Ask Frank

William Chomley

The wealth-building channel for trade and service operators. Ask Frank is the weekly 15-minute show for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping, GC, and every other trade operator with a crew, a truck, and bigger plans. Every Tuesday: one owner question, one expert in the field, clear steps. From breaking $1M to scaling past $10M to exiting on your terms. We do the playbook from one truck to ten, smart debt as a wealth lever, stacking assets, and the exit. Got a burning question? Submit at talktofrank.ai and hear it on the show. Hosted by Will Chomley, founder of Frank - capital coach to trade operators building seven- and eight-figure businesses. We handle the capital. You build the empire.

Episodes

  1. 12H AGO

    When fast money saves your business & when it kills it

    In this episode, Gerri walks through the five moves every trades operator should make before they sign a single funding offer: What a merchant cash advance actually is — not a loan, and the industry has worked hard to keep it out of lending regulation (so the consumer protections you assume are there, aren't)The factor rate trap — why "1.2" doesn't mean 1.2%, and why the cost is locked in the second you sign, not earned over time ($10K at 1.2x = $12K owed the moment your pen leaves the page)The hidden cost almost every owner misses — it's not the factor rate that kills businesses, it's the daily holdback eating 10–20% of every sale going forward, and the second MCA you take to cover the cash flow you forgot to modelThe "fire extinguisher" rule — the version of an MCA that actually works, when the ROI is there, the margins absorb the holdback, and the alternative is no funding at allThe four-item pre-flight checklist every owner should run BEFORE any financing offer — business bank account, books current, P&L ready to hand over, and matching the loan term to the actual use casePlus: the difference between an MCA and a BCA (business cash advance) and why both will end up in your inbox, the "stacking" trap that turns one advance into three, the medical-clinic owner who used one correctly because the growth math worked, and Gerri's golden rule — look for financing before you need it, and get it when you don't need it. Banks love to lend money when you don't need it. If you're a trades or services operator who's been declined by your bank in the last 30 days — or you just want to know how to read the offer that's already in your inbox before you sign it — this is the episode that keeps you out of the stacking trap. Got a question for the show? Submit at talktofrank.ai. 🌐 Website: talktofrank.ai 📬 Substack: substack.com/@talktofrankai 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/talktofrank.ai 🎵 TikTok: tiktok.com/@talktofranktoday 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583722127699 ▶️ YouTube: Ask Frank — @talktofrankai 🟢 Spotify: pen.spotify.com/show/1aSkX5ccK1U15oU4gte1Ug

    15 min

  2. MAY 19

    How to find six figures hiding in your trades business

    Most trades operators look at their P&L, see profit, then look at their bank account and find nothing there. The P&L is an accounting report built for the IRS, not for you — and the cash you can't find isn't lost. It's hiding in five very specific places on the balance sheet, and once you know how to look, you can pull it out in under 90 days. Rocky Lalvani is the founder of Profit Comes First and host of the Profit Answer Man podcast — one of the most trusted Profit First-certified advisors working with small business owners today. Author of Profit Comes First and The Profit Blueprint, he has spent over a decade teaching operators — including hundreds of trades owners — how to stop letting their P&L lie to them and start paying themselves first. In this episode, Rocky walks through the five moves he wishes every trades operator made the day they noticed the gap between their P&L and their bank balance: The five places your "profit" actually disappears — it's not lost, it's sitting on the balance sheet in places your CPA didn't put there for you (AR, inventory, the truck you bought to dodge taxes, owner distributions, loan principal)Why "sales minus expenses equals profit" is the equation that broke your business — and the one-line flip that fixes it (sales minus profit equals expenses)The five-account traffic-light system that tells you in real time — without opening QuickBooks — whether your cash is red, yellow, or greenThe 1% rule: why most operators trying Profit First quit in week three, and how to ratchet in instead of failing out (start with 99% to operating, 1% to profit, then crank the dial)The single lever most trades operators are too scared to pull — and the one Rocky says can literally double your profit at five-to-ten percentPlus: why the truck full of supplies in your driveway is actually inventory (and where it's siphoning your cash), the 16-lever Profit Blueprint that traces every red light back to its root cause across revenue, profit, and balance sheet, the Elon Musk "why four screws instead of three?" frugality test, and the one thing Rocky would tell every trades operator to do TODAY — even if their CPA tells them five bank accounts is too much work. If you're a trades or services operator whose P&L says one thing and whose bank account says another — or you just want to stop being last in line to get paid out of your own business — this is the episode that closes the gap in 90 days. Got a question for the show? Submit at talktofrank.ai. 🌐 Website: talktofrank.ai 📬 Substack: substack.com/@talktofrankai 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/talktofrank.ai 🎵 TikTok: tiktok.com/@talktofranktoday 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583722127699 ▶️ YouTube: Ask Frank — @talktofrankai 🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1aSkX5ccK1U15oU4gte1Ug

    15 min

  3. MAY 12

    Cashflow Mike on how to retire $1.5M richer from your trades business

    Most trades operators sell their business for $1–2M less than it's worth. Some of that gap is the books. Most of it is what the buyer's CFO sees the moment the data room opens — and the owner has stopped seeing because he's lived inside it for twenty-five years. Mike Milan — better known across the trades as Cashflow Mike — has spent fifteen years coaching thousands of trades and services operators on the moves that quietly build (or quietly destroy) enterprise value. Co-founder of Clear Path Advisors, long-time collaborator of Greg Crabtree (Simple Numbers), author of Don't Be a DUMB Business Owner. In this episode, Mike walks through the five moves he wishes every trades operator made long before they got within 24 months of an exit: Why "running the business like it's already for sale" makes it easier to own AND worth more at the tableThe reason gross profit — not revenue — is the only number a buyer actually pays for (and why a $6M contractor can be worth less than a $3M one)The one-page cash leak map: six calculations, eight numbers, one afternoon to find $1M of hidden valueThe burning issue rule: the 2am thing the owner actually feels — and why all the exit-prep work bounces off until it's namedThe difference between a financial buyer and a strategic buyer — and why "if you have one buyer, you have no buyers"Plus: the add-back trap that costs trades owners six figures at close, why your payroll is actually your inventory if you're in trades, Mike's golden rule (the change in gross profit should mirror the change in operating expense), and the one thing he'd tell every owner thinking about a sale to do TODAY — even if they're two years out. If you're a trades or services operator planning to sell in the next two to five years — or you just want to run a business that throws off real cash instead of just looking good on paper this is the episode that saves you six figures. Got a question for the show? Submit at talktofrank.ai. 🌐 Website: talktofrank.ai 📬 Substack: substack.com/@talktofrankai 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/talktofrank.ai 🎵 TikTok: tiktok.com/@talktofranktoday 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583722127699 ▶️ YouTube: Ask Frank — @talktofrankai 🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1aSkX5ccK1U15oU4gte1Ug

    15 min

  4. MAY 6

    The #1 SBA lender in America on the five things that get approved

    55% of SBA loan applications get denied. A lot of that is on the numbers. A surprising amount is on the packaging. Marie Askew has been in SBA lending since 2007. Today she's VP of SBA Lending at Live Oak Bank, the #1 SBA lender in America by dollar volume. In this episode, Marie walks through the five things she wishes every borrower did before hitting submit: - The "elevator pitch" every borrower needs before they call a lender (and the one question most fail) - Why your industry experience matters more than your credit score — and what counts as "transferable" - The skeletons in the closet you must surface in week one (and why hiding them kills the deal in week eight) - The add-back trap: how sellers writing off "their entire life" through the business torpedoes their own sale - Why the seller carry note is the single biggest signal of a deal that will actually close Plus: the FICO threshold most banks won't go below, why customer concentration above 20% is a red flag, what a Quality of Earnings report actually does for a $500K deal, and the one thing Marie tells every buyer who asks her where to start. If you're a trades or services operator thinking about buying a business, or selling the one you've spent 20 years building, this is the episode that saves you six months and six figures. Got a question for the show? Submit at talktofrank.ai. 🌐 talktofrank.ai 📬 Substack: substack.com/@talktofrankai 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/talktofrank.ai 🎵 TikTok: tiktok.com/@talktofranktoday 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/people/Frank-Talk-to-Frank/61583722127699 Talk to Frank — the wealth playbook for trades and services operators.

    15 min
  • 4 Episodes

About

The wealth-building channel for trade and service operators. Ask Frank is the weekly 15-minute show for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping, GC, and every other trade operator with a crew, a truck, and bigger plans. Every Tuesday: one owner question, one expert in the field, clear steps. From breaking $1M to scaling past $10M to exiting on your terms. We do the playbook from one truck to ten, smart debt as a wealth lever, stacking assets, and the exit. Got a burning question? Submit at talktofrank.ai and hear it on the show. Hosted by Will Chomley, founder of Frank - capital coach to trade operators building seven- and eight-figure businesses. We handle the capital. You build the empire.

Information

  • Creator
    William Chomley
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 William Chomley