Epic Entrepreneurs

You can tell a lot about a business by what they obsess over, and Caitlin and Daniel Burcham obsess over the basics most people mess up: showing up on time, treating customers with respect, and doing plumbing work the right way the first time. We talk with the owners of Burcham’s Plumbing about how a family-owned plumbing company grows in the real world, from residential service calls to commercial projects, gas lines, drains...

High-pressure home improvement sales have trained homeowners to brace for impact, and Celena Lusster is done with that. We talk with Celena, co-owner of Windows Source of Morgantown, about building a window replacement and door installation company on a simple promise: no gimmicks, no pressure, just honest service. From the first conversation, their goal is to educate customers on what actually matters, like energy efficiency, long...

One tiny home problem can quietly turn into a five figure repair, and most of us do not notice until it is too late. We sit down with Kaylee Holly of Home Smiles Virginia Beach to break down what preventative home maintenance actually looks like for real homeowners, not as a perfect Pinterest checklist, but as practical habits that protect your biggest investment.

We talk through the core services that prevent expensive dama...

You can feel it when someone didn’t start a business to “be their own boss”, they started because real life demanded it. That’s what makes this conversation with Jesse Kellogg from Grinning Possum Wood Originals so honest. We talk about the moment his promised construction hours vanished, how he began building anything he could out of a shed, and how he landed an enormous early project, a 56 foot porch, befo...

Most cleaning companies say they’re “detailed” and “reliable,” but Sydney Le Pen from Red Wolf Cleaning Services takes a sharper stance: the real product is consistency. Cliff McCray and Sydney unpack what it takes to deliver luxury-level cleaning for residential and commercial clients while still running a sustainable service business in North Carolina. If you’ve ever felt like your reputation d...

You can feel it when a company is built on pride and you can also feel it when it’s built on pressure. We talk with Christian Adams, owner of Carolina Temperature Control, about what growth really looks like inside a modern trades business serving Northeast South Carolina with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and indoor air quality. He shares how the company jumped from about 10 employees to roughly 50 to 60, and why the popular f...

The fantasy of entrepreneurship is freedom on day one. The reality can look like 12 to 14 hour days, a phone that never stops, and a business that follows you home. We sit down with Rejoice Tracy of Crazy Irish Tree Service to talk honestly about what it took to build a local service company from scratch, what it costs in energy, and what it takes to get your time back without letting customers down.

Rejoice shares how she a...

A lot of pest control sounds the same until you meet someone who spent 10 years doing mosquito research in a lab. We’re joined by Michael Ballmer, founder of Buzzkill Pest Solutions, to talk about what happens when scientific training collides with the realities of building a local service business from scratch.

Michael breaks down why the pest control industry can feel confusing to homeowners right now, especially wit...

“Freedom” is the word everyone sells you when you start a business, but Jesse Bergstrom says the truth is heavier and better: freedom is tied to responsibility and self-discipline. Jesse runs Just Chillin, a Virginia heating and cooling company serving real homeowners with real problems, and he walks us through what it feels like to make the leap from side work to going all-in. If you’ve ever wondered whether your...

One slow week nearly forced Stosh Fernandez to drive Uber just to keep payroll covered and then the next wave hit with nonstop ice-storm calls for days. That swing from uncertainty to overwhelm is the hidden reality behind “being your own boss,” and it’s why this conversation with Voda Cleaning and Restoration of Greenville is so relatable for anyone in entrepreneurship or small business growth. 

We ta...

A single YouTube Shorts clip of a driveway getting cleaned sent Ruben Ramirez down a rabbit hole that changed his life and built a real, profitable pressure washing business. He went from 16 years in dental assisting to launching Triad Pressure Washing, funding his leap by selling personal gear, investing in training, and betting on a service business that rewards consistency and craftsmanship.

We get honest about what small...

A hurricane hit 10 months after Rob Franks bought his company and suddenly “learning on the job” wasn’t an option. Rob joined us to share what it’s really like to run a 24-7 disaster restoration business in Asheville, from water damage restoration and mold remediation to post-storm reconstruction, and what Hurricane Helene taught him about scaling fast without losing quality.

We start with Rob’...

You can learn more about business from a neighbor fixing a dock than from a thousand growth hacks. Cliff McCray sits down with Frank Campagna, founder of Campagna Woodworks LLC, to unpack how a retired military aviator accidentally built a thriving neighborhood handyman and woodworking business by doing the basics better than most people do the “advanced” stuff.

We talk about the real gap in home services: jobs ...

A roofing quote can feel like a black box: one big number, a handshake, and a lot of faith. We wanted to pull that curtain back, so I brought on Will Wellbourne from Roof Revival to explain a model that challenges how most roofing contractors sell, price, and recommend work. His promise is bold: shockingly transparent pricing, plus a mindset that starts with repair first, explores renewal when it makes sense, and saves full roof re...

If you think “we’re too small to be a target,” you are exactly who attackers count on. We’re joined by Sheldon D. Mellon of Paladin Business Consulting, an IT consulting and cybersecurity firm serving companies across the Carolinas, to unpack what really happens behind the scenes when compromise attempts hit and why cybersecurity has to live inside your business plan from day one. Sheldon breaks down the pra...

Discoverability is the make-or-break problem for self-published authors, and it’s rarely about writing talent. We talk with Ivana Sumbundu, founder of the Vana Verse, about what indie authors actually need to grow: visibility, consistent engagement, and a support system that treats publishing like the business it becomes the moment you hit “release.”

Ivana shares how a lifelong love of reading pulled her ba...

A commercial cleaning company is easy to underestimate until you’re the one responsible for spotless floors, secure access, after-hours crews, and a client who expects perfection every single day. We sit down with James Moore, managing partner and CEO of AMPS Facility Solutions, to unpack what janitorial services and facility solutions really require, and why “just cleaning” is never just cleaning. From day porter...

The “set your own hours” dream sounds great until you’re the one solving call-outs at 7am, worrying about payroll, and protecting your reputation one home at a time. We sit down with Kim Brown, owner of Mary Maids of Augusta, to get brutally honest about what franchise ownership and service business leadership really look like behind the scenes and why she still wouldn’t trade it.

Kim shares the momen...

The hardest part of running a small business is not the work you do with your hands. It’s the work that follows you home. Jonathan Lewis, founder of Legacy Quality Craftsmanship in Greenville, Tennessee, joins me to tell the truth about what entrepreneurship actually costs and why he still chooses it anyway.

We get into the freedom myth and the mental load of ownership, then go behind the scenes on how a young remodeli...