Most businesses don’t break because the product is bad.
They break because ownership decisions collide with people, partners, and pressure.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down on site with Zac Triemert, founder of Brickway Brewery and Distillery, for a raw conversation about what happens when everything you build gets taken away — and you decide to build again anyway.

This is not a craft beer episode.
It’s a resilience episode.

Zach shares the full story of growing Nebraska’s largest brewery, giving away equity too early, and being escorted out of his own company — overnight. What followed wasn’t a comeback tour. It was a hard reset.

Cash flow pressure.
Starting over from scratch.
Making decisions differently the second time.

This conversation explores what ownership really demands when the market shifts, competition explodes, and the rules change mid-game.

You’ll hear how Zach:

• Lost control of the business he founded
• Rebuilt with tighter ownership and clearer guardrails
• Navigated an industry that went from 800 to 10,000 competitors
• Adapted as customers started drinking less, not more
• Managed years of cash tied up in inventory he couldn’t sell yet
• Shifted focus to survive saturation and market contraction
• Built a team that stayed through uncertainty and pressure

This episode is about patience, discipline, and long-term thinking.

Because resilience isn’t grit.
It’s structure.
And it’s built before things fall apart.

If you own — or plan to own — a trades, manufacturing, or operations-driven business, this conversation will hit close to home.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

Stay Connected & Follow the Movement

• Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts
• Follow Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

• Grab a copy of Andy Bassett’s book → https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts

Andy Bassett, CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, President and Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

Most trades businesses do not fail because they lack work.
They fail because growth outruns people, systems, safety, and discipline.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down with leaders from a fast-growing excavation company to talk about the side of growth most contractors never slow down enough to confront.

Not hype.
Not vanity revenue.
Real decisions that protect the business.

This conversation goes deep into what happens after acquisition, rapid headcount growth, and higher-risk work enters the picture.

More jobs do not automatically mean a better company.
Sometimes they expose everything that was barely holding together.

This episode is about restraint, discipline, and leadership under pressure.

You will hear how this team:

• Grew headcount from under 100 to nearly 300
• Improved safety while scaling operations
• Walked away from good work because resources were not ready
• Evaluated risk before bidding, not after losing money
• Discovered that back-office capacity can quietly cap growth
• Learned that hiring is still the biggest constraint in the trades

This is not an excavation episode.

It is a leadership episode.

For contractors, builders, and specialty trades owners, this conversation applies whether you run five people or five hundred.

In this episode, we unpack:

✅ Why saying no can be the most profitable decision you make
✅ How safety culture shows up before leadership speeches do
✅ What disciplined risk evaluation actually looks like before bidding
✅ Why growth breaks support teams before it breaks crews
✅ How labor challenges force smarter work selection
✅ Why resilience is built long before the job goes sideways

This episode is about growth with guardrails.

Because scaling without discipline does not build value.
It builds exposure.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

Stay Connected & Follow the Movement

• Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts
• Follow Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

• Grab a copy of Andy Bassett’s book → https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts

Andy Bassett, CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, President and Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

Most trades businesses don’t fail because the work isn’t there.
They fail because the pressure shows up faster than the cash, systems, and leadership are ready to absorb it.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down with Matt Christopherson, founder of a multi-entity plumbing and mechanical operation, to unpack the part of trades ownership most people never talk about.

The early years.
The leverage.
The nights where one bad job can erase everything.

This isn’t a polished success story.

It’s a real conversation about what it takes to survive the moments that quietly break most trades businesses before they ever get the chance to scale.

Matt started with nothing.
Digging ditches.
Six dollars an hour.
No safety net.

What followed were years of cash flow pressure, reinvesting every dollar back into the business, and learning hard lessons the only way trades owners ever do — the expensive way.

In this episode, we talk about what ownership actually feels like when:

→ The bank owns everything
→ Cash flow is tight even when revenue is growing
→ One job bid wrong can put the entire company at risk
→ Labor problems aren’t really labor problems — they’re leadership problems
→ Taking care of people becomes the difference between survival and collapse

For construction, mechanical, and specialty trades owners, this conversation goes far beyond plumbing.

It’s about what happens when responsibility, risk, and reality collide.

In Episode 4, we unpack:

✅ What no one prepares you for when you start a trades business
✅ Why cash flow — not profit — is the real killer early on
✅ The job that nearly ended the company and the lesson it taught
✅ Why reinvesting beats paying yourself too early
✅ How leadership decisions quietly shape labor retention
✅ Why taking care of your people is a profit protection strategy

This episode isn’t about plumbing.

It’s about ownership under pressure.

If you own — or plan to own — a trades business, this is a conversation you need to hear before the pressure finds you.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

🔗 Stay Connected & Follow the Movement

• Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts
• Follow Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

• Grab a copy of Andy Bassett’s book → https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts

Andy Bassett, CPCU, CIC — CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, AIP, CPCU — President & Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

Most businesses don’t fail because they lack opportunity.
They fail because volatility hits faster than their systems can respond.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down with Zach Lubeck, CEO of Quality Pork International, to unpack what it really takes to build a resilient, specialized manufacturing business in a world defined by labor shortages, global trade risk, and razor-thin margins.

This isn’t a conversation about pork.

It’s about what happens when you operate in an industry where:
→ You can’t pause production
→ You can’t control geopolitics
→ And mistakes don’t get a second chance

Perishable products force brutal clarity.

You either make the right decisions early — or you pay for them later.

For construction, manufacturing, and specialty trades owners, this episode goes far beyond food production.

In Episode 4, we unpack:

✅ Why narrowing your focus creates durability
✅ How turning craft work into systems protects profit
✅ Why “cheap” is the most expensive strategy
✅ How labor and skilled trades shortages threaten the future
✅ What uncontrollable risk teaches disciplined owners

If you own — or plan to own — a trades, manufacturing, or operations-driven business, this is a conversation you need to hear.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

🔗 Stay Connected & Follow the Movement
• Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts
• Follow Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

• Grab a copy of Andy Bassett’s book → https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts:

Andy Bassett, CPCU, CIC — CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, AIP, CPCU — President & Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

Most trades businesses don’t break because the work is hard.
They break because the pressure compounds faster than the company is prepared to handle.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down with Michael McKeone, owner of Daedalus Construction, to unpack what nearly 50 years in concrete teaches you about resiliency, leadership, and sustainable growth in the trades.

Concrete is unforgiving.
Once the trucks are rolling, time is already running out.

That reality forces a level of preparation, leadership discipline, and decision-making that most businesses never develop — until it’s too late.

For construction, manufacturing, and specialty trades owners, this conversation goes far beyond concrete.

It’s about:

→ When not growing is the smartest move
→ Why preparation beats toughness every time
→ How leadership failures show up as labor burnout
→ Why owners become the bottleneck without realizing it
→ What it actually takes to build a business that lasts decades

In Episode 3, we unpack:

✅ Why “growth at all costs” nearly collapses trades companies
✅ How slowing down can increase long-term profitability
✅ Why preparation is a leadership responsibility — not a crew problem
✅ How owner involvement quietly limits scale and resilience
✅ What it really means to step back without losing control

This episode isn’t about concrete.
It’s about building a company that can survive pressure, complexity, and time.

If you own — or plan to own — a trades business, this is a conversation you can’t afford to ignore.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

🔗 Stay Connected & Follow the Movement
• Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts
• Follow Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

• Grab a copy of Andy Bassett’s book → https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts:
Andy Bassett, CPCU, CIC — CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, AIP, CPCU — President & Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

Most trades owners don’t fail because they make bad decisions.
They fail because they delay the right ones.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot tackle one of the most avoided — and most expensive — realities in the trades:

What actually happens to a business when the owner eventually steps away.

For many construction, manufacturing, and specialty trades owners, the business isn’t just what they do.
It’s who they are.
It holds their relationships, their people, and often 80% or more of their personal wealth.

That’s why exit and perpetuation planning isn’t a retirement conversation.
It’s a profit-protection conversation.

In Episode 2, we unpack:

✅ Why waiting too long destroys leverage and value
✅ How internal and family transitions break down without runway
✅ Why private equity often becomes the default — not the preference
✅ The emotional identity challenges owners face when letting go
✅ How founder-held relationships quietly become valuation risk

This episode is not about selling a business tomorrow.
It’s about thinking clearly long before decisions are forced.

If you own a trades business — or plan to someday — this conversation matters more than you think.
____________

Watch the full interview now and subscribe.

🔗 Stay Connected & Follow the Movement:
🎧 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube
📲 Follow the Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

📘 Grab a copy of Andy's book: https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/book

Connect with the Hosts:
Andy Bassett, CPCU, CIC, CEO at Ellerbrock-Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/
Elliot Bassett, AIP, CPCU, President and Partner at Ellerbrock-Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

If you own a business in construction, manufacturing, or the specialty trades, you already know this truth:

Every decision carries weight.

Not just financial weight.
But responsibility for your people.
Your family.
And the future of what you’re building.

That’s why we launched Builders, Makers, Doers.

This weekly podcast exists to talk about the conversations trades owners are already having — but rarely get to talk through out loud.

In this launch episode, Andy and Elliot explain:

✅ Why trades ownership is fundamentally different from most businesses
✅ Why resiliency isn’t built during a crisis — it’s built years before one
✅ How unseen decisions at the “ground level” shape outcomes later
✅ Why stories matter more than theory when it comes to leadership
✅ What this show will cover every single week moving forward

You’ll also hear a real-world story that illustrates how long-term thinking and intentional decision-making can change outcomes in seconds. That story isn’t the point of the episode — it’s proof of the philosophy behind the show.

This is not an insurance podcast.
This is not a motivational podcast.

This is a practical, real-world conversation for people building real companies.

____________

👉 Watch the full interview now and subscribe.

🔗 Stay Connected & Follow the Movement:
🎧 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube
📲 Follow the Builders, Makers, Doers on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellerbrock-norris/

🧠 Connect with the Hosts:
Andy Bassett, CPCU, CIC, CEO at Ellerbrock-Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/
Elliot Bassett, AIP, CPCU, President and Partner at Ellerbrock-Norris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/

____________

New episodes drop every week.

If you’re a builder, maker, or doer — this show is for you.