I'm Going Back to Work

It all started with a coffee.

A fortuitous turn of events put me in contact with the owner of a very large company in the same exact niche as kitchen & bath CRATE. I expected a brush-off. Instead, I got a hearty “Let’s get together and talk shop.”

So I walked into the cafe knowing exactly how this conversation was going to go.

We’d sit down, wade through the awkward small talk that comes with meeting someone new, give each other the obligatory rundown on family and career, then commiserate about a very sluggish residential remodel market.

Ah, yes. A chance to affirm that things are tough right now.

You know how this story goes.

That’s not what I got.

There was no awkwardness. This guy and I got each other from moment one. It was like talking to Bizarro Scott, a Scott from another, more successful dimension.

Here’s what I mean.

I came in expecting commiseration. Instead I learned they’re beating their 2026 forecast by a wide margin.

I came in expecting a guy frustrated with the market like I am. Instead I got a guy overflowing with optimism and energy.

I came in expecting a fellow operator scratching and clawing like the rest of us. Instead I sat before someone who knows exactly which jobs he wants and turns down the rest.

And here was the main takeaway: his business is better.

He has a better territory. He has 36 years on us. He’s stayed focused on a specific niche of kitchen remodeling that we’ve moved away from. He’s disciplined about the region he serves and doesn’t stray beyond it. He’s generating more qualified leads than he can serve. He has a healthy backlog. I could go on.

I was Eli Manning to his Tom Brady.

As I processed it over the next few days, it dawned on me. At some point in the last few years, I’ve taken my eye off the ball.

Don’t get me wrong. I have great people who are very good at what they do. But I’ve been robbing kitchen & bath CRATE of the unique skills and abilities I bring to the table. I’ve been asking my team to run a marathon on a prosthetic leg. Is it possible? Yes. Is it optimal? No.

So on Thursday of last week, I went back to work.

I cleared my schedule. I changed my working hours. I cut my personal brand content calendar back to a few things. (This one stays, because writing it is cathartic.) I put a few daily habits on hold, because they were nice-to-haves that didn’t move the ball forward.

And most importantly, I started asking a lot of questions, and I’m working on listening better. Because I’ve been disconnected and out of touch.

No more.

Now, some of you have watched me write the opposite of this for two years.

The plan was to step out. Get the businesses running without me, hand the day-to-day to people who are better at it than I am, and move into the seat where I’m most useful. That plan is real, and it hasn’t changed. Jake is stepping into the Integrator seat at Trinity Builder Solutions; he’s earned it, and he keeps it.

This is a different thing. This is me back in at kitchen & bath CRATE, heading up marketing and sales.

Here’s how I tell the difference between an owner making a call and an owner relapsing. A call is scoped, it’s said out loud to the team, and it has an end date. A relapse is none of those. It just quietly becomes the way things are again.

So I’ll say it out loud. I’m in through Q1 2027.

Here’s the thing. As an owner, sometimes you have to get back in the weeds. You have to prune back to the essence of what got you here. You have to rally the team and return to your roots. And no one, no one, can do that like an owner.

So here’s my question. Have you lost focus in the last six years, and is it time to get back in and start rowing?

Normally I’d end with an offer to chat about this. I’m not going to do that. Now isn’t the time to chat. Now is the time to work on my own business. There will be time to chat later, once I’ve cleared the weeds.

But that time is not now.