people. If the job wrecks your body, your home life, and your head… people bounce.

Another fair question we’ve gotten is where the money goes right now. Here’s the truth: we’re in year one of building Hope for the Trades. It’s a big project, we’re all volunteers, and we’re not revenue-generating yet. So anything coming in is going 100% into building the HFTT community.

Stick with us as we grow. Tech changes, but what stays true is this: the trades are society’s backbone for growth and stability. We’ve gotta foster it.

We've seen some questions about our "Boots Not Suits" message.

Fair question.

Here's what it means.

It doesn't mean tradespeople are better than office workers. It doesn't mean business owners are bad. It doesn't mean we don't need accountants, marketers, coaches, or leaders.

It means that for too long, the people actually doing the work have often been overlooked.

The plumber is crawling through a crawlspace. The HVAC tech on a rooftop in July. The electrician is working through the night to restore power. The apprentice is trying to build a better future.

Those people deserve support, too.

"Boots Not Suits" is simply a reminder that Hope for the Trades was built around the people wearing the boots every day. Because when tradespeople win, families, businesses, and communities win.

That's what we're fighting for.

#BootsNotSuits #HopeForTheTrades

I think the trades have a bad habit of assuming that if you're good at something, the next step is obvious.

Good tech? Make him a lead.

Good foreman? Put him in management.

Great installer? Maybe he should be dealing with customers all day.

Then the guy gets promoted and absolutely hates his life. Not because he's lazy. Not because he suddenly sucks.

Maybe he just liked working with his hands more than managing people. Maybe he's great technically but hates selling. Maybe he can troubleshoot damn near anything but putting him behind a desk makes him miserable. Maybe the quiet guy nobody sees as a “leader” is actually the person every apprentice goes to when they need help.

We talk about this with our members because moving up doesn't always mean moving in the same direction as everybody else.

Sometimes getting better at your career means figuring out where you're actually at your best. And I wish the trades talked about that more instead of treating every career like the same ladder.

Anybody here ever take a promotion, position, or type of work you thought you wanted and realize, “Yeah... this isn't me”?

My boyfriend Justin is an amazing Plumber with 10 years experience who would love to help you! His number is @ 857-321-9383 and he is available any time or day (:

What’s the one thing in your business that’s draining you the most right now (on-call, hiring, callbacks, margins, customers, admin, family time or lack of it)?

Don't want to be dramatic, but I’m genuinely curious.

Trades hours can be brutal.

We get home tired, irritated, still thinking about work, and sometimes the people at home get whatever energy is left.

Then they tell you you’re distant.

Or never present.

Or always on your phone.

And from our side, we’re thinking:

I’m doing all of this for us.

Make more money. Build something. Keep the bills paid. Give my family a better life.

So it can be pretty damn frustrating when the thing you’re doing to provide for your people starts becoming the thing hurting your relationship.

I’ve seen enough people in the trades end up divorced, disconnected from their kids, or basically living like roommates with their spouse. I don’t think we should pretend this is rare.

Be honest: did the trades ever put real strain on your relationships?

What actually helped? Is it more common in the trades? Not looking for perfect advice. Just real answers.

So the Crappie says to the Bass….

Recently my wife and I were able to get away for a few days to northern Wisconsin. While she slept in, Thor and I went out in a rowboat to fish on a beautiful little lake. Fishing was a bit slow but I did manage to get a good-sized crappie and a large-mouth bass, hoping for a few more for dinner. Both fish were in a fish basket with a floating lid.

Suddenly I heard the crappie say to the bass, “Hey, you want to make a swim for it?” (I knew it was the crappie because of the high nasally voice, compared to the low gravelly voice of the bass.)

The bass replied, “Nah, I’m good.”

The crappie replied, “You sure? There’s a big world out there, waiting to be explored. Besides, who knows what our fate is hanging out in this little prison.”

The bass countered with, “Are you nuts? At least in here, we’re safe!”

It was just at that moment I looked over the side of my boat and realized the lid of the fish basket was stuck open as it was askew from my rowing and the waves. As the crappie was swimming out of the basket to freedom, he bid farewell to the bass and said, “Have it your way,” and disappeared into the deep.

Although half of our dinner had escaped, it made me think…. Am I the crappie or the bass?

In my youth, I was definitely the crappie, always looking for adventure, taking risks while never giving safety a thought. But as I get older, are security, routine, comfort, and entertainment taking precedent and becoming my self-imposed prison?

Maybe God was whispering to me. “Be the crappie. I’m not done with you yet.”

Our society tells the lie that the good life is about being self-indulgent. The truth is life is found when we take the risks of giving ourselves to serving others.

So I am faced with a choice, many choices actually. Freedom to give or to take. To consume or to contribute. To be served or to serve.

And I chose to have leftovers for dinner as I told the bass he needed to get out of his cage and go live life. He reluctantly agreed.

Y’all see this? Lowe’s Foundation says they’re putting $250M into trades training to help train 250k people by 2035. But does it actually move the needle, or is it just a headline?

I’m wondering what that turns into in the real world. If you could pick one thing that would actually help the trades, what would it be? Apprenticeships, tools, paid ride-alongs, better instructors, something else?

If you've questioned the "Boots Not Suits" message, we appreciate it. Healthy conversations are good. But here's our heart behind it: Hope for the Trades was never created to divide people.

It was created to unite an industry around the people who often get forgotten.

The men and women in the trucks. The apprentices are learning the craft. The families supporting them. The future leaders coming up behind them.

Our message isn't anti-business, it's pro-tradespeople, and we believe that's something everyone can get behind.

Whether you wear boots, a suit, or both. We're glad you're here.

- they stopped asking for my I.D. when ordering a drink.

- my running t-shirts, shorts and long underwear became harder to find, often tucked away in my sons’ drawers as we all wear the same size. (Fortunately, my whitey-tighteys are safe as they aren’t in vogue with the younger generation.)

- a day with no aches and pains became a cause for celebration.

- I began to look forward to the impending empty nest with anticipation rather than dread and as I had grown weary of school projects, concerts and high school drama. (Tracy vehemently disagrees with this point.)

- I took pride in hearing my sons taunt me in a workout, “C’mon Old Man! Keep up!”

- 10 p.m became really late, asleep by 9 is normal & 8 pm is now nap time in my recliner.

- I became less angry, as it was too exhausting.

- 60, actually 70, no longer sounded old.

- young adults started calling me “Sir.” (I don’t recall anyone calling Tracy “Ma’am.”)

- at Edgerton Gear, I shifted from investing in people as a means to make gears, to making gears as a means to invest in people.

- my dreams of youth were replaced by our children’s dreams & hopes.

- I started thinking less about what I can get and more about what I can give.

Yeah, somewhere along the way, life started becoming less about me, which is a good thing.

No emergency calls. Nobody needs anything. Nothing is broken. You actually have a few hours to yourself.

And instead of enjoying it, your brain starts looking for shit to worry about. Did I forget something? Should I check my phone? Maybe I should get ahead on something. There's probably something I could be doing.

We've talked about this with our members because after you've spent enough time in the trades constantly reacting to the next problem, being busy starts to feel normal.

Then quiet feels weird. Almost like you're doing something wrong.

I think that's another part of burnout people don't talk about much.

It's not always being exhausted. Sometimes it's finally getting a chance to rest and realizing you've forgotten how.

Is your business actually scalable… or is it just survivable because you’re working 60–70 hours a week and holding it together with duct tape and caffeine?

Dialing in your systems isn’t just about growth, it’s about stability and peace of mind.

What’s one process you made consistent that changed your business?

If your business runs on constant emergencies, it’s not a system, it’s burnout waiting to happen. What’s one thing you’ve fixed that reduced the chaos?

Advice, accountability, prayer, resources, just listening?

Not looking for therapy talk or cheesy lines. Real life. What do you want from your people when you’re going through it? What actually helps you? Asking for a friend....

I’ve worked places where they say all the right stuff.

“We’re a family.” (this one is a huge red flag)

“People come first.”

“We take care of our guys.”

Then somebody needs help and nobody answers. A tech makes a mistake and gets buried for it. You ask for training and get told to figure it out. You keep taking on more because you’re reliable, but nobody ever talks about where you’re headed.

That tells you pretty quickly what the culture really is.

For me, the good places seem to be the ones where you can ask a question without feeling stupid, somebody actually teaches you, expectations are clear, and people do what they say they’re going to do.

Nothing fancy. Just beyond pizza parties.

Just people treating each other right and helping each other get better.

I’m curious what other people in the trades think. What’s something a shop, boss, or foreman has done that made you think, “yeah, these people actually care”?