Faith-Based Leadership
Queen of the Trades
What if leadership wasn’t just about systems and results? What if it was about being a spiritually minded leader and managing with soul? In an industry as tough and gritty as the trades, that idea might seem out of place. But I’ve learned firsthand that being spiritually grounded can completely shift how you show up for your team, your business, and yourself. I didn’t always see our business as a calling, but over time, it became clear. The path was never perfectly mapped out if anything, it was full of unknowns. But there was a purpose behind it, something bigger than just making a...
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Replay: Bringing Passion Back To The Trades With Alexis Aranda
Queen of the Trades
Please enjoy this replay of my very first episode! I'm your host Alexis Aranda. Today, I'm sharing my story with all of you, listeners. I was born in a suburb outside of Chicago and had a fantastic childhood. My parents were supportive. We had a lot of love and a lot of great memories, but we didn't have a lot of money. At a very young age, I strongly desired to create wealth for my family. I knew this was what I was called to do. I also had a passion for working. From babysitting to working at a local grocery store, I was always earning money. My best friend's dad was a tradesman....
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Avoid Burn Out
Queen of the Trades
Spring’s hectic pace hits hard in the trades and lately I’ve felt the pressure myself. Long hours, tight deadlines, and family commitments can drain every bit of energy if we let them. In today’s episode I open up about the moment I realized I was saying yes to everything except rest, and how that wake up call pushed me to build habits that protect both mind and body. You’ll hear why real burnout statistics in our industry matter, especially for men who still feel they have to tough it out. I’ll walk you through five practices that keep me grounded, from carving out a true day...
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Extreme Ownership Part 2
Queen of the Trades
A few weeks ago I shared some thoughts on extreme ownership and the response was overwhelming. It’s clear that a lot of us are ready to stop pointing fingers and start stepping into real leadership. So today, I want to go even deeper. Specifically, we're talking about how to take ownership without getting defensive. If you've ever felt your ego kick in during a tough conversation or found yourself making excuses instead of taking the hit, this is for you. We’ll break down what it actually looks like to let go of ego, build self-awareness, listen with intention, and communicate with...
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6 Functions of a Professional Manager
Queen of the Trades
Do you ever feel like you're juggling a million things as a manager and still wondering if you’re doing it right? I get it because I’ve been there. In this episode, I’m sharing the six core functions every professional manager needs to master in order to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose, especially in the fast-paced world of the trades. These aren’t just generic leadership tips. This is the real, practical framework that changed how I run teams, build people up, and keep our business on track. Whether you’re brand new to management or you’ve been in the game for a while...
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Emotional Intelligence
Queen of the Trades
It’s easy to underestimate just how powerful emotional intelligence can be, especially when you're managing a business, leading a team, or simply trying to keep it all together. But what if mastering your emotions was the key to transforming frustration into growth, and conflict into clarity? In this episode, we talk about what emotional intelligence really means and why it's one of the most underrated leadership tools in the trades. You’ll hear a real story of what happens when emotions start to take over, and how a moment of self-awareness changed the course of an entire...
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Extreme Ownership
Queen of the Trades
There’s a moment in business where everything feels like it’s falling apart—a job goes sideways, a customer’s upset, and your first instinct is to say, “This isn’t my fault.” Been there? Me too. But what if I told you that the most powerful thing you can do as a leader is to say, “This is on me—let’s fix it.” That mindset? It’s called extreme ownership, and it has completely changed the way I lead my team, run our business, and show up every day in the trades. In this episode, I’m breaking down what extreme ownership really means, how Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL...
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Navigating Conflict Keeping the Peace
Queen of the Trades
Properly navigating conflict builds trust, strengthens relationships, and turns challenges into opportunities for growth.Whether it’s with a customer, an employee, or even a competitor, conflict is bound to happen. And let’s be real, when you’re pushing for growth and making big moves, you’re going to ruffle some feathers. But here’s the thing, conflict doesn’t have to be a disaster. In fact, if you handle it right, it can actually help you build trust and strengthen relationships. In this episode, I’m sharing a real-life situation where I had to step in and de-escalate a tough...
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The Power of EOS: Breaking Through Business Plateaus
Queen of the Trades
When I first started implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, in my business, I had no idea just how much it would change the way we operated. At the time, our leadership team was all over the place—juggling too many projects, struggling to finish what we started, and feeling like we were just maintaining instead of truly growing. Something had to change. That’s when I came across the book Traction by Gino Wickman, and it felt like it was written just for us. Today, I want to take you inside our EOS journey, share how we’ve used this system to create more clarity and...
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My Biggest Leadership Mistakes
Queen of the Trades
Leadership is not about avoiding mistakes; it is about learning from them and growing stronger. In this episode, I want to share with you the three biggest mistakes I've made as a leader in the trades. I'm sharing these with you because I want you, as fellow leaders in the trades, to learn from my mistakes and avoid these pitfalls. As leaders, growth comes from learning, evolving, and improving ourselves, our teams, and our companies. Remember, leadership is not about being perfect. I'll explain how I wrongly assumed that all trade operations functioned identically, undervalued the...
info_outlineAre you looking to boost your income? Increase your sales? Improve communication with your spouse and team members? Then you're in the right place! Today, my gorgeous hubby Andrew Aranda and I dive into exploring DISC personality assessments and how you can leverage them in both your personal and professional life to achieve these goals and more.
Andy and I Discovered DISC about eight years ago during our first leadership training at the Ziglar headquarters in Plano, Texas. Since then, it's been nothing short of transformational for our business, enhancing how we communicate with team members, customers, and each other.
DISC is a powerful model used to analyze human behavior and personality traits. The assessment categorizes personalities into four primary types, each representing how individuals typically behave in different situations.
The personality types are: D (Dominance) for direct, results-oriented individuals; I (Influence) for outgoing, enthusiastic people; S (Steadiness) for patient, supportive types; and C (Conscientiousness) for analytical, detail-oriented personalities. Each type has distinct traits that affect how they interact and work.
Episode Highlights:
[02:35] DISC is a model to analyze human behavior and personality traits. It consists of four personality types based on how humans behave in certain circumstances.
[02:48] The Dominance personality is very focused on results. Influence is for people who emphasize social interactions. Steadiness is for people who highlight cooperation and patients. The Conscientious personality focuses on quality, accuracy and organization.
[04:19] Andrew describes DISC as a personality training framework that's used to describe different communication styles based on the personality traits that you had mentioned.
[05:50] Understanding these personality types helps create awareness with how to communicate with other people who have different types.
[06:55] Some people are very balanced on their personality traits. Creating awareness helps us to adapt to the different traits.
[08:51] A person with a D personality and a person with an I personality will communicate very differently.
[10:02] An I type personality can be very impulsive.
[10:54] If you have a lot of S-type personalities in the workplace, you have a very stable organization. An office full of D-type personalities will cause complete chaos.
[11:21] If you're building a team, learn the personality traits, so you can understand how your team is going to operate.
[12:22] We use DISC to make sure everybody is in the right position on the team.
[14:55] We do an initial DISC assessment in the hiring process to make sure the person is a good fit for the position we're hiring them for.
[16:04] Andrew is trained in DISC, and it's important for him to train other people in the organization as well. Understanding the personality types helps technicians communicate with customers in the field.
[17:53] Andrew shares how he got certified and finds DISC the least complicated form of personality assessment.
[19:04] The assessment will also help understand and know how to speak to your spouse.
[23:32] The training can even help you with your kids.
[25:10] We have a primary personality trait and then a secondary or adaptive personality type.
[28:23] We can train ourselves to be more balanced just by understanding other personality types.
[31:10] Kaizen is a Japanese term that means continuous improvement. If you do 1% more each day in self-development and growth, it's safe to say by the end of the year, you will be a totally different person.
[33:37] Using DISC creates awareness around you and your communication style. It can help you adapt to communicating with different personality types. Getting 1% better each day and learning more about yourself.
[36:29] Be a leader with a service type mentality.
Resources & Links Related to this Episode
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Follow Andrew @themoderndaytradesman @andyaranda1
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Great Quotes from Zig Ziglar: 250 Inspiring Quotes from the Master Motivator and Friends