There’s a moment almost every trade business owner will face: the realization that the company you built can’t keep growing if you stay in the field.

That’s the moment Hope for the Trades founder Nate Agentis writes about in his latest article, published by PHCP Pros. The piece, titled “From Plumber to Leader: Shifting Your Role as Your Business Grows,” is a must-read for any owner in the trades industry navigating that difficult transition from technician to leader.

Growing a Trades Business by Leading from the Front

In the article, Nate reflects on his personal journey from working on service calls every day to stepping back and learning how to lead a growing team. He opens with a vulnerable truth: that stepping away from the truck wasn’t easy. Learning what to let go is hard. It was emotional, uncomfortable, and even disorienting at times. For years, the truck was where he felt most confident and in control. But as his business grew, he had to admit that doing it all himself was holding the company back.

If you’ve ever thought, “It’s just easier if I do it myself,” then you’re not alone. Nate talks about that exact mindset and how it can quietly become a ceiling for your growth.

This is one of the most powerful takeaways from his piece: leadership isn’t just about having more responsibility or working longer hours. It’s about learning how to trust others, create systems, and develop a team that can carry the mission forward, without you having to touch every task.

Leadership Is the First Step to Sustainable Trades Business Growth

As Nate explains, one of the most essential (and most neglected) leadership skills in the trades is delegation. It’s not that trade professionals don’t have the talent or intelligence to lead. They just haven’t had to teach what they do. They’ve built careers on solving problems with their own hands, not guiding others to do it for them.

In the PHCP Pros article, Nate shares a simple exercise that can help business owners start identifying what to delegate. It’s not a fancy tool or expensive software, it’s just a piece of paper. Write down every task you handle in a day that someone else on your team could be doing. Scheduling meetings. Answering calls. Following up on quotes. The list builds fast, and it starts to reveal where your time is being drained.

Delegating these tasks doesn’t mean giving up control. It means creating space to lead, think, and grow your business intentionally.

Delegation: The Key to Scaling Your Service Company

One of the most relatable parts of the article is where Nate compares the emotional reward of field work to leadership. He writes: “It’s like cutting your lawn… at the end of all your hard work, you look back and can say, ‘Wow. I DID THAT!’” But leading a company is more like planting seeds and waiting for them to grow. You don’t see immediate results and that can be discouraging.

That’s why, as Nate points out, so many owners burn out. They lose their health, their balance, and sometimes even the joy they once had in the trade. The fix isn’t a new marketing strategy or better CRM. It’s committing to staying physically and mentally healthy, even as the business demands more from you.

This message aligns powerfully with the mission of Hope for the Trades: to support trades professionals not just in building profitable businesses, but in creating lives they’re proud of and giving back in ways that create lasting impact.

Avoiding Burnout While Building a Stronger Business

This article is a great example of what we aim to share more of at Hope for the Trades: honest conversations about growth, leadership, and what really matters when you're trying to build something that lasts.

Whether you're a seasoned contractor or just now starting to grow your first crew, Nate's article will challenge and encourage you to think about your role differently.

You can read the full article on PHCP Pros Online Magaznie here: From Plumber to Leader: Shifting Your Role as Your Business Grows

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