Episodes

Chris's friend Jared Thayer joined us this week, and this conversation covers more ground than almost any episode we've recorded. Jared is the owner of Thayer Design Build, a remodeling company he started in 2014, and his story starts with a hard childhood, a mom who disappeared into addiction, and a grandmother who became one of the aces in his deck of cards. From there he built a construction company from scratch, grew it to a ten person team, went through a divorce last year, and is now raisi...

I walked into this recording annoyed about studio cables, and somehow it turned into one of the most honest conversations Brandon and I have had on this show. We talk about the pressure in modern business culture to be always on and always awesome, and why the gurus only ever talk about their struggles in the past tense. Brandon brought in Arthur Brooks' framework of the three macronutrients of happiness: enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning. We use it to take a hard look at grind culture, the ...

Some guests walk in with a good story. JR Litehiser walked in with one of the most unbelievable stories we've ever heard on this show, and he made us laugh through the entire thing. JR is the owner of Pacific Northwest Epoxy Coatings and Supplies, PNW ECS, but before that he was a high school teacher, a police officer, and a decorative concrete contractor. In 2008, right as he was launching a materials distribution business, a chemical explosion left him with burns over 80 percent of his body. ...

This month's money talk with Jim Emerich turned into one of the most useful conversations we've had on the show, so let's get right into it. Jim breaks down what he calls the four levels of business relationships: direct, individual, ecosystem, and structural. The higher you climb, the less you're grinding one-off sales and the more you're building an asset that owns a customer relationship for years. We get into service agreements as the on-ramp for trades businesses, whether that's HVAC, pest...

First live in-studio guest in the new space, and it had to be Freddie Bosquez. Freddie worked for me back in the ServPro days, starting around 2013, and watching who he's become since then is one of the privileges of my career. This conversation goes everywhere. A lower middle class kid who wouldn't ask his parents for sports money, so he sold his PlayStation for a pawnshop bass and started a punk band. A recession layoff and a Craigslist ad that led him to walk into a restoration shop looking ...

Dude. No guest this week, and I came in hot on a topic that's been rearranging my brain all summer: discipline. Here's the setup. This is my fourth year chasing elk with my bow, and for the first time my son is in the hobby with me. Between him and my buddy Olin, my prep this season looks completely different. Lift, run, shoot, every week, Cam Hanes style, with the three of us trading range photos and treadmill pics to keep each other honest. And somewhere in all those arrows downrange I realiz...

Dude. No guest this week. Just a conversation Chris and I probably should have recorded years ago. We spend our days coaching business owners: diagnosing problems, building frameworks, holding people accountable. This episode is about the one area of life where neither of us gets to be the coach. Marriage. Chris and Kara are 25 years in. Janna and I hit 30 in December. And between his Alaska trip and a come-to-Jesus conversation on my own back porch, we got more honest than we ever have about w...

We say it all the time on this show: sales first. But sales without financial controls is a mess waiting to happen, and that's exactly why we're launching our monthly money talk with Jim Emerich, founder of Backbone Fractional CFO Consultants. Jim brought a story about a multigenerational contractor that doubled from 5 to 10 million and started losing money. Margins squeezed, line of credit maxed, wrong desk at the bank. The lesson for every business owner in the trades: scaling the top line wi...

Dude. No guest this week. Just Chris and me going somewhere we've honestly been afraid to go on this show. Chris opens up about something deeply personal: his experience with a legal, facilitated psilocybin ceremony here in Oregon, and what it surfaced about rest, presence, and the gaps between who he says he is and how he actually shows up. This is not a party story. This is a guy with a deep faith background doing serious, intentional work on himself, and what came out of it applies to every ...

What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn't strategy, talent, or money... but the timeline you've accepted? In this episode, Brandon and I unpack one of the most impactful business books we've read recently, The Science of Scaling by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. We explore how using time as a tool forces better thinking, exposes bottlenecks, and helps leaders stop chasing incremental growth in favor of transformational change. We also discuss simplifying your business, identifying the few...

Some guests just drop bombs for an hour straight, and Griffin Brand is one of them. Griffin is a former 75th Ranger Regiment special operator who, at 26, found himself as the lone military advisor to the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, wrangling 20 different three-letter agencies into one room. Now he's in private equity with High Ground, working deals across the restoration industry. If you caught last week's episode with Griffin and his co-author Dan Casey on their book Bring Your Own Pencil, this ...

Every once in a while you record an episode and you know, before you even hit stop, that it's a top-tenner. This is that one. Chris and I sat down with Dan Casey and Griffin Brand - a football coach turned historian and an Army Ranger, to talk about their book Bring Your Own Pencil, the leadership playbook of the legendary Bill Walsh. But this isn't a football episode. It's a masterclass for anyone leading a crew or building a business in the trades - roofing, HVAC, restoration, you name it. Ho...

Family businesses come with incredible opportunities, but they also come with unique challenges. In this episode, I sit down with Keri Jones, whose family built Utah Disaster Kleanup into one of the most respected restoration companies in the country. We talk about what it was like growing up in the business, learning from industry pioneers, and eventually helping lead the company through rapid growth and a private equity acquisition. Keri shares lessons on leadership, developing people, buildin...

Mentorship gets talked about a lot in business, but what does it actually look like in practice? In this episode, Brandon and I unpack the difference between teaching, coaching, and true mentorship, and why most leaders struggle to develop people effectively. We explore the two ingredients every great mentor needs: experience and visibility. It's not enough to know what good looks like, you have to understand what’s actually happening in someone’s day-to-day work before you can help them improve...

In this episode, I sit down with former NCAA champion and Olympian Les Gutches for one of the most fascinating conversations we’ve had on the show. What started as a conversation about wrestling quickly turned into a masterclass on resilience, discipline, business, leadership, and life. Les shares stories from his childhood in Southern Oregon, growing up fast while helping care for his sick mother, and how those early experiences shaped his mindset forever. We dig into the relentless work ethic ...

In this episode of Head, Heart and Boots, Brandon and I sat down with J. Brad Britton for one of the most meaningful conversations we’ve had on the podcast. J. Brad spent decades leading inside the Cutco and Vector organizations, but this episode centers on something far deeper - his relationship with his son Sam and how that journey completely changed the way he thinks about leadership, communication, and human potential. What stuck with us most was hearing J. Brad talk about realizing Sam unde...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with our teammate Clinton Tierney to talk sales, leadership, and the mindset it takes to win in today’s restoration market. Clinton’s story is incredible—college athlete turned mold technician turned multi-million dollar producer and sales leader—and you can hear how every season shaped the way he approaches business development today. We spent a lot of time unpacking what actually creates successful salespeople. Not gimmicks or s...

In this episode of Head, Heart and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Nick D’Urbano again- this time not to talk AI, but to dig into branding. And honestly, this one hit different. Nick’s built and scaled multiple 8- and 9-figure brands, and what stood out is how clearly he sees something most of us miss: brand isn’t your logo, your colors, or your website- it’s how people feel when they interact with your business. We spent most of the conversation unpacking that idea. What does it actually mea...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Rocky Hensley to break down his latest exit and what actually drove the valuation behind the deal. Rocky shares how private equity approached the opportunity, why he chose his partner, and what most owners misunderstand about timing a sale. We dig into the simple framework he uses to build valuable companies, centered around strong profitability and removing owner dependency. Rocky explains why these two factors matter more t...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Chris Matts, founder of Marketing Ninjas, to talk about what actually drives growth in restoration and why most marketing misses the mark. Chris shares his path into entrepreneurship, how he found the restoration industry, and why he chose to focus on helping companies generate more opportunities through outbound and relationship-driven strategies. We dig into the difference between branding and direct response, why business ...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Sam Chapman, owner of Merit Restorations and partner in CaseCo and 1-Tom Plumber, to talk about building businesses, leading people, and the real work behind growth. Sam shares his journey from a blue collar upbringing to building multiple companies, and how he’s approached scaling through partnerships, culture, and intentional leadership. We also get into the hard lessons. From avoiding accountability to rebuilding a broken ...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, I sit down with Lane Larsen, founder of Clean Claims, to unpack what is happening at the intersection of restoration, technology, and insurance. As the industry continues to evolve, Lane brings a unique perspective on how software, data, and process are reshaping the way claims are handled and how contractors can position themselves to win in a more complex environment. We dig into the origin of Clean Claims, the problem it was built to solve, and how i...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Nick Rahn, founder of Warriors Next Adventure, for one of the most intense and powerful conversations we’ve had on the show. Nick shares his journey from a turbulent childhood and multiple combat deployments in the Air Force to hitting rock bottom after leaving the military, battling addiction, and nearly ending his life in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. What follows is a story of transformation. Nick walks us th...

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, we sit down for a conversation to unpack a fresh perspective on leadership, pressure, and the internal narratives that shape how we show up in business and in life. This episode is less about tactics and more about awareness. It is about recognizing the stories we tell ourselves when things get hard and how those stories either limit us or push us forward. We talk through how easy it is to default into frustration, comparison, or self-doubt when result...