E34: Why Most Trades Businesses Fail (and How to Build One That Runs Itself) | Dan Dowdy
How strong is your business leadership and mindset?
In this episode, Dan Dowdy reveals how to create lasting growth by focusing on the people side of business. We’ll cover the three pillars of success: building a values-driven culture, holding yourself and your team accountable, and reframing your mindset to overcome limiting beliefs.
Dan even shares practical tools and examples you can apply right now to improve both your leadership and your business performance.
Ready to build a thriving company and a stronger life? This episode is packed with insights to help you grow.
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Sean Garner is a marketing consultant and Certified StoryBrand guide dedicated to helping small business owners grow and dominate their industries. He created the Marketing Domination podcast to teach people how to combine storytelling with strategic marketing to help businesses connect with customers and stand out online.
Dan Dowdy is a second-generation master plumber, a certified John Maxwell Coach, and the founder of a coaching program called "Built for the Trades."
He has over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience in the home service industry and helps business owners and leaders in trades like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work to create strategic action plans, build strong teams, and achieve personal and professional growth. He is also a man of faith and a devoted family man.
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EPISODE 34 TRANSCRIPTION
Introduction
Sean Garner (00:00)
Like intro and outro and everything after this. The other thing is, after this records—have you ever recorded in Riverside before?
Dan Dowdy (00:02)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (00:08)
I haven't personally, but I... yeah.
Sean Garner (00:10)
Okay, perfect. So whenever it does, whenever I hit stop, just hang out here for a little bit because it'll render and everything. The cool thing about this is, if it cuts out at any time, this is recording to the cloud. It's also recording on both of our devices right now, so if there's any glitch on the signal, it syncs back up with those things. Even if it looks like it glitches, just keep going with it because it's actually recording fine.
Dan Dowdy (00:36)
Let's do it.
Sean Garner (00:37)
All right.
Sean Garner (00:41)
All right, here we go. Mr. Dan, honored to have you on here, sir. Thank you so much for taking the time to connect with us and our audience today. I had the opportunity to get introduced to you from one of my clients. He was like, “Man, I met this dude at a conference. He loves Jesus and he's really good at business. You guys need to connect.” It’s so great to be able to do this and get to share with you today.
Dan Dowdy (01:06.662)
Thank you, Sean, for having me on the podcast. This is an honor and I can't wait to just dive in and have a great conversation.
How to Build a Self-Operating Business
Sean Garner (01:14)
So you are the ops guy. If you're in the trades and you're struggling with your operations, you are the guy. To me, that seems really interesting because a lot of people that I've met in the trades don't have that mindset. What is your evolution, your story about—how did you start going down that role to where you're realizing, “Hey, I'm really good at this craft, but I really need to figure out this operations standpoint if I want this business to grow and scale”?
Dan Dowdy (01:43)
I've been in the trades for over 20 years. From 2000 to about 2010, I worked my way up doing everything in my plumbing business, from being an apprentice to being a manager and eventually an owner. In 2010, I hired my first business coach. At that time, I had a pretty successful family business, but I really started questioning, “There's got to be a better way to do business where it's not just revolving around the owners.” That's when I hired my first coach and really started to learn the systems and processes of building a self-operating business.
I think it's just my natural personality. I like to take what's difficult and make it simple. Now that I'm in the coaching space and have been doing this for about six years, that's really my superpower: I take what a lot of people overcomplicate and simplify it. Simple doesn’t mean it's not effective—actually, simple is very effective because simple is repeatable. And when it comes to running a self-operating business and upholding the culture that you build, the standards you want in your business, having that accountability, and having people who know how to operate in their position, make decisions, and own those decisions—it really comes down to simplifying the process, repeating it, and doing it consistently. If it's not effective, you tweak the process, make it effective, and move on.
So I think it's always been something I'm innately good at, but it wasn't until I hired my first business coach—and I’ve been coached ever since—that I started to learn what the best systems and processes are to grow a business.
Sean Garner (03:39)
That's awesome. You mentioned a phrase to me that sticks out, and I want you to explain your systems and processes around it. What is a self-operating business, and what does it even look like to have one?
Dan Dowdy (03:53)
A self-operating business is about developing leaders who can operate your business while you're not there. These are people who know the vision, the core values, and the goals set not only for three years, but also for one year and each quarter. So whenever they're faced with a decision while you're not there, they can point back toward the goals we're working to achieve and make the right decision, or they can point back toward the core values of the business and make the right decision based on those values.
I think that's where it gets sideways sometimes. People might think they have a self-operating business, but while they're gone, are there parameters for decision-making in the organization, or are people left to their own devices? Sometimes that can work, but sometimes you can really get burned if you don't have good parameters. Without those parameters, most of the time people are dependent on the owners of the business. You may be on vacation, and your phone's ringing because they want to ask you the same silly question they've asked you 20 times. And all they're doing is saying, Hey, I you know, I'm not super confident here I want you to answer it so that you know that way you can own this decision If it's wrong, I can say you told me to do it versus versus being equipped I think equipping is a big word being equipped but also trained and coached and Confident to be able to make those decisions and so in my in my definition of a self-operating business It's having the leaders around you that are equipped confident
Sean Garner (05:06)
Yeah, they don't want the ownership.
Dan Dowdy (05:29)
Trained and coached leaders are able to make decisions while you're not there. What we love to hear from our clients is, “Dan, I went on vacation for two weeks, and I haven’t taken a vacation forever. I came back and my business did better while I was gone.” Now, as a coach, I have to help them mentally deal with that because they kind of feel a little bit lost. They're like, “Man, I need to go on vacation again.”
Sean Garner (05:44)
That's awesome.
Sean Garner (05:51)
I'm a failure.
Dan Dowdy (05:57)
That's actually a really good thing. That’s what really fulfills me, because I believe that life is about more than just business growth and profits. We teach faith, family, and business. I know people hire a business coach to be more profitable and scale their business, but we also want to see that people are strong in their faith, strong in their marriages, and strong in their relationship with their kids.
Sean Garner (06:19)
Yeah. Because I mean, you can have the whole world and lose your soul. What's the point of all this stuff, man? I very much believe that business and entrepreneurship is a calling. If we're not operating at our highest level, that means we're not truly walking in our calling. And if we're not walking in our calling, then we're not serving the people we're meant to serve and not fully fulfilling our purpose. That sounds good, but I'm sure there are people out there saying, “Well, yeah...”
Dan Dowdy (06:27)
There you go.
Dan Dowdy (06:45)
I'm right there with you.
Sean Garner (06:51)
But that’s just because, of course, he was able to take a vacation like that since he had rock stars. You don't understand the type of people I've got right now. Or maybe I had somebody like that, but I couldn’t keep them. What would you say to the person who thinks their business is special or unique, or that this approach wouldn’t work for them?
Dan Dowdy (07:15)
That's a great question. Really, it comes down to mindset. I know people listening may think that sounds crazy, but that's what it is. At the end of the day, we have the power to create our own results for our future. A lot of times we develop a mindset based on past experiences, and the thoughts and words we choose turn into actions.
Sean Garner (07:22)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (07:45)
Take this example, which I’ve heard many times: “I trained this person, they were great, I invested tons of money into them, and then they quit my company. I’m never going to do that again because that was painful.” Then we develop this mindset of “nobody wants to work” or “nobody’s loyal.” We start speaking those things, and speaking them into reality. Not only does it affect our decisions moving forward—we won’t make that next hire or invest in the next person—but it also shapes the culture we create.
Sean Garner (08:04)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (08:24)
We’re trying to avoid that past pain, so we start saying things like “nobody wants to work” or “everybody’s worthless.” Next thing you know, all of the good people who are working for us end up leaving for someone more positive, upbeat, and focused on their best interests. If you're listening and that hits a nerve with you, I just want to encourage you—we’ve all been there.
Sean Garner (08:39)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (08:50)
If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ve probably found yourself going down that negative rabbit trail in one way or another. I was joking with somebody the other day—if you're an entrepreneur and you’ve never thought about going to work for somebody else, then you haven’t been doing it long enough.
Sean Garner (09:10)
That's good.
Dan Dowdy (09:11)
That thought probably crosses people’s minds multiple times a year depending on the amount of fires and pain they're dealing with. But the ability to stay positive, stay consistent, and keep pushing through those times is what makes successful businesses and successful entrepreneurs. We know that successful businesses aren't built overnight, and there’s no silver bullet.
Sean Garner (09:34)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (09:35)
I think as humans we naturally believe there should be an easier way, but that’s not always the case.
Sean Garner (09:44)
Yeah, that's good. There’s this little book I read called the Bible, and it says, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Those who love it will eat its fruit.” You’ve got to watch your words because people don’t understand how powerful they are. Unfortunately, people take words flippantly, not realizing how much they impact everything they do.
So, on the part of finding team members, from what you've seen, is there a better approach? What would you recommend to someone who’s looking to build leadership? Should they hire a lower-cost, less-experienced employee and build them up into a leader? Or is it worth saying, “Hey, I’m bought in, Dan. I know I need to take my organization to the next level,” and then investing in someone who already has leadership experience? Obviously, that means paying more to bring that level of talent into the company. What do you typically see, or how would you coach somebody through that?
Why Culture Beats Talent in Building Championship Teams
Dan Dowdy (10:50)
Yeah, Sean, I would rather go to battle with the team of B players who believe in the culture and the mission of the company than a team of A players who don't believe in the team or the culture of the company, or in the mission as well. It’s like having a sports team with a bunch of high-paid athletes—at the end of the day, you're still a team, and if they're all individuals and they're selfish, you're never going to have a championship team. You may have a decent team.
Sean Garner (11:17)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (11:17)
But you're never going to have them mesh to where you can actually win a championship. I was having this conversation with a client yesterday. We were talking about technicians and I said, “Joe, you're never going to have all A players on your team as far as production technicians in your business.” He had a hard time grasping that. I feel like you still need your B and C players, but what you need is everybody aligned with the mission and the values of the company. You need everybody there wanting not only to get better, but also to serve in whatever role they have in that business, whatever their position is. That’s where a team really can come together and form a great championship team.
I truly believe that when we're looking at building a team, it’s not impossible, but it’s a very difficult feat to try to find all A players. Of course, you want to be working toward it, but how do we attract these people? Really, it’s influence. We live in a culture today of influence, and what happens with a lot of business owners is we’ll hire some people in our business and then once we get it to a certain point, we stop hiring and start focusing on something else.
This goes all the way back to being a technician. Most trades business owners start as technicians or they start as a master of their trade, and then they learn business later. We are taught to fix what's broken, and we take that over into our operations of our business. We hyper-focus on things that are broken, and when you have no systems—systems are proactive—you create this kind of…
Sean Garner (12:43)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (13:05)
I mean, you create a cashflow wave effect. You’re focused on this, it grows. Then you focus on that, it grows, but the first thing stops growing. What happens in the hiring space is people get hyper-focused on hiring only when they're desperate to hire, so they’ll hire anybody with a pulse and a driver's license. Then they get frustrated when that person doesn’t work out, versus having a system in place that’s always recruiting people for your business.
The way you do that is you pull back the curtain and start to influence people by showing them your core values, showing them behind the scenes that you're real people, that you train, that you have a great culture, you do company events, you give back to the community. You start to strike a nerve with the different people who are watching. Eventually, what happens is they have enough bad days where they're at, and they start to come to your organization. You’re wondering, “Okay, this guy or gal just walked through my door—was that just magic?”
But if you're putting that out there on social media and other platforms, what you’re really doing is influencing. Eventually, they may not come through that social media platform, but they’ll come through other avenues that you’ve built. That’s the approach we take—it’s very much a long-term recruiting approach to the hiring problem.
Hiring Leaders vs. Training Technicians
Sean Garner (14:17)
That's good. So this might be just a different way to ask the same question that you might have already answered. Whenever it comes to hiring and we’re wanting to truly build a team, should the focus be on really good techs who could maybe have potential for leadership, or on really great, strong, powerful leaders who are maybe less skilled in the technical aspect but are working on it? Is it easier to coach up a leader or to train the skill?
Dan Dowdy (14:54)
Yeah, that's a good question. It depends on how we define leadership, but without diving too deep, I would 100% get behind leadership skills over technical skills any day. The reason why is leadership is influence. If you think about just being a good person—being positive, proactive, honest, hardworking, being a team player, looking outside yourself—those are great leadership skills I want in anybody who works in my organization. Those are things that are taught as you grow up. Those are core values ingrained in people.
If I try to take a really top-skilled technician who may be good at their trade and try to teach them core values they never established early on in life, it’s really almost impossible. It’s the equivalent of marrying somebody who doesn’t align with your core values, thinking that one day you're going to fix them. That’s pretty much what you're trying to do.
So when you’re interviewing people, using AI to develop interview questions based on your core values is a great way to get a good feel for that person and see if they're a good fit for your organization.
Sean Garner (15:54)
Yeah.
How AI Is Changing Operations in Trades Businesses
Sean Garner (16:15)
So talking about AI a little bit there—how are you seeing that get integrated with some of the trades businesses you’re working with, specifically on an ops level?
Dan Dowdy (16:28)
You know, AI is… no, no. I mean, very rarely now—there was a season a few years ago where I would tell my clients about AI and I’d sound like a rock star. They’d say, “I didn’t know this even existed.” That season is kind of over now. The cat’s out of the bag, so to speak. AI is a great tool for…
Sean Garner (16:30)
Or is it even a thing? Like, is that a thing?
Dan Dowdy (16:52)
AI can be used for all things in your business. It really comes down to the capacity of how you're using it. Ways that we’re seeing AI speed up what used to take hours could be anything from helping us develop a vision, mission, and core values for a business, to building position agreements, KPI tracking reports, scripting for CSRs, or training programs for technicians. There are all kinds of ways we can use AI.
The part we have to be careful about is not becoming complacent. AI isn’t a tool to replace the effort you put into the tasks—it just speeds it up. The reason I say that is because anything in life you don’t have to work for, you typically don’t appreciate. So if you're just spitting out processes in your business in two minutes and you didn’t write it, never read it, never edited it, and never put your own content into it, there’s no art there. It’s literally AI’s report of what it thinks a project manager should be, and that’s a slippery slope. If you don’t appreciate it, you’re not going to use it.
Sean Garner (17:26)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (17:51)
So if you took 30 minutes to lay out the bullet points of what the position looks like, then punched it into AI and gave it prompts to make it compatible with your business, that’s where AI becomes a great tool. It will punch out things you didn’t even think about, then you can go back, make fine-tuned edits, and end up with a really good product. That process still takes you 30 to 45 minutes, but it replaces the two or three hours it would’ve taken in the past.
Sean Garner (18:38)
Yeah, yeah, that's good. Talking about the laziness thing, I think it’s going to be very easy to create a division because a lot of people will use this to be super lazy and stop learning things. They’ll say, “Oh, I can use AI for that,” the same way people started saying, “I’ll just Google that” when search engines came out. Probably our parents thought that about us when Google first came out. AI is now the supercharged version of “I’ll Google that.”
And just like with Google, AI can be used to get information to leverage and scale your time, learn other things, and get better at what you do. Or you can just not learn anything and rely on AI for all the answers. Since AI is such a supercharged version, I think it’s going to be an even bigger separator. People may become less educated and have fewer opinions of their own because they let AI start telling them what to think. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Dan Dowdy (19:48)
Yeah, well, think about it like this: when it comes to leading and managing people, I’ve always taught that the more you put into training, the more people get out of it. If I showed up to a weekly training meeting without preparing, just shooting from the hip, I couldn’t expect people to take me seriously. They’d see the lack of effort, and they’d put in the same lack of effort in return. They’d think, “This guy is just rambling. Why should I put weight into this?”
It’s the same way with AI. If we use it for everything, especially in leading and managing our team, it can devalue the process. People notice when effort is missing. That’s something leaders need to be aware of—people value the effort you put into them.
Sean Garner (20:59)
Yeah, that’s good. So my opinion—you can tell me if I’m wrong—you seem to be a very strong Christian, a mighty man of God, probably too humble to admit all of this. But how do you integrate that faith with your coaching and with working with business owners? Do they know that about you?
Dan Dowdy (21:04)
Okay, now let’s go for it.
Dan Dowdy (21:13)
Yeah.
Sean Garner (21:22)
Is it kind of like a shadow mission where you’re embedding biblical-based principles? Do clients ask, “Man, this is really great. What book did you read this from? Is this a leadership book?” How do you integrate faith with coaching these business owners?
Dan Dowdy (21:38)
That’s a subject I love to talk about because I believe in business and leadership you can’t make everybody happy—you just have to be who you are.
Growing up in the trades, the saying was always “the customer’s always right,” so we were always trying to figure out how to make the customer happy. That’s still a factor in running a successful business, but I think in today’s world—post-COVID especially—we’ve all seen how detached people have become. There’s no true relationship or contact, and people are craving connection now more than ever. That carries into business.
In whatever trade you’re in, you probably have a lot of competitors saying the same things: “We provide quality work, great warranties, and excellent service.” So what separates your company?
Dan Dowdy (22:47)
What separates Built for the Trades is that we’re built on a foundation of faith, and we’re not ashamed of that. It’s not a prerequisite—I don’t ask people in interviews if they believe in God—but I’m not hiding it either. I know I lose some prospects because of my faith, but I also gain many more because of it. A lot of people are searching for something more in life, and faith resonates with them.
Dan Dowdy (23:25)
So yes, we say faith, family, business is our focus. Your leadership is only as strong as your home environment. There aren’t many coaching organizations that stand firmly on that. Behind me, our top core value is faith. That’s something we push with all our clients: core values should be front and center because they frame your culture. Culture is core values plus accountability.
Sean Garner (23:56)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (24:03)
As leaders, we have to look at ourselves first—are we living out these values? Then we can hold our team accountable. That’s what culture really looks like. Everyone has core values, whether they’re written down or not. The key is making them visible.
The beauty of this is that it goes both ways. I’m not perfect—sometimes I’ll make a decision that doesn’t align with a core value. But now my team knows our values, and they can respectfully call me out in private. That accountability flows both directions, and it’s a beautiful thing. You can thank them for pointing out a blind spot and grow from it. That’s the kind of mission and value-driven foundation we believe in, and it’s a solid base to build an organization on.
Sean Garner (25:09)
I love that accountability aspect because I think a lot of times as business owners, they're thinking, “I need to make this list of characteristics that I want my employees to have,” but they don’t even think about themselves. It’s like, this is the kind of person I want to work with, but are you that kind of person? That’s awesome.
Dan Dowdy (25:25)
I have clients who say, “We have preset agendas for our coaching sessions and it starts with prayer and wins.” I also have clients who say, “Whatever you do, we’re not gonna pray for any session,” and I respect that 100%. That’s the way I influence my culture. Some clients never prayed before but want me to pray for them before our coaching sessions, while others are all about it.
Sean Garner (25:44)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (25:52)
To answer your question about faith, I used to shy away from it a lot more in my past. As I’ve built my faith and spent more time with God, I know that Build for the Trades is my mission field. It’s what I do to influence people for His kingdom, and I just want people to have the freedom, peace, and fulfillment in their life that I get to experience on a daily basis because life is hard and business is really hard. It can be stressful. There are people out there who can’t sleep, who work all the time, who miss family time and do all these things, and for what? At the end of the day, what is it all for? I just want God to work through me to help bring that peace to them.
Sean Garner (26:42)
Yeah. How much do you think this is seen more in men, though it could apply to others as well? When it comes to home life, I think a lot of guys get into the mindset of, “I’m doing all this work to serve my family and provide,” but they don’t realize that their kids and wife need way more than just the paycheck they’re bringing in. Is that something you’ve seen a lot and had to talk people through?
Dan Dowdy (27:14)
Man, that’s the story of my life, Sean. Dan pre-faith was the most selfish, arrogant jerk you could imagine. From the outside looking in, I seemed like a pretty good guy, but I was a selfish, work-focused workaholic in my plumbing business. It wasn’t until I found God and started reading the Bible that I learned servant leadership looks completely different. There are still times I have to check myself, and times my spouse helps me. I think it’s ingrained in us, whether men or women, to tie our worth to the income we bring to our family. That’s a dangerous place to be because if your worth is tied to your income and your income isn’t good, where’s your worth?
Sean Garner (28:07)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (28:08)
When the income’s good, everything feels good, but when it’s not, where’s that worth? So to answer your question, yes, it’s very prevalent. It’s something I’ve been working through my whole life. When I started Build for the Trades, I had everything in front of me—great career, a big business, my dream home, my dream property. But when I got radically saved in 2018, I found my true calling. The plumbing industry was good to me and I made a lot of positive influences there, but in January 2020 I literally started over to launch Build for the Trades with the mission of helping other people see and experience what I’m experiencing in life. I’m passionate about it. I live now to see other people succeed, and you have to remember success is defined differently for everyone. At least the audience now has a good feel for how I personally define success.
Sean Garner (29:13)
That’s awesome. I love that. Going further on that, when it comes to dealing with your clients who reach out to you, how much of what they’re struggling with in their business—whether it’s operations or how things are set up—is actually a practical issue versus a mental roadblock or mindset funk they’ve got to get out of?
Dan Dowdy (29:39)
At the end of the day, everything comes down to mindset. Yes, we can fix operational inefficiencies, but it comes back to the mindset of the person leading the organization. Everyone has a different mental capacity. Some people can take big risks and move fast, while others are risk-averse and move slowly. A lot of our coaching comes back to mindset—the words they think and speak, the emotions they feel. That’s key to breaking through different levels of business. Otherwise, they plateau and can’t move past those barriers. So when it comes to growth and mindset, you really have to believe it 100% as you move through it and break through those barriers.
Sean Garner (30:40)
Yeah. When a new client starts working with you and you begin breaking down their business, what’s the first approach? How do you start diagnosing? Because usually someone comes to you saying, “I’m struggling to hire,” or, “Business feels slow,” or, “Something’s not working.” How do you figure out what the real issue is and create a plan?
Dan Dowdy (31:13)
We take them through a simple assessment we call our Business Freedom Roadmap, which covers 10 areas of the business. It starts with vision and organization, then goes into financials, marketing, recruiting, systems and processes, meetings, trainings, and KPIs. They score themselves from one to 10 in each category, and then we break it down to the top three things they want to work on during our coaching. Every six months, we revisit to see how those scores improve. You’ve got to measure things to manage them, so you know exactly what to work on. That’s the first place we start, and what we often find is that even very successful businesses come to us saying, “I’m tired of doing everything myself,” or, “I’m tired of the same turnover all the time.”
Accountability and Mindset Shifts That Drive Growth
Dan Dowdy (32:15)
From that, they usually have a pretty good business going, but for some reason these areas— even if they know they’re important—always get pushed aside because the business keeps pulling them away. They know the issues exist, but there’s nobody holding them accountable to actually work on them. That’s what we do: we identify those areas and then hold our clients accountable to addressing them. Once they start doing that, the business begins to flourish almost immediately. But behind the scenes, there’s still that mindset piece we have to deal with. Whether it’s right away or six months or a year down the road, we still have to work through mindset and beliefs. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to what they’re saying and helping them reframe the words they’re using.
Sean Garner (32:52)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (33:09)
Like earlier when I said, “I really struggle with that,” I caught myself and thought, if I constantly say I’m struggling, I’ll always struggle. Instead, I recognize it’s something I’m not great at but I’m working on it, and it’s an opportunity to improve. I think that’s important in all areas of life.
Sean Garner (33:19)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (33:34)
I’ve even taught personal goals with clients. A lot of times, when people set a goal to improve their life—say with fitness—they imagine the perfect workout. They’re good at setting the bar high, but when life happens and they can’t hit that perfect workout, their motivation drops to zero. There’s no discipline in between. What I teach is that trying isn’t enough—trying is just thinking about it but not actually doing anything. What matters is being okay with the season you’re in, the circumstances you’re dealing with, and recognizing that even a simple five-minute stretch can still count as a workout.
Sean Garner (34:29)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (34:29)
One healthy meal choice can still make it a good day. It’s about reframing how you see a “perfect day” or a “perfect workout.” That difference determines whether you sustain discipline or lose it. Motivation fades—it’s doing things when you feel like it. Discipline is doing things when you don’t feel like it.
The Most Common Mistakes in Service-Based Businesses
Sean Garner (34:53)
Exactly. So when you’re looking at somebody’s business and how they operate, what are the common mistakes, myths, or bad information you see? Are there areas where they think they’re doing the right thing, but they’re really not? Or maybe they’re focusing on the wrong priorities? Do you have a list of common issues you’ve seen over and over, where you think, “This is easy, I’ve seen this a hundred times”?
Dan Dowdy (35:25)
Yeah, they often think they’re doing the right thing. I’d say the first myth I see in service-based businesses is that you should put all your time and attention on your producers and not as much on your support team. I see that a lot. People devalue their customer service team—the ones actually on the phone. If you’re a progressive company, you’re probably training your technicians or sales staff, but often you’re not putting the same effort into training your customer service team, who are the front line of your business.
Sean Garner (36:28)
Yeah.
Dan Dowdy (36:35)
Another big one is financials. A lot of business owners bury their heads in the sand. They don’t set a budget, don’t track their financials, or don’t even know if their numbers are accurate. Early in a trades business, people live and die by their bank account—first thing in the morning, they open their phone to see the balance. That habit gets ingrained, and as the business grows, they still rely on it. But do they have the right systems in place? Do they know their numbers from monthly financials or weekly KPIs? Without that, emotions swing based on the bank account balance, and often that’s tied to their sense of worth. So yes, I’d say financials are always a huge issue—either not understanding the numbers or not trusting them.
Sean Garner (37:42)
Yeah. Okay, so last thing: what other questions should I have asked you, or is there anything else you want to share?
The Mindset Formula for Achieving Any Goal
Dan Dowdy (37:54)
In our pregame talk, we were discussing overall mindset in growing a business, and I think that’s the big one. People listening might wonder, “How do I actually improve my mindset? Where does that come from?”
Sean Garner (37:57)
Is there a topic you want to highlight or anything else we should cover?
Dan Dowdy (38:18)
I’m a big proponent of setting big goals in life, whether they’re business goals or personal goals like running a long distance. There’s always that period where you need to bridge the gap between thinking, “This seems pretty cool,” and actually believing, “I can do this.” For people listening who want to work on their mindset, I’ll tell you how. You can’t just jump to the end and say, “One day I woke up and truly believed I’d accomplish this goal no matter what.” What it really comes down to is going back to the beginning and focusing on what you’re putting into your mind and body. That could be the people you surround yourself with. If you want to grow your business, you need to spend time with people who are more successful than you. It could be the content you’re consuming — books, podcasts, or videos that help you grow in that area. If I want to be a better runner, I’ll study content on running and infuse that into my daily life. Taking in positive influences like that helps you reframe your thoughts, moving from negative thinking to positive belief that this can be done.
Dan Dowdy (39:58)
I also encourage people to work on what they’re speaking to themselves. A simple meditation practice helps you become present and intentional about your words. Instead of saying, “I want to do this,” you start saying, “I am going to do this,” or even, “I did this.” Speaking with confidence changes how you interact with the world, the actions you take, and the decisions you make. That’s how I personally work on my mindset. I focus on what I’m surrounding myself with, what I’m consuming, who I’m spending time with, what thoughts I’m allowing, and what words I’m speaking. Then my actions naturally start to follow. Once enough positive actions stack up, you suddenly realize you’ve accomplished that goal. You reach a point where you’re so convicted that you’ll make it happen, no matter what. For small business owners, maybe the goal is to grow by $5 million. That same method of belief and alignment can make it achievable. I wanted to share that because I think it could really help a lot of people.
Resources and How to Connect with Dan Dowdy
Sean Garner (41:01)
That’s so good. I’m listening to this and thinking, “Dan is my guy — I’ve got to work with him.” What’s the best way for people to connect with you, learn more about what you do, and maybe even work with you?
Dan Dowdy (41:17.920)
We’ll drop a link to our free ebook, The Three Steps to Attract and Retain Top Team Members. It covers a lot of what we discussed today and is a great resource people can read and apply right away. If someone wants to work with us, they can go to builtforthetrades.com and reach out there. We’re also on all the major social platforms, and we have a YouTube channel as well. We’d love for people to check out our community. Thanks again, Sean — it’s been awesome being on the podcast.
Sean Garner (41:51)
Absolutely. I want to take a moment to honor you because I’m grateful for every guest who takes time out of their busy schedule to join me. It’s inspiring to see men step up, live boldly in their faith, and also succeed — not just in marriage and family, but in business too. I truly believe you’re just getting started, and I’m excited to see all that you continue to do. Thank you so much for coming on.
Dan Dowdy (42:17)
Thank you, Sean.
