From Electrician to Business Owner: Almost Quit at 6 Months w/ Elber, Made Electric

Most electricians who start their own company know how to wire a house. What they don't know is how to run payroll, fill a pipeline, hire the right people, or say no to work that's bleeding them dry. Elber Gamboa learned all of that the hard way, and he's honest about every mistake.Elber is the owner of Made Electric in the Greater Toronto area, a residential electrical contractor specializing in custom homes and home automation. In this episode, he talks about nearly quitting in his first six months, the cold-call strategy that saved his business, why hiring the wrong personality type cost him more than any bad invoice, and how he's navigating a slow market by doubling down on high-end residential work.If you're running a trades business and trying to figure out how to actually grow it, tools like Jobtable exist to take the admin weight off so you can focus on the work that matters. 👉 Learn more at https://www.jobtable.comChapters / Timestamps00:00 – Intro + listener review02:17 – Meet Elber Gamboa and Made Electric05:07 – The difference between being good at the trade and running a business06:00 – Almost quitting at 6 months: the Facebook group story09:50 – Early marketing that actually worked: property managers, yard signs, neighbor pamphlets12:00 – Scaling to 5 employees, then back down, and what went wrong13:00 – Hiring for personality, not just skill set16:00 – Why Elber has a perfect 5-star Google rating17:30 – Niching into residential, custom homes, and home automation25:00 – How he's staying steady through a slow market27:00 – Networking events, marketing courses, and building relationships before you need them35:00 – Why software is non-negotiable for a growing trades business44:00 – The economic outlook: why maintenance work is recession-proof49:00 – Billboard question