Contractor to CEO: Joel’s Solar Journey & How Priorities Shaped His Future - Forge Alliance Podcast

Welcome to the Forge Alliance Podcast — real talk for tradesmen, entrepreneurs, and leaders navigating the hard road of growth. We're building more than businesses — we’re building men, mindsets, and missions. These conversations pull back the curtain on what it takes to lead in life and work, from broken starts to breakthrough seasons. No fluff, just real stories from the job site and beyond.

In this episode, Josh sits down with Joel Berg, founder of a solar company in British Columbia, to unpack what it really takes to grow a business from scratch. Joel shares the story of starting with nothing, wearing every hat in the early years, and the hard transition from being hands-on in the field to stepping into true leadership.

The conversation dives into the heart of business growth, leadership development, and priority setting. Joel opens up about the challenges of trying to set priorities alone, the trap of letting imagined perceptions influence decisions, and the difficulty of maintaining consistent rhythms as a business scales.

Josh adds perspective on how unclear job roles can create bottlenecks and why intentional structure makes growth sustainable. Together, they lay out practical solutions: building weekly and 90-day rhythms for strategic planning, using tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to organize priorities, clearly defining roles across the company, and learning to delegate the tasks that don’t belong on your plate.

They also highlight the power of stepping outside the day-to-day—through conferences, peer groups, and outside voices—to gain clarity and avoid blind spots. If you’re an entrepreneur, contractor, or leader, this episode is packed with actionable insights: implement weekly priority-setting sessions with your team, establish 90-day planning cycles, get consistent outside perspective, and keep sharpening your leadership so your business grows in the right direction. This isn’t theory—it’s the real-world journey of building a company, one priority at a time.

Original theme music composed and performed by - Ben Smith

Produced by - Seth Steward Productions

Co-produced by - Kalen Wookey

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