What does Brian do?Brian Harding helps entrepreneurs in service industries (like contractors, IT service providers, auto and home service businesses, etc.) learn and utilize the skills to grow a thriving business so they no longer feel overwhelmed, stuck or unsure about where to invest their most precious commodity - time.How did Brian become a Business Coach?For many years, Brian worked in corporate jobs learning skills in accounting, process improvement, marketing, sales and managing employees - in addition to many others.In 2011, Brian co-founded a service company that grew from $0 to $8MM in annual sales, and from 3 to 50 employees, in just 8 years. This business ownership journey is where Brian found his true business passion - Entrepreneurship. Along with running his own business, Brian began working with other small business owners in service industries to help them overcome challenges they were facing.While working with service industry entrepreneurs, two things became apparent. First, nearly all of the obstacles and challenges that small business owners in service industries face are similar in nature - regardless of the specific trade or craft of the business. For instance, the challenges an auto repair shop business owner will face while managing cash flow and / or employees, or overcoming that feeling that, "My business owns me," are exactly the same for business owners in entirely different service industries - like carpet cleaning or plumbing.What also became apparent is Brian's ability to reduce seemingly complex problems down to simple, specific, actionable solutions. Learning and implementing these solutions, the accompanying strategies, tactics and action items - and most importantly, the correct order in which to implement them - gives business owners the ability to make significant, measurable progress in their own business ownership journey.

The Plumbing & Drain Company was founded in April, 2011. We started out with just the three owners, a couple of service vans and big dreams. We jokingly referred to my house as 'Global Headquarters' because our office was in my living room. The three of us had over 50 years of combined experience in the industry and had a strong belief that we could provide better service for our customers and a better working environment for employees by implementing our own way of doing things.We now have roughly 50 employees and continue to deliver our promises of:* Ensuring quality workmanship* Doing what we said we would do, when we said we would do it* Charging fair prices, with no surprisesWhile we are based in Tacoma, we specialize in both commercial and residential service plumbing and drain cleaning throughout the Puget Sound area - with the bulk of our work being in Seattle and Bellevue.

As a sales manager, my role was managing the sales team and training sales and sales related activities to our entire team. I had a team of 8 salespeople and had the responsibility for all branch sales results. I had the opportunity to fine tune my sales coaching abilities with team members as well as continuing to improve my leadership and people management skills.

Served as General Manager for the Seattle branch of a national commercial and residential service plumbing company. Our branch had up to 63 employees and were doing approximately $8MM in annual revenue. My role was to oversee all P&L performance, personnel decisions, sales and sales training as well as safety performance.

In this role, I had the responsibility for all branch functions except final P&L authority. I was directly responsible for safety, training, sales and sales training, customer satisfaction and customer service, hiring and managing all staff members outside of accounting.

In this position, I was responsible for all branch commercial sales, which represented approximately $4MM annually. I was also responsible for managing the jobs that I sold and training the team to meet customers' expectations.

I began my career with an entry level position in working in the warehouse. After 5 years, I left the warehouse behind and went into management. As an Operations Supervisor and Process Improvement Coordinator, I had responsibility for up to 36 employees in a collective bargaining environment. I was also in charge of managing approximately $9MM in inventory. In this role, I gained much experience in Kaizen, Lean Thinking and pull systems, including Kan Ban methods of inventory replenishment. I was also heavily involved in the safety program, as well as employee training and operational efficiency.