The Untrapped Podcast With Keith Kalfas

Do You Have a Warrior Mentality? Story about having Humility, entrepreneurship and Raw Ambition.  Keith Kalfas with the Untrapped Podcast KeithKalfas.com.  

Why Your First Customers Probably Took Advantage of You. This Weird Yet Powerful Epiphany I had While Working Today   To get my free 7 Steps to marketing your business. Text the work "Untrapped" to 31996.

Why you MUST Start Telling Customers NO. Grow a backbone and level up your business. Check out www,keithkalfas.com text the word untrapped to 31996  

Qualifying Customers Over The Phone. If You Don't Do This, Then Nothing Else Matters. Text the Word Untrapped to 31996

Integrity and Why Contractors Get a Bad Wrap. Don't Fall Into This Trap.

How to Dominate Your Local Service Area - With Advanced Marketing Strategies and hiring VA's - Talk from the Fleet Wash Academy Live Event Hosted by Eric Trice

If You HATE Your Dead-End Job and Want to Start Your Own Business

A Powerful Tip For Handling Small Business Stress

Why You Should Fall In Your With Your Business Again

Why You Should Be Brutally Honest with Your Customers. (Selling and Communication Skills) with Keith Kalfas

How to Navigate Your Service Business Through Covid 19. Powerful episode with Brandon Vaughn from Conquer. $500k month

Powerful interview with Tommy Mello, The Home Service Expert and author of The Home Service Millionaire Book. Tommy built A1 Garage Door company from zero to multi state $35 Million company in less than a decade. Tommy is a veracious reader and loves what he does. Tune in a learn from a true practitioner. https://homeserviceexpert.com/

Seans Website https://www.consult-integra.com/ Sean Adams Linkedn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-124bb568

Episode 1: Keith Kalfas shares his experience on how he manages to hire a bookkeeper. There is a time that he struggles at organizing his paperwork that makes him realize that he needs someone to do it for him. Then he met a bookkeeper from Blue skies services and all of his tasks was well-managed and it benefits him the most. It proves that bookkeepers are a good help in running a small business and the client itself. As a result, Keith had someone to work for him in his books and it makes him have less worries and now can focus on many other things important to him.   TODAY’S LIGHT NOTES: 0:00-0:28 - Introduction 0:29- 1:18 - Explains how Keith had a hard time doing bookkeeping himself. 1:19-2:55 - Realization on how much he need a bookkeeper to work for him. 3:08- 3:42 - Interview with Dan Platta 3:45-4:26 - Tells a small background information of Dan Platta 4:27- 6:44 - Shows how a bookkeeper helps his business. 6:45-7:09 - Promotion of Blueskies services. 7:10- 8:44 - Explains how the bookkeeper does it job on helping business. 8:45-9:26 - Promotion about Blueskies.   QUOTABLE LINES: “You can’t grow a great business, to make a great decision if you don’t have great information.”

What does it actually take to build a multi-million-dollar service business, stay sane through recessions, and still love the work after 26 years? In this episode, Steve DHondt (PMS Brick Pavers) invites us into his shop, his mindset, and his faith-driven approach to leadership and growth. Steve runs a $6–7M outdoor living and hardscaping company with 60+ employees—and he's calling it now: a massive wave of home-service businesses won't survive past 2026 if they don't get lean, efficient, and intentional. We talk about debt, consolidation, leadership, equipment, family trade-offs, and how to believe in yourself when things get heavy and messy.   "I'm not rich — my business is. I get paid a salary like everyone else. Because when I don't choke my business with my personal lifestyle, it can keep growing, keep providing, and keep taking care of the people in it." – Steve Dhondt   In this episode, we cover: Why 35% of home-service businesses may not open in 2026 What smart debt vs pride debt looks like in real life Consolidating services so your team can actually win How AI + software automation keeps small shops competitive Leading through recession without panicking What "efficiency" really means in the field Missing dinners, guilt, family tension—and how to handle it Growing past the five-year itch when you're burned out Equipment strategy: buy cheap vs buy once and win on efficiency How Steve thinks about faith, fear, and confidence   Key Takeaways Efficiency Beats Ego: The nicest personal truck doesn't pay the bills. Revenue-producing assets do. In a tightening economy, upgrade equipment, systems, and software—not your image. If it doesn't increase safety, productivity, or profit, it's optional. Simplify or Get Burned Out: Stop offering every service under the sun. Consolidate, specialize, and systemize what you do every day. Random jobs create chaos, weak crews, and nonstop fires. Simplicity scales—complexity drains your life. People Are the Real Business: You don't just build patios—you build people. Invest in your team's tools, training, and lives outside of work. When employees feel supported and trusted (even allowed to fail), they take better care of customers than any owner ever could   Connect with Steve Dhondt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveisalwaysright/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-dhondt-534b23166/ Website: https://www.weretheguys.com/about-us Connect with Keith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithkalfas/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelandscapingemployeetrap Website: https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@keith-kalfas   Resources and Websites:  Start Getting Leads Now https://www.footbridgemedia.com/keith Resources You Need To Build A Successful Business https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources 🙋♂️Get My Free Landscaping Business Startup Video Series Here👇  Here https://www.keithkalfas.com/Landscaping-Series Landscaping Course https://keith-kalfas.mykajabi.com/store/8bFERMcs LANDSCAPING BUSINESS  How to Guide: https://www.keithkalfas.com/16 Get Jobber: https://getjobber.com/im/ambassador-referral/?gspk=a2VpdGhrYWxmYXM4NTIx&gsxid=Rs6pwtznLDcs Get Ballard: https://www.ballard-inc.com/ Easy Budgeting Blueprint: keithkalfas.com/budget Smartphone Video Creation Guide: Keithkalfas.com/smartphone Identifying Your Superpower: Keithkalfas.com/superpower Become An influencer And Monetize Your Expertise: https://www.keithkalfas.com/influence Multiple Ways to Monetize: https://www.keithkalfas.com/multipleways LevelUp Your  Landscaping Business to $100K and beyond: https://www.keithkalfas.com/LEVELUP The Untrapped Alliance: https://www.keithkalfas.com/alliance  

In this episode, Keith welcomes Angel Ellis, a landscaper and small-business owner who transformed his life from hardship and incarceration into purpose, stability, and entrepreneurship. Angel shares his emotional turning point, how he rebuilt his identity, restored family relationships, and found the clarity to build a thriving landscaping company from scratch. The conversation explores practical business lessons—starting a service-based company legally, using local resources, transitioning from a job to full-time business ownership, staying aligned in marriage, and keeping priorities straight at home. Angel emphasizes discipline, personal responsibility, momentum, and the power of faith when overcoming fear, roadblocks, and uncertainty. This episode is perfect for entrepreneurs in landscaping, home services, or blue-collar trades who want motivation, resilience, business clarity, and a renewed sense of purpose.   "Now we only work Monday through Thursday by choice to have the weekends, more time for the wifey for life, have more time for ministry, serve King Jesus, and it's just awesome." – Angel Ellis   Topics Covered: How Angel rebuilt his life and launched a landscaping business from scratch   Practical steps to legally start and structure a lawn-care or home-service company   Transitioning from a day job into full-time landscaping with momentum and confidence   Work–life balance in the lawn-care industry, prioritizing marriage, home, and well-being   Scaling a small landscaping or service business with integrity, discipline, and consistency   How mindset, resilience, and community support drive long-term growth in lawn care and entrepreneurship   Key Takeaways Business Starts With Simple Action: Don't overcomplicate the launch of a landscaping or home-service company. You don't need a perfect plan to begin — just the willingness to ask questions, call the city or county, follow the legal basics, and put boots on the ground. Momentum doesn't come from theory, it comes from motion. The moment you commit and start saying yes to real work, the business begins to open up faster than you imagined. Don't Stay Half In and Half Out: Holding onto a job while trying to grow a lawn-care business can keep you stuck at half speed. Once Angel finally released the safety net and went all-in on his company, the work surged and his confidence skyrocketed. Entrepreneurship rewards commitment — when you're no longer split between a paycheck and a purpose, you create the urgency, energy, and freedom that full-time ownership requires. Private Peace Fuels Public Growth: A thriving landscaping business isn't just built in the field — it's built at home. Alignment in marriage, healthy prioritization, and peace inside the household create sharper decision-making, clearer leadership, and the emotional bandwidth needed to grow. You never want public success and private collapse. A stable home is the competitive advantage most entrepreneurs overlook.   Connect with Angel Ellis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prokutzlawncareandlandscaping/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProKutzLawnCare Website: prokutz-lawncare.com Connect with Keith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithkalfas/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelandscapingemployeetrap Website: https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@keith-kalfas   Resources and Websites:  Start Getting Leads Now https://www.footbridgemedia.com/keith Resources You Need To Build A Successful Business https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources 🙋♂️Get My Free Landscaping Business Startup Video Series Here👇  Here https://www.keithkalfas.com/Landscaping-Series Landscaping Course https://keith-kalfas.mykajabi.com/store/8bFERMcs LANDSCAPING BUSINESS  How to Guide: https://www.keithkalfas.com/16 Get Jobber: https://getjobber.com/im/ambassador-referral/?gspk=a2VpdGhrYWxmYXM4NTIx&gsxid=Rs6pwtznLDcs Get Ballard: https://www.ballard-inc.com/ Easy Budgeting Blueprint: keithkalfas.com/budget Smartphone Video Creation Guide: Keithkalfas.com/smartphone Identifying Your Superpower: Keithkalfas.com/superpower Become An influencer And Monetize Your Expertise: https://www.keithkalfas.com/influence Multiple Ways to Monetize: https://www.keithkalfas.com/multipleways LevelUp Your  Landscaping Business to $100K and beyond: https://www.keithkalfas.com/LEVELUP The Untrapped Alliance: https://www.keithkalfas.com/alliance  

In this episode, Keith Kalfas breaks down the five essential elements every business owner must understand and master to grow a profitable landscaping or home-service business. Pulling insights from James Clear's Atomic Habits, business mentors like Bob Proctor and Brandon Vaughn, and his own decade-plus of entrepreneurial experience, Keith gives a clear roadmap to leveling up your business—starting with YOU.     "When you take yourself and your business absolutely serious, that's when your customers take you serious—like a tuning fork."– Keith Kalfas   Topics Covered: YOU – The Foundation of Your Business Your business can only be as strong as the person running it. Keith shares why prioritizing your health, mindset, sleep, schedule, and spiritual foundation is the first step to success. "Put the oxygen mask on yourself first." Your Market Understanding your market is essential—even if it feels saturated. Competition is a sign of demand. Show up consistently, take yourself seriously, and you'll rise into the top 10% faster than you think. Learn how value perception helps you charge more and serve better. Your Marketing Marketing is simply promising a specific result to the marketplace. From social media and door hangers to branding and CRM messages, Keith explains how to build a marketing engine that attracts customers nonstop. When you fall in love with marketing, you'll never run out of business. Your People Stop doing everything yourself. Keith breaks down the importance of building a team, leveraging technology, and eliminating exhausting "context switching." He also shares how tools like Jobber's AI receptionist can handle calls and admin work so you can focus on growth. Your Systems Systems are how you reach your goals—consistently and predictably. Keith explains the MAPS framework (Marketing, Administration, Production, Sales) and the difference between: Soft systems: communication methods, workflows Hard systems: equipment, tools, physical infrastructures Learn how systems thinking works, why it creates business synergy, and how even major companies like Coca-Cola run on these principles.     I ONLY do this once a year. Get 15 years of my systems, training, courses, and coaching for 93% OFF. 🔥 Get the Black Friday Bundle here: 👉 https://www.keithkalfas.com/blackfriday You'll get: Landscaping Business Startup Course High-Profit Landscaping Secrets Business Marketing Blueprint Business Money Blueprint Two weeks FREE inside the Untrapped Alliance private coaching group  And more…    This offer ends soon. Don't miss it.   Connect with Keith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithkalfas/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelandscapingemployeetrap Website: https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@keith-kalfas   Resources and Websites:  Start Getting Leads Now https://www.footbridgemedia.com/keith The Untrapped Alliance: https://www.keithkalfas.com/alliance Resources You Need To Build A Successful Business https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources 🙋♂️Get My Free Landscaping Business Startup Video Series Here👇  Here https://www.keithkalfas.com/Landscaping-Series Landscaping Course https://keith-kalfas.mykajabi.com/store/8bFERMcs LANDSCAPING BUSINESS  How to Guide: https://www.keithkalfas.com/16 Get Jobber: https://getjobber.com/im/ambassador-referral/?gspk=a2VpdGhrYWxmYXM4NTIx&gsxid=Rs6pwtznLDcs Get Ballard: https://www.ballard-inc.com/ Easy Budgeting Blueprint: keithkalfas.com/budget Smartphone Video Creation Guide: Keithkalfas.com/smartphone Identifying Your Superpower: Keithkalfas.com/superpower Become An influencer And Monetize Your Expertise: https://www.keithkalfas.com/influence Multiple Ways to Monetize: https://www.keithkalfas.com/multipleways LevelUp Your  Landscaping Business to $100K and beyond: https://www.keithkalfas.com/LEVELUP    

In this episode of The Untrapped Podcast, Keith drops a brutally honest look at the least talked about part of running a landscaping business: where the hell do you store your equipment when you're just starting out? From hiding trailers in random parking lots to begging for space at a factory, Keith opens up about the stress, fear, and shame that hits when you're hustling with no place to park your truck, trailer, or tools—and how that chaos bleeds into your confidence, marriage, and mindset. But the conversation goes way deeper than storage. Keith breaks down the psychological tug-of-war every new business owner faces: survival mode vs. vision mode. He shares real stories of towing threats, HOA fines, break-ins, and racing against storage-unit closing times… then contrasts that with the moments of inspiration, clarity, and big dreams that come only when the noise finally stops. You'll hear about maintaining perspective during 90-day sprints, avoiding burnout in the busy season, and why losing your "larger view" is what actually drags you into apathy and depression. This is Keith at his realest—no sugarcoating, no guru talk. Just the raw truth about anxiety, responsibility, growing up as a business owner, and refusing to stay trapped. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, ashamed, or one breakdown away from parking your trailer in a stranger's yard out of desperation… this episode is your reminder: you're not alone, you're not crazy, and you can build the stability and freedom you're fighting for.     "If you feel overwhelmed, that's not a sign to quit. It's a sign you're on the edge of leveling up." – Keith Kalfas   Topics Covered: The early grind of having nowhere to store your truck, trailer, or tools Towing scares, HOA drama, and hiding equipment just to stay afloat How constant anxiety leads to rushed, survival-mode decisions Working nonstop yet still feeling like you're falling behind Being broke forcing creativity, resilience, and uncomfortable growth Breaking out of "employee thinking" and stepping into an owner mindset Community tips and real-time advice from other contractors How different seasons shift your mindset—hustle mode vs. big-picture mode The burnout loop: long days, shrinking perspective, and creeping depression Why industry events and community support (like GIE) keep you sane and motivated   Key Takeaways Solve the "Parking Problem" EarlyYour sanity depends on stability. A reliable place to store your trailer and equipment isn't a luxury—it's foundational. Lock in a storage lot, co-op deal, client yard, or commercial space early so you're not living in constant fear of tows, fines, or break-ins. Survival Mode Isn't a Business Plan Shift from panic decisions to long-view leadership. When you're overwhelmed, every problem feels like a crisis. But long-term success comes from stepping out of reaction mode—planning seasons, protecting your mindset, and keeping perspective even when the grind gets ugly.per day. Bigger tickets + fewer trips = cleaner math and calmer schedule. Community Keeps You From Breaking Don't build alone—borrow strength from others. Events like GIE, industry groups, and fellow contractors give you clarity, solutions, and the reminder that you're not the only one fighting through chaos. The right community can shorten your learning curve and keep you moving when you'd otherwise burn out.   Connect with Keith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithkalfas/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelandscapingemployeetrap Website: https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@keith-kalfas   Resources and Websites:  Start Getting Leads Now https://www.footbridgemedia.com/keith The Untrapped Alliance: https://www.keithkalfas.com/alliance Resources You Need To Build A Successful Business https://www.keithkalfas.com/resources 🙋♂️Get My Free Landscaping Business Startup Video Series Here👇  Here https://www.keithkalfas.com/Landscaping-Series Landscaping Course https://keith-kalfas.mykajabi.com/store/8bFERMcs LANDSCAPING BUSINESS  How to Guide: https://www.keithkalfas.com/16 Get Jobber: https://getjobber.com/im/ambassador-referral/?gspk=a2VpdGhrYWxmYXM4NTIx&gsxid=Rs6pwtznLDcs Get Ballard: https://www.ballard-inc.com/ Easy Budgeting Blueprint: keithkalfas.com/budget Smartphone Video Creation Guide: Keithkalfas.com/smartphone Identifying Your Superpower: Keithkalfas.com/superpower Become An influencer And Monetize Your Expertise: https://www.keithkalfas.com/influence Multiple Ways to Monetize: https://www.keithkalfas.com/multipleways LevelUp Your  Landscaping Business to $100K and beyond: https://www.keithkalfas.com/LEVELUP