The Podcast for Home Service Pros

The Handshake Business

Real conversations with home service business owners about the decisions that changed their P&L.

The Handshake Business Podcast
YouTube · Apple · Spotify · iHeart · Amazon
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Latest Episodes

Home service business owners talking through the decisions that changed how they operate and what they earn.

What thousands in HomeAdvisor leads actually bought him
Episode 1 2026

What thousands in HomeAdvisor leads actually bought him

Marjan spent thousands on Home Advisor leads before he ran the numbers on what they actually closed. Competed against 15 other contractors for the same job. And still walked away with nothing. Then everything changed.

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Everyone told her the market was too crowded. She's 11 years in.
Episode 2 2026

Everyone told her the market was too crowded. She's 11 years in.

Yessy's father was abruptly laid off during the recession. She didn't just help him find work. She built a company around it and made him her first employee. Eleven years later, Rise Interiors is a thriving Miami remodeling business.

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He Set Up a Bounce House for Tony Romo. And Didn't Even Know It.
Episode 3 2026

He Set Up a Bounce House for Tony Romo. And Didn't Even Know It.

Korey found out he'd worked a job for Tony Romo after the fact, from the work order. A Dallas bounce house owner on customer service, consistency, and the surprises that come with running a decade-old event rental business.

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He asks his customers the same question every single day. It killed his punch list.
Episode 4 2026

He asks his customers the same question every single day. It killed his punch list.

Every day on a Micah Beatty job site, somebody asks the customer: do you see anything you'd like us to fix? He asks it while the cabinets are going up, again during crown, again when the knobs go on. By the time the job wraps, the punch list is nearly empty.

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He never outspent anyone on ads. Google sends him the work anyway.
Episode 5 2026

He never outspent anyone on ads. Google sends him the work anyway.

Apolo Arellano runs Get Pro Landscaping in San Jose and has never bought a lead. He breaks down how trust and reputation built his book of business, and how a CRM and Google My Business transformed the way he runs his operation.

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She bought 2 competitors, added $2M, and deleted the invoicing job
Episode 6 2026

She bought 2 competitors, added $2M, and deleted the invoicing job

Casarra Cover runs Whitaker's Garage Doors in Westchester. Third generation, 8 trucks, 23 people. Before Connectid, 80 handwritten invoices came back every night. Then she bought two competitors and added $2M without hiring a second invoicing person.

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He built a $1M concrete business by 23. Here's the order he did it in
Episode 7 2026

He built a $1M concrete business by 23. Here's the order he did it in

Miguel was 23 when his concrete company crossed $1 million in a year. Two years earlier he was doing a few small jobs a month and taking whoever called. He walks through what he changed, and in what order.

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All Episodes on YouTube

Watch the full playlist. New conversations dropping regularly.

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Meet Ashley DePiano

Founder of Connectid. Built for home service business owners who are great at what they do, and ready to stop losing jobs to a missed call.

Ashley DePiano, host of The Handshake Business Podcast

Ashley DePiano

Founder, Connectid • Host

Ashley started The Handshake Business to put a spotlight on the home service owners who build the real way: on reputation, referrals, and showing up. She works with tradespeople and service businesses every day through Connectid, helping them stop losing revenue to missed calls, slow follow-ups, and after-hours chaos, without losing the personal touch that made them.

Every episode is a no-prep, no-fluff conversation. Just a real business owner talking about what it actually took to build something.

AI Automation Home Services Fractional CMO Marketing Strategy

What We Talk About

Every episode follows a real conversation, not a script. But these are the themes that keep coming up because they're the ones that matter.

🤝

The Handshake Story

How you got your first customer, your first referral, your first moment someone trusted you with their home.

📞

The Real Cost of Being Busy

Missed calls, slow follow-ups, jobs quoted and never closed. The operational chaos that comes with being great at your trade.

Reputation & Reviews

How you built your reputation, what you're known for in your market, and how you protect it as you scale.

💰

What Actually Drives Growth

Referrals vs. paid ads, Google vs. HomeAdvisor: the honest story of what actually drove revenue for your business.

🔧

Systems & Operations

How you run the business behind the business: scheduling, follow-up, communication, and where the cracks are.

🚀

Where You're Headed

The vision for the next few years: scaling, stepping back, or doubling down. What winning looks like to you.

You Built Something Real.
Tell the Story.

If you run a home service business and you've made a decision that changed how it operates or grows, we want to hear from you. No fee. No prep. Just a real conversation.

Owner-operated $1M to $7M in revenue Home service business A decision that changed how you run or grow the business HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, landscaping + more
Apply to Be a Guest

Simple 3 Steps

Getting featured is quick and designed to be zero-stress. We handle everything.

1
🗓

Book Your Slot

Grab a 45-minute time that works for you. That's it. No questionnaires, no homework.

2
🎙

Show Up & Talk

No prep. No slides. Just a real conversation, the kind you'd have with a customer you actually like.

3
🎬

We Publish & Share

Your episode goes on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon. We cut shorts and clips and push them too. You get everything to share.

No fee to be a guest. You get the video and clips to use however you want. We'll spend about a minute at the end on what Connectid does, and that's the extent of it.