Why This Matters to Distributors: By showcasing entrepreneurs who turned trade school education into thriving companies, the series aims to elevate careers in the skilled trades and strengthen the pipeline of future contractor businesses.
Distribution Strategy Group announced June 24 the launch of Trade School Millionaires, a new video and podcast series that will profile trade school graduates who built successful businesses after beginning their careers in the skilled trades.
DSG co-founder Ian Heller introduced the series during the second day of the company’s Applied AI for Distributors conference at the Marriott Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois.
Carrying the tagline, “You built the skill. Now build the wealth,” the series will feature entrepreneurs who chose trade school over a traditional four-year college degree and went on to build profitable contracting and skilled trades companies. Each episode will explore how guests transformed technical expertise into successful businesses while sharing the lessons they learned along the way.
Beyond each entrepreneur’s personal story, the series will examine the fundamentals of building and growing a business, including marketing, banking, accounting, recruiting, and retaining employees, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, and the growing role artificial intelligence can play in improving operations and productivity.
Heller said the series is intended to change how people view the skilled trades by demonstrating they offer not only rewarding, well-paying careers but also a proven path to entrepreneurship and long-term wealth creation.
Trade School Millionaires is an editorial initiative and not sponsored programming. Episodes will be filmed on location at guests’ businesses, job sites, and fabrication facilities, combining documentary-style videos with in-depth interviews that trace each owner’s journey from graduate trade school to entrepreneur.
The series will be hosted by veteran Denver broadcaster Marty Lenz, whose journalism career has spanned television, radio, and business reporting. Lenz has interviewed hundreds of business and community leaders throughout Colorado and will lead conversations that focus on the personal and business decisions behind each guest’s success. Each episode will run 30 to 45 minutes.
DSG, based in Denver and led by co-founders Heller and Jonathan Bein, developed the series against the backdrop of a growing shortage of skilled tradespeople. The shortage spans industries include welding, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical contracting, plumbing and construction, affecting contractors and the distributors that supply them.
Conference materials presented during the event estimate that about 600,000 skilled trade jobs were posted in 2025 while only about 150,000 new workers entered the workforce. By 2030, as many as 2.1 million skilled trade positions could go unfilled.
The launch will feature three episodes spotlighting entrepreneurs in the Denver area, where DSG is headquartered. The first guest and premiere date have not yet been announced.
For distributors, the series shines a spotlight on the businesses that form a critical part of their customer base. The contractors, fabricators and specialty trades companies featured in the series are the same businesses distributors rely on for growth. By highlighting successful trade school graduates who built thriving companies, DSG hopes to encourage more people to pursue careers in the skilled trades and eventually become the next generation of business owners.
Additional details, including release dates, distribution platforms and plans for future episodes, are expected following the conference.
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