The Trade Traction Podcast with Dennis The Apprentice

Send us Fan Mail  👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com You keep thinking you just need more calls, more plumbers, more trucks, more revenue. Dennis believed that too, for years. Here's what he eventually learned: if the math underneath your plumbing company doesn't work, more revenue doesn&ap...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com You keep telling yourself things will get better at the next revenue milestone. A million, then two million, then somehow there's still no money left over. This is part one of a six-part series built around one very specific destination: your f...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Can't afford the new truck. Can't afford another plumber. Can't afford training, coaching, health insurance. Sound familiar? Here's the uncomfortable truth: that's not a cash problem, that's a pricing problem, and doing...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Mike built a solid plumbing company almost entirely on hard work and grit, no business background, no formula, just figuring it out call by call. It worked, until it didn't. Here's what changed when he finally stopped trying to carry the w...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build a successful career—or a profitable business—in the skilled trades? In this episode of the Trade Traction Road Show, recorded at the SkillsUSA National Championships in Atlanta, I sit down with John, better known online as The Bald Electrician. John built and operated his own electrical contracting company for 26 years, employed more than 100 people, com...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Everyone is chasing AI to book more calls and scale faster. Dennis the Apprentice says that's the trap. If your pricing, hiring, and customer service are broken, AI won't fix your plumbing company, it will scale the chaos faster than ever....

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Everyone blames the plumber shortage for why they can't grow. That's not the real problem. The real shortage is plumbing companies that great plumbers actually want to work for, and once you see the difference, it changes how you look at y...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Force a call onto a plumber who doesn't want it, and only a few things can happen, and none of them are good. He rushes it, underprices it, does the bare minimum, or does everything right and misses his kid's baseball game. Either way, tha...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com You wouldn't walk into Home Depot and find just one drill on the shelf. So why do so many plumbers walk into a home, diagnose the problem, and offer exactly one repair? That's not educating a customer. That's limiting them. This entry...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com If your plumbing company disappeared tomorrow, would your community even notice? Most owners can't answer that question, and it points to a gap that profit alone can't close. This breaks down why paycheck and purpose have to work together,...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Everyone keeps saying there's a plumber shortage. There isn't. What's actually short is companies plumbers want to work for, and most owners have no idea why their best guys walk. This breaks down the real reasons plumbers leave: two h...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Two plumbing companies can get the exact same number of calls in a week, and one still walks away with twice the profit. Dennis says it has nothing to do with sales tactics. It's about the quality of the calls you're letting in the door. He...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Leon Garrett is one of the bigger influencers in the plumbing trade. He's built a real following, does beautiful work, and did $1.2 million last year. But behind the scenes, he had no pricing formula, no systems, and was guessing on every single...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com A customer tells you you're too expensive and you flinch. You knock a few hundred off, maybe throw in something free, and drive home wondering why there's nothing left at the end of the month. Dennis says that reaction is based on a lie, an...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Every coach tells you to raise your prices. Almost none of them show you what actually happens when you do. Dennis tripled his prices, then raised them again over several years, and the thing he was most afraid of, losing every customer, almost never...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:   https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com What separates tradespeople who build wealth from those who stay stuck chasing the next paycheck? In this episode of Trade Traction, recorded live at the SkillsUSA National Championships, we sit down with Jake Chesney to discuss the financial habits...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com You finished your trade apprenticeship. Someone showed you the tools, the work, what to do and what not to do. Then you filed an LLC and woke up the next morning with nobody teaching you anything. Dennis says there's a second apprenticeship most...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Every plumber starting out pictures the same thing. Big shop, double doors, wrapped trucks, the whole setup. Dennis spent 25 years building a $12 million plumbing company and says that vision is exactly what holds most trades owners back. The shop sh...

Send us Fan Mail 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Most plumbing companies think they have a marketing problem when they actually have a branding problem. In this video, Gene Johnson breaks down why the best plumbing company doesn't always win—the best marketer does. You'll learn how succes...

Send us Fan Mail 👉 Take the contractor assessment and learn what your business should focus on next:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com Are you struggling to grow your plumbing business, retain plumbers, or build a profitable plumbing company? In this episode, Dennis the Apprentice reveals one of the most important lessons every plumbing business owner must learn: your primary customer is not th...

Send us Fan Mail Most plumbing business owners don’t fail because they’re bad at plumbing… they fail because nobody taught them how money actually works in business. In this episode of Trade Traction, Dennis sits down with Electra to break down the money mistakes keeping contractors stuck — from underpricing and cash flow chaos to why most owners are terrified to raise prices. They dive deep into...

Send us Fan Mail Most contractors think the hiring problem starts with finding apprentices. But according to HVAC education leader Clifton Beck, the real issue is what happens after they get hired. In this episode of ESCO Institute and Trade Traction, we break down why so many young techs leave the trades early, how contractors are failing the next generation, and what companies must do to actuall...

Send us Fan Mail 🚨 Slow Season in Your Plumbing Business? Here’s Exactly What To Do. In this episode, we break down practical plumbing marketing strategies to keep your phones ringing, your technicians busy, and your business growing — even during slow periods. From direct mail campaigns and email marketing to branding, social media, partnerships, and neighborhood marketing, this is a complete pl...

Send us Fan Mail If you're tired of hiring people who say they know the trade… but then you realize they only know one small part of the job, this episode is for you. Most contractors aren’t struggling because of lack of work… they’re struggling because of bad hires, weak training, and no real pipeline of skilled labor. In this episode, you’ll learn how top contractors are fixing that, by act...

Send us Fan Mail If you own a plumbing business and feel like you're working hard but still not making money, this episode explains why most plumbing companies get stuck before reaching real profit. In this Trade Traction episode, plumbing contractors will learn the 4 stages of plumbing business growth and why many plumbing business owners look successful while still struggling financially. M...