Roll call! Meet & introduce yourself to other Service-based Skilled Trade pros
If you’ve ever thought, “How are other businesses like mine handling this?” you’re in the right place! This space is for Service-Based Skilled Trades pros to connect, compare notes, and talk shop with others who understand the day-to-day realities of running your type of business. 👋 Introduce Yourself Drop a comment and tell us: Your name Business name Industry Years in business Location (City/State/Province) Let us know if you’re joining us for LIVE networking on March 17 (more details below) The more context you share, the better connections you’ll make. 🙌 Pro tip: Search your city or state in the forum to easily find other pros in your area. 📅 Want to connect LIVE? We’re running a pilot to host virtual weekly LIVE Industry Networking starting on March 17, running until April 7. If you’d be interested in joining for the first or following sessions (don’t need to commit to all but you're welcome to join!), make sure to let us know in the comments. 🤝 Culture of this space Think of this forum board like a room full of peers who understand your world. Share what’s working. Ask real questions. Talk through challenges. The goal is to power your success and raise the standard of home service industries together. 💬 Looking for conversation starters? This space works best when conversations are industry-specific and experience-based. You might jump in with something like: “How are other [your industry] pros pricing this service right now?” “Is anyone else seeing this shift in their market?” “What’s been working for you when it comes to ____?” 🤔 Why are industries grouped together? We’ve intentionally clustered similar industries to keep conversations active and relevant. These groupings reflect shared business models, operational challenges, and pricing conversations so you can learn from peers who “get it,” even if they’re not in your exact trade. If your question applies to all home service businesses, feel free to post in our broader forum boards. Pro tip: Check out the industry tags to get even more specific Looking forward to seeing this space come to life. 🚀Do You Train Your Team to Think or Just Work?
Every Monday, we hold a short training session with our team. We train on communication. leadership. & mindset. The reason being most tradespeople aren’t struggling because they can’t do the work. They’re struggling because they were never taught how to: Speak with clarity Handle conflict Lead a crew Represent the business professionally These tend to be the issues I see bottling up, either from our exit interviews or customer feed back or when things are misunderstood. Thats why I'm curious: Do you train soft skills with your crew?
Starting an appliance repair business.
Hey everyone, I’m new here and excited to be part of the community! I’m currently taking a course to better understand appliance repair, including how to troubleshoot, disassemble, and repair various appliances. My goal is to gradually ease into the field and build confidence as I learn more hands-on. I’m reaching out to see if any experienced business owners here have advice or insights on starting up an appliance repair business. What were some key steps you took when starting out? Are there any resources or tips you’d recommend for someone just beginning their journey? I’d also love to hear your thoughts on some specific topics: What tools and equipment were essential when you first started? Are there any you couldn’t have worked without? How did you go about building trust with your first few customers? What’s been the best way to market your services early on? What were the biggest challenges you faced in the beginning? How did you overcome them? How do you handle customer relations and ensure repeat business? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and any advice you can share!How can I automatically send an SMS to customers when their ordered part arrives?
I have been trying to use some automation to help with a workflow related to parts. We are an appliance company, and often need to order parts. What I am looking to do is when parts arrive, we generally put a note in the job saying parts in. I would like to try automation that when we say part is in, we send an SMS to the customer saying the part is in and to go to our booking link to setup a return visit. I have tried using integrations like Zapier to Twilio, but cant seem to get it to work based on notes in the job being updated. Anyone else get a workflow like this working?👉 “Turning My Logistics Vision Into Reality – Lyric Logistics LLC”
Hi everyone, I’m Flo, the owner of Lyric Logistics LLC. I’m currently in the process of launching my transportation business focused on reliable box truck freight services for small and mid-sized businesses. One recent win I’m proud of is completing my grant applications and building out my business foundation, including my services, branding, and operations plan. It’s been a big step toward turning my vision into something real. I’m excited to be part of this community and learn from others while growing my business. Looking forward to connecting!You Don’t Have a Lead Problem You Have a Follow-Up System Problem
You’re not losing jobs to competitors you’re losing them in your follow-up. Most HVAC businesses I’ve seen don’t have a lead problem… they have a system problem: missed calls, no follow-ups, and zero tracking. The ones scaling consistently are doing 3 things right: Capturing every lead in a CRM Automating follow-ups (SMS/email) Running simple local campaigns that bring repeat jobs Curious what system are you currently using to track and convert your leads? If you’re open, I can share a simple setup that’s working for other contractors.Industry virtual networking starting March 17
Update: Our 4-week networking pilot has wrapped. Thank you to everyone who joined! We brought pros together across industries for weekly 30-minute sessions focused on real business challenges, and the conversations delivered. There was strong participation, valuable idea-sharing, and great feedback from those who joined. 👉 The goal was simple: bring a challenge and get ideas from other pros, and that’s exactly what happened. We’re now taking what we learned and determining next steps, with plans to likely bring these back in the future. If you found these valuable, or are interested in joining future sessions, let us know in the comments and we’ll keep you posted on what’s next. Really appreciate everyone who took the time to be part of this!Is anyone finding it hard to get a cap cover for their pickup?
I have been looking into getting a cover for the bed of my truck and a lot of places here in Toronto are saying their inventory is gone! And it will likely be a year before any new ones come in. Even used ones are being bought up for resale or even modified to fit the more popular trucks. Has anyone been looking for one and found the same supply issues?
