No guest this week. Just a conversation Chris and I probably should have recorded years ago.
We spend our days coaching business owners: diagnosing problems, building frameworks, holding people accountable. This episode is about the one area of life where neither of us gets to be the coach. Marriage. Chris and Kara are 25 years in. Janna and I hit 30 in December. And between his Alaska trip and a come-to-Jesus conversation on my own back porch, we got more honest than we ever have about what long-term marriage looks like behind the Instagram photos. The truth we kept circling: it gets better, but it never gets easier. We talk about why the couples doing the most work still hit mines, how ego hijacks hard conversations, why coaching hundreds of business owners doesn't automatically make you a better husband, and the one question from Jim Dethmer that can change your next fight: not "is this true," but "how is this true?" If you're pouring everything into the business while your marriage runs on leftovers, this one's for you.
Also: the studio reboot is done, we're going video-first, and the YouTube channel is catching up fast. Come watch us over there. Restoration, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, landscaping. If you build it, fix it, or maintain it, this show is for you.
Why You Should Listen:
[3:38] Why business owners' marriages are often the first thing to suffer, and why nobody talks about it.
[7:15] The Alaska trip: 10 days, one glacier, and the vacation friction every couple knows but never posts
[11:37] It gets better, not easier: the truth about deep connection after 25 years
[13:47] 30 years in December, and the back porch conversation that caught me off guard
[25:49] When the business coach gets coached at home: ego, objection handling, and learning to listen
[34:05] Jim Dethmer's question that disarms your ego mid-argument: "How is this true?"
About the Show
Head, Heart, & Boots is for the men and women who build things for a living. Restoration, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, and every blue collar trade in between. Hosts and built and scaled real companies in the restoration industry, and they have carried those hard-won lessons into every blue collar trade they work with today. Every week they dig into the head (strategy), the heart (culture and people), and the boots (execution) of running a business worth owning.