Kelly King didn't build Stodtmeister Iron — he bought it. Ten years ago, he left corporate finance and operations to take over a nearly 50-year-old, family-founded metal fabrication shop in Sparks, Nevada — one that had been run almost single-handedly by its founder. Today Stodtmeister Iron operates two locations — Sparks, NV and Rancho Cordova, CA. But by his own admission, Kelly's still not fully out of the trap — still doing design work, still leading the team, still working around 70 hours a week.

What you'll hear:

- How a finance and operations exec ended up buying a metal shop he barely knew

- The moment he realized the business had zero structure — and what he did about it

- Why fixing the culture meant hiring, promoting, and letting people go on core values

- What a 70-hour week looks like when you're still doing design work and leading the team

- His honest answer to whether he's "arrived" — and what freedom would look like

- The real cost of the Owner's Trap: missing time with family and weekends

Alan assesses Stodtmeister Iron at Stage 5 — Profitability — with clear movement toward Stage 6 — Success — in his 7 Stages to Business Freedom framework.

🎙️ ABOUT ALAN MELTON

Alan Melton is the founder of Small Business Coach Associates. He's spent 24 years coaching 1,100+ business owners on marketing, sales systems, and operational clarity.

Credentials: Inc. 500 Founder — #422, East Coast Transportation | SBA Small Business Person of the Year 1994 | Florida Governor's Sterling Award 1999 | #1 Small Business Coach, Life Coach Magazine 2026 | #1 Business Coach Blog, Feedspot 2026.

📅 Free strategy session: smallbusinesscoach.org | 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

📌 CONNECT WITH KELLY KING & STODTMEISTER IRON

🌐 stodtmeisteriron.com | 📧 info@stodtmeisteriron.com | 📞 (775) 358-9455 | 💼 linkedin.com/in/kellydk68

📍 Sparks, NV and Rancho Cordova, CA

📌 CONNECT WITH ALAN MELTON

🌐 smallbusinesscoach.org | 📺 youtube.com/@BeyondTheOwnersTrap | 💼 linkedin.com/in/alanmelton

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

1:57 — Cold open: a business that can't run without you

3:45 — Buying a 47-year-old metal shop he knew nothing about

6:53 — "There wasn't any structure at all"

11:08 — A day in the life: shop floor to design desk, 70 hrs/week

14:12 — Fixing the culture: hiring — and firing — on core values

18:16 — "Culture eats strategy for lunch"

20:25 — What "arrived" would actually look like

23:32 — The real cost: missing family time and weekends

26:10 — Stage Check: Alan's 7 Stages diagnosis

29:08 — Wrap-up: the invitation to viewers

31:18 — The close: where to find Kelly and Stodtmeister Iron

#OwnersTrap #SmallBusinessOwner #TradesBusiness #BusinessCulture #Leadership #FamilyBusiness #MetalFabrication #ConstructionIndustry

🎧 Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and Amazon Music.

Betty Mooney didn't just inherit a business — she inherited a legacy. When her father and founder, Roberto, passed away in 2019, Betty stepped from the CFO's chair into the President's seat at Brick Restoration, the family masonry company he built one repair at a time in Houston back in 1993. Since then, she's grown Brick Restoration into a three-location operation with more than 20,000 completed projects, recognized as Texas's number one masonry contractor — opening a brand-new Dallas-Fort Worth market in the middle of a pandemic, and leading her team through the hardest loss of her career.

What you'll hear:

• How her father's invention-driven mindset turned a trowel and a bucket into a 30-year family business
• What it took to step into the President's chair after losing her dad
• The pandemic-era decision that took Brick Restoration into a second Texas market
• The hardest season of Betty's career — and how her team carried each other through it
• Why she's now focused on building out her leadership bench, not just her own processes
• Alan's live Stage Check on where Betty stands in the 7 Stages to Business Freedom

Alan Melton is the founder of Small Business Coach Associates. He's coached 1,100+ business owners on marketing, sales systems, and operational clarity. Credentials: Inc. 500 founder (#422) | SBA Small Business Person of the Year, 1994 | Florida Governor's Sterling Award, 1999 | #1 Small Business Coach, Life Coach Magazine 2026. Free strategy session: smallbusinesscoach.org | Subscribe for new episodes.

Real small business owners on what it takes to grow. Hosted by Alan Melton.

Connect with Betty Mooney & Brick Restoration: brickrestoration.com | linkedin.com/in/betty-mooney-70056513 | Houston & Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

Connect with Alan Melton: smallbusinesscoach.org | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmelton/

Timestamps:
06:03 – What the Owner's Trap really is
08:04 – Growing up around her father's invention-driven masonry business
17:57 – The season her father was diagnosed, and what that meant for the business
20:21 – Losing a longtime employee — the hardest season of Betty's career
24:08 – How her father's passing gave her room to finally lead
28:02 – The pandemic decision to open a second market in Dallas-Fort Worth
35:43 – Why she's building her leadership bench, not just her own skill set
39:56 – The Stage Check: where Betty stands in the 7 Stages to Business Freedom

#FamilyBusiness #MasonryContractor #BusinessLeadership #SmallBusinessOwner #TexasBusiness #OwnersTrap

Beth Bradley grew Dance Without Limits from 30 students in one room to the largest dance studio by student volume in the Upstate of South Carolina, without a paid advertising budget. Using a Google 3-Pack strategy, community press, guerrilla marketing, and a coaching partnership that helped her stop being the best teacher and start being the CEO, she built a studio with 800-plus students, two locations in Greenville and Simpsonville, 19 employees, and 110 weekly classes.

In 2026, Beth was named the SC Women in Business Award winner, featured in Greenville Business Magazine, and is a past Business Resilience Award winner from the Greenville Chamber for keeping the studio alive through COVID.

SC Women in Business Award 2026:

https://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/stories/2026-sc-women-in-business-awards-98,42525

In this episode, Alan Melton, who has coached Beth for 8 years, reveals the marketing strategies behind her growth: the Google 3-Pack strategy that replaced paid ads, the press releases that brought a TV news crew to her door, and how learning to delegate freed her to grow the business.

What you'll hear:

Why the dance industry said her non-competitive model couldn't work

The Google 3-Pack strategy that drove enrollment without a paid ad budget

COVID: from 350 students to 99, and the rebuild to 800-plus

Where Alan places Beth on his 7 Stages to Business Freedom framework

If you've grown through word of mouth but haven't cracked the code on marketing, Beth's story is a masterclass in low-budget, high-impact growth.

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ABOUT ALAN MELTON & SMALL BUSINESS COACH ASSOCIATES

Alan Melton is the founder of Small Business Coach Associates. He's coached 1,100+ business owners on marketing, sales systems, and operational clarity.

Credentials: Inc. 500 founder (#422) | SBA Small Business Person of the Year, 1994 | Florida Governor's Sterling Award, 1999 | #1 Small Business Coach, Life Coach Magazine 2026

Free strategy session: smallbusinesscoach.org | Subscribe for new episodes.

─────────────────────

ABOUT BEYOND THE OWNER'S TRAP

Real small business owners on what it takes to grow. Hosted by Alan Melton.

─────────────────────

CONNECT WITH BETH BRADLEY

dancewithoutlimits.co

Facebook: Dance Without Limits | Instagram: @danceNolimits

Greenville, SC and Simpsonville, SC

─────────────────────

CONNECT WITH ALAN MELTON

smallbusinesscoach.org

LinkedIn: Alan Melton | YouTube: Beyond the Owner's Trap

─────────────────────

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
3:03 Meet Beth
16:00 Google 3-Pack strategy

18:01 COVID hits
21:02 350 to 99 students
31:57 Chaos to freedom

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#DanceWithoutLimits #SmallBusinessMarketing #WomenInBusiness #BeyondTheOwnersTrap #SmallBusinessCoach

Sean Schmitt and Alexander Johns started A&S Construction in 2021 with $5,000 and two newborns at home, pivoting from currency exchange in the middle of COVID. Four years later: 2026 Inc. 5000 list, revenue approaching $9 million, a team of 20+, and a 2026 Best Culture Award.

Alan Melton sits down with Sean and Alex to talk about what it actually cost them to build A&S Construction — the 100-hour weeks, the newborns at home, the co-founder tension, the heartbreak of being taken advantage of, and the turning points that changed everything.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Pivoting to construction with $5,000 and a vision for $10 million
• What 100-hour weeks with newborns at home actually felt like
• Being taken advantage of — and how they chose to respond
• The personal SWOT that ended the co-founder tension
• The $4,000/month digital marketer they almost hired
• Going from $4.4 million to $9 million in two years
• Why the Culture Award means more to Sean than the Inc. 5000
• What Sean wants his kids to see in what he and Alex built

Whether you're a construction business owner, a co-founder navigating partnership tension, or an owner working around the clock wondering if it's worth it — this episode is for you.

🎙️ ABOUT BEYOND THE OWNER'S TRAP

Hosted by Alan Melton, founder of Small Business Coach Associates, 24-year coaching veteran and advisor to 1,100+ small business owners. Real owners share the unfiltered truth about what worked, what broke, and the difference between owning a business and being owned by one.

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

📌 CONNECT WITH SEAN & ALEX

🌐 Website: www.ascoflouisville.com

📞 Phone: 502-614-5050

📱 Facebook | Instagram | YouTube: A&S Construction of Louisville

📌 CONNECT WITH ALAN MELTON

🌐 Website: smallbusinesscoach.org

📅 Book a free strategy session: smallbusinesscoach.org

💼 LinkedIn: Alan Melton

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

1:17 Meet Sean Schmitt & Alexander Johns

3:58 COVID pivot from currency exchange

6:46 Newborns and 100-hour weeks

7:36 What they thought owning a business meant

10:37 The hardest point: 4am starts and betrayal

12:25 Co-founder tension at 18 months in

13:19 Cracking $1M in year one

17:30 Reaching out to Alan in 2022

19:30 The $4,000/month marketer they almost hired

22:30 The personal SWOT: roles get defined

26:30 Finding the right-hand person and letting go

29:30 $4.4M to $9M: what drove the growth

34:23 What are you still holding onto?

36:53 What Sean wants his kids to see

38:58 Alan's reflection on their journey

41:36 Best Culture Award & Top Trex Builder in Kentucky

43:20 Episode wrap-up

📺 ALSO AVAILABLE ON

🌐 smallbusinesscoach.org/podcast

#BeyondTheOwnersTrap #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Inc5000 #Construction #BusinessCoach #CoFounder

Chris Sherwin is a full-time Chicago police officer who built USIA — Ultimate Security and Investigations of America — from $3M to $9M in 10 months while living 1,300 miles from his business. In 2026, USIA landed on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies.

USIA is a law enforcement-owned private security firm specializing in executive protection, corporate security, and risk mitigation. Chris built the business from a $10,000 line of credit while working full-time on a K9 unit. In this episode, he opens up about the promise he made his wife when he traded a corporate career for a badge, the moment he realized he was the bottleneck in his own company, and what it actually took to let go.

This is a real conversation about escaping the owner's trap: admitting you're the problem, building a team you can trust, and keeping a promise even when it's uncomfortable. Connect with Chris and USIA at usaprivatesecurity.com.

Subscribe and leave a review — it helps other owners find this show.

Alicia Klausmeier built Dream Accounting Advisory as a solo bookkeeper in 2018, and she's felt the owner's trap firsthand more than once — including a stretch during COVID homeschooling two young kids all day and closing the books until 2 a.m. On this episode, Alicia shares how she learned to delegate, set real boundaries, and build a team she trusts enough to actually take a vacation, and why growth keeps pulling her back into the day-to-day even now. She and Alan dig into the difference between owners who know their numbers and owners who understand them, the financial blind spots that keep businesses working harder without growing, and the handful of metrics — cash runway, gross margin, receivables — every owner should check weekly, not just at tax time. Alicia also walks through a real client turnaround: a compensation-structure fix that took a business from losing money every month to profitable within three months.

If you've ever looked at your financials and felt more confused than informed, this conversation on breaking free from the owner's trap will change how you look at your numbers.

Connect with Alicia:

Dream Accounting Advisory - https://dreamaccountingadvisory.com/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-klausmeier/

Subscribe to Beyond the Owner's Trap so you don't miss the next conversation with an owner who's been there.