Trades Talk Podcast

Justin White
  • 5.0 (22)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Trades Talk Podcast is a captivating and dynamic program that is led by Justin White. He’ll delve into the triumphs of various trade industries, showcasing the successes of those who have made a significant impact. With his extensive network of industry connections, Justin provides an unparalleled view into the world of visionary leaders. Prepare to be inspired and enlightened with the trade secrets, career advice, and business tips that are shared. Make sure to have a notepad on hand, as this show promises to be an unforgettable journey!

  1. Ben Hansen: Why More Revenue Will Not Fix Your Profit Problem

    2h ago

    Ben Hansen: Why More Revenue Will Not Fix Your Profit Problem

    This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Ben Hansen, founder of Profit Doctor. Ben is a 5x Inc. 5000 founder who scaled his own staffing business from zero to $13 million with 100 employees, and now helps 7 and 8 figure CEOs stop the financial bleeding and become "overpaid entrepreneurs." Justin opens up about K&D's own profit story: $2.5M of net profit on $20M in revenue at the end of 2024, a $650K loss in Q1 2025, and the climb back to a 3-5% net margin on $25M today. Ben walks through the exact prescription to fix it. In this episode: Why "profititis" (revenue going up while profit goes flat or down) is the real diagnosis behind most trades businesses Money Mondays, the simple 90-minute weekly habit that compounds profitability faster than any sales push Contribution margin vs gross profit, and why most trades PLs are quietly hiding the real number The 50-20 Rule: cut half of your worst 20 percent of services in the next 30 days Ben's biggest takeaway is simple. You cannot sell your way out of a profit problem. Profitability comes from intentional decisions on your calendar, not from more revenue. If you are a trades CEO running on 0-5 percent net margin, working harder every year, and wondering why the money is not showing up, this one is a wake-up call and a playbook in the same hour. 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 Ben LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhansen/ Profit Doctor: https://profitdoctor.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhansen https://www.instagram.com/profitdoctorben/ https://www.youtube.com/@profitdoctorben 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/

    1h 8m
  2. Weekly Update #54: Inside the K&D AI Operating System with Sean Laux

    4d ago

    Weekly Update #54: Inside the K&D AI Operating System with Sean Laux

    On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is joined by Sean Laux, K&D's leader of innovation and technology, kicking off a new chapter of the Friday show: weekly deep dives on AI inside a trades business. Sean and Justin break down the K&D AI stack, why most CEOs are getting AI wrong, and how to actually find ROI in a market where 56 percent of CEOs say AI has delivered nothing. In this episode, we cover: The K&D AI operating system: normalized database, MCPs, and Justin's "Reggie" Claude agent Why a CFO skill that runs three recursive QA loops is replacing the CFO hire (and the Instagram hate that followed) Dan Martell's three levels of AI (assistant, automation, agent team) and where almost no one lives The AI guru warning: why a $250K retainer firm cannot understand your workflow in a day Two assignments for the week: run a 10 to 20 question self-interview with AI on a problem you cannot solve, and build your first Claude Cowork automated task (a daily brief is a great starting point). If you are a trades CEO under board pressure to ship AI ROI, a tech-curious operator just getting started, or anyone who has burned cash on an AI consultant and gotten nothing, this episode is the playbook. Weekly Updates are powered by Kress! JW Group Website / Justin LinkedIn / Justin Instagram / Justins Youtube K&D Website / K&D Instagram Disruptors Community Disruptors Advantage Newsletter

    43 min
  3. Jeremy Ross: How K&D's Design Build Division Grew to $8 Million

    Jun 24

    Jeremy Ross: How K&D's Design Build Division Grew to $8 Million

    This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits back down with Jeremy Ross, division lead for K&D Landscaping's Design Build Construction division, for round two. In nine years Jeremy has scaled the division from a few hundred thousand to $8 million in trailing twelve month revenue with 8 crews, 2 project managers, 2 supervisors, and a full pre-construction team. In this episode: How Jeremy built an $8M custom design build division and the operating system underneath it Why outsourcing design to Your Haven actually works when you know what good looks like (WGLL) Inside K&D's L10 meeting: good news, headlines, to-dos, KPIs, rocks, issue processing Why every K&D hire fights the meetings at first, then refuses to give them up Jeremy's trade secret is simple. Trust your team to do the work and stop getting in their way. Delegation is not about taking things off your plate, it is about giving your team the chance to win at what they do best. If you are running a design build division, leading a high performing team, or trying to figure out how to actually delegate without losing control, this one is required listening. 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/

    1h 2m

  4. Jun 19

    Trades Talk Weekly Update 53: LeanScaper Takeaways, the Profitability Squeeze, and Why the Bottleneck Is at the Top

    Join Disruptors: https://www.skool.com/disruptors/about Year two kicks off here. Justin debriefs the LeanScaper event in Chicago and pulls three takeaways straight from the room. The 131 rule from Dan Martell for handing problems back to your team instead of being the firefighter. Why trust is the foundation under every high performing company, with a nod to Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team. And the calendar audit that was Justin's biggest aha of the week: 14 days, 15 minute blocks, rate your energy, then apply the four Ds. From there he digs into the issue squeezing landscapers right now. Profitability compression in an inflationary boom. Two operators, different sizes, same problem. Justin makes the case that the bottleneck is almost always at the top of the bottle, why hiring your heroes beats defaulting to a consultant, and how a simple system like EOS and a Level 10 meeting can break a leader's ceiling. Brought to you by Kress. Fully electric, now fully autonomous, deploying at scale at K&D. Want a demo or an intro to the right person in your market? Email justin@jwhitegroup.com and Justin will connect you directly. Upcoming events: Lawn & Landscape Technology Conference, July 22 to 24: Lawn and Landscape Tech Conference Sign Up NALP Elevate, Tampa, November 8 to 11, featuring an AI experience for executives hosted by Justin: https://www.landscapeprofessionals.org/Elevate See you next week, right here on the Weekly Update. Connect with Justin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo

    14 min
  5. Michael Ding: Inside the $35 Million Series A That Could Triple Construction Productivity

    Jun 17

    Michael Ding: Inside the $35 Million Series A That Could Triple Construction Productivity

    This week on Trades Talk, Justin White brings Michael Ding back for round two. A year ago, Michael was a founder building Bobyard for landscape takeoffs. Today he's the CEO of one of the most talked about AI startups in construction, fresh off a $35 million Series A with Joe Lonsdale (Palantir co-founder) on the board. In this episode: Why the average construction worker is 3X less productive than the rest of the US economy, and what that gap actually unlocks What it took to raise the largest software Series A in construction history (no pitch deck, no data room, fully oversubscribed) Why Bobyard builds a custom AI model for every trade, from landscaping to electrical conduit routing to MEP The YSD hiring philosophy doubling revenue every quarter, and the bonus structure that turns recruiters into operators Michael's takeaway is simple. AI models are middle to middle, humans are end to end. Your company is running optimally when everybody is only doing the things that only they can do. If you are running a trades business, evaluating AI tools, or trying to understand where pre-construction software is actually going, this one is required listening. 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 Michael LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ding-933185189 Bobyard Website: https://www.bobyard.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/ 5th Annual K&D Water Summit: https://www.eventzilla.net/e/5th-annual-central-coast-water-summit-2138673574 Leanscaper: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/leanscaper

    1h 10m
  6. Austyn Roth: From Mowing Lawns at 11 to Selling Lucky Landscaping at 23

    Jun 10

    Austyn Roth: From Mowing Lawns at 11 to Selling Lucky Landscaping at 23

    This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Austyn Roth, founder of Lucky Landscaping in Jupiter, Florida. Austyn started mowing lawns at 11, financed a golf cart at 14 with a 10 percent loan from his dad, hired a driver at 15 because he was too young to drive, and sold the company to Landscape Workshop before he turned 23. In this episode: How a teenage debt strategy turned a push mower into a multi million dollar Class A commercial route The 5 mile radius rule that built $4 million in revenue from just 15 customers Why Austyn said no to install work — and watched his maintenance margins jump Why his next company, Lucky Portables, is being built to be owned by the employees Austyn's trade secret is simple. Hire people better than you, every single time. If you don't train your replacement, you stay stuck where you are. If you're a young founder, a maintenance company chasing route density, or an operator wondering what life after the sale actually looks like, this one is a fast yes. 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/ 5th Annual K&D Water Summit: https://www.eventzilla.net/e/5th-annual-central-coast-water-summit-2138673574 Leanscaper: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/leanscaper

    52 min
  7. Weekly Update #52: The Year One Lessons That Are Reshaping K&D

    Jun 6

    Weekly Update #52: The Year One Lessons That Are Reshaping K&D

    On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White hits the one year mark with a wide angle State of the Industry, plus the four biggest lessons from year one and where the Friday show is headed in season two. Multiples, margins, organic growth, AI, fuel costs, retention, and a contrarian take on the EOS org chart. The whole landscape industry in 35 minutes. In this episode, we cover: The current M&A multiples by EBITDA tier and what is actually getting funded in 2026 Why platform players are compressing recurring revenue pricing, and the only three ways to break out Why having 9 to 10 direct reports beats one or two when you have AI in your stack Season two starts here, weekly AI briefings with Sean drop on Fridays going forward The takeaway is simple. Organic growth, real differentiation, and AI fluency are the three things separating the companies winning right now from the ones falling behind. Pick all three. If you are building, scaling, or trying to figure out where the industry is going next, this one is your year-end report card and your year-two playbook in one. Weekly Updates are powered by Kress! 🆕 Register now: NALP,  NALP Elevate AI Executive Stack Workshop, Nov 8 in Tampa Lawn & Landscape Technology Conference, July 22-24 JW Group Website / Justin LinkedIn / Justin Instagram / Justins Youtube K&D Website / K&D Instagram Disruptors Community Disruptors Advantage Newsletter 5th Annual K&D Water Summit Leanscaper

    38 min
  8. Kendel White Part 2: From the 2008 Recession to a $1 Billion BHAG

    Jun 3

    Kendel White Part 2: From the 2008 Recession to a $1 Billion BHAG

    This week on Trades Talk, Justin White brings Kendel White back for Part 2 of the K&D origin story. If Part 1 was about building it, Part 2 is about almost losing it, betting everything on a comeback, and handing the company off to the next generation in a way most founders never get right. In this episode: The 2010 Driscoll's job K&D still maintains 16 years later — and the maintenance bid trick that won it The $750,000 VA boulder change order that almost broke them, then bailed them out at 80 percent margin Why Kendel handed the CEO title to his 25 year old son at 50 — and what every founder gets wrong about the handoff The watermelon vs grape equity move that turned three kids into co-owners before the company was worth chasing Kendel's trade secret is simple — stop trying to sell people stuff. Show up to help, listen, refer them out when it's the right call, and let the relationship do the rest. It's the principle behind every K&D win for forty years. If you are a founder, a second generation, or anyone watching the next wave of family businesses figure out succession in real time, this two part series is the playbook. 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 Kendel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendel-white-a7a61616/ 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/ 5th Annual K&D Water Summit: https://www.eventzilla.net/e/5th-annual-central-coast-water-summit-2138673574 Leanscaper: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/leanscaper

    1h 15m
See All (100)

5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Trades Talk Podcast is a captivating and dynamic program that is led by Justin White. He’ll delve into the triumphs of various trade industries, showcasing the successes of those who have made a significant impact. With his extensive network of industry connections, Justin provides an unparalleled view into the world of visionary leaders. Prepare to be inspired and enlightened with the trade secrets, career advice, and business tips that are shared. Make sure to have a notepad on hand, as this show promises to be an unforgettable journey!

Information

  • Creator
    Justin White
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    Trades Talk Podcast

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