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- The Ice Storm Proved Something Most People Still Ignore
The Ice Storm Proved Something Most People Still Ignore
While most people stayed home this week, refreshing weather apps and watching the ice pile up, a very specific group of people didn’t get that option.
Lineworkers.
HVAC techs.
Electricians.
Plumbers.
Diesel mechanics.
Utility crews.
They didn’t post about “working from home.”
They didn’t wait for conditions to improve.
They went out anyway.
And here’s the part that should make every founder and business owner pause:
Our entire sense of “normal” depends on people whose jobs we barely talk about until something breaks.
Most people think trades are:
Backup careers
“If college doesn’t work out” jobs
Low-skill, replaceable labor
Something automation will eventually solve
And most business conversations still center around:
AI
Remote work
Digital leverage
Knowledge jobs
Meanwhile, when the ice hit, none of that mattered.
No Zoom call fixed a frozen pipe.
No app restored power.
No automation climbed a pole in freezing rain.
Reality showed up fast.
Trades aren’t declining.
They’re foundational.
The reason storms feel more disruptive now isn’t because weather is new, it’s because we’ve under built the workforce that responds to it.
Here’s the quiet truth:
The average age of many skilled trades is climbing
Fewer young people are entering the pipeline
Demand spikes during emergencies, but supply doesn’t
Communities are more fragile than we admit
This isn’t about nostalgia for “hard work.”
It’s about infrastructure toughness.
And the people holding that together are trained, credentialed, and in short supply.
Behind the scenes, states already know this.
When storms hit, workforce boards aren’t surprised.
They’re stressed because shortages become visible fast.
This is why you see quiet prioritization of:
Electrical
HVAC
Plumbing
CDL
Utility-related roles
Diesel and equipment techs
These aren’t theoretical needs.
They’re measured by outages, response times, and public pressure.
And when those systems strain, funding conversations change.
Not loudly.
Not politically.
Operationally.
If you’re an SMB owner, contractor, or operator reading this, here’s what matters:
Your industry already qualifies as “critical”
You don’t need to invent importance, it shows up during crises.Training is the bottleneck, not demand
Jobs exist. Workers don’t.Public funding follows visible shortages
Especially when they affect safety and infrastructure.Trades aren’t seasonal crises just expose reality
The work is always there. The urgency just spikes.Schools don’t create demand they formalize supply
That distinction matters if you’re thinking about starting one.
This is why workforce funding exists in the first place.
These moments come and go and most people miss them.
Common mistakes:
Treating storms as “one-off events”
Assuming trade demand is cyclical instead of structural
Waiting for perfect timing to invest in training
Thinking workforce funding is political instead of practical
Underestimating how visible shortages influence decisions
The biggest mistake?
Not recognizing that every crisis is a signal.
Here’s the reframe:
Trade education isn’t just about jobs.
It’s about community stability.
When the lights go out, we don’t ask:
What degree do you have?
Where did you work remotely from?
We ask:
Can you fix this?
How fast can you get here?
Do we have enough people who know how?
That’s the real opportunity.
Not hype.
Not trends.
Not politics.
Just reality showing its hand.
This week reminded us of something we shouldn’t need a storm to remember:
Our economy runs on skills you can’t outsource when things go wrong.
If you’re an SMB owner who felt that even indirectly it might be worth asking a different question this year:
Not just “How do I grow my business?”
But “How do I help build the workforce my business and my community depends on?”
Because the people who kept the lights on didn’t get headlines.
They just showed up.
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.