Blog

I write this as the proud father of two grown daughters and absolutely giddy grandfather of four impossibly charming granddaughters, ranging in age from 6 to 15. (Any mistakes I make can be attributed to inhaling too many estrogen molecules. It was worse when our household also included two female...

Those of you who have most of your life ahead of you will long remember the year 2020 as when the world turned upside down. Millions of people in our country have gotten sick and tens of thousands have died. Those of us who haven’t live in a way we could scarcely have imagined not […]

One of the reasons why trade workers are in short supply is because the trades have a reputation as being “gritty” work. The word gritty in this context gets interpreted as hard and dirty. I won’t sugarcoat it. To some extent, this is true. Trade work does involve more physical effort than desk...

I didn’t, not until reading an article that appeared in the May 23, 2020 edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The U.S. Tax Code runs to tens of thousands of pages in volumes that occupy an entire bookshelf in tax accountant offices. Even the best among them have trouble keeping up with all the...

I read a lot, always have. Much of my reading is to satisfy personal interests and has little application to my professional life, but I always have my eyes peeled for bits of information that are relevant to the things I write about for trade audiences. In that vein I will share with you some […]

The name Charlie Horton means nothing to most of you reading this. But he meant a lot to me, and he was a great friend of the trades, so I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce him to you. Charlie was the founder of industry-leading trade magazines Supply House Times and Plumbing & Mechanical...

At Blanton’s Air, Plumbing & Electric in Fayetteville, NC, the team had an extraordinary day with local elementary students! Along with a showcase of cool tools, the students received awesome coloring books and a visit from Coolidge. It’s never too early to “explore the trades”!

Beltz Home Service Co., headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, participated at a local career day with over 2,000 high school students from local districts. A showcase of technical industries and the career opportunities found within them, the event was a huge success. Beltz Home Service educated the students...

Louisville, KY – Over 18,000 students, educators, parents and industry partners were in attendance at the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference from June 24-28. A showcase and celebration of career and technical skills, students from all 50 states and Puerto Rico competed in over 100...