Building a Trades Business Brand That Gets Real Results
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Release Date: 04/08/2026
How Top Trades Businesses Use AI and Systems to End Recruiting Pain
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most contractors don't have a recruiting problem. They have a recruiting system problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Paul Sanneman, founder of Contractor Staffing Source, to discuss how top home service companies are using systems, assessments, and AI-powered recruiting tools to consistently find better employees. After helping more than 2,000 contractors and recruiting over 2,500 successful hires, Paul shares the biggest recruiting mistakes contractors make and why most hiring challenges are self-inflicted. The conversation...
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How Contractors Use Air Curtains to Solve Costly Building Challenges
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most contractors walk past air curtains every day without realizing how much money they can save commercial buildings. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Curtis Rosol from Mars Air Systems to break down how air curtains work and why they’ve become a powerful solution for energy savings, indoor air quality, and insect control in commercial spaces. From convenience stores and restaurants to cold storage facilities and warehouses, Curtis explains how air curtains create an invisible barrier that keeps conditioned air inside while...
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How Service Businesses Can Stop Losing Skilled Workers
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
The skilled labor shortage isn’t just a hiring problem. It’s a perception problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ruchir Shah, founder of SkillCat, to discuss why home service companies are struggling to attract and retain skilled workers and what the industry can do about it. Ruchir shares how his background in workforce training led him to build SkillCat, an online trade training platform helping people transition into HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair careers. If your company struggles with hiring,...
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AI Search and the Death of Old-School Marketing for Home Service Businesses
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
The way homeowners search for HVAC, plumbing, and home service companies is changing fast. And most contractors are completely unprepared for it. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Phil Risher from Phlash Consulting to discuss the massive shift from traditional Google SEO to AI-powered search and what it means for home service businesses. Phil explains why AI search is changing how customers find contractors, why conversational search matters more than keywords, and how tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are disrupting traditional...
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How Storytelling Can Solve Your Skilled Trades Recruiting Crisis
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ryan Kiscaden, owner of Kiscaden Consulting and creator of the Next Up Trades children’s book series, to discuss how storytelling can reshape the future of recruiting in the trades. Ryan shares how a conversation with his plumber brother-in-law sparked the idea to create books that explain HVAC and plumbing to children in a way they can understand and connect with emotionally. Instead of focusing only on wages, debt, and job security, Ryan believes the industry needs to tell a better...
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How to Optimize and Automate Your Home Service Business
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service business owners are excited about automation, AI, and new technology. But here’s the problem… They’re implementing tools before fixing their processes. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Nathan Whittacre, CEO of Stimulus Technologies, to break down what actually works when it comes to optimizing and automating your business. Nathan shares decades of experience helping companies implement technology the right way and explains why most tech investments fail. What You Will Learn in This Episode Why automation without optimization...
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No Fees No Equity Loss: A New Way to Scale Your Business
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most business owners think they only have two options when they want to scale: Pay expensive consultants… or give up equity to investors. But what if there was a third option? In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Mike Michalowicz and Greg Eckler from The Prosper Group to break down a completely different approach to scaling service businesses. Instead of charging fees or taking ownership, their model focuses on partnering with business owners, executing alongside them, and only getting paid when the business becomes more profitable. What...
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Leadership Skills for Home Service Owners Who Want to Scale
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service business owners start as technicians. But scaling a business requires a completely different skill set. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Elise Radawitz, President and Owner of Velocity Leader, to break down the leadership skills contractors need if they want to grow their business. They discuss why promoting your best technician into a management role often fails, how leadership is a learned skill, and what it actually takes to lead people effectively. Elise shares practical insights on developing leaders inside your company,...
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Building a Trades Business Brand That Gets Real Results
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service businesses are posting content… but not getting results. Why? Because they’re missing the most important piece: connection. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Jen McKee, founder of Kee Hart Marketing, to break down what actually works when it comes to building a brand in the trades. They dive into why personal branding matters, how social media really drives business growth, and why most contractors are overthinking their content strategy. Jen explains why “boring” everyday work is actually powerful content, how authenticity...
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Automation vs. Real AI: What Works, What’s Hype, and How to Profit
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
AI is everywhere right now. But most contractors don’t actually understand how it works. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Jeff Torello, founder of Sinjun AI, to break down what AI really is, how it works under the hood, and why so much of the industry is getting it wrong. Jeff explains that AI isn’t some all-knowing system. It’s a probability engine that predicts the next word, with no real memory and no true understanding of context. If you’ve been confused, overwhelmed, or skeptical about AI, this episode will give you a...
info_outlineMost home service businesses are posting content… but not getting results.
Why? Because they’re missing the most important piece: connection.
In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Jen McKee, founder of Kee Hart Marketing, to break down what actually works when it comes to building a brand in the trades.
They dive into why personal branding matters, how social media really drives business growth, and why most contractors are overthinking their content strategy.
Jen explains why “boring” everyday work is actually powerful content, how authenticity beats AI-generated posts, and what it really takes to stand out in a crowded market.
They also cover how to use AI the right way without losing your voice, the balance between business brand and personal brand, and how to create content that actually converts.
If you want to build a brand that attracts customers, builds trust, and drives real results, this episode gives you a practical roadmap.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
• Why personal branding matters in the trades
• How authentic content outperforms polished content
• Why “boring” work is actually great content
• How to use your existing network to generate business
• The difference between visibility and conversion
• Why AI-generated content struggles to connect
• How to use AI to support your content without replacing you
• The 3 types of content every contractor should create
• Why most contractors struggle with consistency
• How to stand out in your local market
• When to focus on personal brand vs business brand
• Why connection is the key to social media success
Timestamps
00:00 Why personal branding matters in the trades
02:00 Jen McKee’s background and Kee Hart Marketing
04:30 The impact of personal brands in HVAC
07:00 Why “boring” content is actually engaging
10:00 Should business owners build a personal brand?
13:00 Using your network to generate more business
16:00 The balance between personal and business branding
19:00 The right way to use AI in social media
22:00 Why AI-generated content doesn’t perform
25:00 How to create content that actually connects
27:30 The 3-part content framework (Show, Sell, Scale)
30:00 Why attention comes before conversion
32:00 How to fix low engagement on social media
Follow the Host and Guest
Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Jen McKee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-mckee-72114824/
Kee Hart Marketing: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keehartmarketing/
Connect with Us
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/service-business-mastery
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@servicebusinessmastery
Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/servicebusinessmasterypodcast
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/servicebusinessmasterypodcast
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