On this episode of The Wealthy Contractor Podcast is Victor Smolyanov, owner of Victor’s Roofing in southeast Michigan.

When Victor climbed onto his first roof at age 13, he was instantly hooked. His father, Vladimir, was a roofer and put Victor to work to encourage him to take school more seriously and pursue a college degree instead of following in his footsteps.

On this episode of The Wealthy Contractor Podcast is Ken Sherman of Sentry Windows and Doors, located in Canada. (His company is currently being rebranded as Brookstone Home Exteriors.)

Ken’s journey into home improvement began late in 2014 when he opened his first business to improve the perception of the industry. He is living proof that the strategy of connecting with other successful business owners - and copying what they’re doing - really works.

On this episode of The Wealthy Contractor Podcast is Larry Janesky of Contractor Nation, whose mission it is to equip contractors in the home improvement industry with the resources and support they need to deliver positive results to customers, employees, and stakeholders. 

Larry’s journey into home improvement began with an ad he placed in a newspaper at the age of 18, simply asking people to call him if they needed a carpenter. Fast forward to today and Contractor Nation is a $150 million-dollar business with 300 dealers across the U.S. and Canada and over 400 employees.

Today’s episode features a return guest, Mike Michalowicz. By his 35th birthday, Mike had founded and sold two multi-million-dollar companies. Confident that he had the formula to success, he became an angel investor…and proceeded to lose his entire fortune.

So, he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Among other innovative strategies, Mike created the “Profit First Formula”, and wrote a book called Profit First, which we discussed way back on Episode 6. It details a way for businesses to ensure profitability from their very next deposit forward..

Today we welcome another return guest, Tony Hoty. Tony got his start in the home improvement industry while working as a door-to-door canvasser during his time at Ohio State. By the time he completed his schooling, he had spent years both generating and closing leads with great success. Tony’s next step would be an obvious one - he began his own retail home improvement company in Cleveland, Ohio.

In doing so, he worked his way up to becoming what I refer to as the “King of Face-to-Face Lead Generation” because nobody does it better.

Today’s guest is a long-time client I’ve been trying to catch up with for quite some time. Larry Closs is the owner of MaxHome, which services the entire Gulf Coast region. He founded his business in 2003 with just one employee but quickly became one of the largest home improvement companies in the U.S. His business has also received numerous awards as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.

On today’s episode, we have a repeat guest, Charlie Gindele, General Manager of Renewal by Andersen of Orange County, California. Charlie formerly joined us on Episode #2 of the Wealthy Contractor podcast and I asked him to return because he is an amazing role model for entrepreneurs, particularly those in the home improvement industry.

On today’s episode, we’re talking with Brian Smith, a Senior Account Executive for Dave Yoho Associates. Brian provides business consulting, sales, lead generation, management and canvassing training to direct sales companies and home improvement manufacturers.