The Lighting Trade School Podcast

Most lighting contractors want more leads. But most of them are sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. In this episode of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt, Nate Mullen, Shane Duffy, and special guest Ryan break down one of the oldest, simplest, and most uncomfortable ways to create opportunity in your lighting business: Door knocking. Not theory. Not motivational fluff. Real...

Should you close a landscape lighting job on the spot, or should you slow down, build trust, and let the client experience what great outdoor lighting can actually do to their home? In Episode 42 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt, Glo Show Shane , and Nate “The Illuminator” Mullen break down what happens during the first meeting with a landscape lighting client and how profession...

Why do landscape lights start blinking on and off? In Episode 41 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt, Glo Show Shane , and Nate “The Illuminator” Mullen break down one of the most common and frustrating landscape lighting troubleshooting issues: blinking lights, overloads, low voltage, power driver problems, and what Nate calls hiccup mode . This episode starts with a real maintena...

What would happen to your lighting business if you got hurt tomorrow? In Episode 40 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane Duffy talk about the reality most contractors do not want to face: if the owner goes down, the business might go down with them. After Captain Matt injures his foot and finds out he needs surgery, the conversation turns into a real-world busines...

If your landscape lighting install leaves the client’s yard looking like a construction site, you are doing it wrong. In Episode 39 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt, Glo Show Shane , and Nate “The Illuminator” Mullen get into one of the most practical and overlooked parts of professional landscape lighting installation: how to run and bury wire without destroying the customer’s...

What did Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane actually take away from the Transworld Christmas and Halloween Show? In Episode 38 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane Duffy recap their trip to Transworld and break down the ideas, products, conversations, and business strategies that could actually make Christmas lighting installers and outdoor lighting business owners m...

What happens when Christmas lighting, Halloween attractions, landscape lighting, permanent lighting, live training, new products, networking, and business opportunities all collide in one place? In Episode 37 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane Duffy talk about why Transworld is one of the most important trade shows for Christmas lighting professionals, outdoor l...

What does it really take to go from broke, doubted, laughed at, and written off…to building a real business, making real money, and becoming the person everyone said you would never become? In Episode 36 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast, Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane Duffy have a raw rags-to-riches conversation about entrepreneurship, failure, resilience, money, mentors, payroll pressure, an...

You ever lose an hour…or a week…because of a $200 problem? In Episode 35 of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt and Glo Show Shane Duffy unpack something every lighting business owner faces;  a messy mind. From riding UTVs in the desert with elite lighting pros to dealing with aggressive clients, pride battles, comparison traps, and “Facebook fake book” illusions…this episode dives in...

Most lighting companies finish the job…pack up the truck…and disappear. And then they wonder why referrals dry up. In this episode of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , Captain Matt, Glow Daddy Shane Duffy, and Nate “The Illuminator” Mullen break down client gifting that actually works , not mugs, not logo junk, not corporate nonsense. We’re talking about memorable, emotional, long-lasting gifts...

Most guys get into landscape lighting thinking it’s going to be “easy money.” They see the pretty photos. They hear the big numbers. They assume leads will magically show up…and they’ll just “figure it out.” Then the phone doesn’t ring. Facebook ads don’t work. Google isn’t ranking them. And they crawl right back to what they’re comfortable with. In this episode, Captain Matt, Glo Daddy Shane Duff...

Everyone loves talking about goals…very few people are willing to do what it actually takes to hit them. In this episode of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , the Three Amigos sit down for a raw, unfiltered conversation about goal setting for 2026 , and why most lighting business owners sabotage themselves before Q1 is even over. This isn’t about writing pretty goals on a whiteboard. It’s about c...

Everybody’s screaming “Use AI! Use AI!”…until AI puts a landmine inside your proposal. In this episode of The Lighting Trade School Podcast, Shane (Glo Daddy) breaks down the real-world story of how an AI-generated example image turned into a $16,000 problem on a city project, even though the written scope didn’t include the item. We get into the brutal truth about municipalities, lawyers, and why...

In this episode of The Lighting Trade School Podcast , we break down the silent productivity killers that most lighting contractors don’t even realize are destroying their margins. This one started with a simple question… Why are you at Home Depot every day? And it turned into a full-blown teardown of: Why daily Home Depot runs are one of the biggest profit leaks in the trades How a missing 25-cen...

Most Christmas installs are done…and now the part nobody talks about is here. Takedowns. And if you don’t have a process, you’re about to light money on fire. In this episode of Captain’s Quarters First Class, I break down how we run takedowns so reinstalls are easy, crews stay consistent, and you don’t bleed labor in January…or pay for it next October when everything is tangled and nobody knows w...

Most lighting owners wait way too long to fire the wrong person then act surprised when their culture, morale, and reputation get wrecked from the inside. In this episode, Captain Matt tells a raw, real story straight off an active job: A new hire, day two on the crew. Ladder gets moved, ego gets triggered, and this grown man absolutely loses it in front of a client, screaming, swearing, acting li...

This episode is a straight-up masterclass in modern outdoor lighting business growth …with a guest who’s actually living it. We brought on Robert “Rob” Ivey and Brahian Lopez of Aurora Lighting ATX (Austin, Texas)…a luxury outdoor lighting company that’s been on an absolute tear. Rob and Brahian didn’t just “grow.” They quadrupled in 2025 , built a brand that screams premium, and engineered a busi...

Every lighting business owner thinks they need “more leads,” “new strategies,” or “the next big thing.” But most of the time, you don’t need anything new …You just need to optimize what’s already working. In this episode, Captain Matt rips apart the shiny-object syndrome that destroys both profits and momentum inside outdoor lighting companies. Before you chase the next trend, the next ad platform...

Most Christmas light installers think they’re killers in sales, right up until they try selling landscape lighting and everything falls apart. Deals stall. Clients balk. Suddenly the same guy who closes $6K, $10K, even $15K Christmas jobs can’t get someone to spend $4,000 on permanent lighting. This episode breaks down why that happens and how to fix it. Captain Matt pulls back the curtain on the...

Most lighting business owners don’t fail because of bad work. They fail because of bad money decisions. In this episode, Captain Matt gets brutally honest about the financial trap almost every Christmas light installer and lighting professional falls into especially in December when the money is flowing and the dopamine is high. You think you’re rich. You think you’re safe. You think this cash mea...

Captain Matt and Shane “Glo Daddy” Duffy kick off the Christmas season with a deep dive into what really separates the pros from the pretenders in the holiday lighting game. From warehouse management and crew training to creating an experience clients will never forget, this episode pulls back the curtain on 30+ combined years of Christmas lighting success and burnout lessons learned the hard way....

We’re rolling into Dallas to kick off a Guinness World Record–level Festival of Lights build and we’re talking habits : the small, repeatable actions that quietly compound into monster wins. Inside this episode: Always Be Learning (for real): how to build a documented library of lighting details (good/bad day & night photos), ask better questions, and avoid “parrot” advice. Stairs & landin...

Your follow-up game is costing you money. You send the proposal, they go quiet, and you label it “ghosted.” Half the time they never even saw it. The other half needed a nudge, a walkthrough, or a real conversation. In this episode I break down a simple truth: fall in love with the answer. Yes or no. Get maybes out of your head. I share what happened this week on my own follow-ups, why in-person p...

Too many guys are hiding behind their screens, sending quotes, and wondering why their phones aren’t ringing. It’s October, the start of fourth quarter, and this is our Super Bowl season. Whether you do Christmas, soffit, or landscape lighting, this is when every homeowner in America is thinking about lighting their home. And if you’re sitting in your office sending Jobber links or PDFs instead of...

Most guys blend in without even realizing it. They wear the same polos, talk the same way, post the same stock photos, and wonder why nobody remembers their name. In this episode, I’m talking about being original, not in a gimmicky way, but in a way that’s you . I share how I built the Captain Matt brand from a single pair of socks, a Tommy Bahama shirt, and a story that made people stop and pay a...