From The Ground Up Show - Entrepreneur and Leadership Success Stories from Blue Collar, and Unconventional Career Paths

In this episode of From The Ground Up, Mike Riddle shares the unfiltered story of giving up his teaching career to start and construction company only to watch his construction business unravel during a market crash, navigating bankruptcy, and making the difficult decision to start over from scratch. Mike walks through the hard lessons learned, the mental toll of rebuilding after failure, and what...

Don’t miss the story that started it all—the journey that inspired From The Ground Up. In this episode, Dave Loden shares how he launched a new business with zero prior experience in a failing market—and turned it into a respected regional force. Along the way, he reflects on the hard lessons, pivotal decisions, and mindset shifts that made it possible. Plus, hear unforgettable stories from his ti...

Grant Gilmore shares his journey building and growing a roofing business from 0 to $20 million in just a couple years. You won't want to miss the life lessons in health, leadership, and humility. Racecars, ego, and emotions, we cover it all.  #Entreprenuer #Roofing #FromTheGroundUpShow #Porsche #SelfEmployed Connect with From The Ground Up Show:  https://fromthegroundupshow.com https://www.youtube...

Dan Godwin shares his story of becoming a partner at Mohatt Johnson and Godwin as well as some valuable tax advice for entrepreneurs and business owners. #FromTheGroundUpShow #Taxes #Entrepreneur #SelfEmployed Connect with From The Ground Up Show:  https://fromthegroundupshow.com https://www.youtube.com/@FromTheGroundUp-k9p https://www.facebook.com/fromthegroundupshow https://www.instagram.com/fro...

Reggie Brock of Axis8 joins us for a fascinating conversation. He talks about missed opportunities, including not seizing an opportunity to partner with Mark Cuban on Broadcast.com, life lessons, mistakes and pains, and about optimizing your business by starting with people not processes and designing your business around the why that people bring with them. And, Reggie has a free give-away. You'l...

Ryan Pierce shares his journey chasing his passions and dreams to become a champion long distance shooter and nationally renowned  gun smith. Ryan builds custom long-range rifles as good as anyone on the planet and does so working for himself out of his one-man shop. Hear an awesome story of success, grinding it out, and chasing your dreams! Ryan shares his story, lessons learned along the way and...

Randy Brothers Describes his journey from a broken home to early entrepreneurship. Then, things get interesting as he tells of bankruptcy and homelessness before building himself and his business back up to be a roofing magnate only to have that torn down and have to build back a second time. You won't want to miss this story of family, redemption, and hard leadership lessons.  #Faith #SelfEmploye...

Dominick Fraser tells his story of growing up 1 of 7 children in an Scotch Irish family, working the cruise lines, contemplating suicide and eventually launching Frasier Roofing and growing it to $36mm in annual revenue and a top 100 roofing company. You won't want to miss this incredible story! #Faith #SelfEmployed #LeadershipJourney #FromTheGroundUp   Connect with From The Ground Up Show:  https...

Erick Horsley describes his experiences growing up, joining the marines, becoming one of the US most elite and highly trained warriors and then transitioning back to civilian life. Hear an incredible story of a life dedicated to service: in his family, community, and nation! You won't want to miss this! Oh, and all the super cool SOCOM gear!!! #FromTheGroundUp #Podcast #Service #SOCOM #SpecialOper...

Hear the story of an Air Force Veteran who took a crazy risk and launched the Scraggly Bush Fur Products Company creating such products as the Squallet, the RackPac and the Skoosie. This is one you will not want to miss! A crazy idea turned legitimate business. A childhood friend named scraggly bush. And a dream that became reality.  #BlueCollarLife #FromTheGroundUp #EarnMore #Entrepreneur     Con...

Join us as we hear Randy Hurtado's story. Born in a rough neighborhood to a single mother, break dancer, fire fighter, IT security specialist, and eventually a hard working owner of a massive construction conglomerate. This is an awesome story that you won't want to miss!  https://fromthegroundupshow.com #BlueCollarLife #TradesTalk #FromTheGroundUp #LeadershipJourney #Faith   Connect with From The...

Don't miss this rollercoaster ride of a story. Join us as we hear Ty Stollers story from growing up as a turkey farmer, to being swindled in his first business purchase and finally launching and building a regional empire on caulking and waterproofing!  #BlueCollarLife #TradesTalk  #LeadershipJourney #FromTheGroundUp   Connect with From The Ground Up Show:  https://fromthegroundupshow.com https://...

Hear an incredible story of faith, transformation, and a wild ride as Dylan McCabe describes his childhood growing up in special ed classes with a single mom, going to seminary with a 3.9GPA, and eventually launching a national roofing group! You don't want to miss this rollercoaster of wins losses and new beginnings. Hear from Dylan how he found God, became a man of faith, and developed as a lead...

Exciting things are coming. Our first episode drops Tuesday October 21, 2025. Don't Miss It!!! #TradesTalk #BlueCollarLife #LeadershipJourney #FromTheGroundUp