The Boardroom Buzz: Grow, Sell, or Exit

When most people hear “ROX Rocks Heating and Air,” they don’t just remember the tune — they remember the brand. This week, the Blue Collar Twins, Jason and Jeremy Julio, sit down with Jason Stenseth, President of Prime Home Services Group, to unpack how $400, a beat-up truck, and a $60 jingle grew into a thriving portfolio of home-service brands. From working in his father’s HVAC shop at age 12 to...

Dominic “DJ” Mazza walks through how a third-generation New Jersey scrap and demo outfit became one of the region’s most diversified recycling platforms—spanning transfer stations, a single-stream MRF, mulch & bagging, roll-off and commercial collection, scrap, concrete, and more. The Blue-Collar Twins dig into capital intensity, acquisitions (Liberty/Bull), building a professional management...

Founder Arturo Lewin unpacks the drayage grind behind U.S. imports—how Alliance Worldwide Logistics Corp grew from a two-truck hustle into a reliable intermodal carrier by obsessing over turn times, chassis and free-time clocks. The Blue-Collar Twins dig into pricing discipline (detention/demurrage/accessorials), owner-operator recruiting, port/rail expansion, and the culture/tech stack that keeps...

Skye LaJaunie joins the Blue-Collar Twins to unpack how she moved from salon owner to visionary at LaJaunie’s Pest Control, why EOS transformed her leadership, and how the Eagles Nest peer groups are forging courageous, accountable operators. From door-knocking with her family to doubling goals and navigating the next wave of regulation and tech, Skye lays out a clear, people-first path to scale....

From a wrong-number job interview to running two Bay Area branches and finally launching his own shop, Josh Fleenor lays out how Pest Pros grew from two trucks to a regional force—anchored in multifamily, a “whatever it takes (the right way)” culture, and promoting leaders early so the company can scale without breaking. You’ll hear the origin story, the first-year sprint to $747k, the blue-ocean...

Part inventor, part hustler, part one-man media team—Mike Silva turned a Thanksgiving garbage-can game into QB54: a dual-purpose football game you play (then sit in). The Blue-Collar Twins dig into how he went from beach-day preorders to manufacturing at scale, survived COVID freight shocks, landed in 200 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores, and kept his family in the ride the whole way. You’ll hear: The...

The Blue-Collar Twins sit down with Byron Gifford—the “godfather of door-to-door”—to unpack his ground-zero start in summer sales, the Evergreen chapters (launch, rapid expansion, strategic exits), and the operating cadence that lets his team add tens of thousands of accounts without melting down. It’s a masterclass in self-financing hypergrowth, centralizing ops, and developing leaders who can ac...

Maria Sorrentino started as a tech while studying social work and went on to build Pest Pros in Kalamazoo—plus Hive Nine and the “Lead People Manage Stuff” workshops. The Blue-Collar Twins dig into how she hires, pays, and develops people, why peer groups changed her trajectory, and the faith-driven mission that keeps her scaling without losing the heart of the business. It’s a field-tested bluepr...

For three decades, Alina Stevens’ family business got “we want to buy you” letters almost daily—then in 2024, she finally said yes. In this candid conversation, Alina walks the Blue-Collar Twins through scaling All Pro Pest from ~25 to ~50 employees, choosing a buyer who kept the team (only one person left), and the emotional gear-shift from making every decision to consulting while the new owner...

Flint-born mower jockey Sam Gembel went from nights-and-weekends side hustle to founding Atlas Outdoor —a 110-person, two-branch landscape + snow powerhouse now adding a million in revenue each year. In his first Boardroom Buzz appearance, Sam sits down with the Blue-Collar Twins to unpack: Grass-Cutting Genesis – quitting high school, banging stripes, and learning his real job was “making crew le...

What began as a $4-an-hour summer gig at Western Pest has grown into Hoffman’s Exterminating , a six-branch powerhouse ranked among PCT’s Top 100—and CEO Bill Hoffman is still at the helm. Certified as an entomologist and PCQI, Bill joins the Blue-Collar Twins to unpack how pig-farm discipline, union-shop lessons, and a “coach-not-tech” mindset fueled steady, one-to-three-hires-per-year growth—and...

When a life-threatening brain injury sidelined his five-year-old son, David Mulcahy discovered whether the playbook he’d written for O’Deer South Shore & Cape Cod (natural deer, tick & mosquito control) could truly run without him. Spoiler: it did—and the EOS-driven machine now powers 26 spray rigs, year-round revenue and a fast-growing spinoff called Ghost Scoopers . David joins the Blue-...

After losing his first fortune to a Ponzi scheme in his late twenties, Brandon Kraupp didn’t lick his wounds—he grabbed a clipboard. Today, his Utah-based Romex Pest Control spans four states, fields nearly two hundred teammates, and runs on an EOS-powered culture that blends door-knock grit with relentless data-tracking. Brandon sits down with the Blue-Collar Twins to share how maxed-out 0 % cred...

From mortgaging his house for a used “bug truck” to commanding Ohio’s slickest 10,000-sq-ft “Beehive” HQ, Jason Carpenter has turned Environmental Pest Management into the Midwest’s apartment-pest juggernaut—servicing 1 million+ units with a patented data platform (“Pest Genius”) and a 3,000-page digital playbook that lets the business run while he’s on the back nine. Sit in with the Blue-Collar T...

Coleman Spaulding cut his teeth knocking doors for Safeguard in 2005, parlayed that experience into Proactive Pest Management in suburban Chicago, and—after a decade of steady growth—launched Spidexx Pest Control in 2016 with a bigger vision: blend door-to-door horsepower, bolt-on buys, and EOS culture to build a multistate platform. Fresh off selling Proactive this spring, Coleman joins the Blue-...

Louisiana native Jared LaJaunie went from quitting school at 17 to leading 65-plus employees, 72 trucks, and four branches of LaJaunie’s Pest Control —now tracking $12 million in annual revenue. In this candid sit-down with the Blue-Collar Twins , Jared breaks down the sales grit he learned at Orkin, the mindset shift that doubled his vision, and the family-run EOS machine that keeps it all hummin...

Third-generation dealer Paul “PS3” Sansone III joins the Blue-Collar Twins to share how Sansone Jr’s Auto Group balances 67 years of family tradition with social-media hustle, deep-subprime financing, and a brand-new Keyport Kia store. From rent-to-own experiments that became New Jersey Auto Lending to “Motivational Mondays” that fire up 25 salespeople, Paul explains the systems—and the mindset—th...

Former Rutgers heavyweight Sean DeDeyn turned a hard-charging wrestling mindset into The Axel Group , a niche staffing firm that now supplies talent across every stage of major construction projects. Sean joins the Blue-Collar Twins to unpack the six-year sprint from a two-desk office to a 30-person team, a tech-driven recruiting engine, and side ventures ranging from tiki party boats to college-w...

Serial entrepreneur Dom Williams sits down with the Blue-Collar Twins to reveal how a kid running county-wide candy routes now leads a 200-employee cleaning company, owns drive-thru “drink barns,” flips HUD rentals, and is launching a lounge—while coaching other service-business owners past the six- and seven-figure ceiling. You’ll hear: Early Hustle → Corporate Wake-Up – the Wall Street layoff th...

The Blue-Collar Twins sit down with Scott Nelson , founder of Central-Jersey’s iconic Oceanside Service —the turquoise-truck HVAC firm he bootstrapped for 36 years before handing the keys to private equity earlier this spring. Scott unpacks the branding bets, “golden-handcuff” culture, and 20 %-margin playbook that turned a $600 van into a top-1 % contractor (and a life-changing buyout).Buzz EP 20...

Lifeguard buddies turned blue-collar founders Jason & Jeremy Julio reconnect with longtime friend John Majeski —once a Manhattan finance analyst, now the force behind four thriving SERVPRO franchises across New Jersey. John breaks down the gritty first three-year slog, the culture playbook that powers his team, and the BHAG that keeps everyone rowing: “Be the #1 SERVPRO in the Northeast by 203...

Meet Jason & Jeremy Julio —the Blue-Collar Twins —as they trade gym whistles for board-room banter and join producer-turned-host Dylan Seals behind the mic. In their debut as co-hosts they unpack: Side-Hustle Genesis – the late-night kitchen-table brainstorm that birthed Last Bite Mosquito & Tick . Scaling While Clocked-In – juggling lesson plans, beach-club shifts, and 55 techs by reinves...

Meet Jason & Jeremy Julio—the Blue-Collar Twins turned eight-figure sellers— as they step in as your new co-hosts of The Boardroom Buzz . In their maiden voyage they flip the script, putting mentor Paul Giannamore in the hot seat to uncover the back-alley hustle that took him from inner-city Chicago to building Potomac M&A into a middle-market powerhouse. You’ll hear: How the twins scaled...

Brian Gottlieb, author of  Beyond the Hammer , joins Patrick Baldwin in  The Boardroom  to share his inspiring story. From launching his home improvement business with just $3,000 and a folding table, Brian built a thriving organization with 600 employees. He attributes much of his success to a people-first leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of developing employees and fostering a s...

Fred Wingate, owner of Noosa Pest Management, joins Nick Bartolo and Patrick Baldwin to share his inspiring journey from professional water skier to thriving entrepreneur in the pest control industry. His story is rooted in discipline and resilience, values that have guided his approach to both sports and business. Fred emphasizes the importance of a people-first philosophy, demonstrating how stro...