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Research Outline

Prepared for dean | Delivered September 2, 2019

Blue Collar Entrepreneurs

Goals

In order to inform a business pitch, craft a demographic and psychographic profile of blue collar entrepreneurs including their income and education level; what kind of service they offer; the revenue or funding of the company they started; the number of years in business; number of employees; impact of their faith in their work; plans for growth; their online and media habits; what they are researching; and what they need the most for their business. If possible, focus on blue collar entrepreneurs that have started home services businesses who are open to educating other, non-traditional entrepreneurs.

Early Findings

While most information on blue collar entrepreneurs is not specific to the home services' industry, a large portion of small, blue collar businesses or independent contractors are in the home services' industry.
  • Some of the highest earning industries for blue-collar entrepreneurs include home building/improvement/maintenance (construction, roofing, flooring, painting, heating and air conditioning, etc), auto-repair, landscaping, catering, event planning, and cleaning.
  • Blue collar businesses are highly successful in the following locations: Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri; New York City, New York; Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California; Seattle-Tacoma, Washington; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
  • Many blue collar entrepreneurs own small businesses with between 1-5 employees.
  • Most blue collar entrepreneurs do not have four year college degrees; most simply have high school degrees and/or trade certifications.
  • While information on the values or faith of blue collar entrepreneurs was not readily available, there was a lot of information on blue collar workers and values/faith in general. For example, it was found that blue collar workers (and thus blue collar entrepreneurs) value honesty, practicality and loyalty. They also have a very strong work ethic and moral code. However, many blue collar workers did not mention any divine "sense of calling in their work," indicating that there may be a disconnect between their faith and their professional life.
  • Additional key traits of successful blue collar entrepreneurs include determination and a strong belief that they can succeed.
  • Some extremely successful home services blue collar entrepreneurs include Mark Stoner, owner of a mullion dollar chimney sweep business; Steven Humble, who created a million dollar hidden door and passageway business; and Ron Holt, owner of multi-million dollar business Two Maids & A Mop.