At Forge Contractor Alliance (FCA), we know firsthand what it is like to be in the trenches—solving every problem, wearing every hat, and wondering if this whole thing is working.
Whether you’re a solo-preneur or leading a team, your business should inspire pride, purpose, and prosperity—for you, your clients, and everyone connected to the work.
Forge Contractor Alliance exists to help you develop perspective, lead with intention, and grow with purpose.
Through community, mentorship, and practical systems, we walk with you on the journey toward fulfillment.
This is your invitation—to thrive in business, and in life.
Boundaries: What Gets Your Attention Is a Choice - Forge Contractor Alliance Podcast
Why does a customer deadline so often win out over a date night with your own kid? That question keeps coming back for Joel in this conversation with Josh, and it turns into a candid look at what actually decides where an entrepreneur’s attention goes.
It starts with a Friday that was supposed to be a family day and ended up at the office anyway. From there, they get into people pleasing, why urgent work feels louder than a family that isn’t in crisis, and the habit of keeping life in balance by whacking whichever area is lowest this week.
Joel describes a spur of the moment date night with his daughter that showed him how much he doesn’t know about his own kids.
Josh describes a different pull, a daily question over morning coffee about whether he’s about to spend the day on the wrong things, and a working life where his family overlaps with his workday more than most.
They talk through what saying no actually looks like: dropping commitments, selling off animals on the acreage that were taking more time than they were worth, and a recent 48 hour push on a major application deadline that showed both the power of a clear goal and how quickly overload creeps back in.
Along the way they cover Sabbath as a gift rather than a rule, planning the week with a spouse, the idea of meeting with other business owners every Monday morning to set priorities, and why a dashboard full of revenue KPIs and nothing for health or family quietly steers your attention. They also talk about why forming an executive team, with a merger still in the works, was partly about holding each other accountable.
Underneath it all is a simple, uncomfortable point. What gets your attention is a choice, and a lot of us hand it over to expectations we’ve only imagined other people have. This one is for owners who already know what matters most and are still working out how to act like it.
Original theme music composed and performed by Ben Smith
Produced by Seth Steward Productions
Co-produced by Kalen Wookey
Website: https://forgealliance.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forgecontractoralliance
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575541841797
X: https://x.com/forge_ca
30 Sept 2026
Quality: The Real Cost of a Bad Lead - Forge Contractor Alliance Podcast
In this episode of the Forge Contractor Alliance Podcast, Josh and Kenton talk about one of the biggest lessons they’ve learned in business: more leads don’t necessarily mean more business. After a slower-than-usual home show, the conversation turns to lead quality, pre-qualification, referrals, and the real cost of chasing customers who were never a good fit.
They discuss the difference between collecting names and numbers and actually finding homeowners who value the service you provide. Josh shares how Ridgeline has learned to recognize quality leads, why referrals can be some of the strongest opportunities a contractor can receive, and how building a strong reputation can naturally attract the right customers.
They also get into the realities of pricing, competition, truck-and-ladder operations, warranties, and what happens when something goes wrong after a project is complete.
The conversation goes beyond marketing and sales into something that matters just as much: the relationship between contractors and customers. From trust and communication to dealing with mistakes and standing behind your work, Josh and Kenton discuss why building a real business means being positioned to take care of customers long after the job is finished.
For contractors, the goal isn't simply to get more leads. It's to build a business that attracts the right customers, delivers real value, earns referrals, and is still standing behind its work years later.
Original theme music composed and performed by Ben Smith
Produced by Seth Steward Productions
Co produced by Kalen Wookey
Website https://forgealliance.ca/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/forgecontractoralliance
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575541841797
X https://x.com/forge_ca
@Forge_CA
16 Sept 2026
Retention: Trusting the Entrepreneurial Employee - Forge Contractor Alliance Podcast
In Episode 54 of the Forge Contractor Alliance podcast, Kenton and Josh tackle a difficult question for small contractors: what happens when you invest years into training someone, only for that employee to eventually leave and start their own company?
The conversation digs into employee retention, trust, training, and the real investment that goes into developing people in a small trade business. When you're a small contractor, you're not simply filling positions. You're often taking someone with little experience and teaching them the trade, your systems, your standards, and eventually the business itself.
But what happens when that person becomes one of your most valuable employees and decides they want to run their own show?
Kenton and Josh talk openly about their own history, including how Josh originally trained Kenton in roofing before Kenton eventually went out on his own. They discuss the difference between competition and collaboration, the challenge of knowing how much to invest in an employee, and why highly capable employees can sometimes be the very people most likely to want their own business.
They also explore how employers can better understand an employee's goals, why getting people involved in the business can increase retention, the risks that come with sharing too much, and why business owners can't build their entire company around one or two key employees.
Ultimately, people change. Goals change. Seasons of life change. And sometimes a great employee leaving isn't something a business owner can completely prevent. The question is how you build a company that can handle it.
Forge Contractor Alliance is a podcast for contractors and business owners working through the real challenges of building, leading, and growing a trade business.
Original theme music composed and performed by Ben Smith Produced by Seth Steward Productions
Co produced by Kalen Wookey
Website https://forgealliance.ca/ Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/forgecontractoralliance
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575541841797
X https://x.com/forge_ca
@Forge_CA
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