Freedom Blueprint for Home Services | HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Leadership, Business Growth

Freedom Blueprint for Home Services | HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Leadership, Business Growth

Welcome to the Freedom Blueprint Podcast! Host Justin Deese delivers practical advice from his decades in the home service industry. Each week, discover strategies for success, avoid pitfalls, and hear real-life stories. Join our community to learn and grow together. Featuring guests like Tommy Mello from Home Service Experts, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch from Service Business Mastery, Jerod Williams from Wealthy Plumbers and Ara Mahdessian CEO of Service Titan. Visit www.FreedomBlueprintPodcast.com for more. Empowering leaders, fostering growth and a positive mindset. Your journey to success in plumbing, HVAC, and electrical starts here!

Episodes

October 5, 2026 • 45 mins

Seventeen years old, making minimum wage, driving past a "Now Hiring" banner on his way to pick up a shirt for a night out — that's how Ismael Valdez stumbled into an industry he'd go on to reshape twice.

Justin sits down with Ismael to trace the whole arc: six or seven years behind the counter selling HVAC parts, the leap into Home Comfort Air Conditioning (zero to $20M in four years, back when that made you one of the bigges...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

You're sitting across from another owner at a conference, or your spouse at the kitchen table, saying the thing every owner says: "I can't find good people. Nobody wants to work anymore." Now flip it — if you were Jimmy, clocking in every morning under a boss exactly like you, would you stay?

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin turns the mirror all the way around. He admits there was a stretch where he blamed his team for hav...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Justin sits down with Ellen Rohr on the beach right after Home Service Hoorah wraps — Zoom Drain founder, Service Titan brand ambassador lead, and someone who's been humbled by this industry more times than she can count.

Ellen walks through her path from founding Zoom Drain to running Service Titan's brand ambassador program, how she discovered Jered Williams (the Wealthy Plumber) on Instagram, and why his Wahoo Plumbing laun...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

It's the first of the month, and your reviews look great — 4.8 stars, fifty-something reviews, only two bad ones you can still name off the top of your head. So you lean back and think, we're doing all right. Then you pull the year-end numbers: a thousand calls, fifty reviews. Where did the other 950 people go?

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin admits he spent years using his review page as a mirror — if it looked goo...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Recorded live from the beach right after the second annual Home Service Hoorah wrapped, Justin and Kristen break down the biggest takeaways from two days built around one thing: hiring.

They walk through the "open house" recruiting process they've run for years across markets big and small, then dig into the Facebook and Indeed retargeting trick that got one brand-new plumbing company booked out for two weeks in just three or four d...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

It's 4:30 on a Thursday, and you're standing in the truck bay having the same callback conversation with Jimmy for the third time this month. He nods. Monday comes. Another callback. And you're right back in the truck fixing it yourself.

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin borrows a line from Dan Martell — stop being a tugboat, start being a lighthouse — and admits he spent years proud of how much he "delegated" when re...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Justin was one ride-along away from handing his best technician to the competition — until a single day in the passenger seat blew up everything he thought he knew about leadership.

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin tells the story of "Jimmy," a technician everyone liked but whose numbers were rough — low close rate, high callbacks. Justin had already made the call to let him go, but before pulling the trigger, he spe...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

It's 7:40 on a Thursday night, and you're still sitting in your truck in the shop parking lot — answering a text about a $400 refund your operations manager should be able to handle on his own.

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin gets honest about being someone else's ceiling for two years without knowing it, and lays out why your business will never outgrow the size of your leadership. He walks through the real cost of stayi...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

There's a decision sitting on your desk right now — and you already know which one.

Maybe it's the tech who isn't going to make it. Maybe it's the price increase you've written four times and never sent. In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin Deese makes the case that not deciding is still a decision — and usually the most expensive one you'll ever make. He shares the story of a tech he waited 11 months too long to let go,...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Justin got called a fraud. Not in so many words, but the message was clear: how can you preach "freedom" in business while you're grinding harder than ever on a brand-new venture? It stung more than he expected, so instead of brushing it off, he sat with it, and realized the person asking had missed something huge: the difference between a phase and a trap.

In this episode, Justin breaks down why every business goes through an infan...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

There's a week every business owner knows all too well — the one where every day hands you a new problem before you've even finished your coffee, where you're pulling every lever you know how to pull just to keep things standing, and a little voice creeps in asking, "Am I actually good at this, or did I just get lucky?"

In this episode, Justin gets real about the rocky opening of his newest business location — long hours...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

You can choose two hard things in business: the pain of pushing through, or the regret of backing off. Justin's been living that choice lately — not just in his home service business, but in a brand-new restaurant he bought and is rebuilding from the ground up. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on why he took it on, what the remodel has actually cost him in sleep and sanity, and why he'd choose the hard path again ev...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Ever wonder why your most loyal customer skips you when it's time for the big job? You showed up fast, fixed the small stuff, even worked for free, and when the $20,000 system replacement came up, they didn't even call. That's not bad luck. That's pricing.

In this solo episode, Justin Deese breaks down the real story of "Jimmy", a contractor who did everything right for years and still lost a big replacement job to "one of those big...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Most leaders think doing everything themselves is proof of their commitment. It's actually proof of how little they've built around them — and it's quietly costing them their business and their team's growth. When you catch yourself finishing work someone else could've done, there's one question that changes everything: are you leading, or are you just the bottleneck?

In this solo episode, Justin Deese breaks down the trap of ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Most leaders are bleeding money and morale every single day, and never realize it, because they've got the wrong people in the wrong seats. When someone on your team is struggling, there's one question that changes everything: is it a can't or a won't?

In this solo episode, Justin Deese breaks down the difference between ability and willingness, why you can't coach one of them, and exactly what to do about the other. He opens up wit...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

What if the secret to higher HVAC tickets wasn't a better pitch, but a better room? Justin Deese sits down with Ryan St. Michel of Grove Mechanical to break down the showroom sales process that tripled revenue in a town of just 7,200 people.

In this Freedom Blueprint Podcast episode, Ryan shares how desperation pushed him away from bottom-of-the-barrel pricing and into a top-down selling system — five options, premium-first, e...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

My number one rule in business isn't money, freedom, or anything the gurus are screaming at you to chase; and half of you are going to roll your eyes when I tell you what it is.

It's fun. And in this episode I'm making the case that fun isn't soft or fluffy, it's the most powerful, most profitable, most underrated weapon you've got in your home service business. Energy is contagious, and your customers can feel the difference betwee...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

We've all been Marcus's boss. A great employee takes the time to think about the business, writes up an idea, and hands it to you — and nine days later it's still sitting in your inbox. So you give him the line: "I got too busy." He nods, says no worries, and walks to his truck. And you tell yourself it's fine. You were busy. It's been a crazy week.

Here's the blunt truth Justin lays out in this episode: that's a lie. Not a ma...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Your best technicians aren't quitting over money or a difficult coworker — they're quitting because of the hard conversations you keep avoiding.

In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin Deese breaks down why dodging tough conversations is quietly bleeding money out of your home service business, and shares a simple 5-step framework you can put to work in the next 2 days.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

✅ The real reason leaders avoid ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Most home service business owners think their CSRs are booking 80% of incoming calls. The real number? Closer to 25–45%.

In this episode of the Freedom Blueprint Podcast, Justin Deese sits down with Michelle Myers, founder of Pink Callers, to expose the gap between what owners think is happening on their phones — and what's actually happening. Michelle has spent 10+ years placing fractional, dedicated CSRs inside HVAC, p...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices