The Kid With The Rattle Can
Karter Otte started out repainting faded parking stalls by hand for extra money in college. Two years later, his striping business did six figures in one summer.
A fake Google call can put a service business listing at risk
A caller who threatens to remove a business listing unless the owner pays is not following Google’s stated rules. Owners and staff can check the listing directly and avoid handing over money or account details.
A federal apprenticeship fund may help some roofing employers
Eligible sponsors can get up to $6,000 for each qualifying new apprentice. The key limit: the program must support certain critical infrastructure sectors, not just train roofers in general.
A missed emergency call needs a clear next step
A strong search result can still lose the job if nobody owns the handoff to dispatch. Plumbing companies can set a simple response rule and check whether urgent requests reach a real person.
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All storiesHow To Be A Big Brother
Days after Aaron Graves quit his job to start his own law firm, he found out his second child was on the way.
The Cowboy Who Designs and Builds Homes That Last
Alec Calzada wanted to be a cowboy, then a cartoonist. He grew up to be both in a way: riding his own path, drawing worlds on paper, and then building them for real. It all started with the cheesiest photo he'd ever seen.
Who Is Luke Holle? The Superboy Construction Story
Luke Holle is the owner of Superboy Construction, a Lincoln tile company. He started it with one truck and finished the 763,000-tile Pershing mural this summer.
The shortlist is three names long
Most people compare three or fewer businesses before they decide. If you are not one of the three, you are not in the running.
Most searches end without a click. Your Google profile is the website now.
About two out of three Google searches end on Google. For a service business, that makes the free profile the front door and the website the back office.
Your quote page is your best salesperson. Most sites do not have one.
People standing in a flooded kitchen do not fill out contact forms. They want a number and a time.
Reviews older than three months stop counting
97% of people still read reviews. 74% only trust the ones written in the last three months. A five-star average from 2024 is not doing what you think it is.
“I’ll post tomorrow” is the most expensive sentence in home services
Most small businesses spend one to ten hours a week on marketing. The ones that spend zero are not saving time. They are borrowing against next month’s calendar.
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- Minnesota case shows why clear job records matter
- Heavy rain can send rats through sewer lines and into toilets
- Slow drains may point to a venting problem
- A better plumbing hire starts before the job ad
- Most homeowners pay for repairs with cash, not home equity
- Two job-site failures show why safety plans need to work in the field
- Slow storm seasons push roofers to widen their work
- HVAC contractors face a pricing gap before the first call