"670 lives changed (and I need your help with the next 330)"

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When I started this newsletter, I wasn't trying to build a brand.

I wasn't chasing subscribers. I wasn't thinking about open rates or content calendars or any of that. I had one simple, borderline obsessive goal: get 1,000 people access to a WIOA grant they didn't know existed in their own backyard.

That's it. Just awareness. Just information that should've been easier to find.

Because here's what bothered me and still does about the workforce development world: the funding is out there. Billions of dollars sit in workforce boards across this country, specifically allocated to help people get into training programs. And most of the people who need it most have no idea it exists. Nobody told them. Nobody walked them through it. They just got left out.

So I started writing.

670 people. That I know of from our responses and school owners letting us know.

That phrase matters more to me than the number itself. Because there are people out there who found WIOA through something they read here, enrolled in a program, changed their situation entirely — and I'll never hear about it. That's the part that keeps me going. The ripple effect I can't measure.

But let me be honest with you about something I've been sitting with.

I've hit a wall.

Not a burnout wall. More like a "have I already said this?" wall.

I've covered WIOA funding pathways. I've broken down obscure trades that pay six figures that nobody's talking about. I've walked through how to actually get into a trade school without going broke and without drowning in student debt. I've written about programs most people don't know exist, credentials that open doors that a four-year degree doesn't, and career paths that most career counselors aren't even aware of.

"And lately I keep asking myself — am I just repeating myself? Is there something you actually want to know that I haven't covered?"

The honest answer is: I don't know. Because I'm too close to it.

When you've been operating inside a space for years — running trade schools, consulting other school owners, watching people go through programs and come out the other side with real careers — it's easy to lose track of what's obvious to you but completely foreign to someone on the outside.

So I want to ask you directly. Not in a "drop a comment below" way. In a real, actual reply-to-this-email way.

What do you actually want to know?

Is there something I've danced around but never gone deep on? A trade you've been curious about that nobody covers? A barrier you're facing that feels impossible to find honest information about? Something you wish someone had just told you straight — about funding, about programs, about what a career in the trades actually looks like day to day?

Here's what I'm specifically curious about:

1. The trades themselves
Is there a specific trade or program you've been trying to research and keep hitting dead ends?

2. The funding side
Have you looked into WIOA, run into confusion, and given up? What stopped you?

3. The school side
Are you a school owner, or thinking about starting a program? Is there something about the business side you want me to break down?

4. The simple talk
Is there something you feel like nobody in the trades space will say out loud? I will say it.

Hit reply. Tell me what you actually want. I read every single response — not a virtual assistant, not a team, me. If enough people ask about the same thing, that becomes the next issue.

One more thing before I go.

If this newsletter has given you anything useful — a lead, a direction, a program you didn't know about, a conversation you went and had with a workforce board — I'd ask one favor.

Forward it to someone.

Not everyone. Not a mass blast. Just think about one person in your life who could use this. Someone facing a layoff. Someone stuck in a job they hate and don't know how to get out. Someone who's been told college is the only path and doesn't believe it anymore but doesn't know what the alternative looks like. Someone who's raising a kid asking "what do I do after high school" and doesn't have a good answer.

That person exists in your life. You already thought of someone reading this paragraph.

Send it to them. That's how we get from 670 to 1,000.

Until next time, control what YOU can control, take action on something, and don’t forget to smile. Like what you read?

Here’s how you can help:  Share this newsletter with friends who could use a boost. Sharing is caring! Connect with me on X (formerly Twitter) – let's chat and support each other. Find me at @Trade Schools Secrets-WIOA Whisperer (