Richard Kohberger: The Story Behind the Blue Collar Nerd — Tools, Tips, and Insights

Richard Kohberger, Industry Advisor, Content Specialist at ServiceTitan — perhaps better known as the host of the Blue Collar Nerd channel on YouTube — brings authenticity and tech expertise to navigating the ServiceTitan platform. 

But Kohberger’s unconventional journey into tech for the trades may surprise you. While his dad started an HVAC business the year Kohberger was born (33 years ago), working in the trades wasn’t something Kohberger wanted to do.

From “theater kid” to field technician

Instead, he followed the path of a high school “theater kid,” then earned a college degree by majoring in film, and ultimately landed a job as an intern for a talent agency — a move he describes as finding “an alternative route” to working as a paid actor.

“It was really hard to break into,” Kohberger says. “Acting isn’t something where like, ‘OK, I've got an agent, now the money's rolling in, and I'm booking roles left and right.’ It just doesn't work like that.”

Finding little use for his college film degree or work in the movie industry to support himself, Kohberger started doing ride-alongs with the top technician in his family’s HVAC business during his college summer breaks. Once he graduated from college, he moved back home and expanded his assistant service technician ride-alongs to the busy winter seasons.

When his top-tech mentor got promoted to service manager, it was time for Kohberger to go it alone as a field service technician.

“I was a tech alone for maybe one summer. It didn't last long,” Kohberger admits. “Everything I enjoyed about the job was tied to that camaraderie. Once I was by myself, it was like, ‘I don’t like this.’ I felt so lost. I didn’t know what to do from there.”

From field tech to office worker to operations director

His next alternative route led him to working in the office, where he began organizing the HVAC company’s warehouse with bins, tubs, and a label maker to sort parts, materials, and other supplies. Kohberger also started working with his tech-mentor-turned-service-manager again to map out significant changes and improvements for the company.

“Everything from department KPIs, HR stuff, hiring packets, marketing calendars, financial planning, ideas for cost reduction, new products we could sell, like just so much,” Kohberger says. “Plus, I was doing my nerd stuff. I was implementing automations, like Slack and Zapier, and, of course, I was involved with all things ServiceTitan.”

Mastering ServiceTitan became his focus, then his domain, which led to his next alternative route — being named Director of Operations for his family’s HVAC business. Thinking this new role could lead to Kohberger running the company with his service manager when his dad retired, Kohberger started attending contractor best practice groups with his dad to learn more.

“I felt very alien there, I felt very alien in the industry in general,” Kohberger says. “There weren’t many people in these places that looked like me, thought like me, that I related to on any level.”

“Not a lot of theater kids, huh?” asked podcast host Josh Lu.

“Not a lot of theater kids,” Kohberger agreed.

Discovering his knack for tech in the trades 

But then the Kohbergers joined the Blue Collar Success Group, a coaching, training, and business development organization for electrical, plumbing, heating, and air conditioning contractors operated by industry leaders Kenny Chapman and Chris Crew. 

“They took a very ‘inside-out approach’ to coaching,” Kohberger says, meaning you start with change on the inside, become the leader, then affect change on the outside — rather than trying to affect change from the outside to make yourself happier.

“It really resonated with me,” Kohberger says. “I've always been kind of fascinated by psychology and the workings of the mind and that sort of stuff. I just perked up a little bit. 

“And it was also the first place where I felt more seen, I felt more recognized, where the fact that I thought differently and had different ideas, that was seen as a good thing,” he adds.

The Blue Collar Success Group also inspired Kohberger to start creating his own digital content.

“They made authentic content, [using] front-facing cameras on their phone or whatever, talking about whatever was on their mind,” he says. “I was like, ‘Man, contractors are interested in this. Contractors are watching their content. Contractors are joining their group. Maybe there are people who I could resonate with in this industry.’”

The Blue Collar Nerd is born

In the meantime, the family HVAC business hit a slight bump in the road when their service manager left to form his own company. This move caused Kohberger to question his future outlook once again. But, rather than give up, Kohberger found another alternative route.

He created his own YouTube channel, the Blue Collar Nerd, to create content and talk about how to use technology to improve the trades. 

“I felt like I had something unique to offer. I have expertise in this area where other people might not,” Kohberger explains. “Part of what I did was talk about ServiceTitan, because ServiceTitan is technology. A lot of people use it in the trades. And those videos, in particular, took off.”

Kohberger started his ServiceTitan video content by digging into the platform’s release notes, sharing his thoughts about how to apply them or what they meant. A couple of those videos caught the attention of ServiceTitan. One involved Kohberger’s disparagement of a Pricebook Pro-only feature, and another when he revealed information about a Phones Pro feature not yet publicly available.

Joining the ServiceTitan team

Now gaining YouTube video notoriety, the Blue Collar Nerd received a random message from Tyson Freeman and Tom Howard, who said they wanted to start a ServiceTitan consulting company called Blue Collar Profits. They tell Kohberger they’ve seen his videos, and they want him to join their team.

Kohberger ultimately agrees, and starts traveling to different shops to help contractors with their ServiceTitan set-up. Shortly after, however, both Freeman and Howard accept official roles as ServiceTitan employees. This leads to Kohberger’s final alternative route — working first as an independent contractor, then as a full-time Digital Content Specialist, Product Expert, & Industry Advisor for ServiceTitan in 2020.

“I’ve really enjoyed the work here. I care about this product,” Kohberger says. “It’s really nice to be part of the team and to be able to offer my feedback now internally to the people who can directly influence it and do something about it.”

The job also allows him to demonstrate his unusual crossover of skill sets.

“I’m kind of a translator between these two worlds that now need to communicate with each other because the times demand it,” Kohberger says. “A contractor isn't traditionally the person who's super into tech, and a programmer isn't typically the kind of person who's super interested in learning the operations of a contracting company.

“But that now needs to happen. They need to understand each other,” he adds. “I kind of speak both languages.”

Other thoughts on ServiceTitan

With years of experience helping others master ServiceTitan, Lu asked Kohberger what he thought the platform’s most underrated features were. He offered three:

1. Feature configurations within settings — allows you to see a long list of backend features that you can toggle on yourself or request access to.

2. Dynamic Pricing for your pricebook — allows you to go through a one-time set-up process to tell ServiceTitan how you would like your prices calculated.

3. Configurable materials — allows technicians to select specific materials or equipment while performing services.

As far as the next best thing coming from ServiceTitan, Kohberger says he’s excited for Adaptive Capacity Planning, which essentially replaces Adjustable Capacity Planning and allows you to strategically overbook or underbook during certain times of the year or during weather events.

And finally, Kohberger offers advice for asking questions. When you’re having issues with ServiceTitan software, it’s always best to know what problem you’re trying to solve before you ask questions.

“Ideally, when you're asking a question, that's what you lead with. ‘What are you trying to accomplish?’ I don't know how to tell you that without knowing what you're trying to do,” he says. “Focus on what you’re trying to solve.”

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Mastering ServiceTitan on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.

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