How I Built a $1M Business With ZERO Degree, Experience, or Money

Dropping Bombs

Brad Lea

Business, Bradlea, Success, Mentor, Coach, Advice, Money, Strategy, Training, Entrepreneurship, Therealbradlea, Entrepreneur, Comedy

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/

Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/

In this raw Dropping Bombs episode, Justin Georgopoulos—founder of Trade Launch—shows how he went from butcher-shop shifts to a $6M+ painting company and a seven-figure-a-month GC by 27. He hands you the blueprint most contractors ignore: own demand with simple ads + door-knocking, present quotes at the kitchen table (not by email), price with production standards, and use AI renderings on the spot so buyers see the result and say yes. Most contractors lose deals by emailing quotes. This is how you stop working in the business and start running an asset built on sales, systems, and discipline.

Then he gets ruthless about scale: train estimators who close $2–4M/yr, stack selfie-style Facebook ads with canvassing, pre-qual hard, and run tight SOPs/KPIs so jobs deliver without you. You’re not a roofer, painter, or GC—you’re a sales & marketing machine that happens to build world-class work. If you’re stuck on the tools, this is your wake-up call to leverage AI, own the demand, build the machine, and cash out big.

🔗 Resources

🌐 Trade Launch — https://tradelaunch.com

🎟 Free Training — https://go.tradelaunch.com

▶️ YouTube: @officialtradelaunch — https://www.youtube.com/@officialtradelaunch

👥 Skool Community — https://www.skool.com/contractorgrowth/

📖 Book Recommendations: The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino (https://a.co/d/35fGZjg) & Hard Times Create Strong Men by Stefan Aarnio (https://a.co/d/f4DxAz6)

📲 Follow Justin on Instagram: @justin.georgopoulos (https://www.instagram.com/justin.georgopoulos)

Watch the full-length video version of any Dropping Bombs episode here on YouTube.

Brad Lea is a self-made entrepreneur who turned small-town grit into a multi-million-dollar empire. With over 25 years dominating sales and leadership, he’s mentored thousands to outsmart, outwork, and out win their competition. His top-rated podcast, Dropping Bombs, brings raw, game-changing insights from the biggest names in business.

LightSpeed VT is Brad’s brainchild—the world’s leading interactive training platform. It’s built to make your team sharper, faster, and more effective, without wasting time or money. Whether you’re a startup or a Fortune 500, LightSpeed VT is how you scale success and dominate your industry. Curious? Check it out:

https://www.lightspeedvt.com/

Brad’s also behind Closer School, the go-to program for mastering sales and closing deals like a pro. Want to 10x your income? This is where you start. His book, The Hard Way, lays out the brutal, honest lessons he learned building his empire—your blueprint to winning the game. Get it here: https://bradlea.com/product/the-hard-way/

This isn’t just a video. It’s a wake-up call. Watch it. Share it. Act on it.

Closer School: https://www.closerschool.com/cs

Transcript

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0:00.0	You don't have to have a degree.
0:01.0	You don't need to be smart.
0:02.0	You don't need to know how to spell entrepreneur.
0:03.0	That was broke.
0:04.0	I was knocking on doors.
0:05.0	Years later, we built the company.
0:06.0	We're doing about $6 million in the painting business.
0:07.0	The GC's getting to about a million dollars a month.
0:09.0	And we're helping other contractors now do the same thing.
0:11.0	The blue collar guys, they're building the world right now. as the AI keeps doing what it's going to do, the trades are actually going to be in more demand,
0:16.6	because you're not kind of a robot painting the house.
0:18.1	Good thing about the trades is you get a deposit when you sell, so you don't have any money either.
0:21.3	But you almost got me wanting to freaking a robot painting the house. The good thing about the trades is you get a deposit when you sell. So you don't have any money either.
0:21.4	But you almost got me wanting to freaking go get in the trades.
0:27.6	What it is, Bradley, back again with another episode of dropping bombs today in the studio.
0:32.9	Folks, as always got a real treat for you Justin Georgopolis in the house.
0:38.3	What is that like a Greek name?
0:40.8	That is Greek from Sparta.
0:42.3	Georgeopolis.
0:43.3	Yeah.
0:44.3	Folks, if you guys don't know this dude, you can follow them on Instagram.
0:47.3	Justin dot Georgeopoulos sounds just like it spelled almost.
	...

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