Trades Talk Podcast

This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Ellen Rohr, the trades industry's favorite money coach, author, speaker, and the person who has taught thousands of contractors how to actually read their numbers. Ellen learned it the hard way, going from dead broke in a four truck plumbing shop to building and selling companies and helping run a business doing hundreds of millions. Her message is simple and freeing: get a handle on the money and no bad thing comes from it. In this conversation she and Justin dig into the three numbers that run every business, why your calendar is your secret weapon, and how AI is changing the game for busy owners. In this episode: The three KPIs that run every business, and which one has to come first Why your profit and your cash are never the same number The price increase that nearly broke Ellen, then saved her company Why a fully booked calendar actually gives you more freedom Ellen's trade secret is five words that changed her life: charge more than it costs. Whether you are fighting to get unbroke, scaling across locations, or just tired of the numbers never quite making sense, this one will change how you run your business and your day. Grab Ellen's book Where Did the Money Go, free at EllenRohr.com. JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo Ellen Rohr: https://ellenrohr.com/ K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/

This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with industry legend Richard Sperber, fresh off one of the biggest pivots of his career. After building ValleyCrest, creating BrightView, and founding Sperber Landscape Companies (now rebranded Cultivar Group), Richard has stepped away to back something entirely new. His new venture, American Operator, exists to keep locally owned landscape companies locally owned. Instead of rolling them into a private equity machine, he puts up the capital so a great operator can buy the business and actually own it. In this episode: Why Richard walked away from the company that still carries his name The deal that hands a key employee 10 percent real equity on day one Why he says the locally owned landscape company is vanishing, and his fix The $25,000 way to become an advisor with real skin in the game Richard breaks down the model: he buys out the retiring owner, gives the new operator true ownership from day one, and lets them earn their way to majority through the company's own cash flow. It is patient capital built on inputs, not quarterly multiples. He also gets honest about why private equity leaves so many owners and employees burned out, and what he looks for in a business worth backing. If you are an owner weighing an exit, or a second in command who has always wanted to own the company you help run, this one is for you.   CONNECT WITH RICHARD Interested in American Operator? Reach Richard Sperber directly: [email protected]   JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/

On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White broadcasts from the road ahead of NALP Elevate, with a lot cooking in both the public markets and inside K&D. He breaks down what this week's midterm elections signaled to the AI and data center world, why it rattled the market, and why he is doubling down on AI anyway. Then he gets tactical, sharing exactly what came out of a labor variance meeting with K&D's design build team just 24 hours earlier, and the fundamentals quietly transforming the culture. In this update: Why the midterms sent the AI and data center market into a tizzy, and Justin's contrarian response The three ways to protect your profit when the next downturn hits The job-site miss that quietly erases 20 percent of a short project's labor budget Why Justin says fix your electric infrastructure before you chase robots Justin unpacks his down-market playbook, the assistant crew leader role that lets K&D keep scaling, and the "quality at bats" idea that explains why winning teams focus on behaviors, not just outcomes. He also previews the AI experience at Elevate and challenges you to use the final 55 days of the year to build your most ambitious vision for 2027. If you want a real-time look at how a fast growing landscape company is navigating AI, efficiency, and a shifting market, start here. Weekly Updates are powered by Kress! https://www.jwhitegroup.com/kress JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/

This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Marcus Sheridan, bestselling author of They Ask, You Answer and Endless Customers, and the man who saved his pool company during the 2008 crash by doing the one thing nobody else would: telling customers the truth about pricing. Now he is sounding the alarm for the trades. Homeowners want to know roughly what things cost before they ever reach out, and AI is about to make pricing transparency non-negotiable. In this episode: Why AI jumped from 6% to 47% of local contractor searches in a single year The pricing estimator that takes paid ad conversions from 8% to around 60% The three pages every contractor needs to actually get recommended by AI The pride cycle, and Justin's raw admission about where K&D is right now Marcus breaks down the three F's of innovation, why 75% of buyers now want a seller-free experience, and the exact pages you can stand up in a week to start winning. Justin also gets honest about the fundamentals K&D let slip and how they fixed it in a single Friday. If you run a landscaping or home services business and you want to be found, trusted, and chosen in an AI-first world, this one is a playbook you can act on today. This week's episode is brought to you by Weathermatic: Get your Discount Here! (get.weathermatic.com/disruptors)  JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/

In part two of the robotics as a service panel, Justin White gets back in the studio with Joe Langton of Automated Outdoor Solutions and Tyler Reiter of MoTek to go under the hood on the money and the infrastructure most owners never see coming. If part one sold you on autonomous mowing, this one shows you how to actually make it profitable. In this episode: Why your landscape yard will soon need the power of an RV park The preventative maintenance cost that can quietly eat a quarter of your mowing margin Why pricing robots cheaper than gas is a race to the bottom How to size the machine, the route, and the charging before you buy Joe and Tyler break down charging amps, the true cost per acre, battery cycles, cut and go versus stay on site, and why staying profitable is exactly what keeps private equity from feasting on the industry. Justin adds a warning: treat your first year of automation as an R&D project and expect surprises. If you plan to roll out robotic mowing in 2027, this is the financial playbook to study first. JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/