The Handshake Business

When Yessenia Lauzardo started Rise Interiors in Miami, the advice she got was that the market was full.

Yessy's father was abruptly laid off from his construction job during the recession. She didn't just help him find work, she built a company around it and made him her first employee. Eleven years later, that leap of faith has become a thriving Miami remodeling business known for high-end transformations and a deeply personal app...

Korey Mack, owner of Start the Party, in Dallas, found out he'd worked a job for Tony Romo after the fact, from the work order.

In this episode, Ashley DePiano sits down with Korey, owner of a bounce house and event rental company that's been bringing fun (and a few unexpected lessons) to families across North Texas for over a decade.

Korey shares how growing up in his dad's and grandfather's businesses shaped his approach to...

Every day on a Micah Beatty job site, somebody asks the customer the same question. Do you see anything you'd like us to fix?

He asks it while the cabinets are still going up. Then again during crown. Then again when the knobs go on.

By the time the job wraps, that customer has already inspected the work with a critical eye five or six times and said it looks good. The punch list at the end is nearly empty. Micah quot...

Apolo runs Get Pro Landscaping in San Jose and has never bought a lead.

In this episode of The Handshake Business, I sit down with Apolo Arellano, owner of Get Pro Landscaping, to talk about his journey from immigrant roots to running a growth-oriented landscaping business and the systems, mindset, and hustle that made it possible.

Apolo breaks down how he built a reputation in his community, why trust is the foundation of ev...

Casarra Cover runs Whitaker's Garage Doors in Westchester County. Third generation, 8 trucks, 23 people.

Before we started working together, those trucks came back every night with 80 handwritten invoices. She had hired someone whose entire job was typing them into QuickBooks, and billing still ran days behind. Customers who weren't home got a paper invoice in the door, then a mailed copy, then somebody on the phone chasing ...

Miguel Bañuelos was 23 when Pristine Concrete Denver crossed $1 million in a year.

Two years earlier he was doing a few small jobs a month and taking whoever called.

I asked him to walk through it in order. What he changed first. What he changed after that. And the point where the phone started ringing with people ready to buy instead of people collecting 5 quotes.

What we get into:

How he stopped taking every job that came in, and wha...