Is It Time for Universities to Welcome the Trades?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the students who start college full of hope, only to leave before finishing. Maybe they discover the traditional…
Author: DigitalNinja
Teaching Entrepreneurship in the Trades
Skilled hands can build just about anything—homes, machines, entire systems. But when it comes to building a business? That’s where many tradespeople hit a wall.…
Financial Literacy Is a Skill
When we talk about skills in the trades, we usually mean things you do with your hands: installing wiring, fixing HVAC systems, laying tile, tuning…
Why Do So Many Trades Businesses Fail?
They start with promise. A skilled plumber opens their own shop. An HVAC tech builds a client base. A contractor takes on bigger and bigger…
Level Up – Episode 7: The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life: A Conversation with Cory McCray
In this powerful episode of Level Up, Desmond Stinnie and Addison Wiggin sit down with Cory McCray to discuss his deeply personal new book, The…
Level Up – Premier Episode: Unmask The Hero
In the series premier episode 1 of Level Up, we are joined by Ray “Coach Shoe” Schufford – retired first responder and founder of 2…
Level Up – Episode 6: Talking Trades with Got Electric LLC’s Founder Grant Gotlinger
In this episode of Level Up, Desmond Stinnie and Addison Wiggin sit down with Desmond’s longtime friend and trades entrepreneur Grant Gotlinger, founder of Got…
The Hidden Risk in the Trades: Why We Need Stable Skilled Trades Businesses
We often talk about the skilled labor shortage—but there’s a quieter, equally urgent issue hiding in plain sight: the instability of trades businesses themselves. Electricians,…
Make Trade Skills Cool Again
In a recent episode of the Level Up Podcast, co-host Addison Wiggin put it simply—and powerfully: “We need to make skills and trades cool again.”…
Can Trade Schools Feel More Like College?
Reimagining the Career School Experience When we talk about college, we don’t just talk about classes and credits—we talk about the experience. The late-night study…