Career Experience – Steve Shinholser started working in construction in 1980 after he graduated from the University of Maryland. He’s the first to admit that money motivated him to start his pool business, which he ran from 1980-1995 and grew to a $12 million company. From 2000-2020, he owned a $1.6 million pond company, and he sold both of those companies for millions and became a millionaire by 30. 

His Struggles – Steve came from a very poor mindset – a scarcity mindset – which many people can relate to. He suffers from imposter syndrome, meaning that no matter how successful he was, he never quite felt like he measured up. 

What Qualifies Steve to be a Coach? – Steve is a great coach because he knows his numbers, he understands people and he knows how to treat them, and he knows how to build a team. 

He says that if he can make it, so can you. Get your head out of the sand.

Personal Life – Steve lives in Maryland, and he loves to hike, dance, bike, and coach. He has four kids, but he claims that he treats his two beautiful dogs better than he ever treated the kids.

His Career – In 1996, Derek decided that he wanted to be his own boss in the construction industry. For 19 years, he did the same things and got the same mediocre results. But seven years ago, he found Steve Shinholser and Tom Reber and went from having less than $3,000 in the bank to becoming a millionaire in five years. Now, he’s a coach in The Contractor Fight. 

His Struggles – Derek’s implemented the bad habits of contractors that surrounded him in the past. He was once told that he was quite oblivious to just how bad those habits were, and just knowing that was helpful.  Now, Derek has developed good habits of his own that he shares with others. 

What Qualifies Derek to be a Coach? – Derek failed in his business for 19 years, then decided that he needed a business coach. He knows what it feels like to fail, and what it feels like to need someone to pull you up and out. 

Derek’s Personal Life – Derek lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Erin, and their four children.

Career Experience – On March 10, 1989, Greg’s dad came into the house, took a shower, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed out the door with Greg in tow to head to a construction site. Greg remembers this day like it was yesterday – because it foreshadowed the rest of his life. In 2002, after receiving a degree in business management with a minor in computer science, he took the career path that his father introduced to him at an early age. 

Greg isn’t blessed with any carpentry, painting, deck-building, plumbing, electrical, or HVAC skills, but he does have quite the eye for detail. He claims that his eye for detail is just as strong as his ability to turn any situation into a completely inappropriate one. 

His Struggles – Greg has messed up more than most people because he’s willing to fail in order to learn – he’s stubborn, so he sticks with something until it works. He learns through experience, and he can only learn from experiences that he himself has lived. He has succeeded because of his persistence to be better, and he’ll never stop. 

What Qualifies Greg to be a Coach? – If Guinness had a record for being stubborn and messing things up, Greg’s picture would be there with a gnarly smile. 

He lives by the mantra: “I always have to try it myself.” His experiences come from real life, not from a book. (He keeps trying to get his wife to buy into this mantra too, but so far he’s been unsuccessful.) 

Greg wants to help others to avoid going down some of the paths that he once found himself going down. He says: “You have greatness in you. My goal is to find out where it’s hidden, and let you rediscover it.” 

Private Life – Born in 1980, Greg is married to a truly remarkable woman, and he questions her mental state every day because she’s still married to him. The two of them are the parents of three amazing little people – so amazing, Greg jokes, that he’s not 100% sure if they’re his.

Career Experience – Tim began his career in 1984, in the automotive service industry, and he retired in 2021. Over the years, the positions he held included platinum technician, foreman, crew leader, service writer, and service manager. 

He operated his own auto repair shop part-time between 1988-2011, and in 2012, he started working part-time building ponds and water features with his son. In 2015, he joined the CSA group and learned how to sell and what to charge. In 2019, he started a partnership in the pond business with his son. He is now 100% responsible for sales and business management for that business.

His Struggles –Tim grew up in a lower-middle class family where money was never talked about openly. He always thought that a pocket full of cash and a nice car indicated success. 

He spent much of his childhood isolating himself because he refused to conform. And when he wasn’t isolating himself, he was acting out. His self-esteem was low, and he didn’t want to be around other people because he thought they would see him as stupid, and he wouldn’t be liked. He wasn’t good at sports, didn’t do well in school, and always thought that there was something wrong with him. 

His parents didn’t know how to show their love; he is the son of a gambler, and Tim is an alcoholic himself.

What Qualifies Tim to be a Coach? – Tim ran an unsuccessful business for over five years. He knows how it feels to fail – and not only that but to fail and then deny that it was his fault. He learned through experience that working harder won’t always fix things. That’s why he’s able to educate others on how to build a sustainable and profitable business. 

Because of his time in the CSA, Tim understands and can identify what a salesperson should and shouldn’t be, and what a healthy business needs. He knows how to turn things around – he took his pond business that was bleeding money and created a business he and his son are proud of. 

As a coach, Tim will always be able to empathize with others’ struggles, no matter where they are in their business. Throughout his life, he’s proven time and time again that he’s capable of helping people become better spouses, parents, children, and business owners.

Personal Life – Tim is from Massachusetts and has been married for 36 years, which is an accomplishment in itself. He has two beautiful daughters and an army combat veteran for a son – his children are kids that any father would be honored to have. They have blessed him with nine grandbabies. 

Tim used to be a workaholic and didn’t have much free time for hobbies, or for his family. But his life isn’t like that anymore. One of Tim’s favorite things to do is going on walks with his grandchildren. They can often be found tossing rocks into a nearby stream and whispering wishes to the stones. More often than not, he hears the kids wishing that they were mermaids.

Career Experience – Dan began Sherwood Painting in 2005, even though he barely knew a thing about the industry. All he knew was that there was a high demand for houses to be painted because New England weather makes the paint come off.  So, he reverted to what he knew from growing up in a real estate family: housing and how to monetize the emotions of homeownership. 

A contractor buddy gave him a 30-minute crash course in selling painting jobs, he dropped $20k on marketing and hired a crew once he started bringing in business.

His Struggles – Dan is the middle child, and as he grew up, his older and younger brother were very sick. He developed survivor’s guilt because of this, and he felt greedy about utilizing simple blessings like his health, athleticism, business, family, and success. He never felt worthy to pursue his potential. 

He also had huge social anxiety when he worked in sales, and he had limited networking success because of it. Tim has been able to overcome this hurdle by speaking at Mile High-Profit Summit, getting on camera, and doing podcasts with The Contractor Fight.

What Qualifies Dan to be a Coach? – Dan’s superpower with members is that he’s relatable and authentic. No doubt, he’s already broken the trail that they’re currently on. His experience comes from a myriad of good and bad experiences with the business, and being coached. 

Seven years of CSA and Reber coaching exposed him to the most effective practices, but more importantly, it exposed him to an intimate understanding of the thoughts that go through members’ heads. He speaks to them with raw honesty, from the trenches, about his own failings rather than speaking to them from a pedestal.

Personal Life –Dan has been married for 31 years and has two sons, ages 16 and 19. He and his family live along the coast of Massachusetts, and he loves the water, woods, and spending time at the family place in Maine. When he has free time, you can find him on the beach, boating, hiking, or mountain biking. He also loves to unleash his inner hooligan by shooting guns and jumping on anything with a throttle. 

He has a three-year-old German Shepherd named Hank, and a two-year-old Malinois named Cray-Cray.

Career Experience –

His Struggles –

What Qualifies Neil to be a Coach? –

Private Life –

Career Experience – Nicole began in the construction industry in January 2021, and she hasn’t looked back. She has a background in sales, business development, and philanthropy.

Her Struggles –The first step that Nicole took to get where she is today involved figuring out who she really is, and what she really wants. She had to learn how to understand her value and lose the scarcity mindset. Becoming a part of The Contractor Fight family has changed every aspect of her life.

What Qualifies Nicole to be a Coach? – Nicole’s education, life experiences, commitment to personal development and growth, and excellent communication skills make her the perfect relationship manager.

Personal Life – Nicole is a Christian who lives outside Houston with her twin daughters. She enjoys nature and water sports, and she’s committed to her health and self-development.

Career Experience – Ros has deck builders, flooring contractors, and framers in her immediate family, and she has worked virtually as a business administrator since 2006. In the past, she’s also worked in law enforcement as a dispatcher, and in the film industry as a producer’s assistant.

Her Struggles – She survived childhood through the feast and famine cycle of growing up in a home led by a contractor parent. She’s an immigrant who arrived in the States in 2006 with a single backpack, and she and her family started over from scratch with nothing. 

Ros has taken major risks in her life, and she lives by the quote, “A boat is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what boats are built for.”

Personal Life –Ros Adcock lives on the Texas coast with her husband, Roddy, and their one wild boy, Ruan. As a family, they enjoy traveling, drinking champagne (AKA sparkling apple juice), and having dance parties in the living room.

Career Experience –Although Lindsey doesn’t have any ‘real’ industry experience, she began helping her husband, Dane,  with his handyman company by answering phones in 2018. They had just had their third child, and throughout the joy and stress, they noticed how difficult it was for Dane to be the ‘jack of all trades.’ Instead, they decided he should focus solely on exterior wood staining, which he loved. 

In 2019, Lindsey and Dane started Stain & Seal of Fort Worth and ran it alongside the handyman company, until it all became too much to bear. In the fall of 2020, they cut the cord because juggling two businesses at once just wasn’t doable.

Her Struggles – In the past, Lindsey has had a hard time believing in herself and understanding that her voice matters. Throughout her life, she’s had insecurities when it comes to speaking up because she was afraid to be wrong, and have her thoughts and opinions judged. 

She’s always been one to strive for perfection – she was a consistent honor roll student and her name could always be found on the Dean’s List. It took some time for her to realize that there’s no such thing as perfection in an imperfect world. By constantly yearning for perfection, she was chasing the impossible. 

To this day, she’s still a work in progress, but she’s finding her voice by surrounding herself with people who are not quick to judge, and who appreciate her for the person she is.

Lindsey’s Words of Wisdom – Throughout her career and partnership with her husband, Lindsey has learned that being a small businesses owner and/or contractor takes guts. It involves hard work, determination, and focus. She realizes that she would have never been able to do it on her own because she’s too calculated, and tends to stay on the safe side of things. When she joined this area of business with her husband, it allowed her to see her areas of weakness in a new light and become more comfortable taking risks.

She notes that having a spouse as your business partner is both challenging and rewarding. To do things right, you should understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and you have to know when it’s time to let things go. 

It’s easy to mess up the work/life balance. You can lose your sense as a couple as you place the majority of your focus on growing the business. You have to learn how to support each other through the hard times and know what triggers stress for the other. When you learn those things, you’ll be able to offer the best support not only for your partner in business but for your partner in life.

Personal Life – Lindsey is married to Dane Kirchner, and they have three wonderful kids and a black lab named Woodrow. They live in North Texas, DFW Metroplex, and they love spending time outdoors as a family. This summer, Lindsey is hoping to take some adventures with her husband and kids that involve hiking, kayaking, and exploring. 

She also likes to flex her creative muscles by making handmade cards.

Career Experience – Amy has worked in a multitude of different industries, including telecommunication, insurance, print and distribution, education, financial services, and behavioral assessments.

Her Struggles – As a child, Amy was very shy — so shy that she didn’t speak until she was four years old, because she knew that others would jump in and talk for her. 

She didn’t pursue a degree in education because she thought all teachers needed to have neat handwriting and know all the answers, two boxes that she didn’t check. 

She’s spent a lot of her career trying to justify herself and prove her worth because she’s always looked younger than she actually is.

What Qualifies Amy to be a Coach? – Amy is an experienced facilitator, instructional designer, and coach with over 25 years of experience. She is passionate about lifelong learning and helping others reach their full potential. 

She has certified hundreds of professionals in the use of the Extended DISC Individual, Work Pair, and Team Assessments. She conducts onsite training for organizations and one-on-one coaching for Extended DISC clients. 

Besides facilitating and coaching, she also develops curricula and assessments.

Personal Life – Amy lives in Spring, Texas with her husband, their 11-year-old son, and their 1-year-old puppy. As a family, they enjoy taking walks with Loki, their Maltipoo. Before COVID, they loved traveling internationally, and in Amy’s free time she enjoys reading and crocheting.

Career Experience – In 2015, Christopher created a company that contracts with homeowners to project the financial profitability of, redesigning, marketing, and expertly managing vacation rental properties in Colorado. Working as an independent consultant and manager, and hiring teams of home remodeling, maintenance, and cleaning contractors, gave him tremendous insight into the direct link between how company leaders think and their level of success in business. 

He worked in the nonprofit management and fundraising realm for 20 years and operated his own management company for 5 years. Then, in 2019, Christopher became a mindset coach for contractors.

His Struggles – When Christopher left the nonprofit fundraising world and stopped identifying with work and achievement, he struggled to reinvent himself. If he had been able to trust himself and let go, the transition could have been short and easy. But instead, it dragged on over the course of five years. It consumed his confidence, almost destroyed his marriage, and put him on the brink of financial ruin. 

However, the protracted crash was an enormous gift that remains a source of inspiration and wisdom for Christopher to this day. He is more present, accepting, compassionate, successful, and impactful now than he could ever have been without it.

What Qualifies Christopher to be a Coach? – Christopher’s coaching is influenced by years of training and practice in somatic psychology, theta healing, meditation, and yoga. He is a huge believer in human potential and the power of using everyday experiences as tools for personal transformation. 

He is walking the same life and business walk that his contractor clients are. He also has the knowledge, experience, and perspective that helps them access the incredible potential lying underneath their ordinary awareness, unexamined assumptions, and head trash. 

Christopher says that most contractors he meets have very little idea of the depth of their own gifts and the power they have through their work to affect change in other people’s lives. At the root, a home improvement contractor is a creator of worlds and an uplifter of the human experience. 

The more a contractor knows this at the core of their being, the more likely they are to lead a fulfilling, joyful life, and the more likely it is that their company will be a profitable source for good.

Personal Life – Christopher is a nature-loving Coloradan who was raised in a family with four biological brothers and a litany of American, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Hispanic foster siblings. He is a devoted husband and a proud father of one daughter.

Career Experience –Gina’s started a bookkeeping service and with three years, she was doing bookkeeping for a dozen contractors. Her first gig was a volunteer position with a non-profit when she was a senior in high school, and from there, in corporate America, she always had a part-time bookkeeping job. 

She worked in her first CPA firm in 2001 and saw how poorly the small business owners were treated, so she started her own business in the summer of 2002.

Her Struggles –Gina grew up with an abusive father, so the struggles that she was forced to overcome were not her fault. She always felt that luxury was above her because she was constantly living with relatives and only had a few sets of hand-me-down clothes. 

When she was young, her family moved around a lot, and she was always the new girl in school. It was hard for her to talk in a group or make friends, and as she was growing up, she was told she could never be anything more than a housewife and a mother. She didn’t get much support from anywhere. 

She was kicked out of the house when she was 20 years old, and her parents were sure she would come crawling back – but that didn’t happen. Instead, she started her business and worked four part-time jobs to keep a roof over her head. Her family thought that she was crazy. 

For the first ten years of being in business, her husband didn’t support her, and the stress only became heavier when her son was diagnosed with autism. But while his autism diagnosis presented many challenges, it helped her learn how to use her voice in order to advocate for her son as somewhat of a single mother when her husband was deployed. 

After all this, she knows that she’s strong and resilient.

Career Experience – Karalynn has been working in construction for over 19 years. At 16, she took a job doing administrative work at her uncle’s subcontracting business. Before she graduated from law school, she started a material supply company with her husband. Because of everything they encountered while owning that business, she became interested in construction law in 2004 and opened her own practice in 2006.

Her Struggles – From ages 8-16, Karalynn lived in an abusive household. When she was 16, she stood up to the bully, her stepdad, and she and her mom and siblings left. Because they were on their own, Karalynn had to start working as a teenager to support her family. 

Through perseverance, she became the first person in her family to graduate college. She put herself through law school and entered two industries where she had to fight tooth and nail to be seen as equal: Law and construction. 

Now, she’s proud to be a highly-regarded contributor in both industries. She could not have gotten to where she is today without all of her grit and passion.

What Qualifies Karalynn to be a Coach? – Over the years, she has worked in, started, and run multiple construction industry-related businesses. She has the unique perspective of both a lawyer and construction professional. 

She has been in the shoes of those who need help. She remembers working extremely long hours and sometimes going without a paycheck just to keep her family’s construction business afloat. But she’s turned that sob story around, having grown her family’s construction business into a 25-million dollar business by following the same legal and collection best practices that her law firm provides to contractors nationwide. 

Her education and specialties make her especially qualified to relate to and amplify construction professionals today.

Personal Life – Karalynn lives in Houston, Texas, where her practice is based, and she’s the proud mom of three awesome girls. She loves to read, write, and spend time with her family. 

Karalynn is also a two-time Amazon best-selling author of the contractor education books, Quit Getting Screwed: Understanding & Negotiating the Subcontract, and Quit Getting Stiffed: A Texas Contractor’s Guide to Liens and Collections. She’s also the host of the “Quit Getting Screwed” podcast, a construction education podcast. And lastly, she’s the founder of the nationwide contractor education platform, “The Subcontractor Institute.”

Career Experience –Suhaiba joined the ‘family business’ in 2005, and ever since then she has been managing it. The family business is a residential painting company in the suburbs of Philadelphia, with an average of 35 men in the field, and $5 million in revenue per year. 

She has worked for the family business for 17 years now, on the marketing and administrative side of the residential painting industry. Alongside that, she has spent 12 years on the board of the PCA Residential Forum and the AST conference planning committee. She also served as president and was a presenter in some capacity at AST for all the years she was involved. 

Lastly, Suhaiba founded and launched The Full Circle Business in 2020 to help fellow contractors increase their productivity. She did this by teaching them how to add systems and processes to run their day-to-day operations more efficiently.

Her Struggles – Suhaiba struggled to overcome self-doubt. She had to learn that what she has to offer holds value to those who she aims to help. As a lifelong student herself, she knows that there is always more to learn, but she has finally come to realize that what she already knows is enough to be helpful to her peers.

What Qualifies Suhaiba to be a Coach? – Suhaiba has years and years of experience in managing growth and “step changes.” She and the family business have had their ups and downs, but once she discovered that systems and processes were her sweet spot, she was able to create and implement them to promote consistency within the business. She’s confident she can do the same for those she coaches.

Personal Life – Suhaiba was born, raised, and still resides to this day in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She is the lucky mother of one amazing daughter who is headed off to college next year – a very bittersweet feeling! 

Suhaiba’s first career choice was to be a veterinarian – she is a big dog lover, and at the moment she has three of them at home. 

She loves to read, and she’s a writer as well. She also loves to travel, and she and her daughter are on a mission to visit all 50 states. Her daughter has 20 left to go, and Suhaiba only has ten!

Career Experience – From a young age, Sunny helped his dad on job sites., but he officially started in the family business full-time in 2001. 

In 2005, when Sunny was 26 years old, he started his first company. Unfortunately, by the time he was 30, he lost it all when a client bilked them out of half a million dollars. 

From 2010 to 2015, he consulted and helped to scale two subcontracting companies. One of those relationships spawned his current company that he started with a partner.  In 2017, he bought out his partner and took full control, to implement their growth plan. Since then, he’s built Pinhero Construction with an amazing team and has grown scalable, sustainable, and to over eight figures in six years.

His Struggles – For Sunny, leadership has always been a struggle. He’s always counted on his own capabilities to help him succeed instead of delegating tasks. It has taken years to learn how to influence and lead others, and rely less on himself alone.

What Qualifies Sunny to be a Coach? – Sunny loves business and loves helping people. He has experience and knowledge surrounding growing and failing, around knowing what works and what doesn’t. 

He thrives on planning, strategy, and overall business development, and is able to help other people thrive as well.

Personal Life – Sunny lives with his wife, Jodi, and their two daughters in Southern California. He and his family find as much time as they can to go off-roading in the desert, skiing, and hiking in the mountains.