PODCAST · business
Trades Talk Podcast
by Justin White
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!
Episodes
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Weekly Update 69: Aspire Command Center, a Big Goodbye, and the Robotics Gold Rush
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White comes to you from the Monterey Bay in the middle of K&D's Q4 all-hands planning session, and the news is stacking up fast. Aspire just launched Command Center, Justin dropped a same day episode with GM Eli Zevin, and K&D's innovation director…
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Eli Zevin: How Aspire's New Command Center and Atlas AI Change the Game
This is a special one. Justin White sat down with Eli Zevin, General Manager of Aspire, the same day Aspire launched its brand new Command Center, and dropped the episode within the hour. If you run on Aspire, or are even thinking about it, this is the inside look at the biggest leap the software...
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Andy Worshek: The Master Chief Who Lived Intent-Based Leadership Before It Had a Name
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Andy Worshek, retired US Navy Master Chief and the man who actually implemented Intent-Based Leadership on the USS Santa Fe under Captain L. David Marquet. When David declined the podcast, he personally referred us to Andy, and this…
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Weekly Update #68: Stop Automating Your Mess. The Q4 Playbook for 2027
I sat out Aspire Ignite this week for the first time in five years and recorded this one from the hangar. If you came home from those events feeling behind, this episode is for you. You're not behind. But you might be about to automate a mess. I walk through the algorithm K&D is using to get…
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From $700 to the Largest Landscape Company in Connecticut: Ed LaFlamme's Playbook
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Ed LaFlamme, landscape industry legend, author, and co-founder of The Harvesters. Ed borrowed $700 from his mom in 1971, started cutting lawns, and built it into the largest landscape company in Connecticut before selling in 1999. Along the…
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Weekly Update #67 - Landscaping’s AI Revolution: Your 2027 Game Plan
Landscape business owners have a massive opportunity in front of them. Owners are retiring, AI is getting more useful, and robotics is changing how work gets done. The challenge is turning that opportunity into a stronger company while taking care of your people, your clients, and your bottom…
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John Lee Dumas: Reps Beat Talent, and Most People Just Do Not Want It Bad Enough
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with John Lee Dumas, host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, the only daily podcast in the world interviewing entrepreneurs, with over 100 million listens across 5,800 plus episodes. For 14 years JLD has published every single day, and his message to trades...
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Weekly Update #66: Building a Company That Runs Without You
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is recording from the backyard on a milestone day. For the first time in eleven years, he is sitting out K&D's quarterly strategic planning session on purpose, and he pulls back the curtain on why stepping out of the room is exactly what the team...
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Joe Langton: The Electrician Who Built the Largest Robotic Mowing Operation in America
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Joe Langton, CEO of Langton Group and founder of Automated Outdoor Solutions (AOS). Joe went from 11 years as a union electrician to running a 186-employee full service landscape, snow, and construction operation, and along the way built one…
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Weekly update 65: the Kress 60-inch Voyager demo
The future of landscaping is already here, and it starts with the 60-inch Voyager that maps faster, stripes cleaner, and frees crews to do higher-value work. If you lead a landscape company, care about automation, or are trying to make AI actually useful in the field, this is the episode you need...
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David Meltzer on Why 80% of Your Work Is Losing You Money
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with David Meltzer, legendary entrepreneur, speaker, and former CEO of the most notable sports agency in the world. David lost more than one hundred million dollars and went bankrupt, then built it all back with two coaches, a set of…
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Weekly Update #64: Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be a Founder
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White runs the show like a newsroom, rapid firing the biggest headlines hitting the trades and the wildest month yet in artificial intelligence. From a two billion dollar garage door exit to an Anthropic researcher sounding the alarm, there is a lot to...
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Jack Jostes: The Follow-Up System That Turns Old Bids Into Booked Jobs
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Jack Jostes, founder and CEO of Ramblin Jackson, the snow and landscape exclusive marketing agency, host of The Landscaper's Guide podcast, and author of the new book The Landscaper's Guide to Direct Response Sales and Marketing. After 17…
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Weekly Update #63: Fatherhood, Robots, and Owning Your Intelligence
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is back after a week off, recording with his newborn daughter asleep right beside him. He opens up on what stepping away from K&D for 60 days has actually felt like, then turns to the forces about to reshape the trades: humanoid robots, AI...
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Fitz Owen: Why the Best Trades Companies Are Becoming Their Own Insurance Owners
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Fitz Owen from Garnet Captive Insurance. Fitz runs business development for one of the most respected group captive programs in the country, working with trades operators who are done watching their insurance premiums balloon 20 to 30 percent...
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Nathan Dirksen: 38 Years From Crewman to CEO, and the Non-Family Leader of a 70 Year Family Business
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Nathan Dirksen, CEO of 7 Dees, the Portland-area landscape company celebrating its 70th year in business. Nathan started in a pair of cowboy boots and a white t-shirt as employee number 30 in 1988, worked his way up through operations, and...
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Weekly Update #62: Inside the Landscape M&A Frenzy (12 Deals in 3 Weeks)
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White pulls back the curtain on the landscape M&A boom. Fresh off a week of nonstop calls with buyers, brokers, and private equity firms, he breaks down who is actually reaching out to you and what they really want. He also gets into connecting your...
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Cameron Herold: The COO Who Scaled 1-800-GOT-JUNK From $2M to $106M in Six Years
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Cameron Herold, founder of the COO Alliance and one of the most respected voices in operational scaling. Cameron spent 6.5 years as COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, scaling the company from $2 million to $106 million alongside his best friend Brian...
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Weekly Update #61: Consistency Beats Intensity (and AI Might Be Your Biggest Distraction)
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is flying solo and going deep on four things: the custom Claude MCP that is unlocking K&D's Aspire data, the 30 year story behind autonomous mowing, why AI might be your biggest distraction, and the quiet power of consistency. It is part strategy...
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Peter Murphy Lewis: 100 Jobs on Camera, 200 CEOs Coached, One Playbook for Trades Storytelling
Episode Description This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Peter Murphy Lewis, founder of Strategic Pete and one of the most creative storytellers working in marketing today. Peter went from Kansas to Boston, then to Chile on a diplomatic scholarship, built a travel company that...
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Weekly Update #60: Are We at the Top of the AI S-Curve?
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is back solo with the podcast board loading up fast. Fresh off interviews with David Meltzer, Ryan Hawk, Ellen Rohr, Al Levi, Robert Underwood of AAA Landscape, and Nathan Dirksen of 7Ds, Justin digs into a pattern he keeps seeing: incredible...
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Al Levi: The 7-Power Contractor and Why Systems Beat Talent Every Time
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Al Levi, founder of The 7-Power Contractor and one of the most respected voices in trades operations. Al ran his family's third generation plumbing, heating, and cooling business in Queens (serving all of Long Island), scaled it to 70 team...
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Weekly Update #59: Building AI That Actually Serves the Field, Not the Boardroom
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White is joined again by Sean Laux, K&D's leader of innovation and technology, fresh off Sean's headline talk at the Lawn and Landscape Technology Conference in Phoenix that Andrew Kraft (Site Landscape) publicly called "worth the trip on its own." The...
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Josh McMillan: The 30 Year Climb From Employee #5 to Nine Figure Landscape CEO
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Josh McMillan, CEO of Roebuck Landscaping out of upstate South Carolina. Josh joined the company as employee number five back in 1995, worked his way up to COO, survived a two year private equity due diligence process (including a deal that…
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BONUS: The AI Guide That Wrote Itself
This is a bonus episode of Trades Talk, and it is unlike anything we have published before. The entire show, both hosts, all of the analysis, and every synthesis of the source material, was generated by AI. No humans on the mic. The AI hosts are unpacking The Disruptor's Guide to Artificial...
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Weekly Update #58: The Two Levels of AI and the Audit Every Operator Needs to Run
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White unpacks the Lawn and Landscape Technology Conference in Phoenix, the two levels of AI every operator needs to know where they sit, and the deepest public look yet at the K&D Operating System. Justin also shares the strategic drift lesson from…
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Jerry Schill: How the Landscape Collective Scaled to $200M and 2,000 Team Members
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Jerry Schill, CEO of The Landscape Collective. Jerry has built a maintenance driven organization at roughly $200M in revenue, 2,000 team members, 36 locations across 8 states and Canada, 93 percent recurring revenue, and 21 acquisitions since...
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Weekly Update #57: K&D's 300% Maintenance Sales Jump and the 54% AI Adoption Gap
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White unpacks the 300 percent year over year jump in K&D maintenance sales, the Service Titan State of AI Survey that every trades operator should have on their desk, and why quality of AI output now matters more than quantity. Justin also digs into…
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Steve Wheatcroft: From a B Minus Business Plan to Canada's Biggest Landscape Company
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Steve Wheatcroft, founder of ULS (now Urban Life Solutions), the largest landscape company in Canada. Steve scaled ULS from a 1989 college business plan that earned a B minus to nearly 400 trucks across Canada and a private equity sale, then…
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Weekly Update #56: Teasing the K&D Operating System and Why Justin Is Stepping Back
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White unpacks Q3 planning at K&D, teases the K&D Operating System for the first time publicly, and announces he is stepping back from day to day so he can lead the next chapter as a true CEO. Justin walks through the 90 day planning cadence that has…
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Tim Hendricks: Lessons From Valley Crest, Cagwin, and the High End Residential World
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Tim Hendricks, a 40 plus year California landscape industry veteran who built his chops at Valley Crest, Cagwin & Dorward, BrightView, Site One, and is now running high end residential design build on the Peninsula. Tim walks through the…
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Weekly Update #55: Fable 5, The Trillion Dollar Coach, and Permission to Cancel That Meeting
It's Fourth of July weekend and K&D is going for the three peat on most patriotic float in tomorrow's parade. But before the fireworks, we've got work to do. This week I'm covering three things every trades leader needs right now. First, Fable 5. Anthropic's newest model is here and most of you...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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Weekly Update #51: The 7 Day Workflow Sprint That Sets Up Agentic AI
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White breaks down the 7 day sprint K&D just kicked off to document every leadership workflow, and why that boring exercise is the real unlock for agentic AI. Plus a look at Claude's new Opus 4.8 model, the content strategy that is quietly compounding...
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Kendel White Part 1: A $100 Truck, a Sears Credit Card, and the Beginning of K&D Landscaping
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with the K in K&D, his dad, Kendel White, co-founder of K&D Landscaping, for Part 1 of a 2-part father-son conversation that traces the origin story of one of the premier landscape companies on the Central Coast. Kendel takes us all the way back to...
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Weekly Update #50: Lessons from Peter Lemon, a Tour of Cal Poly, and Why Consistency Wins
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White celebrates 50 episodes from the shoreline of Lake Nacimiento with a debrief from this week's Cal Poly tour and the biggest lessons from the Peter Lemon episode. From applied research labs solving real industry problems to feeding your people and...
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Peter Lemon: How Graniterock Built a 126 Year Legacy in the Trades
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Peter Lemon, CEO and President of Graniterock, the 126 year old vertically integrated construction and aggregates company headquartered right here in Watsonville. From the Wilson Quarry, the largest hard rock quarry this side of the…
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Weekly Update #49: Inside the Top 100 List and the Three Layers of Capital Behind Every Platform
On this Weekly Update of Trades Talk, Justin White breaks down the newly released Lawn and Landscape Top 100 list and the 3-layered capital stack quietly powering the next wave of consolidation. 39 of the top 100 are private equity-backed. $20 billion in combined revenue. And one new entrant most...
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Bob Grover: Just Don't Suck at the Landscape Part
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Bob Grover, Chairman of Osprey Landscape Group and founder of Pacific Landscape Management, to break down the lessons from a four decade career building one of the premier landscape companies in the country. From getting his horticulture…
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Weekly Update #48: The Owner Operator Advantage in an AI World
On this Weekly Update on Trades Talk, Justin White breaks down what is shaping the landscape industry right now and why the operators who move first are pulling away from the rest. Justin opens with a story from 1879. At the first public demo of the light bulb, Thomas Edison told a reporter, "We...
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Anna Halstead: How to Build a Marketing Engine That Actually Drives Growth
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Anna Halstead of Halstead Media to unpack the real story behind building growth, both personally and professionally, in the landscape industry. From immigrating with nothing to building one of the most respected marketing agencies in the…
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Weekly Update #47: Why Owner Operators Have the Biggest Advantage Right Now
On this Weekly Update on Trades Talk, Justin White breaks down one of the most important levers in building a successful trades business, understanding your numbers, controlling your brand, and taking advantage of the shifting landscape happening across the industry. Coming off a high level Q&A...
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Kory Mitchell: From $8M to $200M and a Nine Figure Exit
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Kory Mitchell of Iconic Founders to break down one of the most important conversations happening in the trades right now, how to actually build a company that is worth selling. Kory shares his journey from growing a family asbestos business…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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!
HOSTED BY
Justin White
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Trades Talk Podcast have?
Trades Talk Podcast currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Trades Talk Podcast 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...
How often does Trades Talk Podcast release new episodes?
Trades Talk Podcast has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Trades Talk Podcast?
You can listen to Trades Talk Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Trades Talk Podcast?
Trades Talk Podcast is created and hosted by Justin White.
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