Joshua Griffin shares his journey from humble beginnings in a trailer park to building and selling a successful HVAC business while growing a YouTube channel with 150,000 subscribers. He openly discusses the challenges he faced as an entrepreneur, his innovative marketing strategies, and the ultimate decision to walk away at the peak of his company's success.

• Growing up in a trailer park where his entrepreneurial inspiration came from seeing the trailer park owner struggling less than everyone else
• Starting Griffin Air with just $1,200 and a utility trailer pulled by a Jeep Wrangler
• Using YouTube and free marketing strategies to build his business before it became standard practice
• Growing to 12 employees while maintaining extremely high quality standards
• Leveraging distributor relationships and co-op dollars to maximize business growth
• Creating educational content for homeowners to help them avoid common pitfalls when purchasing HVAC services
• Selling his business to a local competitor to ensure his warranties would be honored and employees taken care of
• Building a mastermind community for HVAC professionals at different career stages
• Expanding his reach through two successful YouTube channels: HVAC Guide for Homeowners and HVAC Guide for Pros

Visit newhvacguide.com to access all of Joshua's resources, including his guide for homeowners, warranty checking tools, and information about his mastermind groups.

🎙️ Profit & Grit by Tyler Martin
Real stories. Real strategy. Real results for service-based business owners.

🔗 Website: ProfitAndGrit.com
📍 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thinktyler
📸 Instagram & TikTok: @profitandgrit
📅 Want to grow your business with smarter financial strategy?
Book a free intro meeting

Rachel Evans turned her firing as an HVAC sales technician into the catalyst for launching California Mechanical, a thriving San Diego-based HVAC company built entirely on word-of-mouth referrals.

• Took her contractor's license exam while nine months pregnant
• Gave herself a three-month runway to build momentum before potentially returning to employment
• Landed two installation jobs just before starting a new job, enabling her to commit fully to entrepreneurship
• Initially specialized in mini-splits due to physical limitations during early motherhood
• Now offers comprehensive residential and commercial HVAC services
• Operates on 100% word-of-mouth referrals without purchasing leads or running advertising
• Uses FieldPulse for business management and ADP for payroll
• Structures her business to train technicians who may eventually become contractors themselves
• Values uplifting others over maximizing business growth
• Recommends new contractors "follow the leader" rather than trying to innovate business structures

"If I'm a good person and I have a good work ethic and I'm smart, I know that I can do this too. If they can do it, I can do it."

🎙️ Profit & Grit by Tyler Martin
Real stories. Real strategy. Real results for service-based business owners.

🔗 Website: ProfitAndGrit.com
📍 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thinktyler
📸 Instagram & TikTok: @profitandgrit
📅 Want to grow your business with smarter financial strategy?
Book a free intro meeting

Gil Cavey shares his powerful journey from addiction to successful HVAC business leadership, revealing how rock bottom reshaped his management philosophy toward empathy, accountability, and second chances. He demonstrates how investing in people creates returns that transcend typical business metrics while building a company where technicians want to grow their careers.

• Second-generation HVAC professional with 25 years of experience who rebuilt his life after addiction
• Creating processes and structure as the key differentiator between companies that scale beyond $10 million and those that stagnate
• The "McDonald's effect" – developing repeatable processes everyone can follow consistently
• Implementing training meetings that combine technical skills with customer communication practice
• Combating seasonality by offering strategic discounts to shift demand to traditionally slower months
• Structuring maintenance agreements as "memberships" with exclusive benefits like emergency service
• Building career advancement paths within the company to retain technicians seeking opportunity
• Supporting employees' mental health through observation, care, and having tough conversations when needed
• The value of attention to detail – from parking location to knocking instead of ringing doorbells
• Personal branding as a powerful tool for technicians and business owners to connect authentically with customers

Build your reputation first, then let your reputation build your brand. When you focus on people rather than outcomes, revenue tends to take care of itself.

🎙️ Profit & Grit by Tyler Martin
Real stories. Real strategy. Real results for service-based business owners.

🔗 Website: ProfitAndGrit.com
📍 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thinktyler
📸 Instagram & TikTok: @profitandgrit
📅 Want to grow your business with smarter financial strategy?
Book a free intro meeting