From Stuntman to CEO: How Josh Zolin Built a Family Business into an Inc 5000 Enterprise

Josh Zolin is the CEO of Windy City Equipment, a commercial equipment service company operating across Arizona and Texas with 50 to 60 employees and between $10 and $12 million in annual revenue. He joined his father's one-man repair operation at 21 with no degree and no plan, after spending his early life in a stunt family and nearly 16 years doing stunt work across film and television. Along the way he co-founded Blue Is the New White, an academy teaching soft skills and practical leadership to blue collar professionals, and hosts the Everything They Don't Tell You podcast.✨ Key Insights You'll Learn:Born into a stunt family in Chatsworth, California, with his grandfather, mother, father, and three uncles all working in the industryFirst stunt appearance at age six in Matinee with John Goodman, rolling out of the way of an oncoming carTeaching at the family stunt school from age 14, training people from around the world in falling, fighting, and fire workMoving to Los Angeles and breaking onto film sets at all hours, knocking on stunt coordinators' trailers to find workThe studio apartment mirror moment in 2008 during the writer's strike that sent him toward his father's business in PhoenixJoining Windy City Equipment at 21, spending ten years in the field learning the trade before stepping into the CEO roleExpanding from kitchen equipment into HVAC and refrigeration, which drove revenue from $1M to $6-7M in four to five yearsAchieving Inc. 5000 recognition three times and expanding from Phoenix to Tucson to HoustonLaunching Blue Is the New White in 2019 as a book and advocacy platform, then building the academy eighteen months agoSister-in-law's sudden death on January 1, 2015 as the mindset shift that ended procrastination and anchored his daily urgency🌟 Josh's Key Mentors:His Grandfather: First memory of the stunt world, jumping from 50 feet into a pool, and the origin of everything that followedHis Mother and Father: Both stunt professionals who trained Josh from childhood, ran the stunt school, and modeled the work ethic he brought into businessHis Father (Windy City Founder): The mechanic who built the original business and made the call to get out of stunts to never miss a weekend with his son, setting Josh's path in motionJames and Terry (HVAC and Refrigeration): Master technicians who helped Josh launch the division that became Windy City's growth engineHis Wife: The steady presence through his sister's death and the person who helped him learn that sometimes being there is all that's needed👉 Don't miss Josh's account of staring down a 60-foot drop onto a bag the size of a pen cap, the studio apartment mirror moment that ended his stunt career, and why his sister-in-law's death at 26 became the most clarifying day of his life.🔗 Connect with Josh Zolin:Website: joshzolin.com📋 Transcript Available: From Stuntman to CEO: How Josh Zolin Built a Family Business into an Inc 5000 Enterprise📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast📋 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com