Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Colo., is a year-round, residential, full-scholarship high school for 15-to-17-year-olds. It calls itself “a place where progressive education sees the light of day, and where the unengaged become re-engaged in their own education.”
Megan Bedford recently spoke at Eagle Rock on behalf of Desk Free Nation, a nonprofit she started with the goal of drawing more young people into the trades.
» Want to grow your business? Click here for a demo
“Those kids had hardly any clue about the trades, or the opportunity that exists,” Bedford said in an interview with ServiceTitan. “But they were so excited to hear about it, it made it fun to be there.”
Eagle Rock is not on some island, mind you.
“My daughter,” Bedford said, “is 14, my son 11, and I asked them: Do you know what the trades are? They thought it was the stock market. They had no clue.”
That leads to Desk Free Nation’s multifaceted emphasis to, according to its website: “directly attack the stigma that keeps young people from these awesome careers.”
Educate the many
DFN’s approach is dual-focused: Influence the influencers and educate the many. By stressing the benefits and positives of a career in the trades and by providing the tools for students, educators and parents to understand the trades, Desk Free Nation (DFN) hopes to spur interest and hirings.
“This is a process,” said Bedford, Chair of the Board of DFN and owner/founder of Mugyver Consulting in Denver. “There are a lot of factors supporting the trades right now. In some ways this may be the perfect time to address it. We have a lot going for us.
“There are a lot of unemployed, but in these industries, there is not. The trades are thriving. It’s proven to be recession proof, and pandemic proof.”
Bedford grew up in the idyllic ski town of Waitsfield, Vermont, the daughter of two entrepreneurs. She started her career path in advertising for a Yellow Pages company, which led to her representing small-business owners in the trades.
Eventually she started her own digital marketing agency, focusing on the trades. She found business owners facing the challenge of finding money for advertising because they could not find the techs to produce the revenue needed to buy ads.
At that point, she said, she decided to do something about it and founded DFN, a nonprofit based in Colorado. She brought in a team dedicated to addressing the needs of the trades.
President and Executive Director Renee Cardarelle is a former Executive Director for the Nexstar Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit focused on addressing the need for skilled trade workers.
Treasurer Julie Wieman worked in her father’s plumbing, heating and air conditioning business in Harbor Springs, Mich., before becoming president in 2009. She was president of Nexstar’s Legacy Foundation for several years.
Marketing Chair Nancy O’Hare-Zika is president of Yellow Dog Creative, a Michigan-based marketing company focused nationally on the marketing needs of companies in the plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical industries.
“We were going to do this on a national level, but we decided we can’t do that right away,” Bedford said. “It’s just too big a problem. So because we are based in Colorado we decided to hyper focus in Colorado.
“After we see what works locally, we can go state by state and apply it nationally.”
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
Influence the influencers
She said the first step is to influence the influencers—people who most affect the thinking of young men and women as they ponder their future and their careers. Parents. School counselors. Teachers. Anyone who can expose young minds to the trades as a viable and rewarding career path.
“I really do not think young people are entertaining the notion of pursuing careers in the skilled trades if they are not surrounded by an influencer who is either currently in the trades or has been exposed to how lucrative and awesome the skilled trades can be,” Bedford said.
DFN’s website includes pages related to Are the Trades For Me, job-seeking resources and the ability for corporate sponsorships for DFN from existing businesses, or to become a skilled trades ambassador. DFN even provides a reference guide for guidance counselors on its website, with a list of traits that predict future success in the trades.
The second step is to address what to do once the information about the trades is available. Where does a young man or woman turn? To Bedford, educating the public about how to get into the trades is paramount, and that comes in several different facets.
The DFN website has a video that explains the various pathways to the trades – be it through trade school, tech school or partnering with local businesses. DFN is working on establishing and promoting “Ride and Decide” programs, where young people can ride along with a technician for a day to see what the work and the day is like. It also has a video titled Stop the Stigma.
“In many high schools, there is no opportunity to try these jobs on,” Bedford said. “Some kids when exposed to this work find they really enjoy it.”
Among the future plans: a recruiting page for businesses, which Bedford said will give businesses a chance to advertise their job openings on the site. It also is building ad campaigns that target influencers. A monthly “Check out the Trades” webinar is being discussed that will allow those in the trades to make a presentation about their work, and to have young people ask questions about the work.
“We want to make sure they have all the resources they need,” Bedford said.
Last is sharing the good news, the success stories of those who discovered the trades and enjoy the work. And enjoy the pay and benefits that go with it. One is about Noodin Craven, a then- 18-year-old apprentice HVAC technician for MacGregor Plumbing and Heating in Harbor Springs, Mich. Among his comments in the narration: “It’s awesome to be able to wake up and do good work and make somebody happy.”
ServiceTitan also shared a few of those stories here, here and here (ADD LINKS TO PERSONAL STORIES WE TOLD?).
“It has to be the influencing, and it has to be the education part,” Bedford said. “It’s great if there’s a father who’s all about plumbing who is talking to kids about it, but if kids think plumbers are people who are not educated, overweight, overworked and work with the plumber’s crack – if that’s the image, it won’t work.
“It has to be both.”
She also wants to communicate with kids where they are, and plans to use social media sites like Tik Tok and Snapchat.
“We are targeting young people 18-to-25,” Bedford said. “We won’t be going after Master Plumbers. This is a way to get new blood into the trades, and that is what’s missing. We’re circling the same people from shop to shop, and I see that everywhere I go.
“Very few places have a system in place to attract young people.”
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
